10 Hangover Cures And Cons (PHOTOS)

Prevention is the best cure for a hangover. The only way to avoid a pounding head and queasiness the morning after is to drink in moderation, or to stay away from alcohol entirely. But with all sorts of seasonal celebrations going on, it's easy to overindulge.
 


Alternating your drinks with water or another nonalcoholic beverage can help you slow down and stay hydrated. If you still wind up with a hangover, you may be inclined to try one of the many supposedly tried-and-true remedies that have been passed down through the ages.

Don't get your hopes up. Traditional hangover remedies are often ineffective, and some of them may actually make you feel worse.

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Hair Of The Dog

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Even though the thought of a bloody mary may appeal to you, a virgin mary is a much better choice the morning after. "The worst thing to do is to have another drink," says Charles Cutler, M.D., an internist in Norristown, Pa., and the chair of the American College of Physician's board of governors.
  
The alcohol may temporarily take the edge off your symptoms but could hurt in the long run. Hangovers make you feel horrible because alcohol is toxic, Dr. Cutler explains, and you need to give your body a chance to recover. That morning drink could lead to an even worse hangover the following day. More From Health.com: Being Choosy About Booze Helps Avoid Hangover (To A Point) The Health Hangover Handbook: How to Survive the Morning After 7 Tips for the Best Sleep Ever

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Even though the thought of a bloody mary may appeal to you, a virgin mary is a much better choice the morning after. "The worst thing to do is to have another drink," says Charles Cutler, M.D., an internist in Norristown, Pa., and the chair of the American College of Physician's board of governors.
 


The alcohol may temporarily take the edge off your symptoms but could hurt in the long run. Hangovers make you feel horrible because alcohol is toxic, Dr. Cutler explains, and you need to give your body a chance to recover. That morning drink could lead to an even worse hangover the following day.


More From Health.com:
Being Choosy About Booze Helps Avoid Hangover (To A Point)
The Health Hangover Handbook: How to Survive the Morning After
7 Tips for the Best Sleep Ever

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This Remedy

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Comments

[onionboy]

10:28 AM on 01/03/2011

I stopped drinking.

[tamsinstead]

02:38 AM on 01/03/2011

Several glasses of water followed by an hour or so in my local herbal sauna here in Thailand, followed by a plateful of very spicy som tum (papaya salad) and a couple of oysters always do it for me. If you don't have access to the last two, a large bloody mary. But just the one, accompanied by anything containing processed tomatoes.

[steve12]

01:52 AM on 01/03/2011

Sounds like a lot of effort to avoid something that is so easily avoidable. Yesterday, it was the smokers. Today, it's the fat people. Tomorrow, it'll be the drunks that society will get after to change.

[Falcondeals]

12:23 AM on 01/03/2011

Great tips

[merlinspinoza]

09:07 PM on 01/02/2011

in Alive magazine [ alive.com ] about 10 years ago Brad King said acetaldehyde is the culprit . he called it a neurotoxin.

the liver must do soemthing with alcohol; acetaldehyde is one metabolite it makes; if acetaldehyde is not converted rapidly enough [ due to excess] into acetate then a hangover results

he suggested drinking water in between drinks . or the real cure not drinking which is like preventing unwanted pregnancy ;

the equivalent would be not swallowing the alcohol [ or most of it] but only tasting it like a mouth wash

hohoho

[84pininfarina]

07:37 PM on 01/02/2011

10 mg of Valium works great if you are lucky enough to have it.

[Apiana]

06:37 PM on 01/02/2011

Lots of water, a chewable vitamin and nothing cures hangover nausea like cannabis (or so I've been told.) Then you need a greasy breakfast and you'll be good to go. Unless you really, really overdid it. There is no cure for that except time.

[Francis 3]

01:22 PM on 01/02/2011

Hangovers can happen anytime you drink. You can get a hangover just as easily from 2 glasses of wine or 10 beers. There are all kinds of factors. From experience, if you wake up with a sour stomach, take an stomach-acid reducers (any OTC could work). Headaches will go away with a couple of glasses of water or an ice cold soda. But, IMO, nothing is better than a nice plate of eggs and hashbrowns (preferably scattered, covered, smothered and chunked) and a bottomless cup of coffee.

[steve12]

01:47 AM on 01/03/2011

I find it a little difficult to believe that you can get a hangover from 2 glasses of wine, unless maybe if you're 10. Hangovers happen because you get drunk. Drink is moderation and don't get hangovers. Sounds pretty simple to me, but I'm not much of a drinker, unless it's ice tea or coffee.

[KristinNoelle]

07:58 PM on 01/22/2011

Trust me, you can get face-over-the-toilet-all-morning hung over from as little as one glass of cheap red wine.

[Bedazio]

12:29 PM on 01/02/2011

Trust me. A greasy breakfast works!

I don't know the why, only the what.

[Scoppertop]

10:44 AM on 01/02/2011

And alcohol is legal... why?

Exactly. In fact, the best way to get mary jane legalized is to fight against 'legal' alcohol and lobby for laws to turn it into a criminal offense to possess one ounce of liquor.

[takecourage]

12:39 PM on 01/02/2011

Right. Because that worked before.

[Scoppertop]

12:47 PM on 01/02/2011

Exactly. And exactly what has happened by keeping pot illegal.

[Flip75]

12:46 PM on 01/02/2011

To what end? Bacon is harmful to the body, too - it's about making smart choices, not banning things because some people abuse them.

[Scoppertop]

02:07 PM on 01/02/2011

Then by your logic, pot should never have been illegal, it is merely a choice.

[totogan]

10:27 AM on 01/02/2011

...any form of bread before you go to SLEEP ..best is an Irish dinner of Beans & Toast

[Kory Leach]

10:23 AM on 01/02/2011

Vitamin B water and if all else fails try PREVENTION. Drink less people.

[Tunghoy]

10:01 AM on 01/02/2011

Why bother getting sober if you only have to get drunk again?

[LFCeline]

09:38 AM on 01/02/2011

My hangover cure is not for the faint of heart but it works...when I lived in Belgium and drank too much I would do this: upon waking up, drink two liters of water, "take" a codein suppository called Percocet and then go for a 5 mile run...come home and drink two more litres of water...if you survived the run, the hangover would be gone for good and you felt fine...if not, you just collapsed and died...

[life-of-riley]

06:08 AM on 01/02/2011

Hair-of-the-dog, definitely: spicy Blood Caesar rimmed with celery salt.