How do you avoid and inflight hangover?
 

In the spirit of the other post asking for a hangover cure. How does one avoid a hangover while awake inflight? It seems I get drunk real fast at 33,000 feet and then I get a hangover but I no have slept yet.

Sometimes it is pretty bad and davistev-son not happy flier!

Drink water. One glass of water for each alcoholic drink you take, hard liquor, wine, beer, doesn't matter. Drink a full glass of water before each alcoholic drink.

Its worked for me and many others I know for over thirty years. By the way, get an aisle seat,and be aware of any "thirty minutes rule." If you follow this advice you will not get drunk, or have a hangover, but you will pee a lot.

Avoiding the hangover is the easy (...) part: don't drink.
Curing a hangover is where it becomes difficult: I always make sure I have some Advil (or another brand) on hand. This works Ok for me.

Drink lots of water.

Avoid taking analgesics (aspirin, ibuprofen, especially Tylenol, etc.) as they can have severe effects on the liver when taken with alcohol.

drink fizzy things - alternate glass of champagne with can of sparkling water/bottle of Perrier. At least one half liter of water per hour of flight time and you'll be good, what you're feeling is less hangover than dehydration...

This is well-known (I believe) for Tylenol and other acetaminophen/paracetemol based painkillers, but can you quote a source for the same effect with aspirin/ibuprofen?

The water/booze alternating has always worked for me.

Can't quote a source on the advil, but was told my a doctor friend of mine that it is actually worse for the liver than tylenol.

http://www.gnc.com/health_notes/Drug/Ibuprofen.htm (only mentions stomach bleeding)

http://www.samhsa.gov/oas/DAWN/DetED...bles/T2.21.PDF (mentions a few thousand emergency room visits for alcohol + aspirin/ibuprofen, but gives no specific details)

http://www.aafp.org/afp/20000501/tips/10.html (study on risk of upper GI bleeding increasing when combining alcohol and ibuprofen/aspirin)

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/NEW00659.html (again, stomach bleeding)

http://www.medhelp.org/forums/hepati...hive/1224.html (discusses the possibility of ibuprofen contributing to liver problems but discounts aspirin doing so)

Thank you for asking me to research this a little more carefully; I learned a lot today! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Funny, popping a couple of Advil after a night of heavy drinking has been part of my routine for years. And it works -- a fact driven home when I don't take Advil.

Like I'm gonna stop now, either.

The only true "cure" of which I'm aware is time! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

FWIW, aside from drinking in moderation, I tend to try to eat lots of food both before and after drinking to slow ethanol uptake, drink lots of water both before heading to bed to assist in limiting dehydration, and occassionally also drink a cup of tea with sugar, instead of black coffee in the morning. I'll sometimes also try to sip on Gatorade or some other "sports" juice drink instead of a simple cup of orange, grapefruit, or cranbury juice. I do not take pain killers since the liver function/damage issue is very real! I instead take a really long, very hot, powerful shower with special emphasis on the back of the neck and head!

But then it has been quite a long while since I had a hangover! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Thankfully! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

And yes, "a little liquor'll heal you quicker" is not entirely a joke! Actually drinking more ethanol may also help alleviate some symptoms!

Yet FWIW, they reportedly tend to get worse as one grows older! Some consolation, eh? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Actually, what you really need is an IV! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

FWIW, curiousity if nothing else, please also see:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/239281.stm

http://www.hangoverstopper.com/


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Please also see:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum95/HTML/002310.html

Keep drinking.

I take two Extra Strength Excedrin© before, during and after drinking. Fortunately, that routine works for me almost every time.

I do get some strange looks taking them with Jack Daniel's.

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The best thing you can spend on your children is time.

Drink a lot of water, eat something loaded with butter before you drink and take a vitamin pill before going to sleep. This usually works.

I know that Flyertalkers are generally a hard-drinking bunch. But I've always been surprised at how many of us drink in the air. I realized long ago that alcohol is very, very bad on long flights, especially overnight ones. Surviving jet lag is much harder when drinking, AND you have to work upon arrival. If you don't have to work, who cares?

I'll sometimes have a Mimosa pre-flight drink which helps put me to sleep after take-off, but that's it.

Just about every FA will tell you how you should only drink water and they are the only ones who fly as much or more than we do.

-Stimpy who does 200-300K miles per year. YMMV.

Exact same here.
I think it makes a difference when you take the Advil: I take it the next morning (which very well might be an afternoon...), taking Advils immediately before or after drinking sounds like a bad idea to me.