by Pat Lunsford

Created on: January 29, 2008   Last Updated: November 13, 2009

Homemade cures for hangovers have been around for as long as homemade wines and spirits. Most of the ones I know were handed down from my father. Dad was Irish, and he told me the Irish would've ruled the world if only they hadn't discovered alcohol. Mom said that Irish eyes were always smiling because they were always up to something.

It never ceased to amaze me how Dad would wake up every now and then with a hangover and go through the exact same routine every single time. The first thing I'd hear was the groan, and then the sliding footsteps across the floor to the bathroom. Before long, he'd come stumbling into the kitchen. "Where's the aspirin, lass?" Then he'd drop into a kitchen chair with a hand to his head while I got them for him.

Water was all his stomach could handle until about midmorning when he'd start nursing a bottle of tomato juice. Lying on the couch with the cold juice bottle clutched tightly to his forehead, he'd swear up and down that he had tasted his last drop of alcohol and that his drinking days were over.

"I swear it on me dearly departed mother's grave, lassie. Yur poor ole father's done 'ad 'is fill a mash. Not another drop is a passin' through these here lips. I learned me lesson fer shur this time."

He'd walk lubberly up the stairs for a nap and a couple hours later he'd come down the stairs all gussied up.

"Outta me way there, girlie! I'm a feelin' like a new man and I'm headin' on down to the pub to celebrate the recovery. Don't wait up!"

Typically, the symptoms of a hangover include, headache, dizziness, nausea, weakness, thirst, shakiness, and dry mouth. While it's true that alcohol is a diuretic, the common belief that drowning yourself in water will cure your hangover is simply not true. Of course, increasing your fluid intake will help re-hydrate you and make you feel better.

Drinking a little of what you had the night before is also commonly believed to cure a hangover but this is also false. It will only prolong the hangover. Coffee is a diuretic and will prolong your re-hydration.

Dad taught me that one of the very best cures for hangovers is tomato juice, which is high in fructose to help your body metabolize the alcohol faster. Also, Tylenol and Ibuprofen don't mix well with alcohol. Aspirins are the best pain relievers for a hangover.

Believe it or not, having sex is a great way to cure a hangover. Sex releases endorphins that can greatly reduce the symptoms and the exercise will speed up your circulation to push the toxins out of your body. Going back to bed and getting a couple more hours of sleep goes a long way in getting over a hangover as well.

There is no such thing as a cure for hangovers but there are remedies that can help you make a faster and easier recovery. Increase your water intake, drink a glass of tomato juice, take some aspirins, have sex and get a couple more hours of sleep.

This is my dad's no-nonsense homemade cure for hangovers.

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