Humongous headache, nausea, scorched mouth, timeworn and shaky with room-spinning lightheadedness – ever woken up with the tactual sensation that you may have intoxicated a bit too much intoxicant the night before? Hangovers are not fun, but a superfluity of “cures” live on – from recommendations of “hair of the dog” (more alcohol) to cold pizza. But few of these have been subjected to scientific analysis. So is there a real cure?
Researchers from Peninsula Aesculapian School at the universities of Exeter and Plymouth in the UK searched checkup databases and the internet, and contacted experts and manufacturers for randomised controlled trials of any medical intervention for preventing or treating intoxicant hangover.
They found ogdoad trials testing viii dissimilar agents: propranolol (a beta-blocking drug), tropisetron (a drug for nausea and vertigo), tolfenamic back breaker (a painkiller), fruit sugar or glucose, and the dietetical supplements borage, artichoke, prickly pear, and a barm based preparation.
Do you have your own foolproof holdover bring around Tell us...Discuss this story >> The legal age of trials showed no salutary effects, although three – linolenic acid extracted from borage, the yeast-based preparation, and tolfenamic acid – “seemed to show some rebuff effect, although it is premature to affirm this”, according to Edzard Ernst, who carried out the research.
“The range of treatments tested show that there is a lack of reason of what is mechanistically behind a hangover,” he adds.
Ernst says that he thinks it is unbelievable a remedy will be found, and points out the ethical issues tangled in finding one: “It could lead to people drinking more alcohol because they think it is harmless.
“A katzenjammer is nature’s way of saying alcohol is unsound for you,” he says, adding: “the most efficient way to fend off the symptoms of a hangover is to practice abstention and moderation.”
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