Best Hangover Cures
There is an old Irish folk tale that the best hangover cure is to bury the hangover victim up to his or her neck in wet river sand. I'm not sure if the river is the crucial part of this equation or if any old wet sand will do -- my personal take on the wet sand remedy is that by the time my lazy friends got around to burying me that deep the hangover would probably be over.
The best cure for a hangover is the cure that works for you. Because every hangover is different and every person experiences the symptoms of a hangover differently, I can't predict what will be the best hangover cure for you.
The good news is that you can think ahead and prepare your hangover cure ahead of time. You know what hangover symptoms are most common and most bothersome for you -- why not get yourself an anti hangover kit ready the night before you think you might over indulge?
Weird Hangover Cures
There's lots of bizarre ways to kill your hangover. My friends from Mexico swear that a dish called menudo (which is basically boiled intestines) when eaten first thing in the morning will kill even the strongest hangover. Why does this work for some people? Eating really fatty and high calorie foods really does help some hangover symptoms, especially that strange ache that moves in waves all over your body. Apparently a folk cure in ancient Rome was to eat deep-fried canaries or sheep's lungs, anything fatty and thick. Sounds awful, doesn't it?
Finding a hangover cure that works for you doesn't mean shoveling down every food that people swear works as a cure. Think before you act -- would you like the taste of tripe? No? Then don't try it.
Finding Your Best Hangover Cure
Every hangover kit, no matter the person, is built on a foundation of water. Keep some water chilled in the fridge, but don't get caught with your pants down. Keep some water at room temperature in case the cold is irritating your hangover. Think ahead. Gather plenty of water. Then move on.
To help you find your personalized Best Cure for a Hangover plan, here are the top symptoms of hangovers as reported by modern medicine. There's also a list of possible hangover cure suggestions based on nothing but my own experience with hangovers and maybe just a little bit of folk therapy and a splash of medical know how. To prepare your anti hangover kit, gather whatever of the following cures you need based on the symptom you want to fight.
Headache
Note very hangover comes with a headache. When your head is pounding as a result of too much alcohol, you may be surprised to find out that drugs like aspirin or ibuprofen are a bad idea. Think about how a hangover makes you feel -- your senses are heightened, you're whiny, you feel puny. Why would you want to add another drug to that mix? Instead of taking a pill, consider one of the following:
- Place an ice pack on your forehead and neck
- Put a small amount of lavender or any mint oil on your temples
- Go in a dark room and avoid bright or flashing lights
- Take a long, hot shower and go to sleep
Diarrhea
This happens because alcohol gets in the way of your intestines' ability to take salt and other bad things out of your body. Countering an attack of hangover diarrhea is more serious than other bouts because your hangover has already dehydrated you. If you're having diarrhea, you need to drink even more water than most hangover sufferers. Here are some natural and safe options for diarrhea during a hangover:
- This is one symptom in a hangover that can be medicated. Take anti-diarrhea medicine.
- Eat bland food like rice and toast. Avoid fruits, caffeine, chocolate, and greasy foods especially.
- Take a long, hot shower and go to sleep
Exhaustion
Your body is exhausted because it produced a ton of natural insulin to counteract the effect of alcohol's sugars on the body. Getting over the exhaustion of a hangover is a matter of time and patience. Your body will right itself, but not until you've felt like death warmed over for a few hours. Exhaustion during a hangover is best treated, like most hangover symptoms, by more rest, but most people find it difficult to just rest when their head is pounding or they're vomiting every half hour or so. That's why people deal with the exhaustion of a hangover in different ways, including:
- Laughing / distracting themselves with something funny
- Multiple doses (three to four) of a B6 supplement
- The obvious option -- take a long, hot shower and go to sleep
"The Shakes"
Not all "shakes" are related to the very serious withdrawal effects of alcohol. Unless you've been drinking way too much for way too long, you aren't going to go into alcohol withdrawals. When you have the shakes or that creepy nervous feeling all over your body, it is a side effect of the glucose-insulin fight going on inside your body as well as the other toxic effects of alcohol. Try one of these methods for getting over the shakes:
- Fatty foods (which should normally be avoided in a hangover)
- Ice cold Coca Cola (again, avoid this unless you've got bad shakes)
- Tomato juice
- You know what I'm going to say. Take a long, hot shower and go to sleep for God's sake.
Maybe you noticed that taking a hot shower and going to sleep is a suggestion for each symptom. Sometimes, the only hangover cure is to rest until your body corrects itself. If you can sleep, then sleep it off. Your lazy stoner college roommate was right about that.
The best hangover cure is the one that gets you feeling back to normal the fastest. There's no magic button to push or pill you can take to kill your hangover, so all of our hangover cures are basically symptom treatments. Combining a number of these symptomatic treatments together gives you the best chance of beating your next hangover, or at least getting rid of it in painless fashion.
Build the hangover cure that works for you from the above suggestions to create the perfect anti hangover kit.