'Got the Holiday Blues? - Healing a Hangover' 


Last night was a big night but this morning you are suffering, you have the blues bad – can hardly drag yourself from bed or think straight, you have migraine headache, you feel sick or vomiting, every noise makes your head throb more and you’re keeping the blinds closed to protect your eyes from the light. Is there any way to help yourself, apart from vowing to never do it again?

Coffee
Some people think that having a coffee hit might help. Fact is that although you might be reliant on a morning fix to get your energy going on the way to work – today it just might make you feel worse. Coffee causes the body to dehydrate and as you are already dehydrated from the alcohol of last night which is contributing greatly to your symptoms of hangover, give it a big miss. Go for some plain water or decaffeinated tea instead.

Exercise
You might be used to having a morning run – likely you‘ve decided against that today. Apart from feeling too tired, as exercise requires you to be well hydrated with good nutrition, today isn’t just one of those days. Conserve what little strength you have and look forward to tomorrow.

Getting hot enough to sweat
There is a thought that working up a good sweat in a steam room or sauna might help expel the alcohol that is causing toxicity in the body. In truth, being in a hot environment is more likely to make you feel worse as your body is already dehydrated from the alcohol and the sauna will add to that. You are more likely to feel better lying in a cool place.

Okay – but what can you do to get some relief?

Drinks
First it’s important to address the dehydration by getting some healthy liquids into your system. For hot drinks try some hot peppermint tea or dandelion coffee to ease the load on your liver and digestion. Warm water with added lemon juice sipped through the day can help initiate a light detox. To ease the turmoil in your gut try some aloe vera juice with ½ lemon in water or good old bicarb soda – ½ tspn in a glass of water 20 mins before or 1 hr after meals (if you are well enough to eat) x 3 times for one day.

Juices
A combination of apple, watermelon, beetroot, carrot, cabbage and orange, in small glasses hourly alternating with water can help cleanse the blood, reduce nausea and inflammation of the stomach, improve liver function and reduce headache as it hydrates the body.

Vitamins
Vitamin C – helps the activity of liver enzymes to increase the elimination of acetaldehyde, the toxic chemical into which alcohol is converted by the body which causes headache and nausea.

 B-Vitamins, particularly vitamin B2 – Riboflavin – (10mg day) has an affinity for helping headaches including migraines which are part of the hangover experience.

 Choline - a supplement containing choline can help the liver detoxify chemicals and perform at its best. A deficiency is associated with fatty liver.

If you feel you have a problem with alcohol, regularly taking a supplement with folic acid and vitamin B12 may help reduce the craving.

Minerals
 Zinc – The main enzymes necessary to detoxify alcohol are dependent on zinc levels. Alcohol consumption causes a reduction in zinc. Taken with vitamin C it helps alcohol detoxification.

Amino Acids
 L- Carnitine – 500mg x twice a day. L-carnitine is an amino acid that dramatically reduces the effects of alcohol withdrawal.

Cysteine 500mg a day taken with vitamin B6 and vitamin C – has antioxidant properties and helps detoxify chemicals in induced liver toxicity.

Glutamine 1-3 gms a day is fuel for the intestinal mucosa growth, improves gut immunity. Ask your health professional about using this.

From the cupboard
A little Aussie brown yeast spread on toast with it’s rich vitamin B content helps settle the digestive system particularly with a cup of plain tea.

And while you are sitting there with your head in your hands vowing to never do this to yourself again and we all know how successful this may be, next big night out make it easier on yourself by reducing the level of dehydration on your body by alternating your alcoholic drinks with water or soda water or soft drinks. As little as 30ml of alcohol can induce acute and chronic fatty liver changes. And drink a large glass of water before you go to sleep so next long weekend you can at least wake up feeling somewhat healthy and leave the suffering and blues behind.