How do alcoholics not get hangovers?

Question

I was just reading a question in another forum. This woman said she drank every single day to the point of passing out drunk. Now, personally, if I get sloshed I will definitely be feeling it the next day. The last thing I would want to do is drink again. I have watched enough "Intervention" to know that hard-core alcoholics never seem to get a hangover. I'm just a little confused as to why.

Answer 1

It's more a matter of % of alcohol in the system.  If you drink enough to pass out and sleep for say 7 hours odds are there is still a % in the system.  Someone who drinks to that extent doesn't actually feel the effects until maybe 3-5 hours into their work day.  Now, if they go out & drink after work they are simply feeding the body's desire (or as AA's say) or need for alcohol.  By doing that daily they have no hangover.  If you cut that person off for more than 12-24 hours you'll see the bad side of being a boozer.

Answer 2

Some do, some don't. It depends on what they drink also. My mom drinks beer like water, to the point of blacking out on weeknights and never gets sick. Give her a few shots of whiskey and she's hungover.

Answer 3

Most alcoholics are in a constant state of hangovers. but some seem immune almost like their bodies have adapted to so much

Answer 4

This is a great question with a lot of potential answers! The obvious answer is, some people like to exagerate their personal situation, and "every single day" may mean Friday,Saturday, and Sunday, while "to the point of passing out drunk" may mean she has low tolerance.

Tolerance!  A good topic, and basically means how much you can drink before getting drunk. Our bodies are all different, but a single defining fact is we all are a victim of our own body weights when it comes to metabolizing alcohol.  I am a heavier male, and it takes quite a bit more for me to get drunk than a person half my size.  because of this, The added quantity of alcohol still affects my liver and kidneys, and makes me sick as it goes through.  just as sick as a person half my weight that would drink as much.   It all has to come out in the end.

Different alcohols also affect the body differently.  Once again we are all different, and some people can tolerate different beverages better than others.  One person may respond well to beer but poorly to distilled beverages, while another may be able to drink a fifth of bacardi 151 in a night and wake up peachy keen.  Part may be heredity, and part may also be the act(art) of building up one's tolerance through regimented drinking.  

Hair of the Dog!  No, its not a nazareth song (Heir of the dog in intended lyrical meaning despite the spelling). This just means there is an old techinique a LOT swear by that is called "hair of the dog that bit you". meanign, you drink one of whatever you were drinking last night, but in the morning after.  This basically means you drinking, roll back asleep, and when you wake AGAIN you feel better. this does not, of course, negate the crappy feeling you experience during your first waking. So I never did this, and I don't propose you do it.  Coffee has more chance of helping than this, unless there is some secret conditioning technique that makes this a clinically proven technique.  Is it clinically proven?  Nope!

Here's a snip from cnn.com

"The only proven cure is to avoid "the hair of the dog" that bit you." Article in sources.

There are also elements of our diet that reduce/eliminate hangover effects.  One person may eat something greasy before drinking large quantities to delay/eliminate the onset of inebriation.  I've heard of one guy eating an entire stick of butter prior to drinking.  I personally found tylenol taken halfway into drinking will give me a head start on healing, as I sleep it off.  Another possible variable involved in the answer to this question could be pace.  Maybe its on how fast you drink.  Since it takes time to feel the effects of alcohol, perhaps people who pace it out correctly without rushing have a beter handle on the condition.  I remember a pre-christmas gift to myself about 8 years ago was a case of chimey grand reserve.  That cost me about 80 dollars, but was an excelent case of abbey beer with elevated alool content.  They were in double sized bottles (I think 22-26 oz, somewhere in between).  The first bottle went down well, and I waited a bit.  the second bottle went down, and I felt the same, buzzy, happy. the third bottle went down, and I looked at the remaining 9 and wondered how many it would take to drown my sorrows. and as I popped the fourth, it hit me. like a freight train, all at once. needless to say, I was extremely sick the next day and a good portion of the next.

So...How fast you drink, What you drink, How long you've been drinking, how much you drink regularly, what you take during your drinking sessions, and maybe even the softness/hardness of your bed/place you crashed to sleep it off.  

That's just a quickie diatribe off the top of my mind on the subject, delivered from the mouth of a hardcore drinker who has had his fair share of "jump out of bed, ready to jog a mile" mornings, along with a few sessions of worshiping the porcelin goddess. (although I have to admit it has been at least four years and too many bottles to count since the last time I was actually "sick" from drinking.

Answer 5

some people do and some dont, alcoholic or not. depends on what you drink, if you mix stuff, if you eat but pretty much i would say alcoholics dont get handovers simply cuz their body is used to that much alcohol.

Answer 6

that is weird but i have heard that if you drink water in between your beers then you wont get hungover or it wont be as bad.........

Answer 7

They wake up and have another drink.  It takes the hangover away in a snap.  It's called hair of the dog.  

I would not recommend doing this on a regular basis, but, if you drink way too much, and have a hangover when you wake up in the morning and need to feel better quick, have a few sips (2-3) of a cold cold beer and your hangover will cease to exist.  I have seen people in movies drink bloody marys in the morning. That is why they do it, to get rid of hangovers. ugh.  I can't stand them.  The vodka is horrible on an empty stomach.  I don't drink hardly at all anymore, I have a kid, and hubby is always out of town so I have to be lucid all the time in case something happens and I need to drive somewhere.  I remember one night I was drinking cosmos and woke up with a nasty nasty hangover.  There was a cosmo glass with just a teaspoon of drink left in it.  I drank it and felt soooo much better.  I was amazed.  

I love that show intervention.  It has helped so many people.  And its entertaining to see what addiction will make people do.

Answer 8

tolerance alcoholics get sick from not drinking

Answer 9

im my experience as a liquor store manager, the alcoholics are either always full of alcohol so they never get the chance to get a hang over or they self medicate alcohol to cure their hangover

personally it can take me days to get over a hangover