Why does a hangover hurt your heart and how to get rid of it

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What is a hangover and how is it classified?

The hangover of a healthy person and an alcoholic are two completely different conditions. Without understanding the fundamental difference between them, it is impossible to prescribe adequate treatment for a hangover.

The basis of a hangover in a healthy person, the so-called veisalgia, is poisoning by the products of the breakdown of ethanol by liver cells. Acetaldehyde plays a major role in the formation of hangover symptoms. At the same time, the influence of alcohol itself and fusel oils contained in alcohol should not be excluded. A hangover manifests itself as a severe headache, nausea, vomiting, thirst (in common parlance, dried fruit) and other unpleasant sensations.

In a patient with chronic alcoholism, a hangover is a withdrawal syndrome and is called a hangover or withdrawal syndrome. It occurs due to the cessation of ethanol intake, which has already been integrated into the metabolic processes of the body and has become a physiological need. In fact, alcohol, as a more accessible and easily digestible energy material, replaces glucose and becomes vital. Alcohol withdrawal can provoke such severe conditions as delirium tremens and other alcoholic psychoses. A hangover, the treatment of which in this case requires the mandatory assistance of an experienced narcologist, has to be relieved with the help of a dropper. Its composition is determined by the doctor depending on the severity of the patient’s condition and the presence of concomitant diseases.

Treating alcoholism with acupuncture is an effective way to deal with addiction in the early stages.

Benefit or harm

No special preparation or effort is required to take the drug. Many are accustomed to simply drinking an effective remedy, like everyone else, and hoping for optimal results. However, the characteristics of the body and its reaction to taking any medications do not have common features. In certain cases, the dosage, composition and form of tablets are established solely taking into account all factors of the body’s functioning. Therefore, the obviously false concept of universal benefit cannot be regarded as adequate. The benefits of taking aspirin will be received by those who take it responsibly and according to all the rules and recommendations. They will help avoid complications, unforeseen situations and bleeding only if used correctly and rationally.

More details about the symptoms of a hangover - how do they manifest themselves and what causes them?

Everything that a person experiences with a hangover is a subjective unpleasant sensation. The most common symptoms of a hangover include:

• Throbbing, pounding, severe headache.
• Tachycardia and arrhythmias.
• Tremors of the hands and whole body. Patients often complain that they are shaking after drinking.
• Heartburn, dry mouth and severe thirst, the so-called dry mouth.
• A sharp reaction to extraneous stimuli - increased sensitivity to any loud sound, noise and light, causing a surge in severe headaches
• Redness of the sclera of the eyes.
• “Adrenaline melancholy” is a complex of depressive phenomena associated with a feeling of guilt for past drinking and one’s behavior.

All these manifestations, as I said earlier, are associated with acetaldehyde poisoning. The kinetics of its effect on the body is quite complex and not fully understood. It is believed that acetaldehyde, when interacting with the hormones dopamine and norepinephrine, forms tetrahydroisocholines, and carbonyls with the amino acid tryptophan. All these metabolic products of acetaldehyde have a psychotropic effect with an effect on motor activity and convulsive readiness of the body. This is why convulsions after alcohol and even epileptic seizures are possible.

The development of hangover symptoms is not influenced by the type of alcohol, although some experts believe that strong alcohol is less likely to lead to a hangover than low-alcohol drinks, cocktails, and sweet alcohol. Basically, the occurrence of a hangover in a healthy person is observed when the risk dose is exceeded - 1 g of pure ethanol per 1 kg of body weight.

In addition, the diuretic effect of ethanol leads to increased urination and disturbances in the electrolyte composition of the blood. It also causes and increases inflammation of the intestines, pancreas, stomach, liver and kidneys. Nausea and vomiting during a hangover are associated with the inflammatory reaction in the gastrointestinal tract.

Short-term memory loss

Taking large doses of alcohol can impair clarity of consciousness and a person may experience memory loss. Short-term amnesia after sobering up causes anxiety or fear in some people. Some experience anxiety until, on their own or with the help of drinking buddies, they reconstruct the series of events that happened the day before.

Some people, under the influence of alcohol, begin to behave strangely. They become completely inadequate. But some people can't remember this. After the alcoholic intoxication wears off, they are horrified by the realization that a series of ridiculous incidents are their doing. In addition, a person begins to be tormented by shame in front of loved ones for his actions and regret that nothing can be corrected now.

How severe can alcohol poisoning be?

It all depends on the severity of the poisoning. Depending on the ethyl alcohol content, the following degrees of alcohol poisoning are differentiated:

• A mild degree that occurs when the concentration of ethanol in the blood is no more than 1 ‰ (ppm is 1 thousandth of something or 1 tenth of a percent (‰ = 1⁄1000 = 0.1% = 0.001). This degree of intoxication is accompanied by moderate disturbances of autonomic function in in the form of facial flushing, increased breathing, tachycardia, as well as fine motor disorders.These manifestations do not require special medical intervention and go away on their own after a few hours of sleep.
• The average degree is observed at an alcohol concentration of 1 to 2.5 ‰. With a hangover, nausea, vomiting, pallor or cyanosis of the skin, severe shortness of breath and tachycardia, and possible arrhythmia often develop. In this condition, urgent detoxification is required by a drug treatment team called to the home. Hospitalization for moderate alcohol poisoning is not provided.
• Severe degree - ethanol content exceeds 2.5‰, sometimes reaching very high levels requiring resuscitation measures. Accompanied by depression of consciousness, misunderstanding of speech, change in skin color, vomiting, salivation (hypersalivation) and even coma. Convulsions, epileptic seizures, respiratory and cardiovascular disorders that are life-threatening may occur.

The state of severe intoxication can only be relieved in a hospital setting.

How alcohol affects the heart

There is a popular belief that alcoholic drinks are good for heart health. And this is partly true, small doses do have a protective effect on blood vessels. This amazing property is associated with the ability of ethanol to reduce the density of lipoproteins and cholesterol and stop their penetration into the walls of blood vessels.

It is also known that alcohol reduces the amount of fibrinogen, which prevents the formation of blood clots. But these beneficial properties of ethyl alcohol appear only if you drink no more than 10 grams per day. In other cases, alcohol is harmful to the heart muscle.

In acute alcohol poisoning, the following occurs:

• the contractile function of the myocardium is inhibited;
• sudden jumps in blood pressure;
• short-term dilation of blood vessels leads to their prolonged spasm;
• factors of severe arrhythmia arise - the amount of potassium in the blood decreases, the formation of catecholamines accelerates.

Chronic alcoholism leads to the development of alcoholic cardiomyopathy. This pathology occurs against the background of impaired synthesis of protein and ATP molecules. Such a malfunction in the body causes weakening of the heart muscle cells due to lack of energy.

Because of this, the myocardium loses function, the heart increases in size and is no longer able to cope with serious physical exertion, as a result the following occurs:

• swelling of the legs;
• severe shortness of breath, as well as rapid heartbeat when running, walking quickly or when climbing stairs;
• chest pain;
• difficulty breathing, lack of oxygen;
• arrhythmia.

If you do not pay attention to this in time and do not start treatment, the consequences may be unforeseen. With such damage to the heart, coronary insufficiency, extensive infarction, ventricular fibrillation and even cardiac arrest develop.

With a normal, healthy heart rhythm, the number of beats does not exceed 60-80.

How to relieve a hangover in a mildly intoxicated person?

Typically, a hangover in a healthy person lasts about 24 hours. You need to hold out for 24 hours. How to do it? Regardless of the severity of the symptoms, the most important way to relieve hangover symptoms is to quickly remove acetaldehyde from the body, and for this you need to drink as much as possible - water, weak sweet tea, tomato juice, cabbage or cucumber pickle.

When choosing an anti-hangover drink, listen to your body - drink what you want. The exception is strong tea or coffee. They will not help you, but will only increase the load on the heart, which is already damaged. It is advisable not to drink carbonated drinks.

And one more recommendation for mild intoxication is sleep, during which the liver enzyme systems will independently cope with the incoming dose of alcohol poison. What you should never do is get hungover. A new portion of alcohol will return the state of euphoria for an hour, but the ethanol processing systems already running in enhanced mode will quickly utilize ethanol to acetaldehyde and increase its concentration in the blood. This will ultimately only increase intoxication and initiate the onset of alcohol dependence. To summarize, we can say that if hangover intoxication is not severe, the best ways to cure a hangover are to drink plenty of fluids and sleep.

For severe headaches, you can take medications based on acetylsalicylic acid. To remove unabsorbed alcohol and reduce nausea, you can take enterosorbents. But do not experiment, use only drugs that you have already tested and tolerate well.

Fun without consequences

Of course, we are all aware of the harm alcohol can cause to the body. But sometimes everyone wants to relax in a fun company. After this, it is important to alleviate as much as possible the possible consequences of intoxication and dehydration. It’s better to prevent them with proper prevention and moderate alcohol consumption.

Buy Polysorb in the online pharmacy of your city.

What to do if the hangover is very severe?

If while drinking you have significantly exceeded your individual norm and the hangover is moderate to severe, then there is only one way to get rid of a hangover quickly - call a narcologist to your home. An experienced specialist, after examination and express diagnostics, will correctly assess the patient’s condition and prescribe adequate treatment. The fastest and most effective way to relieve a hangover is a dropper based on a saline solution with a composition that restores the water-salt and acid-base balance.

Additionally, the following devices can be connected to the dropper:

• Diuretics to force diuresis and rapid elimination of acetaldehyde.
• B vitamins, ascorbic acid (vitamin C).
• According to indications, sedatives, antihypertensive drugs, hepato- and cardioprotectors are prescribed.

We provide 3 types of drips for alcohol poisoning: standard, intensive and triple. The latter provides protection for the heart, liver, nerve cells and kidneys from the toxic effects of alcohol.

Only a doctor can decide what to do in case of a severe hangover with life-threatening symptoms. Typically, in such cases, treatment for a hangover is indicated only in a hospital, in order to ensure the provision of resuscitation measures as quickly and fully as possible.

Contraindications

Determining the effect of aspirin in certain cases is often difficult. Diseases in which the action of aspirin causes negative processes:

• gastrointestinal diseases;
• erosion and damage to the walls of the stomach;
• allergy;
• disorders of the kidneys and liver;
• chronic liver disease;
• asthma;
• chronic diseases of the cardiovascular system.

This group also includes persons with intolerance to the ingredients of the drug, undergoing hemodialysis and other courses of treatment using any medications.

What not to do if you have a hangover?

Let's rephrase the question: what should never be used to treat a hangover? Because all the actions of a person suffering from a hangover are aimed at alleviating the symptoms. At the same time, the set of methods and means can be very diverse. But if some of them really help, while others play the role of a placebo, then others can only do harm. It is precisely these methods that I want to warn against:

• As already mentioned, you should not relieve a hangover with coffee or strong tea. The caffeine contained in them increases the myocardial need for oxygen, and the heart already needs it. And besides, caffeine can increase blood pressure, and this is already dangerous and can result in a stroke.
• You shouldn't fight a hangover in a bathhouse. It seems that all toxic metabolites will be released with sweat. But this is far from true. Excessive sweating will cause even more severe dehydration of the body, which, together with high temperature and high humidity, can be extremely dangerous for the heart and result in a heart attack.
• And I won’t tire of repeating – you can’t get hungover. This is the greatest harm, leading to increased intoxication, alcoholization of the body, and even binge drinking. The latter is especially relevant for the first stage of alcoholism and symbolizes its transition to the second stage.

By the way, call an ambulance immediately if, during a hangover, you suddenly feel something unusual in the form of:

• too pronounced tachycardia, when the heart almost jumps out of the chest;
• interruptions in cardiac activity (arrhythmias);
• sharp throbbing headache;
• pressing pain behind the sternum radiating to the left arm, etc.

These may be symptoms of a stroke or heart attack.

A few more tips

In case of panic attacks due to a hangover, you should lie down on a comfortable sofa, relax your body muscles, and try to breathe evenly. Also, treatment of panic attacks after alcohol should include drinking sedatives or herbal tea, cleansing the body of toxins. It is recommended to listen to pleasant , calm music or sounds of nature. You can sign up for a massage. Communication with loved ones, favorite hobbies, and walks in the fresh air will also help you distract from anxious thoughts.

As for the prevention of panic attacks, it is necessary to stop drinking alcohol (in whole or in part). Watch your diet and exercise. Spend more time outdoors, watch your sleep (it should be at least 8-10 hours). Visit an experienced neuropsychiatrist.

Panic attacks cannot be ignored.
Associated symptoms will only intensify over time. The support of loved ones is of great importance in the fight against attacks. It’s enough just to be nearby, talk , calm. Reproaches will only make the situation worse. You should remain as calm as possible. Instead of scandals, you need to convince your loved one to see a narcologist and change their lifestyle. Without this, all efforts will be in vain.

What advice can you give to those suffering from a hangover?

The most important prevention of a hangover is not to abuse alcohol, and also to learn to say no to drinking company if you feel that your limit has already been exhausted. Of course, this is difficult to do - you need to have the will and character to resist temptation. But, if you do have too much, be prepared for a hangover and all its negative manifestations.

Read our articles on how to force your husband to stop drinking and start treatment for an alcohol-dependent person.

If you are feeling particularly hard the next morning, call ours - we will arrive as quickly as possible, promptly select an IV, and within an hour or two you will feel relatively normal and will even be able to go to work. Well, if the hangover is particularly severe, we will be able to completely restore your health upon admission to our clinic. The main thing is not to delay - because the sooner therapy begins, the faster and without complications there will be a way out of a hangover.

Helpful information

Find out:

1. Rules and features of treating blood pressure from pommel .
2. diarrhea and repeated vomiting occur after alcohol abuse and how are these conditions treated?
3. What does alcohol poisoning and how does delirium tremens ?
4. Why does a patient experience depression after binge drinking and what to do in this case.
5. How effective is succinic acid in eliminating hangover syndrome, and how can it be used independently?

Literature:

1. Endogenous intoxication syndrome (manual) / S. G. Musselius. — Ed. 2nd, revised and additional - Moscow: Author's book, 2019. - 356 p.
2. Addictology: psychology and psychotherapy of addictions / G. V. Starshenbaum. - Moscow: Kogito-Center, 2006 (Mozhaisk (Moscow region): Mozhaisk Printing Plant). — 366 p.
3. New reference book for a cardiologist: differential diagnosis of diseases, functional tests in cardiology, treatment of cardiovascular pathologies, new medical technologies / A. K. Myshkina. - Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 2007. – 348 p.