Something I’ve always noticed and am going through now. Sometimes I’ll drink too much the night before and be concerned about a hangover the next morning. Morning comes, and almost always my first thought is “gee I feel like shit but actually this is way less bad then I was expecting” this misplaced optimism gets washed away at an indeterminate length of time later when a wave of awful nausea crescendos to a peak of crappiness before gradually receding leading me to think “maybe that was the worst of it” only for the cycle to repeat.

This happens even when the hangover is not one severe enough to have caused vomiting. Feeling sick from drinking too much I understand, but I wonder what’s physically happening during the peak of these waves that’s not happening during the troughs.

  • Pons_Aelius
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    291 year ago

    Part of it is the reason a hair of the dog slows a hangover down.

    You body will process ethyl alcohol first, before it process all the other alcohols (methyl etc) which produce much worse breakdown products and really make the hangover get worse.

    When you wake up you may still be metabolising ethyl alcohol, then when your hangover really kicks in, it is the more toxic shit being processed. A hair of the dog adds ethyl alcohol back into your system, which the body then works on.

    But all it really does is delay the worst of the hangover.

      • Pons_Aelius
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        111 year ago

        Well, one of the issues with alcohol consumption is the loss of normal inhibition responses.

        So what is a general rule while sober will often fall by the wayside once a binge is in full swing.

    • @viralJ
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      41 year ago

      But unless you’re drinking moonshine, should the alcohol in alcoholic drinks be ethyl alcohol only?

      • @[email protected]
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        61 year ago

        This is probably accurate. And explains why a beer hangover, or a hangover from high end liquor is nothing like a hangover from cheap liquor.

        Same for wine. A wine hangover is fueled by sugar and sulfites.

        If it’s not craft beer or a well made cocktail, I’m probably not drinking it.

    • Pons_Aelius
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      61 year ago

      experiences tend to come in waves

      Considering that both sounds and visual stimuli come from waves or wave-like phenomena, that is quite a true statement even without the influence of psychedelics.

    • @fubo
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      41 year ago

      Heck, meditation will tell you the same thing.

      So will chronic pain.

  • @Illuminostro
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    1 year ago

    Take it from a pro: you need to eat, particularly something heavy and greasy. There’s a reason Waffle House is full of drunks at 11:00 PM. Then, in the morning, vitamin C. A lot of it.

  • @[email protected]
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    1 year ago

    For future reference:

    Once the source of the hangover headache was located, the researchers then set about figuring out how to get rid of the pesky things, using known headache blockers. Turns out the combination of caffeine and over-the-counter inflammatory drugs (i.e., NSAIDs – things like aspirin and ibuprofen) were best at blocking the head-pounding effects of the acetate.

    Although as with everything, timing is crucial.

    “If you drink a small amount of alcohol, three or four hours later, drink some coffee,” he says. “Or take caffeine in some form, like an Excedrin that has caffeine in it. If you take the caffeine at the same time as you drink, it will be gone when the acetate levels are high.

    • room_raccoon
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      21 year ago

      And for the nausea, have a few sips of pickle juice. I swear it works. It works so well for me, at least

  • @[email protected]
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    1 year ago

    As well as Pons_Aelius’s input, who I think I have quoted before in another post 🤣, I reckon your body is out of balance in many other factors too, hence sports drinks can help pump electrolytes into your system, your gut isn’t too happy, and you could be genuinely lacking water. Alcohol is a poison which - paraphrasing Pons - is probably high on the priority list for your liver while the rest of your body deals with the injustice it was served.

    I just found via my previous comments that I built on pons pov in the entangled particles post. Funny running into a Lemmy user again.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      271 year ago

      One of the devilish features of the enjoyment of alcohol is that it likens itself to excess. You tend to drink it in a social setting and that setting makes it more fun to drink and then the drinking makes the actual social occasion more fun in turn. It also, obviously, feels good while you’re drinking it and getting drunk, which tends to make you want to drink even more of it because you’re enjoying the experience so much. On top of that, obviously, it makes you drunk, and as you probably know, being drunk doesn’t tend to make for very good decision making so thoughts like “you might be enjoying this a lot, but you should stop now, then you won’t be sick tomorrow” tend to give way to “nah I feel fine right now, so it’ll definitely be a good idea to have another and definitely won’t be a terrible idea come tomorrow. Also, that’s tomorrow’s problem anyway”.

      Have a hangover enough times in your life and this dynamic happens less often since even the drunk happy version of me remembers somehow the deeply unpleasant experience of a hangover from last time and stops before it’s too late but unfortunately, every now and then the lesson has to be re-learned.

      • @cheese_greater
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        21 year ago

        There’s an expression

        First you take a drink. Then that drink takes a drink. Then the drink takes you

        I like these pithy sayings even if they’re not 1000% scientifically or empirically established.

        • @[email protected]
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          271 year ago

          While it’s cool to show concern for someone who might need to hear some words of encouragement for getting help (well, minus the scare tactics of a dead relative story), you seem to have conflated this poster’s description of the ‘pattern’ a night out drinking can take with a ‘pattern’ of problem drinking every day, or far too often at least.

          What they described is perfectly familiar to me, someone who drank to a level of bad hangover on occasion when I was young and having dumb fun with friends. As I got older, that type of fun got less important and the amount I drink came down to a drink or two, rarely, when I can afford a nice whisky or something.

          Basically, someone recognising how a night of social drinking can turn into a hangover isn’t necessarily the cry for help you seem to have read it as

    • @[email protected]
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      01 year ago

      I do not drink very often, but when I drink I want to feel something from the alcohol. Also I would never drink beer out of a cup.