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Anyone who has had one too many tequila shots, glasses of wine, Irish Car Bombs—pick your poison—can attest to how horrible a hangover is. The pounding headache, the rolling stomach, the spins, grogginess, moodiness, and overall hatred of all things that makes us swear to never drink again.
I bring this up because I found my neighbor passed out in my front yard this morning. After giving him some water and sending him home, I could only imagine the hangover that would follow. Obviously, the best way to cure that is to avoid excess consumption of alcohol, but as Oscar Wilde once put it, “I can resist everything except temptation.” So, I have compiled a list of some of the best remedies for a hangover. Some are international, others you can find online, and some are just plain disgusting. Drink up, my friends!
10 Hangover Cures
1. Menudo: A spicy Mexican soup often times made from tripe (cow stomach), Menudo (not to be confused with Menudo, which may make your hangover worse) is supposed to cure even your deadliest hangovers. It is said to stimulate the senses, rejuvenate the insides, and clear the head. Most alcohol scholars, however, claim that the combination of spices in the soup simply distract your mind and body from the hangover.
2. Prickly Pear: If you’re hungover in the desert and can’t find water, the extract from the prickly pear cactus might just do the trick. It won’t curb the headache but it will alleviate nausea, dry mouth and loss of appetite. Extracting the goods yourself may be difficult, but prickly pear can be found in many dietary supplements.
3. Pickle Juice: Could this Eastern European and Russian staple by the perfect hangover cure? Swilling the juice will replenish the electrolytes your body lost the night before and also wake you up a bit. Professional athletes drank it before Gatorade was invented and rumor has it that Tom Brady will be marketing a sports drink next year that has a pickle juice-based beverage.
4. Go for a jog: Get moving! Doing a little exercise can help flush out toxins, get you to drink more fluids, and distract you from the pounding headache you probably have. Motivation can often be hard to come by the morning after a night of heavy drinking so many suggest finding a workout buddy the night before.
5. Hair of the Dog: Also known as drinking more, the expression is a shortened form of the colloquial English phrase “hair of the dog that bit you.” Many people claim a shot in the morning keeps a hangover at bay – I think it just puts off the inevitable. If this sounds like your cup of tea(quila), however, Thomas Abercrombie suggests putting two Alka-Seltzers in a shot of tequila to really nip it in the bud.
6. Quaff: According to soyouwanna.com, the perfect hangover cure is theirs – a drink called Quaff. They claim that after it cures your hangover “it might just clear out your nasal passages, shrink your hemorrhoids, and leap out of your body and write your History term paper.” The cure includes taking two aspirin, 200mg cysteine, 600mg Vitamin C, and 1 tablet of vitamin B complex and then washing it all down with a milkshake consisting of a banana, V-8, strawberries, honey, OJ, milk, salt, and nutmeg.
7. Hypnosis: A hangover cure can now be downloaded to your desktop! Hypnosisdownloads.com has a 20-minute hypnosis session that will ease your headache and repair the damage done to your body. The session includes the soothing sound of angels and “a mountain stream splashing refreshingly through your mind” that is guaranteed to work.
8. B12: A deficiency of B12 is thought to be one of the causes of a hangover. It can be found in vitamins, meat, eggs, dairy products, or vegetables fortified with B12 (for all you vegans and vegetarians out there like me).
9. A Grand Slam: It seems like everyone has a food item they love when they are hungover. I have friends who swear by a Coca-Cola and a French baguette and others by cold pizza, but the majority of my friends adore Denny’s. The 1,000 calories worth of pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, and butter that comes with a Grand Slam seems to hit the spot. And it’s certainly an improvement over the fried canaries that the ancient Romans used to eat to cure their drink-induced ailments.
10. RU-21: Developed in Russia for the purpose of keeping KGB agents sober while their contacts got drunk and divulged state secrets, RU-21 actually ended up being the perfect hangover cure. It entered the US market in 1999 as Cold War relations warmed and has been a staple of the all-night party scene ever since. This is best taken before or while drinking to prevent the morning hangover.
And a bonus for you Quick 10 readers, today—a few more quick bits about hangovers:
• Kingsley Amis once commented that the opening scene of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis was the best literary description of a hangover he had ever read. Read it here.
• The word hangover first entered our vernacular in 1904.
• The scientific name is Veisalgia.
• British economists speculate that hangovers are costing the British economy £2.8 billion ($3.5 billion) a year!
* * * * *
Shhh…super secret special for blog readers.
Comments (34)
Comment
Taking two aspirin before you go to bed will prevent a hangover. The trick is remembering to take them when you’re three sheets to the wind!
posted by Judy on 6-26-2008 at 2:31 pm
Spicy Miso Soup, and lots of it.
posted by Jen on 6-26-2008 at 2:57 pm
What a great post, Kristen! I’m loving your writing on the site…
posted by Mangesh on 6-26-2008 at 3:01 pm
4:20 can do the trick.
posted by bob on 6-26-2008 at 3:19 pm
nothing at all beats a prilosec (or nexium or any other acid reflux med) right before you go to bed. it also works just as well the next morning- provided that you keep it down if you’re already on the vomit train.
yes, i did read the link that said that not even doctors trust nexium and bla bla bla but it saved my life (or at least cured the ulcer in my esophagus), and i’m going to continue extolling it’s virtues until it’s no longer on the market… and then i’ll just look for it in other countries.
posted by nikki on 6-26-2008 at 3:28 pm
any kind of Vitamin Water works wonders, but especially XXX and Engery…replenishes electrolytes lost like pickle juice and Gatoraide do, but with the added benefits of vitamins, especially B vitamins
posted by Clotho on 6-26-2008 at 3:30 pm
I swear by a banana and glass of water before bed.
My old colleague swore by a big glass of Ovaltine.
I think it basically comes down to – get some vitamins and get some fluids.
cheers!
posted by Nicole on 6-26-2008 at 3:41 pm
I swear by this. It needs to take place after drinking:
Take a multi-vitamin.
Take some Vitamin C.
Two 400mgs of Ibuprofen
Down a LARGE glass of water.
Sleep tight.
Wake up, immediately down another LARGE
glass of water.
If need be, go to a local tavern and for breakfast, consume a pint glass full of Vodka (2 to 3 shots, orange juice, pineapple juice and cranberry if so desired.
You should be up and ready to drive that school-bus in no time!
posted by Dan on 6-26-2008 at 3:49 pm
For me, it is anything greasy that will cure the hangover.
But, I had a boyfriend once, a German, who swore by drinking a glass of orange juice and then a glass of milk. He said there was something about evening out the acidity in your stomach that made it not feel gross the next day…I never tried it though, I figured the milk would curdle in my stomach and that would be the end of that.
posted by J-me on 6-26-2008 at 3:57 pm
For both Vitamin C and B-12, drink some Emergen-C…
Can also be done the night before, while you are out on the town… can be used as a mixer even!
Another way is to drink Pedialyte, because it is hydrating and has a lot of the vitamins and salts your body needs replaced!
posted by Liz N. on 6-26-2008 at 4:10 pm
Wow, it looks like someone read the recent New Yorker piece about hangovers and provided a bullet point summary of said piece.
is there anything original here at all?
posted by sybil on 6-26-2008 at 4:28 pm
Double Cheeseburger meal from McD’s and a huge bottle of Lemon/Lime Gatorade does the trick for me. My boyfriend has said it’s a miracle cure for a hangover (for me at least) because of how fast I bouce back to 100% after eating that.
posted by Cassie on 6-26-2008 at 4:43 pm
@ sybill,
The quick 10 is never original. Most of the time it’s just Stacey cutting and pasting directly from Wikipedia, mistakes and all.
I think the Quick 10 is more of a forum to talk about the subject at hand than an actual reflection of journalism.
As for me, I drink as much Gatorade as possible the night before.
posted by Florida on 6-26-2008 at 5:03 pm
I like to go with a Propel Fitness water, a Diet Coke and 3 Advil. Works wonders for me.
posted by Julia on 6-26-2008 at 5:50 pm
I got this trick from my mother: Milkshake and a hamburger. If you can stomach eating anything at all. I’ve also heard eating 20 saltines and drinking gatorade before the hangover works.
Chaser, I must say, works – you don’t have the sensitivity and splitting headache, but you will possibly still be very queasy.
posted by Shanna on 6-26-2008 at 6:07 pm
How about you all just don’t drink, and you won’t have to worry?
posted by Emily on 6-26-2008 at 8:00 pm
I usually just drink a 8 or 12 oz bottle of V8 and step outside into the sunshine. It takes about 20mins but it really makes me feel better.
posted by ruben on 6-26-2008 at 9:10 pm
If I have enough funds, a bottle of Pocari Sweat (a very popular ionized drink from Japan) before sleeping is a sure way to eliminate or at least alleviate hangovers in the morning. But if I don’t have any at hand, plain old Gatorade will do.
posted by Leizl on 6-27-2008 at 3:24 am
A 420 wake and bake with good strong coffee always worked for me. But lacking that, I go for the salt laden breakfast of Virginia ham, fried eggs, and home fries.
posted by MN on 6-27-2008 at 5:32 am
I’m not a huge drinker (b/c it seems that just a little bit of alcohol will make me puky the next day) but when I do drink, I just make sure to drink about a glass of water after every glass of beer or wine and I usually do ok. It seems like the best thing is just to keep hydrated (and vitamized).
posted by nutmeag on 6-27-2008 at 7:36 am
e-mer-gen-c and advil before bed and in the morning, more e-mer-gen-c and a banana.
posted by Srah on 6-27-2008 at 7:49 am
Nothing tastes better after a long night of drinking than a fountain Coke. There is something about the syrup and seltzer water mixing up that makes it taste so good. you dont get the same thing out of a can or bottle.
Also, 4 ibuprophen and a big bottle of gatorade work wonders. Especially when it’s mixed with 2 eggs over easy, potatoes, and steak all covered in Salsa Verde. mmmmmmmm…..delicious
posted by Andy on 6-27-2008 at 8:55 am
My tricks were as follows:
- Only drink top quality liquor (somehow I found this reduced the severity of a hangover).
- Eat something before you go to sleep. (I used to eat a whole wheat toast and cheese sandwich or two).
- Drink lots of water. I’d drink a glass or two of water before going to sleep. If I woke up in the night I’d drink another glass of water. In the morning drink yet another glass of water.
posted by Stew on 6-27-2008 at 9:36 am
It seems that dehydration and hypoglycemia are probably the main causes of hangovers, so the suggestions of Gatorade (or other electrolyte replenishers) and food are the way to go.
The system I’ve worked out that works wonders for me personally doesn’t cure a hangover; it prevents them.
After a night of heavy drinking (and here in New Orleans, that can be any night of the week), before going to bed, I take 800mg of ibuprofen with a large glass or two of water (Gatorade’s even better if I have any sitting around, though I suspect an Emergen-C works just as well). It’s never failed me.
Of course, if you can keep your wits about you and follow nutmeag’s advice above by drinking a glass of water between each glass of sweet, sweet liquor, your problem’s solved before you even have a problem. But where’s the fun in that?
posted by 8rustystaples on 6-27-2008 at 10:00 am
I love that Shanna’s hangover advice comes from her mom.
posted by Miss B on 6-27-2008 at 10:33 am
After years of experience I came up with a routine to avoid hangovers:
Take a B complex tablet (easily found in any drugstore) before start drinking. After finishing drinking, eat plenty before going to bed and drink plenty of water (you should drink around half a glass for each drink you had) and finally take another B complex tablet.
B Complex is actually given to drunks in hospitals to ease the hangover symptoms, trust me…it really works!
posted by Diego on 6-27-2008 at 11:10 am
I also try to make a habit of drinking water with my drinks as Nutmeag suggested.
I’ve also heard that fried foods the night before help.
And – burnt toast with breakfast the next morning. (They say the carbon absorbs the toxins.) It’s hard to eat, but it seems to work.
Also having smoothies with banana and other vitamin-packed fruits, Gatorade, water, and Green Tea help.
PS– I’m a vegetarian too! (Maybe I should look into B12 supplements.)
posted by Nerak1979 on 6-27-2008 at 11:12 am
Rehydration is the secret. Pure, plain old tap water works just fine. Since it’s hard to remember to drink it before you hit the sack, I keep a water glass in my bathroom on the sink that faces the toilet. You’re going to have to visit the toilet before you go to bed if you’ve been drinking. Then the glass will be right there reminding you to fill it up and drink some water. For most regular strength drinking, even the one big glass does the trick. For industrial strength binges, I usually have to remember to drink a glass every time I wake up to use the bathroom.
posted by Melissa on 6-27-2008 at 12:10 pm
10 Hangover Cures | Deliggit.com
\r\nAnyone who has had one too many tequila shots, glasses of wine, Irish Car Bombs?p
posted by Deliggit.com | The social sites' most interesting urls on 6-27-2008 at 4:02 pm
Pink milk and scrambled eggs with cheese.
posted by Amanda H. on 6-29-2008 at 3:09 pm
Check out a new hangover prevention pill, Prehab. Take three pills before you start drinking, three pills when you are done. It works. http://www.partyprehab.com
posted by MR. PREHAB on 7-5-2008 at 1:25 pm
Great list!
There is a product that works great! And it uses mainly prickly pear. It’s called the Zaca Hangover Patch. http://www.zacalife.com
posted by Liamdiantoni on 10-8-2008 at 1:34 pm
Detox your Liver, Get Energy, and Amino acides in.. get those toxins out.
posted by Crystal L. Cox on 1-25-2009 at 4:47 pm
I’ve not had much luck with the pill forms of hangover cures. My best solution now is a Isotonix form of the B-Complex before bed and a glass of OJ when waking up. The bad part is I’m not afraid to drink on week nights now. :(
posted by Chris on 4-16-2009 at 5:09 pm