Okay, this is a question for the bartenders on here. Why does red wine cause such a bad hangover the next day? I feel like crap right now... headache, stomach ache, tired... and I only had a few glasses on wine last night... okay a few meaning about 4, I think. I always get this way when I drink certain alcoholic beverages... what is it about dark liquors that make it worse than lighter ones? Just curious.

with wine, it's the nitrites I think.

Right, sulfites not nitrites - that's in the lunch meat stuff

What's the last thing you remember last night?

congeners & tyramine

A hangover is the sum of unpleasant physical effects following heavy consumption of alcohol or the use of other drugs. The most common reported characteristics of a hangover are feelings of extreme thirst (dehydration), feelings of being more tired than usual, nausea and headaches. In alcohol metabolism, one molecule of ethanol(the primary active ingredient in alcoholic beverages) produces 2 molecules of NADH, utilizing Vitamin B12 as a coenzyme. Thus, Vitamin B12 deficiency is a proposed cause for commonly experienced hangover symptoms.


Common folk medicine has a wide variety of hangover cures. A good hangover cure should replace essential nutrients lost by the body while counteracting the influence of residual poisons; very few cures do both at once.

Among the more common proposed cures are:

drinking a sports drink (not an energy drink) such as Powerade or Gatorade, usually watered-down to rehydrate and replenish lost nutrients in the body. Powder supplements such as Ultima Replenisher contain a higher amount and better balance of electrolytes without high levels of sugar.
Pedialyte contains more electrolytes than most any over-the-counter substance. This will help you re-hydrate your body as quickly as possible.
drinking a large amount of water before going to bed, and during the night, for rehydration (a little water is much better than none)
eating as much food as you can hold down. your pyloric valve will shrink in response to the large amount of food you consume thereby reducing any further absorption of alcohol. a large meal is likely to contain nutrients to replenish your body and may also cause drowsiness which will help you sleep while your body repairs.
eating mineral-rich foods, like pickles or canned fish
drinking pickle juice, the solution in which cucumbers were pickled, in the morning (a staple hangover remedy in Poland)
eating anything substantial, especially before going to bed, to "soak up" the alcohol in the stomach (e.g. a pizza or sandwich)
orange juice, which is rich in vitamin C
taking a vitamin B1 (thiamin) supplement before going to bed
(instant) chicken or vegetable soup provides salt, proteins and electrolytes which help attenuate hangover symptoms
Irn Bru is commonly regarded as a remedy in the UK.
cysteine, which is available as the over-the-counter supplement N-acetylcysteine (NAC), is known to assist in processing acetaldehyde, best taken while already drinking and/or before going to bed. (Egg yolk is also rich in cysteine, and it is notable that many hangover folk remedies or morning-after breakfasts incorporate eggs.)
consumption of an Ulster Fry (popular in Northern Ireland), an Irish Breakfast or a Breakfast Roll, a meal that is an all day breakfast.
day/night cold and flu tablets
though illegal in many places, smoking marijuana is often used. This is related to the wake-n-bake.
taking a dose of ibuprofen before sleeping can reduce hangover effects dramatically, however this may increase the risk of stomach ulcers


maybe this will help

Awww... thanks. Feeling better already. Oh, and what do I remember last... another beer at the bar and heading home. Groups of girls drinking is always bad!

I fell down a flight of steps once, which I didn't remember. Worst hangover I ever had.

Last really bad hangover I had... I fell out of my friends car (it was stopped) and sprained my ankle. Then I knocked over someone's bong and got bong water all over this chic's brand new shoes. Don't remember that at all. HAHAHA! I felt horrible the next day, all day long. Hangovers Suck!

"Groups of girls drinking is always bad"

Define always.

i usually just pray to god that if he will make the pain go away, i will never drink again. . . .


until the next time :rolleyes:

Most wines use a preservative called sulfites (a form of sulfur and a powerful anti-bacterial agent). Sulfur allergies are quite common and one of the symptoms is a headache. My friend has the allergy and gets a headache about an hour after drinking a glass of wine. Took him a while to figure it out, but he won't touch the stuff now.

Im not sure if a headache the next morning is related...might just be dehydration. Alot of hang-over symtoms are caused by that. Only real hang-over prevention I know is to drink as much water as you can before going to bed. Doesn't work if you cant keep it down, but otherwise it really helps.

bong- as in pot smoking? :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Bong water and vodka is a tried and true nostrum for hangovers, always.

oh come on cranyonlover06, didn't you ever experiment in college

Oh no worries... I don't smoke that stuff... haven't done that in years and years... but I occassionally hang out with people who still do. It's just not my thing.

Jackie; We make our own wine at home and we use a LOT less of the sulfites than the commercial winerys, and so our wines cause a lot less hangovers. All red wines naturally produce histamines because the skins are used to produce the red colour (which is why an antihistamine helps) but white wines normally produce none.
Best hangover cure I ever had was at the beach bar at the Paradise Hotel in A.C. in the 80's, conch sivichi and bloddy mary's.

No offense, but I can't image eating conch with a hangover -- bloody marys, yes!

I remember one of the funniest hangovers I ever had... this is bad... in the middle of the night I woke up and I was so drunk I couldn't decide whether it would be better to throw up on the floor or the bed so I chose the bed... I woke up the following day late for work (this is when I waited tables). I threw on my clothes and flew out the door. A bit later I felt that my hair was a bit matted, I smelt it... sure enough, throw-up in my hair. We laughed about it all day!

Hey, at least I threw up so really there was no hangover - just had the stupids that day!

If you know you are going out for some serious drinking, before you go drink a large tablespoon of olive oil and before passing out drink at least 16 ounces of water and you will never have a hang over.

I consider myself somewhat of a red wine expert (lived in the Napa Valley wine country for 10 years) and have had my share of "overindulgences". Someone told me to drink a huge glass of water with some baking soda in it. It sure settled the stomach.

you need a michilada Jackie to cure your hangover.

Danl & the Boop, histamine is a chemical transmitter amino acid (like a hormone) that the human body produces when it has certain types of reactions, typically an allergic reaction. (Interesting note: histamine is what scientists believe cause a woman's skin to turn flush red during REALLY GOOD sexual activity!!) Anyway...an anti-histamine (Benedryl is a great one) counteracts the overproduction of histamine. A good example is fleas and mosquitoes. If a person has an itchy reaction to bites and his/her friend doesn't seem bothered by bites, it's because the bothered person produces histamine as a reaction to the bite and the friend doesn't.

So.....is the histamine in wine what I'm talking about? Or do grape skins make something else called histamine? (I used to work for an allergist. I spent hours and hours a day explaining histamines to patients!)

Laurie is a wine expert. I'm a histamine expert!

And I am not an expert in anything, just a little old wine drinker me, (in Dean Martin croon).
Definition;
Expert - X is the unknown quantity,,, spert is a drip under pressure,,, so an expert must be a drip under pressure.

Awww... a michilada sounds good, especially for Cinco de Mayo!

Menudo - - it works. If you don't live near a real Mexican place that makes it on Saturdays (anticipating hangovers) buy a couple of cans of the commercial stuff and keep them on hand.

Yeah, the smell alone would sober up anyone!

hah!

All Menudo is is Tripe in a soup with Mexican spices. I think its great. Both the red and the white. Oh, it does work for hangovers.

Menudo also has hominy in it - yum.

...and I thought Menudo was the Puerto Rican boy band that launched Ricky Martin's career. I don't think that Menudo would be good for a hangover. If fact, I think it likely will make you feel much worse :p

Ever had it? It does work.

Man, haven't had menudo in awhile... and plenty of places here in Houston to get it too. Must try to remember that one next time I feel really hungover.