 Free |
 |
 |
Hangover prevention and cures
- Mental confusion, stupor, coma, or person cannot be roused.
- Vomiting.
- Seizures.
- Slow breathing (fewer than eight breaths per minute).
- Irregular breathing (10 seconds or more between breaths).
- Hypothermia (low body temperature), bluish skin color, paleness.
- If there is any suspicion of an alcohol overdose, call the emergency services straight away.
| Symptom | Cause | Prevention | Wake up remedy |
| Head ache | Dehydration | A pint of water before going to bed | Drink liquids with paracetamol (or equivalent pain killer) |
| Sick
nausea |
1) Toxins in
the drink
2) Toxins produced by the liver when it breaks down Alcohol |
Drink low toxin drinks (Vodka).
Line the stomach so alcohol absorption is steady. Drink vitamin and or activated charcoal drink before , during and after the session. |
Take multi vitamin drink and some exercise. |
| Irritable | Lack of REM
sleep.
Due to sleeping with high levels of alcohol. |
Drink liquids before sleeping and wait a while before sleeping to allow the alcohol level to drop a bit | Drink some liquids, have breakfast and go back to bed one hour after waking. |
| Sensitive to noise and light | Alcohol withdrawal symptoms | Drink in moderation | Feed the dependence with more
Alcohol
"Hair of the dog" This is the slippery slope to serious alcohol dependency |
These are not the views of a doctor. Symptoms, prevention's and remedies may not be applicable to you.
Tips to avoid a hangover
1) Don't drink the night before a session.
Do drink a glass or two 2 - 3 nights before the session. This acts as an
early warning to the body and is also why binge drinking is so damaging to
the body.
2) Line your stomach just before the
session. plenty of olive oil or yogurt or fish.
3) During the session try and slip in an orange juice
from time to time.
4) Just before getting into bed, drink a pint of water
with multi-vitamin A, B1, B6, C and D, and also calcium, magnesium and
potassium supplement pills.
Hangover remedies
YoBrew honey orange egg cure
Ice cold orange juice with 2 raw eggs with a spoonful of honey. Stir and
drink.
You may choice to add two paracetamol (or equivalent) however these hide the
pain but does not fix the problem. NOTE paracetamol is easier on the
digestive system than aspirin.
(free range eggs are best as these are less prone to samonelli)
After drinking the above get a bit of exercise to get the blood flowing and then back to bed. for a bit of quality sleep.
How it works the orange juice add much needed water and vitamins. The raw egg helps mop up toxins. The honey provides fructose sugar which helps the liver in the alcohol breakdown process. Paracetomol/aspirin hide the pain
Group cure
Designed for a groups of fellow sufferers. Here it goes:-
Have a shower individually or grouped its your choice. Then
after your shower put into a wok two tablespoon of olive oil, one
tablespoons of sesame oil. Add two broccoli heads chopped. (Remove large
stems). Add peppers (sliced and diced). Add crushed red peppers (go easy
on them). Add a thumb nail size of fresh ginger. Add more to taste as
required. Stir-fry for two minutes or until you deem it to be just
right. Remove from heat and sprinkle on sunflower and pumpkin seeds.
Then add two or three teaspoonfuls of soy sauce. NOTE: The above is a
rough guide now alter the quantities on the go to match your team size
and the team's taste buds. (If they have any left)
Mix!
At the
same time as the stir-fry, prepare the jug of orange juice. Add orange
juice with around 25% water added and to each pint or liter add a good
table spoon or two of honey. Mix,mix and keep mixing until its all
dissolved or as long as you can be bothered. I tried this with set honey
so it kind of took a while.
Time it so the stir-fry and the drink
arriving at the table at the same time. Eat with fingers and accompany
with a glass or two each of the honey orange.
How it works.
The shower cleans the skin pores that have got blocked up with
all the waste products excreted through the skin by the body in its
attempt to rid its self of toxins. Vitamins from broccoli and orange are
active in the recovery. The spices remove that feeling in your mouth
like you have been kissing a camel all night. The seeds add much needed
protein, fiber and essential oils . The group activity and the act of
eating together including having a good laugh about the night before is
probably the most active ingredient of all. One of the symptoms of a
hangover is remorse. Having a laugh about it with mates put it into
prospective.
The REM story
If you go to sleep with levels of high alcohol in
your blood your brain becomes comatosed. This comatosed state prevents REM
sleep (Rapid Eye Movement type sleep). REM is the part of sleep where your
eyes move rapidly and dreaming takes place. Without REM sleep people
wake up the next day early and irritable.
There have been some very disturbing experiments done
regarding REM sleep. The experiment I cannot forget is the one where a
person was watched 24 hours a day for 3 day. He was allowed to sleep but
each time his eyes started to move in his sleep they woke him up. After 3
days the subject started dreaming when he was awake. His dreams were much
like drug addicts experience in flash backs while they are fully awake. Alas
for the person in this experiment, he became psychotic and was never quite
the same again.
Toxin levels in drink.
The level of toxins (congeners) vary depending on
type of drink. This is apart from the effects of the alcohol its self which
leads to alcohol
poisoning
Below is a list from lowest toxin level to highest
toxin level drink.
Vodka (lowest toxin
levels)
Home brew beer
beer
white wine
red wine
.
.
.
bourbon (highest toxin levels)
Home brew beer contains more Vitamin B complex and this helps the body reduce toxins.
If you think this toxin list is a load of rubbish then here is an experiment for you.
Week 1) Go out on a session and get plastered on bourbon.
Week 2) Go out on a session drinking the same
amount of alcohol but this time get plastered on vodka and orange.
Compare hangover notes
|
Toxins
|
produced by the liver |
 |
When the liver breaks down alcohol it makes a temporary intermediate which is more toxic than alcohol. In normal circumstances this intermediate is so temporary that it does no big harm. |
|
the liver |
V (broken down in the liver) V 2)Acetaldehyde (very toxic intermediate) V (broken down in the liver) V |
If the step 1 to 2 is quicker than step 2 to 3 then there will be a build up of a very toxic substance. This can and does happen, especially if high levels of alcohol hits the liver suddenly. (Hence many preventions mention lining the stomach with oil or the like to regulate the intake). The gradual absorption of alcohol allows the liver to control the breakdown correctly. The fructose sugar in honey will help the liver in this break down process.
Alcohol Poisoning - On a more serious note
Alcohol depresses nerves which includes things we take for granted like breathing and the gag reflex ( prevents choking). A high dose of alcohol can stop these and other essential functions. Not to mention other permanent damage such are liver and brain damage.
Since high levels of alcohol can / does lead to vomiting, drowning in your own sick is a real possibility. This especially affects binge drinkers as they are taking the body by surprise.
The real problem is what do you do with a mate that drinks too much and passes out. Do you have a laugh and let them sleep it off? Wrong, very wrong alas if you do this you stand a good chance of leaving them to die. They have passed out as a critical response by the body to and extreme situation. Alas the body is not that smart and is still absorbing the alcohol in the stomach so the situation is getting worse and can / does lead to death.
It is dangerous to assume the person will be fine by sleeping it off.
Critical Signs of Alcohol Poisoning
What Should I Do?
It may seem a tough call do you want to be seen as overreacting or do you leave your friend to die. You have to live with that even if you friend might not. This situation is most likely when someone is drinking out of a usual pattern eg special occasions of peer pressure to consume that bit more than is wise.
WARNING symptoms of a hangover can be similar to meningitis. If you or your friend is sensitive to light and noise and you think it's a hangover since hangovers can have this effect, but guess what so does meningitis. A hangover will disappear with time, but time is of the essence with meningitis every minute helps. One of the other symptoms of meningitis is a red rash that does not disappear when seen through a glass that is pressed against the skin. If you have this rash call the emergency services straight away. For more on meningitis please see other sites. This warning is just included to raise awareness of meningitis but this is not a medical site. Its just a group of brewers that have a fair knowledge on making, consuming and from time to time suffering from the effects of drink.
To conclude this cheerful subject in this page are just my views based on an eventful life. I am not a doctor and I am not dispensing medical advice.
Now where's my beer.
Out NOW! Our FREE home brewing magazine! Annual 2013
CONTACT: Email: Do drop us a line.
All text on this site is purely the contributing author's personal views and
should not be taken as fact.