hangovers these days may be only for those who can't pay up
March 9, 2020 9:02 AM Subscribe
Hangover Inc.: The Companies Getting You Over Last Night (Bloomberg): Once a hush-hush luxury for the quietly-pampered, banana bags outside the hospital are hitting the mainstream from New York and Las Vegas to London and Dubai. [...] Why suffer? If you believe it works -- and not everyone does -- hangovers these days may be only for those who can't pay up. The sessions cost several hundred dollars in most cases. They occupy a niche in what burgeoning providers prefer to cast as a trend toward "wellness" in an I.V. bag, rather than an unseemly hangover insta-cure.
Previously in 2014: You poor thing — were you overserved again?
Previously in 2014: You poor thing — were you overserved again?
Alcohol is the primary vice of choice before soliciting a hangover treatment in New York, according to Adam Nadelson of the I.V. Doc and Maurice Beer of NutriDrip.
Nadelson (lit. "needle son") and Beer. Incredible.
If these treatments are effective, then by all means help rich people drink themselves into an early grave. If they aren't effective, then I don't have too much sympathy for rich people who get fleeced by snake oil salesmen, especially when it's rich people trying to avoid the consequences of their actions.
What I do have a problem with is rich people billing it to company expense accounts, which is just another way to steal from workers:
“People don’t want to go back home and have the accounting department ask what the $600 charge to Hangover Heaven was,” Burke said. Credit card charges show up as Vita Heaven.
posted by jedicus at 9:12 AM on March 9, 2020 [16 favorites]
Nadelson (lit. "needle son") and Beer. Incredible.
If these treatments are effective, then by all means help rich people drink themselves into an early grave. If they aren't effective, then I don't have too much sympathy for rich people who get fleeced by snake oil salesmen, especially when it's rich people trying to avoid the consequences of their actions.
What I do have a problem with is rich people billing it to company expense accounts, which is just another way to steal from workers:
“People don’t want to go back home and have the accounting department ask what the $600 charge to Hangover Heaven was,” Burke said. Credit card charges show up as Vita Heaven.
posted by jedicus at 9:12 AM on March 9, 2020 [16 favorites]
Amateurs.
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:19 AM on March 9, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:19 AM on March 9, 2020 [6 favorites]
You know, if they really could help nausea, this could be so good for people with morning sickness. I've been hungover, and I've had morning sickness - would take being hungover, because at least that subsides after coffee and donuts. But I think the nausea bit is just regular meds (and they already have strong ones for pregnant people).
posted by jb at 9:29 AM on March 9, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by jb at 9:29 AM on March 9, 2020 [2 favorites]
On the one hand, a lot of medical treatments start out as expensive toys for the idle rich and then filter down to common use.
On the other hand, a lot of medical treatments start out as expensive toys for the idle rich and then remain that way because they're utter quackery.
posted by Etrigan at 9:36 AM on March 9, 2020 [12 favorites]
On the other hand, a lot of medical treatments start out as expensive toys for the idle rich and then remain that way because they're utter quackery.
posted by Etrigan at 9:36 AM on March 9, 2020 [12 favorites]
Non-essential needle in my vein? No thanks! I'll have a Gatorade instead.
posted by grumpybear69 at 9:36 AM on March 9, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by grumpybear69 at 9:36 AM on March 9, 2020 [4 favorites]
banana bags
Does this have any etymological relationship to the slang banana boat?
posted by thelonius at 9:39 AM on March 9, 2020
Does this have any etymological relationship to the slang banana boat?
posted by thelonius at 9:39 AM on March 9, 2020
Friend of mine wound up in the hospital once back in college, due to drinking too much. She spent the night there getting IV fluids and swears up and down that she has never felt as good in her life as she did the day after.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 9:46 AM on March 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by rabbitrabbit at 9:46 AM on March 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
On the one hand, a lot of medical treatments start out as expensive toys for the idle rich and then filter down to common use.
We've had this discussion on the blue at least twice before, and I seem to remember that both (or more) times a nursing student chimed in to say that people have been curing hangovers with IVs in med school as long as their have been IVs.
posted by sideshow at 9:47 AM on March 9, 2020 [22 favorites]
We've had this discussion on the blue at least twice before, and I seem to remember that both (or more) times a nursing student chimed in to say that people have been curing hangovers with IVs in med school as long as their have been IVs.
posted by sideshow at 9:47 AM on March 9, 2020 [22 favorites]
See also paramedics and EMTs. A little oxygen and saline is generally enough, you don't even need the electrolytes.
posted by poe at 9:52 AM on March 9, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by poe at 9:52 AM on March 9, 2020 [3 favorites]
I have seen a van in a graphic wrap designed to make it kinda-sorta look like an ambulance, parked on Austin's notorious 6th St, dispensing these hangover-cure IVs. So this has been around for a while at a level accessible to the hoi polloi.
I also have a friend who had been overdoing things a bit at a festival and apparently looked the worse for it. A guy pulled him aside, told him that he was a former combat medic, and put an IV in his arm (yes, this is incredibly weird). 30 minutes later, he felt great.
posted by adamrice at 9:53 AM on March 9, 2020 [3 favorites]
I also have a friend who had been overdoing things a bit at a festival and apparently looked the worse for it. A guy pulled him aside, told him that he was a former combat medic, and put an IV in his arm (yes, this is incredibly weird). 30 minutes later, he felt great.
posted by adamrice at 9:53 AM on March 9, 2020 [3 favorites]
Yeah the "IV for a hangover so you can get through your shift" thing is a sort of running joke / reality for medical people. One of the perqs of the job. Right along with the mainline injection of booze for when you're off your shift and don't have time to butt chug or just drink yourself back to a stupor like a civilized human being.
The slang banana bag is new to me but it's a thing. So called because the IV solution is yellow.
Makes perfect sense this would be a product you could buy in America. Not FDA approved, naturally, but who cares about that when you have something new to inject!
posted by Nelson at 9:55 AM on March 9, 2020
The slang banana bag is new to me but it's a thing. So called because the IV solution is yellow.
Makes perfect sense this would be a product you could buy in America. Not FDA approved, naturally, but who cares about that when you have something new to inject!
posted by Nelson at 9:55 AM on March 9, 2020
I also have a friend who had been overdoing things a bit at a festival and apparently looked the worse for it. A guy pulled him aside, told him that he was a former combat medic, and put an IV in his arm (yes, this is incredibly weird). 30 minutes later, he felt great.
I think I just found the next Law & Order ripped from the headlines episode.
posted by ian1977 at 9:57 AM on March 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
I think I just found the next Law & Order ripped from the headlines episode.
posted by ian1977 at 9:57 AM on March 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
Man oh man, do I not miss drinking.
posted by teh_boy at 10:07 AM on March 9, 2020 [23 favorites]
posted by teh_boy at 10:07 AM on March 9, 2020 [23 favorites]
Shit like this is why I'm not okay with everyone just spending their money on whatever they want.
posted by GoblinHoney at 10:14 AM on March 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by GoblinHoney at 10:14 AM on March 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
This is already here, if not for the everyman, at least for the slightly upper middle class. I live next to a large state university, and we have at least one of these joints next to campus, their basic hydration package is $90. Granted, that's not exactly pocket change, but it's not any more than the bar bill the privileged kids rack up to get a nasty hangover.
State Universities in the USA are on the cutting edge of binge drinking, I'd be surprised if there's not an IV hangover business next to every one of the to 50 by size.
TLDR: it has alread spread much farther than the megalopolises.
posted by SaltySalticid at 10:18 AM on March 9, 2020 [3 favorites]
State Universities in the USA are on the cutting edge of binge drinking, I'd be surprised if there's not an IV hangover business next to every one of the to 50 by size.
TLDR: it has alread spread much farther than the megalopolises.
posted by SaltySalticid at 10:18 AM on March 9, 2020 [3 favorites]
We used to frequent a watering hole that a sign behind the bar that read, "Hangovers installed and serviced here"...
posted by jim in austin at 10:24 AM on March 9, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by jim in austin at 10:24 AM on March 9, 2020 [6 favorites]
Not FDA approved, naturally, but who cares about that when you have something new to inject!
I'm pretty sure the coke and molly the 50% of their clients show up with hangovers from isn't FDA approved either, fwiw.
posted by bonehead at 10:36 AM on March 9, 2020
I'm pretty sure the coke and molly the 50% of their clients show up with hangovers from isn't FDA approved either, fwiw.
posted by bonehead at 10:36 AM on March 9, 2020
I just got a Facebook ad for an outfit that does a) "nutrient infusion" and b) Ketamine infusion.
Don't mix up the bags, is all I can say...
posted by BungaDunga at 10:45 AM on March 9, 2020
Don't mix up the bags, is all I can say...
posted by BungaDunga at 10:45 AM on March 9, 2020
I mean I’m pretty sure that IV fluids will help a hangover, since the symptoms are largely dehydration-related
I think that this is largely a myth, at least in respect of the kind of hangovers people are paying hundreds of dollars in the hope of relieving. Dehydration contributes to the headache and weakness, primarily, in the early hours of your hangover. But after that your main problem is probably the acetaldehyde that your still drunk body is now metabolizing from the alcohol in your bloodstream. But it could be the hormonal changes or the lack of glucose, or possibly methanol metabolized from congeners. And that's leaving aside the likelihood that some people with IV earning hangovers are experiencing some degree of alcohol dependence and may be experiencing early withdrawal symptoms
posted by howfar at 10:46 AM on March 9, 2020 [15 favorites]
I think that this is largely a myth, at least in respect of the kind of hangovers people are paying hundreds of dollars in the hope of relieving. Dehydration contributes to the headache and weakness, primarily, in the early hours of your hangover. But after that your main problem is probably the acetaldehyde that your still drunk body is now metabolizing from the alcohol in your bloodstream. But it could be the hormonal changes or the lack of glucose, or possibly methanol metabolized from congeners. And that's leaving aside the likelihood that some people with IV earning hangovers are experiencing some degree of alcohol dependence and may be experiencing early withdrawal symptoms
“I am told by those who know that there are six varieties of hangover — the Broken Compass, the Sewing Machine, the Comet, the Atomic, the Cement Mixer and the Gremlin Boogie, and his manner suggested that he had got them all.” - P.G. Wodehouse, The Mating SeasonI do not drink anymore; the fact that a proper hangover is a terrible, desperate, desolate thing is the main reason why. I don't believe in hangover cures. I looked for them and they sadly don't exist.
posted by howfar at 10:46 AM on March 9, 2020 [15 favorites]
I was taking Emergen-C packets and they really helped my 2-hours-post-drinking-a-single-beer hangovers. I've sense switched to GatorAide and that seems to work just as well.
posted by rebent at 10:47 AM on March 9, 2020
posted by rebent at 10:47 AM on March 9, 2020
Alcoholic chiming in here. If you're resorting to IV fluids to avoid the consequences of your drinking, you may be in trouble. I can't tell you how many people I've met who thought they found the One Weird Trick for getting away with drinking to excess.
It's a lot of people, including me.
If you're sticking a needle into your arm because you couldn't say no last night, then you are in the middle of a story. You think you're at the beginning, but you're not. You're in the middle of a story about all the different shortcuts you can find to control how you feel. It's going to be harder to change than you expect.
As usual with these things, your mileage may vary.
posted by Horkus at 10:53 AM on March 9, 2020 [54 favorites]
It's a lot of people, including me.
If you're sticking a needle into your arm because you couldn't say no last night, then you are in the middle of a story. You think you're at the beginning, but you're not. You're in the middle of a story about all the different shortcuts you can find to control how you feel. It's going to be harder to change than you expect.
As usual with these things, your mileage may vary.
posted by Horkus at 10:53 AM on March 9, 2020 [54 favorites]
Not FDA approved, naturally
Well, not FDA approved as a treatment for hangovers, mostly because I don't think "hangover" is a well-defined medical condition. It's more a basket of symptoms, some of which are probably related to dehydration and others that aren't. (I am also willing to bet that hangovers are at least partially culturally defined, and what people vehemently think causes or cures hangovers varies from place to place.)
But the saline or dextrose IV solution these places are using is probably FDA approved, in the sense that it's medical grade. I doubt they're just mixing it up in a pitcher in back; their insurance would probably have some issues with that. Plus, giving your customers sepsis is a bad way to win repeat business—and I bet these places thrive on repeat customers (i.e. binge drinkers, college students, but I repeat myself).
The only real downside to this sort of thing getting popular, that I can think of, is that there's occasionally shortages of IV saline (much of it is manufactured in Puerto Rico, so there was a shortage after Maria hit). However, you could argue that by increasing demand for IV fluids beyond what's strictly necessary for normal medical purposes it encourages more production, and that could protect against supply shocks in the future. Probably a wash in the end.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:54 AM on March 9, 2020
Well, not FDA approved as a treatment for hangovers, mostly because I don't think "hangover" is a well-defined medical condition. It's more a basket of symptoms, some of which are probably related to dehydration and others that aren't. (I am also willing to bet that hangovers are at least partially culturally defined, and what people vehemently think causes or cures hangovers varies from place to place.)
But the saline or dextrose IV solution these places are using is probably FDA approved, in the sense that it's medical grade. I doubt they're just mixing it up in a pitcher in back; their insurance would probably have some issues with that. Plus, giving your customers sepsis is a bad way to win repeat business—and I bet these places thrive on repeat customers (i.e. binge drinkers, college students, but I repeat myself).
The only real downside to this sort of thing getting popular, that I can think of, is that there's occasionally shortages of IV saline (much of it is manufactured in Puerto Rico, so there was a shortage after Maria hit). However, you could argue that by increasing demand for IV fluids beyond what's strictly necessary for normal medical purposes it encourages more production, and that could protect against supply shocks in the future. Probably a wash in the end.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:54 AM on March 9, 2020
I heard about these services at least ten years ago. Then saw one of them advertised in Las Vegas once. I would have given my left arm for this some days. Trying anything is desirable. Full-blown alcohol withdrawal is a nightmare, and many of my old hangovers were at least partially withdrawal. Dehydration is part of it. But after days-long binges, you suffer from rebound-anxiety as well. Your brain has reset itself so the depressed, drunken state becomes "normal" and as the alcohol is metabolized and not replaced, you swing the other way. Your brain becomes hyper-sensitive, jitters, zaps, easily startled and spooked. Elevated heartbeat. Cold sweat. Hot flashes. Nightmarish half-sleep at best.
Combined with hydration (bypassing the usual method via a now-ravaged intestinal tract), I think sitting still (can't move around much with an IV), chit chatting with a nurse-type administrator and simply the placebo effect of spending money to feel better... I'd guess these could be highly effective treatments.
No more.
posted by SoberHighland at 10:55 AM on March 9, 2020 [5 favorites]
Combined with hydration (bypassing the usual method via a now-ravaged intestinal tract), I think sitting still (can't move around much with an IV), chit chatting with a nurse-type administrator and simply the placebo effect of spending money to feel better... I'd guess these could be highly effective treatments.
No more.
posted by SoberHighland at 10:55 AM on March 9, 2020 [5 favorites]
Sipping on pedialyte or hydralyte is a lot cheaper than dripping saline into your veins, and less sugary than "sports" drinks.
posted by porpoise at 11:26 AM on March 9, 2020
posted by porpoise at 11:26 AM on March 9, 2020
Never really a big hangover person; but when I have, I've always dreamt of much more than a banana bag. (Yes, so called because the solution within was yellow, rather than pure saline's clear.)
Where's the high colonic? Gastric lavage? Full Blood and Lymph Replacement? I want someone with a ton of blood-temperature saline to hose out the crusty boogers in my craniofacial sinuses, and to have my ears de-waxed. Pop my eyeballs out and wash all the grit off the back sides. Lock me in a sauna with chilled bottled water until I'm sweating pure Evian like a garden sprinkler.
This, this is nice, but it's probably for the bonding experience (Best Bachelorette Party Ever!) or "oh shit, I have to be at work in four hours". I want to be put up on the hydraulic lift and have everything drained and replaced, like a bodily fluid Jiffy Lube.
posted by bartleby at 12:15 PM on March 9, 2020 [13 favorites]
Where's the high colonic? Gastric lavage? Full Blood and Lymph Replacement? I want someone with a ton of blood-temperature saline to hose out the crusty boogers in my craniofacial sinuses, and to have my ears de-waxed. Pop my eyeballs out and wash all the grit off the back sides. Lock me in a sauna with chilled bottled water until I'm sweating pure Evian like a garden sprinkler.
This, this is nice, but it's probably for the bonding experience (Best Bachelorette Party Ever!) or "oh shit, I have to be at work in four hours". I want to be put up on the hydraulic lift and have everything drained and replaced, like a bodily fluid Jiffy Lube.
posted by bartleby at 12:15 PM on March 9, 2020 [13 favorites]
Alcoholic chiming in here
As many before me have eventually come to reflect, the first two-day hangover could have been the stop where I got off. This is a sign that you have strayed far off the path. And, as the saying goes, if you drank, say, a half-gallon of orange juice, and it made you sick for two days, not because it had gone bad but because it was working as designed, would you go back and say "I gotta get me another half-gallon of orange juice"? No, probably you would not do that.
posted by thelonius at 12:52 PM on March 9, 2020 [7 favorites]
As many before me have eventually come to reflect, the first two-day hangover could have been the stop where I got off. This is a sign that you have strayed far off the path. And, as the saying goes, if you drank, say, a half-gallon of orange juice, and it made you sick for two days, not because it had gone bad but because it was working as designed, would you go back and say "I gotta get me another half-gallon of orange juice"? No, probably you would not do that.
posted by thelonius at 12:52 PM on March 9, 2020 [7 favorites]
I am a nurse in Vegas and know other nurses who have worked for these mobile hang-over IV cure companies. A few years ago they all got in “ BIG TROUBLE” for not having the right MD orders, improperly having IV supplies with no orders on hand and diagnosing conditions as an RN when that’s beyond our scope of care. Plus a few of them told me they were required to wear “sexy nurse” costumes not scrubs and go into strangers hotel rooms alone. I mean, WTF. We don’t even use banana bags in the hospital anymore so all of this is...yuck.
posted by yodelingisfun at 12:56 PM on March 9, 2020 [13 favorites]
posted by yodelingisfun at 12:56 PM on March 9, 2020 [13 favorites]
this has definitely been a thing for ages but god the first time i heard the phrase "banana bag" used in this context was hilarious bc previously that referred to a certain type of extremely brief european men's swimwear
posted by poffin boffin at 1:00 PM on March 9, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 1:00 PM on March 9, 2020 [5 favorites]
cannot comment on the efficacy of the manthong at curing hangovers
posted by poffin boffin at 1:00 PM on March 9, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 1:00 PM on March 9, 2020 [4 favorites]
I just take an ibuprofin before going to bed.
I always wonder why people tout this. It will only be effective for a few hours, you will presumably sleep longer. It might help with waking up in the middle of the night with a headache and that keeping you up. The fact that you are taking 200-800mg of ibuprofen (or aspirin or DON'T DO THIS BUT PEOPLE SURE DO Tylenol) before bed isn't stopping a hangover.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 1:01 PM on March 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
I always wonder why people tout this. It will only be effective for a few hours, you will presumably sleep longer. It might help with waking up in the middle of the night with a headache and that keeping you up. The fact that you are taking 200-800mg of ibuprofen (or aspirin or DON'T DO THIS BUT PEOPLE SURE DO Tylenol) before bed isn't stopping a hangover.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 1:01 PM on March 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
Not enough people seem aware that Tylenol is hard on your liver, so should never be taken on top of alcohol. As far as aspirin goes, my firefighter dad warned me off using it because they'd had a case where it had thinned a guy's blood so much he'd bled to death into his stomach while passed out.
posted by bonobothegreat at 1:23 PM on March 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by bonobothegreat at 1:23 PM on March 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
(or aspirin or DON'T DO THIS BUT PEOPLE SURE DO Tylenol)
I used to down Goody's or BC Headache Powders when hungover, before I learned this. This is aspirin, acetaminophen, and caffeine in powdered form. (The caffeine helps dilate capillaries in your headache center or something). So this worked great, but I did not know that it's veery bad for your liver to combine alcohol and acetaminophen. I think the alcohol is occupying the metabolic pathway that the acetaminophen needs, so it builds up or is broken down by a different one that is more harmful. The main thing is, don't do it.
posted by thelonius at 1:24 PM on March 9, 2020
I used to down Goody's or BC Headache Powders when hungover, before I learned this. This is aspirin, acetaminophen, and caffeine in powdered form. (The caffeine helps dilate capillaries in your headache center or something). So this worked great, but I did not know that it's veery bad for your liver to combine alcohol and acetaminophen. I think the alcohol is occupying the metabolic pathway that the acetaminophen needs, so it builds up or is broken down by a different one that is more harmful. The main thing is, don't do it.
posted by thelonius at 1:24 PM on March 9, 2020
Where's the high colonic? Gastric lavage? Full Blood and Lymph Replacement? I want someone with a ton of blood-temperature saline to hose out the crusty boogers in my craniofacial sinuses, and to have my ears de-waxed. Pop my eyeballs out and wash all the grit off the back sides. Lock me in a sauna with chilled bottled water until I'm sweating pure Evian like a garden sprinkler.
This. I could have swore I just read about 8000 words on how nobody knows what a hangover is within the past, oh, it might have been more than 5 years, but not many. Ah, it was over 10 years ago: here we go.
So, I'm voting snake oil on this post.
posted by rhizome at 2:43 PM on March 9, 2020
This. I could have swore I just read about 8000 words on how nobody knows what a hangover is within the past, oh, it might have been more than 5 years, but not many. Ah, it was over 10 years ago: here we go.
So, I'm voting snake oil on this post.
posted by rhizome at 2:43 PM on March 9, 2020
I used to down Goody's or BC Headache Powders when hungover, before I learned this. This is aspirin, acetaminophen, and caffeine in powdered form. (The caffeine helps dilate capillaries in your headache center or something).
This is the ancient secret of Excedrin, isn't it? And I thought the caffeine was to alleviate caffeine headaches, if present, from not having drunk coffee that day yet or something.
posted by rhizome at 2:45 PM on March 9, 2020
This is the ancient secret of Excedrin, isn't it? And I thought the caffeine was to alleviate caffeine headaches, if present, from not having drunk coffee that day yet or something.
posted by rhizome at 2:45 PM on March 9, 2020
This is the ancient secret of Excedrin, isn't it?
Yes I think so, but it's not in powder form, which you pour onto your tongue and then, down the hatch with a glass of water. Very satisfying!
posted by thelonius at 4:01 PM on March 9, 2020
Yes I think so, but it's not in powder form, which you pour onto your tongue and then, down the hatch with a glass of water. Very satisfying!
posted by thelonius at 4:01 PM on March 9, 2020
Once on a flight to Vegas, I say next to a traveling nurse who was meeting some of her nurse buddies there, and part of their going-out prep was setting up the banana bags they'd hook themselves up to before passing out. She swore that she never got hungover that way. At the worst, she had swollen ankles.
I was oddly cheered to know that somewhere out there were nurses who were so confident in their IV-stick skills, they were fine with doing it while drunk.
posted by sobell at 4:16 PM on March 9, 2020 [5 favorites]
I was oddly cheered to know that somewhere out there were nurses who were so confident in their IV-stick skills, they were fine with doing it while drunk.
posted by sobell at 4:16 PM on March 9, 2020 [5 favorites]
extremely brief european men's swimwear
That’s the banana hammock where I come from.
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:32 PM on March 9, 2020 [2 favorites]
That’s the banana hammock where I come from.
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:32 PM on March 9, 2020 [2 favorites]
bro just buy a pedialyte for $3
posted by gucci mane at 6:24 PM on March 9, 2020
posted by gucci mane at 6:24 PM on March 9, 2020
I've known this for over 20 years... An IV is fantastic and yes it will cure hangovers. It does not absolve you from all consequences, especially when administered by your dad.
posted by Nanukthedog at 6:29 PM on March 9, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by Nanukthedog at 6:29 PM on March 9, 2020 [8 favorites]
EMT class. Every Saturday morning there was at least one hanging a banana bag and sucking high-flown O2.
posted by j_curiouser at 8:14 PM on March 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by j_curiouser at 8:14 PM on March 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
Not enough people seem aware that Tylenol is hard on your liver, so should never be taken on top of alcohol.
There's a sort of interesting "well actually" about this. It seems to be true that recent or regular drinking increases one's vulnerability to the toxic effects of Tylenol. However taking a whole bunch of Tylenol with alcohol at the same time/in your system might actually be safer than taking a bunch of Tylenol alone, because the alcohol will competitively inhibit the pathway that turns Tylenol into a toxic metabolite.
not recommended regardless though I'm not sure it's great to drink with ibuprofen regularly either
posted by atoxyl at 11:54 PM on March 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
There's a sort of interesting "well actually" about this. It seems to be true that recent or regular drinking increases one's vulnerability to the toxic effects of Tylenol. However taking a whole bunch of Tylenol with alcohol at the same time/in your system might actually be safer than taking a bunch of Tylenol alone, because the alcohol will competitively inhibit the pathway that turns Tylenol into a toxic metabolite.
not recommended regardless though I'm not sure it's great to drink with ibuprofen regularly either
posted by atoxyl at 11:54 PM on March 9, 2020 [1 favorite]
I saw a website for one of these a year or two ago because fellow Verizon employees were sick and it was busy season in our department. They don't just do hangovers. Iirc, they had IV cocktails for people suffering from flu and other things. Like it was touted as, "Feeling like hell because of *, we have a bag for that and can come to you!" One was just like vitamins and stuff for "girls night," like oh yeah let's paint our nails, do a facial, and take in a massive amount of vitamins.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 6:49 AM on March 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 6:49 AM on March 10, 2020 [1 favorite]
Ibuprofen isn't metabolized by the liver, but it is hard on your stomach and gut as are alcohol. So less liver failure, but more my stomach may bleed! Which isn't good.
To be clear to everyone, NEVER combine acetaminophen and alcohol. And yes, it's 100% worth it to be a scold if you hear someone doing that. They don't realize they can just ruin their liver in one night.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 7:29 AM on March 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
To be clear to everyone, NEVER combine acetaminophen and alcohol. And yes, it's 100% worth it to be a scold if you hear someone doing that. They don't realize they can just ruin their liver in one night.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 7:29 AM on March 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
They don't realize they can just ruin their liver in one night.
That's because they can't. (I mean, they could take an overdose of paracetamol, but I've never seen evidence that alcohol lowers the threshold.)
posted by ambrosen at 10:09 AM on March 10, 2020
That's because they can't. (I mean, they could take an overdose of paracetamol, but I've never seen evidence that alcohol lowers the threshold.)
posted by ambrosen at 10:09 AM on March 10, 2020
Well, if there's one thing drunk people are known for it's dosing correctly.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 10:20 AM on March 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 10:20 AM on March 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
Based on the mechanism, one would expect chronic alcohol intake (or significant drinking in the recent past with enough time offset for it to metabolize) to lower the threshold for acetaminophen toxicity, and acute concomitant alcohol intake to raise it.
here's a study that seems to back that up to some extent
Practically speaking I think the protective effects may be more relevant to massive/intentional overdoses (more likely to survive if you take the pills with alcohol) and the negative interaction may be more "be cautious about Tylenol dose in general if you are a heavy drinker, without worrying too much about timing to avoid having them in your system at the same time."
posted by atoxyl at 12:56 PM on March 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
here's a study that seems to back that up to some extent
Practically speaking I think the protective effects may be more relevant to massive/intentional overdoses (more likely to survive if you take the pills with alcohol) and the negative interaction may be more "be cautious about Tylenol dose in general if you are a heavy drinker, without worrying too much about timing to avoid having them in your system at the same time."
posted by atoxyl at 12:56 PM on March 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
Yes. The increased public awareness of paracetamol/acetaminophen toxicity is a good thing, but one reason it's such a widely available drug is that it has pretty low acute toxicity. If it were common for people to mess up a dose or two and end up needing a transplant, paracetamol would have to be much more strictly controlled than it is.
That said, it's still good to be scared of it, despite the fact that it can be an extremely effective painkiller. In particular, I think that chronic paracetamol toxicity seems widely underestimated, and I'm not sure that we're yet conscious enough of the potential risks of taking it for prolonged periods.
posted by howfar at 2:21 PM on March 10, 2020
That said, it's still good to be scared of it, despite the fact that it can be an extremely effective painkiller. In particular, I think that chronic paracetamol toxicity seems widely underestimated, and I'm not sure that we're yet conscious enough of the potential risks of taking it for prolonged periods.
posted by howfar at 2:21 PM on March 10, 2020
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posted by snowmentality at 9:12 AM on March 9, 2020 [3 favorites]