Ahhhh drink!

Hangovers International: (Country Term Cure)

Germany: katzenjammer, (”a wailing of cats.”) Sour herring

France: la gueule de bois,   Onion soup

Mexico: Cruda (“raw”) Menudo - Tripe soup with chilli

Sicilian: Sbronzo Espresso (and lots of it)

Polish Kac, Sour Pickle

Endeavours to cure ‘an poit’ exist all over the world. Whether it’s Ancient Romans deep fried canaries, Ancient Greeks owl eggs (and sheep lungs) or Haitian-Voodoo’s method of finding the last bottle you drank from and sticking black pins into the cork… many others may have scientific merit.

Water of course is needed to replace the amount excreted, bananas are good source to replace the potassium lost, and fruit juice to bring blood sugar levels back up and also other nutrients that were lost. Eggs are also a good one as they contain cysteine which helps to break down the toxins into the less harmful acetic acid that is lurking around in your liver. Other constitutes of a traditional fry do not help unfortunately and particularly won’t help the sensitive stomach. Trying to replace vital nutrients will help speed up the process but will not cure them.

A ’curer’ or ‘hair of the dog’ does alleviate the symptoms for a short while but does not get rid of them. When you consume another unit of alcohol the next day your body ceases breaking down the toxins from the night before and begins to work on the toxins that just entered your liver. So the relief will last for the amount of time it takes your liver takes to breakdown them down (an hour per unit of alcohol). The hangover will eventually come back to haunt you.

So if it’s Bloody Mary’s, Black Velvets or rabbit-poo tea (a favourite amongst the cowboys of the Wild West apparently), or turning around 3 times chanting “REVOGNAH” with a cabbage on your head; there is no irrefutable cure. But any suggestions are very much welcome.

One of the main suspects of a hangover and a recurring cause of the symptoms is dehydration. As a preventative it is recommended to drink water after each alcoholic drink; one to replace the water lost in urination (it’s slightly important to do this…) and two to give you a break for a moment to break down the toxins.

A nice way (if you like Maths) to work out what you’re doing to yourself if you over indulge (and a possible way to make you order a glass of water while waiting for your real drink to come) is to work out your Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) on an average night of drinking:

1 unit of alcohol is a drink that contains approximately 10grams of alcohol.
500ml can of average beer is = 2 units
12 % A bottle of wine = 9 units
Small glass of wine = 1 unit
Short of spirit = 1 unit
(To calculate the units in a particular drink just multiply the percentage alcohol by the amount being consumed and divide by 1000 e.g. 500ml can of Tuborg is 4% so 500 X 4 = 2000 / 1000 = 2 units)
Calculation 1
Work out the number of (standard) drinks you have consumed and multiply by 10. This tells you how many grams of alcohol you have consumed.
Example: Brian goes out on a Saturday night and drinks a silly 30units X 10 = 300
Niamh goes out too but is a lady and drinks only 15 units X 10 = 150

Calculation 2
Multiply the number of hours you have been drinking by 7.5 grams (the average rate of elimination of alcohol from the body).
Brian and Niamh both drink over 5.5 hours X 7.5g = 41.25g per hour

Step 3
Subtract Step 2 from Step 1.
Brian: 300 – 41.25 = 258.75
Niamh: 150 – 41.25g = 108.75

Calculation 4
Multiply your weight in kilograms by 6.8 if you are male, or 5.5 if you, are female.
Brian: 6.8 x 80kg = 544
Niamh: 6.8 x 54kg = 367.2

Calculation 5
Divide Step 3 by Step 4 to give your approximate BAC.

Brian BAC: 258.75 / 544 = 0.48
Niamh BAC: 108.75 / 367.2 = 0.3

0.02 - 0.03 Legal definition of intoxication in R.I. for people under 21 years of age. Few obvious effects; slight intensification of mood.
0.05 - 0.06 Feeling of warmth, relaxation, mild sedation; exaggeration of emotion and behavior; slight decrease in reaction time and in fine-muscle coordination; impaired judgment about continued drinking.
0.07 - 0.09 More noticeable speech impairment and disturbance of balance; impaired motor coordination, hearing and vision; feeling of elation or depression; increased confidence; may not recognize impairment.
0.08 Legal definition of intoxication in R.I. for people 21 years and older.
0.11 - 0.12 Coordination and balance becoming difficult; distinct impairment of mental faculties and judgment.
0.14 - 0.15 Major impairment of mental and physical control; slurred speech, blurred vision and lack of motor skills; needs medical evaluation.
0.20 Loss of motor control; must have assistance moving about; mental confusion; needs medical assistance.
0.30 Severe intoxication; minimum conscious control of mind and body; needs hospitalization.
0.30 - 0.60 This level of alcohol has been measured in people who have died of alcohol intoxication.
0.40 Unconsciousness; coma; needs hospitalization.

The body reduces its BAC level at the rate of about .0 15 each hour after drinking has stopped.

To calculate how many hours it will take for your body to remove the alcohol and bring you back to zero BAC after you have stopped drinking, divide BAC by 0.015.
Brian: 0.48 / 0.015 = 32 hours (dear god)
Niamh 0.3 / 0.015 = 20 hours (no longer a lady)

This is only an approximation, the rate at which your body breaksdown alcohol is different for everyone and the rate of 0.015 only applies to one unit per hour.

-niamhyb