Are hangovers a common side effect of drinking?
Hangover is the name given to the collection of symptoms people may see after overdosing on alcohol. The muscles and brain either did not have enough of a reserve to overcome the assault of alcohol on the brain and muscles, or the dose of alcohol was too high for the body to tolerate.
What is the hangover syndrome?
A hangover usually occurs from eight to 24 hours after drinking alcohol. It starts when the alcohol level hits zero (although it can happen sooner). And generally lasts from 24 to 36 hours.
Its symptoms typically are sore, achy muscles, a change in the pattern of a person's bowel habits, lack of energy, headache, sensitivity to light and discomfort with food.
The alcohol lets you know when you are heading to a hangover: Alcohol makes you urinate more often leading to a loss of necessary nutrients coupled with a decreased ability to process and take in more minerals and other nutrients. If you are urinating a lot you are developing an electrolyte imbalance and that is when the muscles start to ache, you have no energy, headaches, sensitivity to light. And you are going to start getting light-headed or dizzy.
Once you've made the mistake of drinking too much alcohol, is there anything that can be done to alleviate a hangover?
We hear about drinking milk beforehand or caffeine afterward; we hear about IVs; we hear about taking Motrin before going out to prevent a hangover, but there is nothing [other than not drinking alcohol] that we really know about preventing or curing hangovers - it is all guesswork. And the treatments usually address one of the symptoms of a hangover and not the whole hangover syndrome. We know how alcohol works on the body and since you already know the root cause of a hangover, you know how to prevent a hangover.
Holly Selby is a former reporter for The Baltimore Sun.
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