Can Pill Mean New Year's Revelry Without Regret?

from abc

Remedies Promise to Prevent New Year's Hangover -- But Do They Really Work?

By BLAIR SODEN

Dec. 30, 2006 — Head pounding, stomach flipping, room spinning — a hangover wasn't exactly the glamorous start to 2007 that you envisioned. But what if a tiny pill could prevent all of that, and you could revel without regret this New Years?

It's almost midnight on New Year's Eve. The countdown begins. … Ten, nine, eight… Party-goers are scanning the crowd, searching for the lucky person they'll kiss as the clock strikes 12. … Seven, six, five… Champagne glasses are raised. … Four, three, two… You pop a pill and… One…

Happy New Year?

Magic or Myth?

There are more than 40 products on the market promising to ease or eliminate the symptoms of a hangover — perhaps appealing to drinkers looking to ease the aftermath of a New Year's Eve party.

But is there really a magic cure for a hangover?

"Yes: Cut your head off," says Mike Pearson, co-owner of www.hangoverreview.com.

Pearson's website has been reviewing and comparing hangover pills since 2004, when a plethora of new brands claiming to ease your partying mind hit the market.

While websites for these pills claim to "eliminate hangovers safely and effectively" and are "clinically proven to help prevent hangovers before they start," Pearson says they aren't wonder drugs.

"There are no 'active' ingredients to any hangover pill, unless you consider a vitamin or herb active," says Pearson.

A majority of the pills are merely a combination of vitamins. The top five ingredients in all of the products reviewed on Pearson's website were everyday supplements — vitamin C, vitamin B, thiamine, calcium and potassium. So why pay the hefty cost? Most hangover pills average $20 to $30 a bottle.

Too Good to be True

Dr. Nicola Vogel of the Cleveland Clinic says save your money.

"Hangover cures that contain vitamin C, B1 and B12, thiamin, calcium and potassium will likely not do much to help with the symptoms of a hangover," she says.

Vogel adds there are several other things that can make a hangover worse in addition to alcohol.

"Certain factors can increase the severity of hangover symptoms — such as dehydration, decreased food consumption and decreased quality and quantity of sleep."

She recommends drinking other liquids in between alcoholic drinks to ease the hangover headache.

"Maintaining adequate non-alcoholic hydration may help with hangover symptoms," says Vogel. "But best bet in avoiding hangover symptoms is to avoid drinking a lot of alcoholic drinks over a short period of time."

Pearson agrees. His advice for ensuring a happy New Year's morning?

"Seriously," he says, "the only absolute guarantee you will never get a hangover is to not drink."

I wish I could say I tried it more then once, but anyone remember the smart drug craze? I had a morning after, killer hangover at one con, and I drank that stuff, and it was a miracle cure! I went from being in pain just standing, to running around like an idiot again. it was great.

This reminds me I was meaning to start a thread abou this.

I think that mild hangovers are inevitable with moderate to heavy drinking (just due to the metabolization of the alcohol into acetaldehyde) but that the ridiculously bad ones are usually the result of three things:

1.) Some serious dehydration
2.) Congeners in the alcohol, more prevalent in some drinks than others
3.) Depletion of certain substances in the body, or, from another angle, the lack of sufficient resources to properly process the alcohol (cysteine, for example, helps in processing acetaldehyde).

So, the short answer is that I think there is probably very likely something that can be consumed to take the edge off of the worst hangovers, but I doubt we can ever eliminate them entirely, except by not drinking.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by inox

I think that mild hangovers are inevitable with moderate to heavy drinking (just due to the metabolization of the alcohol into acetaldehyde) but that the ridiculously bad ones are usually the result of three things:

1.) Some serious dehydration
2.) Congeners in the alcohol, more prevalent in some drinks than others
3.) Depletion of certain substances in the body, or, from another angle, the lack of sufficient resources to properly process the alcohol (cysteine, for example, helps in processing acetaldehyde).

So, the short answer is that I think there is probably very likely something that can be consumed to take the edge off of the worst hangovers, but I doubt we can ever eliminate them entirely, except by not drinking.

---

Interesting points :thumb:

cut your head off? is this a cruel joke? I personally am STILL hungover from New Years and it's Jan 2nd evening, drinking tea and getting old fashioned bedrest, hooray for new years!