Articles

The best way to treat a hangover is to prevent one! If you drink alcohol socially, be mindful of your tolerance and choose to not exceed that. I wonder if there ever was a time that you exceeded your limit of alcohol and thought it was a good idea after the fact. I only remember times of overindulging and saying “I’ll never drink again!” Sound familiar?

This article is not written to give you a way to drink more alcohol – as this is simply not something I would ever promote. One to two drinks a week is acceptable intake according to psychological assessment standards. More than this can pose a health threat.

There are two enzymes that are essential for alcohol metabolism, (1) alcohol dehydrogenase and, (2) acetylaldehyde dehydrogenase. The former converts ethanol into aldehyde and the second converts aldehyde into acetic acid. Aldehyde is the metabolite that is known to cause inflammation of the entire system as it is known as a toxin, a carcinogen.

When the two enzyme systems mentioned above are overstrained they pull nutrients from body tissues in order to do their job. The main nutrients are B vitamins and minerals. In particular thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, and B12 are depleted with regular drinking causing chronic fatigue and worse hangovers. Mineral use is enhanced to metabolize alcohol too which is why people may get muscle cramps in their toes and calves with heavy drinking. Antioxidants are essential to clear the waste products from the system as well.

Taking antioxidants, minerals and B vitamins before and after drinking can help your morning hangover. Mega Stress is a fabulous B vitamin. Detox II is a great detoxifier and Antioxidant Defense is an antioxidant with an Oxygen Reduction Absorptive Capacity (ORAC) value greater than 5000. Complete Mineral Complex is a balanced formula to replace the needed minerals that sustain cellular health.

These products protect cells on a daily basis and at an increased dosage helps prevent and alleviate the effects of alcohol. We suggest to patients who drink alcohol to increase their dosage on that day. Most patients who take the nutrients regularly don’t tolerate alcohol as well as they are metabolizing very quickly whereas people who are deficient will not break alcohol down to its active metabolites very fast at all.

The morning of a hangover, take more of the each nutrient, drink lots of water and get a B12 shot. If you need to go one step further, consider nutritional IV therapy which consists of all the B vitamins with vitamin C and extra liver support to help flush the toxins from your body. Some people will even request more hydration bags as you can literally feel your cells changing with the IV route – right into your system and sucked up by your cells. Just call our office and let us know that you are interested in receiving the “Hangover IV Treatment” and you probably won’t be alone!