Feeling Great on a Hangover?

marko9437

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Apr 13, 2021
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Does anybody else get the thing where they (in some aspects) feel great on a hangover (for me it's usually from many beers)?

Aside from my head feeling like it might explode I'm in a really good mood, and can focus really well.

What might be the cause of that?

If I knew I'd be interested to bring it about in a different, healthier way.

Something about the energy content of alcohol, or is it the beer carbs and blood sugar? Or perhaps the body urgently releasing some stuff to counteract the damage you've done that also makes you feel great?
 

Bluebell

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May 24, 2013
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585
Yes, I get that too. Often it's compounded by a lack of sleep, which seems to make it even more so. It feels like a high dopamine state. Lots of energy, focus, ability to do stuff.
 

TheSir

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Jan 6, 2019
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Yep. After the comedown, clear thoughts, motivated and driven, high libido. Also clear tongue, so perhaps it has to do with gut?
 

cjm

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Does anybody else get the thing where they (in some aspects) feel great on a hangover (for me it's usually from many beers)?

Aside from my head feeling like it might explode I'm in a really good mood, and can focus really well.

What might be the cause of that?

If I knew I'd be interested to bring it about in a different, healthier way.

Something about the energy content of alcohol, or is it the beer carbs and blood sugar? Or perhaps the body urgently releasing some stuff to counteract the damage you've done that also makes you feel great?

Loved my hangovers, too. I think I did well academically in college because of the days after heavy drinking. Told everyone I knew and didn't get one good insight. Most drink to allay immediate stress, not to solve problems the next day : )

How long does this grace period last for you? Mine were variable, up to a week at times, and the clarity was unreal. Like a zero-downside mild acid trip.

It is inhibitory but not drunk. Mine were characterized by a lack of rumination, unwanted thoughts, or perceptual noise.

Ray suggested I was compensating for hypothyroidism (serotonin):

(I was an insufferable "writer" back then -- be warned)

On Jan 27, 2013, at 2:32 PM:
Hi Mr. Peat,

I think Jack Daniels saved my metabolism. No one could explain why, at the height of my sickness, a single night of heavy drinking caused increased body heat and a pervasive calmness the next morning that would persist that entire day and sometimes the next. I am still sick most of the time; this approach no longer works (even when it did, I never craved booze) but the memory of calmness moves me to get well.

The physiological effects of heavy drinking were "real," in the sense that I wasn't drunk anymore. Hungover but uniquely vibrant. I went back to that place dozens of times but the negative effects now overwhelm any positive. I need to ask you why ever the positive.

I found you three months ago and have been taking steps to increase my metabolism. I‚m starting to generate enough body heat to tolerate the winter weather, for example sleeping naked under a comforter in a cold house (~60F overnight). My work‚s been cut out for me: I was a competitive distance runner for 7 years with a slow pulse, cold feet and hands, and anxiety. I had plenty of energy until over-exercise and social stress after college caught up with me. Incoherent and restrictive dietary inventions have not helped recovery. It‚s been almost three years now spent in a private hell that I cannot share with anyone in any meaningful way. The calm brought eventually on by alcohol is my best Self, where everything is fun and effortless. I want to go back and stay there.

I believe in the luscious fields of high metabolism and will never stop plowing and seeding. But when something works as powerfully and quickly (and counterintuitively) as throwing back a few shots, one gets greedy. Do you think I can afford to be greedy, Mr. Peat? Are my swollen cells holding up the show? A few ounces of hypertonic sodium (10% in chicken stock) will sharpen my vision and move my bowels. But the unquenchable thirst that follows has me chugging milk, OJ, and Mexi-Coke, getting bloated, and literally pissing out my ****. And despite the increased body heat (not described by an adrenaline "flush"), I still lack regular bowel movements, sex drive, restful sleep, and generally the ability to relax. How might I troubleshoot my metabolism using this favorable experience with alcohol as context?

-Chris

P.S. I sent a $41 check to your Eugene address for a newsletter subscription and Mind and Tissue. Take your time if you‚re occupied or out of town. You make learning fun like no one else. Makes me want to eat your brain. I promise not to if you send me your ***t.

His response:

Have you ever had a thyroid test or tried a thyroid supplement?
High serotonin activity is often present in hypothyroidism, and alcohol can probably provide temporary compensation for that.

Alcohol. 1995 May-Jun;12(3):195-8.
The effect of tropisetron injected into the nucleus accumbens septi on ethanol
consumption in rats.
Jankowska E, Kostowski W.
Department of Pharmacology and Physiology of the Nervous System, Institute of
Psychiatry and Neurology, Warszawa, Poland.
Earlier studies have shown that 5-HT3 antagonists possess properties of reducing
ethanol (EtOH) preference and intake in EtOH high-preferring rats. In this study
we examined the effect of tropisetron (ICS 205-930) microinjection (1 and 10 ng)
into the nucleus accumbens septi (NAS) on EtOH drinking in a scheduled access to
EtOH paradigm. Control rats received vehicle only. Tropisetron, when injected
bilaterally into the NAS, significantly reduced EtOH intake i
n EtOH
high-preferring animals. It is concluded that 5-HT3 antagonists might exert their
antipreference activity by influencing the receptors within the NAS and that
5-HT3 receptors might play an important role in reinforcing properties of EtOH.

Psychopharmacology (Berl). 1995 Feb;117(4):479-85.
Effect of the 5-HT3 antagonist ondansetron on voluntary ethanol intake in rats
and mice maintained on a limited access procedure.
Tomkins DM, Le AD, Sellers EM.
Addiction Research Foundation, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The effect of the 5-HT3 antagonist ondansetron on ethanol self-administration was
examined in a limited access paradigm. Acute administration of ondansetron (0.01
and 0.1 mg/kg) reduced ethanol intake in male Wistar rats by 35%, whilst water
intake was unaffected. Both a lower (0.001 mg/kg) and higher dose (1 mg/kg) of
ondansetron failed to modify ethanol consumption. Ondansetron did not, however,
alter the pharmacokinetic profile of an orally administered dose of ethanol (1
g/kg) over the same dose range. To examine the generality of these findings and
to determine if tolerance would develop to the suppressant effects of ondansetron
on ethanol intake, male C57BL/6 mice were treated with ondansetron (0.001, 0.01
and 0.1 mg/kg) over 22 days, 30 min prior to scheduled access to ethanol. Both
0.01 and 0.1 mg/kg doses reduced ethanol intake; however, water intake was not
altered by either dose. This finding confirms and extends the generality of the
effects of 5-HT3 receptor antagonists on ethanol intake across different species
and different paradigms of ethanol consumption. More importantly, the present
study shows that the reduction in ethanol intake induced by ondansetron was
maintained even after a prolonged period of treatment and is not due to an
alteration in the absorption or metabolism of ethanol.

Eur J Neurosci. 2012 Apr;35(8):1368-80. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2012.08037.x.
Serotonin2C receptors in the nucleus accumbens are involved in enhanced
alcohol-drinking behavior.
Yoshimoto K, Watanabe Y, Tanaka M, Kimura M.
Department of Forensic Medicine, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto
602-8566, Japan. [email protected]
Dopamine and serotonin (5-HT) in the nucleus accumbens (ACC) and ventral
tegmental area of the mesoaccumbens reward pathways have been implicated in the
mechanisms underlying development of alcohol dependence. We used a C57BL/6J mouse
model with increased voluntary alcohol-drinking behavior by exposing the mice to
alcohol vapor for 20 consecutive days. In the alcohol-exposed mice, the
expression of 5-HT(2C) receptor mRNA increased in the ACC, caudate nucleus and
putamen, dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), hippocampus and lateral hypothalamus, while
the protein level of 5-HT(2C) receptor significantly increased in the ACC. The
expression of 5-HT(7) receptor mRNA increased in the ACC and DRN. Contents of
5-HT decreased in the ACC shell (ACC(S) ) and DRN of the alcohol-exposed mice.
The basal extracellular releases of dopamine (DA) and 5-HT in the ACC(S)
increased more in the alcohol-exposed mice than in alcohol-naïve mice. The
magnitude of the alcohol-induced ACC(S) DA and 5-HT release in the
alcohol-exposed mice was increased compared with the control mice.
Intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration or local injection into ACC(S) of the
5-HT(2C) receptor antagonist, SB-242084, suppressed voluntary alcohol-drinking
behavior in the alcohol-exposed mice. But the i.p. administration of the 5-HT(7)
receptor antagonist, SB-258719, did not have significant effects on
alcohol-drinking behavior in the alcohol-exposed mice. The effects of the
5-HT(2C) receptor antagonist were not observed in the air-exposed control mice.
These results suggest that adaptations of the 5-HT system, especially the
upregulation of 5-HT(2C) receptors in the ACC(S) , are involved in the
development of enhanced voluntary alcohol-drinking behavior.

© 2012 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience © 2012 Federation of
European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
 

dukesbobby777

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Joined
Sep 22, 2020
Messages
633
I’ve experienced it as well, but doesn’t feel like a relaxed ‘feeling good’ state. It feels more on the neurotoxic side of things IMO (excitatory). It’s probably a rebound from the GABA-A agonism that previously occurred whilst you were intoxicated. So glutamate toxicity perhaps.

The high libido has been discussed here before and has something to do with increased hormones in the body due to the liver being unable to clear them as the intoxication was keeping the liver busy (so you get a rise of testosterone/estrogen).
 

gaze

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Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
2,270
alc used to give me super nice bowel movements the next day, i suspect it's having a temproary liver clearing action
 
Joined
Dec 1, 2020
Messages
37
there's a whole subreddit dedicated to investigating this: /r/hangovereffect

it feels dopaminergic. very outgoing, wanting to be outside and active. i dont get it everytime i drink, maybe once every few months or so
 

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