Alcohol, Drugs, and Rock & Roll

Ok, so I just wanted to have a catchy title. There really is no Rock & Roll in this piece, but plenty on drugs and alcohol!

Back in my younger days, I could withstand shot after shot after beer after wine after spirit, and still top the night off with some scotch on the rocks.  Nowadays I do occasionally find myself waking up after a long night of drinking feeling like I'm in some dimension of hell.  Here are a couple things I've tried/heard are remedies or preventative measures to avoid: THE DREADED HANGOVER.

Prior to the Black-out
I've heard....

•  Take a shot of olive oil - this is supposed to coat your stomach
  
•  Take a shot of pepto bismol - another stomach coating strategy
•  Drink milk - also... coats stomach?
  
•   Take Pepcid AC - countless people have told me not only does this cure the redness some people experience when drinking, but also allows you to drink twice as much and not have hangovers!! Could rumors of this magic drug be true???
  
• Take an Anti-histamine - My tour guide in napa valley told me red wine has naturally more histamines than white wine, (due to more contact with grape skins), and sometimes histamines can cause headaches to those that are sensitive to them.  Her solution: take anti-histamines! Because clearly, anti means it would counter the effect right? Hmm... I really am skeptical of this one, due to the fact that whenever I've taken a Benadryl, I pass out within the first 10 minutes in a drug-induced haze.  But who knows, has anybody tried this??

I know....

• Don't binge drink on an empty stomach - you'll likely find yourself face down in some one's bathroom spooning the porcelain goddess
• Mood matters - Now I haven't exactly figured out which way this correlates, but I know you can drink more/less get more/less drunk depending on your initial mood, I'll get back to this with more research...
  

During/After Black-out

• Beer munchies happen for a reason, your body is telling you to put something in your stomach to soak up the poisons you've injected orally. So listen and eat something after!
  
• If you make it back home, or someone else's home, try to make a habit out of locating the nearest stash of advil/tylenol, popping a couple pills, and then letting your head hit the pillow/floor/whatever. This is the consistent trick that I have found to work almost every time.  Hooray drugs!
  
• Vitamin water 'Revive' seems to have the best effect on hangovers, supposed to 'thwart laziness and sluggishness.' Sounds like a hangover to me!
• Morning after pho, or soupy noodles of any sort.  Okay, this may be a personal thing, but seriously a bowl of piping hot soup with noodles tastes like the food of the gods after a long night of drinking. Have all that salt and msg replace the alcohol and drugs you have consumed!
• Water.  Self explanatory. Drink it, Bathe in it, Love it.
  
• Laugh at yourself the morning after.  No need to be down in the dumps mentally and emotionally as well as physically!  Sometimes the worst things in life make the greatest stories