Never Again

Last December I had a horrible reaction to a party I went to. I drank a lot at this party. Beer after beer after beer. Usually I am good about this. I eat dinner before I go out and then, being that I normally have to drive, my drinking is limited. But last December I drank so much on an empty stomach and had a ride home that I ended up with a hangover so bad it took me to urgent care. You can read all about it here: http://muserantramble.blogspot.com/2008/12/poisoned.html

It turns out, I wasn't poisoned, nor was it due to my hangover. A nasty, nasty 12 hour flu bug had been going around and I happened to catch it.

At least that's what I thought.

This weekend, it happened again.

Saturday night I went to see Cloud Cult (one of my favorite bands) at First Avenue. I was super excited. A lot of my friends were going. Some I hadn't seen in a while. It was going to be a good night and I was in a great mood. Maybe too good. I drank way too much. I don't even know how. I think it was the 2 vodka tonics I had in between the extra large bottles of Summit that did me in. Because the next morning I barely remembered a thing and I still felt drunk. My head was swimming. So I did the only logical thing I could think of: I threw up. Bad idea. Really bad idea. Because, although in the initial moments following my purge I felt great, shortly after it all went to hell. That horrible stomach pain returned. I don't even know how to explain this pain. It's like someone keeps punching right in the stomach over and over again. And it comes in waves - almost like contractions. I would take one sip of water and the pain would come rushing back. It would start me sobbing - almost screaming in agony. But, it's not really a "pain", it's just awful horrible nausea. Then, it will stop and I'll take some deep breaths and be able to close my eyes for a minute. All I want to do is go back to sleep. But as soon as I start to drift, the feeling comes back.

This time, I knew I had to stay hydrated. So no matter how tempting that brief relief from puking was, I held it in. Eventually, after a couple of hours of this, I fell asleep. I woke up and felt much better. I made some soup and was eating solids by days end. But my whole Sunday was ruined. We had so many plans for the day. All were lost to the hangover from hell.

So, what have I learned?

1) Always, always eat a nice dinner before drinking.
2) Do not mix alchohol. No beer and liquor nights.
3) Drink lots of water while out.
4) If I wake up with a hangover, try to go back to sleep.
5) Under no circumstances do I make myself throw up. This seems to be the catalycst each time.

I never want to feel that way again.