badmigraine 0 Posted April 24, 2003 Share Posted April 24, 2003 My latest Worst Hangover I Ever Had was just two Saturdays ago. But if you're like me, you've been a position to say "That was the worst hangover I've ever had!" more than once...possibly annually or even more frequently than that. I would say the essential elements of a good hangover are HEADACHE, NAUSEA, INTESTINAL DISTRESS, OVERALL MALAISE, and GODAWFUL REMORSE. Here's what I got on my latest one: 1. HEADACHE The site of the pain changes according to unknown factors, but lately it's hitting me at the base of my skull, where the spine goes into the brain...lately it's an aggressive, unbelievable pain, as if someone has just hit me there with a baseball bat. If I hold one position for more than 5-10 minutes, for some reason the pain ramps up to unbearable and I have to shift. After 6-8 hours though, for unknown reasons my right sinus dries out and feels ice cold, and the pain moves behind my right eye a la classic migraine. That lasts another 6-8 hours, but I am usually trying to be asleep for that portion. 2. NAUSEA I don't usually get nauseous except in the absoulte worst cases...like last time. When I get like this, any sound, any movement--no matter how slight--results in retching and dry heaves. The heaves are so traumatic that I sometimes pull muscles in my stomach or rib area, but at the time that is almost a blessing because it is a distraction, something new, something fascinating. As mentioned above re HEADACHE, I have to change position every 5-10 minutes to avoid unbearable head pain...but moving even one inch makes me retch, so you can imagine the fun as I lie there waiting, waiting, waiting for the headache to start ramping up but not wanting to shift position yet because it will mean another bout of dry heaves and bitter bile coming up into the bucket placed conveniently by the bedside. To move, or not? This psychological torture is perhaps the worst part of it all. 3. INTESTINAL DISTRESS This could be anything from diarrhea to plain old stomach-ache. But frankly speaking, intestinal distress is not very troublesome to me. 4. OVERALL MALAISE The dull, fatigued, blasted feeling that there is nothing new under the sun and that hiding in curtained rooms under warm sheets is the only place worthwhile. The sudden lack of interest in outcomes of professional sporting events, magazines with smaller fonts, and exercise. The need to figure a way to wipe around the toilet and curl up in the company bathroom stall using toilet paper rolls as makeshift pillows. And--please don't tell me I'm the only one--an almost teenage preoccupation with thoughts of sex, breasts, butts, lingerie and very naughty scenarios peopled with attractive gals from work under rules like "it can involve any item that began with the letter 'v' in that house I lived in in 1992...hmmm...Vaseline...Vacuum Cleaner...Vibrator...Vegetable...Videotape..." In fact pondering scenarios like this is the best medicine for me to get through a nasty hangover...better even than pain pills... 5. GODAWFUL REMORSE This may be the most uncomfortable part of any hangover. You have an overall sense of failure and having made mistakes, and you are regretting the loss of this new day to a puking migraine hangover. Your girlfriend or roommates are disgusted with you as all plans for the day have gone into the toilet. No phone calls will be made, no bills will be paid, no books read, no shopping done...you'll be an invalid for the full 14 waking hours of that day. BUT, in addition to this general bad feeling, while lying in your cocoon of suffering, you will start to flash onto things you did or said while drinking the night before. They may come to you as static, embarrassing images of yourself frozen in some posture of drunken semi-awareness, just after having said or done something extremely wrong (e.g., a fuzzy memory snapshot of you handing your meishi with your company name, your own name, your job title and company phone number to some 20-year-old gyaru and her friends while they eye you with a mixture of fear and derision as if you were a sort of talking circus dog holding a ray gun)... They may come back as tags of regretful words that poured out and can never be taken back (e.g., "I'LL DO A SHOT WITH EACH ONE OF YOU LOSERS, COME ON , COME ON, BRING ON THE WHOLE BOTTLE!!!")... Or they may even be physical traces of completely-forgotten events, such as a badly sprained finger (er, probably) from falling off a bike on the way home, or scrapes and bruises all up and down the knees (er, probably) from slipping on those metal stairs... If you're Mogs, it might even be waking up in a hotel next to a girl who'd seemed attractive the night before, but in the harsh morning light is revealed to be a hangover multiplier. In the case of Mogs though, to his credit, he usually makes the best use of what is available under any circumstances, even hangovers... As for me, if it is a work day, I use an old lawyer's trick to get the most out of my hard-won hangover: I make all my most difficult calls on these days. I used to save up all calls where I had to be a hard-a** or a tough negotiator, and them make them one after the other on the hangover days...a headache, a gravely voice, impatience and utter cynicism...these are fine tools for any lawyer's toolbox and I highly recommend them as a way of justifying a night on the town. Well, what about you and your hangovers? Do tell! Link to post Share on other sites
proudtobegay 0 Posted April 24, 2003 Share Posted April 24, 2003 You like your long posts don't you, badmigrainesan? Alas as years progress hangovers seem easier to get and more difficult to shake off. I just try to drink that water before sleeping, then sleep off. They are a pain, aren't they? Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted April 24, 2003 Share Posted April 24, 2003 A fine run-down of the possibilities there. But you missed the one element of the truly complete hangover -- blindness. A lady-friend of mine, a fine little lass of Irish extraction, once got 'blind-drunk' and woke up the next morning with all the symptoms you note, plus an inability to see. She thought she had really blown it that time. The blackness eventually gave way to dim and fuzzy vision, finally returning to normal about a week later. Dealing with a newly blind companion with a full-on Pernod and black hangover (would somebody please clean these purple rings from the toilet-bowl?) added a new twist to the game. As for the undiminished mania for things sexual, when I used to live in Osaka I found the inside of the Juso Music the place most likely to speed my recovery for all but the most crippling hangovers. They opened at 12:00 which was about the time when I could lift my carcass up and drag it as far as the subway. Link to post Share on other sites
tunic-tugger 0 Posted April 24, 2003 Share Posted April 24, 2003 I didn't feel the same for a week Link to post Share on other sites
enderzero 0 Posted April 24, 2003 Share Posted April 24, 2003 Ahh badmigs - your post does hit close to home. Although I usually am able to avoid the worst of the physical torment, the psychological torture is always the worst part. I sometimes wake up after a heavy night of drinking and trick myself into believing I really made a fool of myself, when it probably wasn't all that bad. But when it is bad...oh it is bad. I seem to get the most physically hung over when I have to go on a long car trip the next day. I remember a certain trip home from Canada where my head was pounding so badly and I was so nauseous I couldn't go 20 minutes without needing to pull over. Is it just me or does the severity of a hangover seem to relate directly to the cheapness of the liquor consumed? Link to post Share on other sites
snowboard_freak 0 Posted April 24, 2003 Share Posted April 24, 2003 Thats a nice detailed hang over post there BM. I don't drink nearly as much as i used to, and it's amazing how much money you save! I don't drink much anymore because i really got fed up with the hang over feeling. It ended up just not being worth it. Sure i still go on the odd bender and i've had some blinders in my time. The cheapness of alcohol definatley has an effect on the hangover and its ferocity. Goonie Bag - worst hang over drink ever! $5 (Australian) for 4lt of red wine. Link to post Share on other sites
big-will 7 Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 Definitely at college, I was almost comatose the night before and felt it for a couple of days after too. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 >> I used to drink it cold with coke-a-cola to make it more drinkable. Worth the effort given the price. Link to post Share on other sites
barok 0 Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 Best cure for a hangover then ? I usually just start drinking again if it is that bad - The hair of the dog that bit you will get you through. Some weeks, it is better just to not stop drinking at all. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 a year ago when I took the wrong train home pissed. had to sleep under the ticket window in takarazuka. Link to post Share on other sites
sachiko 0 Posted April 25, 2003 Share Posted April 25, 2003 When I was 20, it was so bad. Link to post Share on other sites
OzOzOz 2 Posted April 27, 2003 Share Posted April 27, 2003 Had a bad one over new years Link to post Share on other sites
nocauze 0 Posted May 2, 2003 Share Posted May 2, 2003 They seem to get worse as I get older... Link to post Share on other sites
fantastic 0 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 20th-24th Feb 1990. Very very bad hangover. Link to post Share on other sites
MistaSparkle 0 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 Passed out at a houseparty, woke up with a massive headache, next to puke, with no recollection of the evening before, and a permanent marker moustache and goatee drawn on my face. ....*sigh* how I miss those days... Link to post Share on other sites
snowboard_freak 0 Posted May 9, 2003 Share Posted May 9, 2003 I'm expecting to have one this Sunday. It's my ladies 21st party on Saturday night - cocktails and shooters! Should be interesting! Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted May 9, 2003 Share Posted May 9, 2003 The true mark of stupidity - planning your next hangover! "Know thyself sayeth the Greeks"... Link to post Share on other sites
snowboard_freak 0 Posted May 9, 2003 Share Posted May 9, 2003 Yes yes i am well aware that Mr 11! But I am also realistic! No point in kidding myself! Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted May 9, 2003 Share Posted May 9, 2003 Indeed, I behave like somebody who doesn't know why hangovers happen. How many precious Saturdays have I wasted by just having one too many glasses of wine on happy Friday nite... Link to post Share on other sites
xxx 2 Posted May 9, 2003 Share Posted May 9, 2003 Know what you're saying. Daft as brushes. Link to post Share on other sites
powwwers 0 Posted May 9, 2003 Share Posted May 9, 2003 i`ve often wondered that. although we all know the end result before we start, it doesn`t stop us. how good is it though, when one of ya mates has got a hangova, and you haven`t? Link to post Share on other sites
nzlegend 1 Posted May 9, 2003 Share Posted May 9, 2003 I get delayed hangovers....wake up bouncing off the walls but degrade in condition gradually through the day until I am a write off. I remember well my 20th birthday. I was in westport NZ on a University Geology field trip. I had consumed about 4-5 jugs of beer ( 1jug = 1 litre)and feeling pretty good about things when my "friends" lined up 20 yes 20 shots of whiskey on the bar...... I made it back to the field station crashed out and woke up with the vigour and energy of Richard Simmons. BUT during the day touring in vans looking at various sites of geologoical interest, I degraded and hit the wall. didnt quite make it out of the Van to check out the cool rocks after a few sites and basically wanted to curl up and die Link to post Share on other sites
enderzero 0 Posted May 9, 2003 Share Posted May 9, 2003 powwwers - unless you're supposed to be doing something with that mate that day and you have to listen to him bitch and moan all the way to Ibaraki and basically write off getting anything fun to affect him. Have a great time S_F. Congrats S_F_G. So is drinking age 21 in Australia as well? Oh the fun days are about to begin. Link to post Share on other sites
powwwers 0 Posted May 9, 2003 Share Posted May 9, 2003 i hear ya loud and clear enda! so ya had a good weekend last weekend then did ya??? oh, drinking age in oz is 18. rater. Link to post Share on other sites
snowboard_freak 0 Posted May 9, 2003 Share Posted May 9, 2003 Thanks ender. The legal age over here is 18. But 21 still seems to be a pretty big celebration for most people. I had a 21st shindig but didn't really have an 18th. My best drunk memories are all from when i was 15 to 17. It was always so much more fun when it was "naughty". And the best part.......... i never got hangovers! Never! Now after 4 beers i feel it the next day! Damn it! Link to post Share on other sites
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