Nausea after drinking alcohol - what helps?

introduction

Many people know it: You go out in the evening and drink more than you thought. The next day the well-known hangover follows with nausea, headache and dizziness, which makes you feel limp, tired and sick. But what can you do to make you feel better again or to prevent the whole thing in advance? There are many anti-nausea options on the market, ranging from pills that you take beforehand to home remedies that relieve symptoms afterwards.

Concomitant symptoms

The typical symptoms after excessive alcohol consumption are of course not just nausea. There are many other symptoms that are collectively referred to as a "hangover". These include headaches, dizziness, body aches, racing heart, tremors, loss of appetite, vomiting, difficulty concentrating, thirst and a general feeling of malaise. People usually cannot stand loud noises because of their severe headaches. They are also less efficient for up to three days.

In general, most people spend the next day mainly in bed because they feel really sick. In any case, it's best to stay at home. In rare cases, mental and physical disorders can also occur.

Read more about Hangover After Drinking Alcohol - What To Do ?.

a headache

Headache is probably the most common symptom after drinking alcohol alongside nausea. They can range from mild to very severe headaches, depending on the amount of alcohol you drink. The cause of the headache is, on the one hand, an increased loss of fluid, since alcohol leads to an increased excretion of water. The liquid also excretes more minerals. As a result, a few hours after drinking alcohol, the body has far too little mineralized water. resulting in headaches.

Another cause of headaches is the denaturation of the body's own proteins (breakdown and destruction of function) by a harmful intermediate product of alcohol breakdown. The proteins (also called proteins) are very important for many functions of the body and therefore symptoms such as headaches occur when they are no longer functional.

Nausea Relief - What Really Helps?

In order to alleviate the symptoms of the hangover, especially the nausea, one should drink plenty of still water (carbon dioxide also irritates the stomach), only eat light things (for example fruit with honey) and rest. Medicines against nausea (for example Vomex®) or against headaches (Ibuprofen®, Paracetamol®, Aspirin®) can also help. However, if you are feeling sick, you should avoid taking pain pills, as Ibuprofen® and Aspirin® put additional strain on the stomach. Paracetamol® is also rather unsuitable because it is broken down by the liver after alcohol consumption.

In addition, a salty diet (e.g. herring, pickled cucumbers) and fruit spritzers are recommended in order to reabsorb minerals that the body has lost through water loss and possibly through vomiting. Eating little and drinking an herbal tea instead helps against severe nausea. Additionally, it can help cool the head to reduce headaches, dizziness, and related nausea. Fresh air is also good and helps against headaches.

Medicines: Vomex and Iberogast

Vomex® is a so-called Antiemetic (an anti-nausea drug). It inhibits the vomiting center in the brain and thus makes you feel less nauseous. It therefore also helps very well with nausea after drinking alcohol.

Iberogast® is a herbal remedy for gastrointestinal diseases. It is usually given in the form of drops and also contains alcohol, which may be counterproductive for a hangover. It is also more likely to treat Irritable bowel syndrome and gastritis (Gastric mucosal inflammation) and is therefore less effective against nausea than Vomex®.

Home remedies

The most important home remedy for hangover nausea is probably (still) mineral water to compensate for the loss of fluids and minerals and herbal tea for nausea. Alternatively, juice spritzers or mild vegetable juice are also possible. Salty food (pickles, pretzel sticks, broth) and yogurt with fruits and honey also help. This replaces the missing minerals and vitamins and the fructose also helps break down alcohol. If you are very sick, you should first drink a lot of herbal tea so that the stomach is not strained too much. Chamomile or sage tea are particularly suitable for this. In the event of dizziness and nausea while lying down, it can also help to position the upper body high (for example with additional pillows).

It also helps against the headache to rub peppermint oil on the forehead and temples. This has a relaxing and pain-relieving effect and you don't need a pain pill.

homeopathy

From homeopathy, “Nux vomica” (also known as vomitus) is particularly helpful for nausea. It has been shown to be effective as a home remedy for stomach pain, nausea, and vomiting.

In addition, the Schüßler salt No. 6 (Kalium Sulfuricum) can help with the detoxification processes and No. 5 (Kalium Phosphoricum) with nausea and nausea.

Duration - When does the nausea go away?

Typically, nausea begins a few hours after your last sip of alcohol and can last anywhere from one to three days. Depending on how much alcohol you have drunk and how well it can be broken down in the body, the nausea can last different lengths of time.

Women and Asians in particular often have a disadvantage here, as they only have a small amount of an alcohol-degrading enzyme.

causes

The cause of the hangover (summary of symptoms: nausea, headache, dizziness, malaise) is excessive alcohol consumption. The nausea in particular comes from the toxic breakdown products of alcohol, more precisely of ethanol. The alcohol is made in the liver by an enzyme that Alcohol dehydrogenase, converted to acetaldehyde. This is toxic to the organism and can therefore lead to side effects. Usually this harmful intermediate is made by another enzyme that Aldehyde dehydrogenase, converted into the less harmful acetic acid.

However, if you drink too quickly or too much alcohol, the second enzyme will no longer keep up and the harmful intermediate product, the aldehyde, will accumulate in the body. This leads to nausea and vomiting, which occurs shortly after drinking alcohol. The nausea the next day is caused by the acetic acid and the alcohol residues in the gastrointestinal tract. They attack the mucous membrane and lead to nausea.

In addition, many alcoholic beverages, especially cheap ones, contain methanol (harmful alcohol) in addition to ethanol (normal alcohol). Methanol is only broken down after ethanol, so the symptoms are usually delayed (when the hangover begins). In the case of methanol, both the intermediate product (formaldehyde) and the degradation product (formic acid) are highly toxic and probably contribute to a large part of the nausea.

The other symptoms of hangover are mainly caused by fluid loss after drinking alcohol. Alcohol ensures that more water is excreted and with it also many minerals. This leads to headaches, for example.

Find out more about the topic here Alcohol breakdown or Alcohol intolerance

diagnosis

The diagnosis can usually be made quite easily. The person is asked whether they had drunk more alcohol the day before or whether they generally experience nausea after drinking alcohol, even to a lesser extent. The consumption of cheap mixed drinks or many different alcohols can be particularly interesting. In addition, you should ask how much the person ate before consuming alcohol and what, because that too can influence alcohol breakdown. If the symptoms persist for more than 2-3 days after drinking alcohol, other diseases should be ruled out.

How to Avoid Nausea After Drinking Alcohol?

Probably the easiest way to avoid nausea is to drink less alcohol. But of course it also depends on what alcohol you drink, etc. Here are a few tips on how the hangover is weaker:

1. Before consuming alcohol, eat enough and as high in fat as possible (french fries, pizza cheeseburger, pasta with lots of cheese), as the fat ensures that the alcohol is absorbed into the blood more slowly and the enzymes have more time to break it down.
2. Drink water again and again while drinking alcohol to counteract water loss and to dilute the alcohol in the blood (preferably a glass of alcohol, then a glass of water).
3. Do not drink cheap alcohols (especially cheap mixed drinks), as these often contain methanol, which is partly responsible for the nausea.
4. In addition, drinks containing sugar or carbonated acid are not recommended, as the sugar and acidity increase and accelerate the absorption and effects of alcohol.
5. Stick to one alcohol and don't constantly switch back and forth between the different types of alcohol. This can also relieve the hangover symptoms.