As Told Over AfterDrink: Avoiding Hangovers After All
Last year, Sara and I were asked to review DrinkAde, a hangover prevention if not cure in bottle form. With resounding, if not suspicious success, we found our hangovers kept at bay, and we’d love to hear if the same turned out true for our readers.
More recently, we were asked to try AfterDrink, heralded as a similar cure and preventive measure for when you have too many mimosas at brunch (or just too many beers at happy hour on a Tuesday—ignore the coworkers repeating, “It’s a Tuesday”). How could we deny several trials of anything that promises to fight off a hangover?
I, Cazey, am notorious for not having hangovers. To date in my mortal life, I have only experienced eight hangovers. Unfortunately for AfterDrink, that eighth hangover occurred the first time I tried AfterDrink. However, do not write AfterDrink off so readily—I have tried it several times since and discovered it works. Possibly I endured a false positive that first time—or just drank enough that no modern science could cure me. (Hint: It’s the latter.)
How It Works
Unlike DrinkAde, which is a liquid in a small bottle, AfterDrink comes in a bottle of yellow pills. After consuming alcohol but before going to bed, you are supposed to take three and then three more when you wake up.
The ingredients are vegetarian and vegan friendly and include 165% of your daily calcium and 667% vitamins B1 and 750% B6 (your pee turns yellow!), along with 174 mg taurine and other amino acids. There’s also some turmeric and ginger root extracts. I am no chemist or nutritionist, but sounds legit. I also learned excessive vitamins and nutrients are just peed out (I learned this not from using AfterDrink, but last month overdid my multivitamin and spent a lot of time on WebMD).
AfterDrink’s promises include “alcohol-related support” (one way to put it!), improved mental performance and clarity, and reductions in tiredness and fatigue. Sign me up! Of course, the Food and Drug Administration have not verified any of these claims. What does the FDA do all day?
Trial One
I saved AfterDrink to take before Massey on the River this year. For those not aware, Massey on the River is the Massey Alliance’s premiere fundraiser for cancer research and a sister event to Richmond Brunch Weekend. The event offers unlimited beer and wine from local vendors (you see the problem) and barbecue and fixings from Lunch & Supper. Additionally, this year Cirrus Vodka donated to the cause. That is where AfterDrink lost. Or, more straightforwardly, I lost.
As not much of a beer person, I flocked to the Cirrus Vodka table. Cirrus is a Richmond-based distillery specializing in artisan, potato-based vodka (read: gluten-free). Their cocktail of the night was a juice spritzer, but as the event wound down, they ran out of juice and not vodka. Suddenly vodka sodas seemed to be the drink of choice. I had five.
Besides excessive alcohol consumption, I messed up because I took AfterDrink before I even started drinking. I was worried I would forget. Which I did. But then I took my second dose when I awoke (and remembered). And a third around lunchtime. You are supposed to take AfterDrink before bed, but after drinking. Tsk tsk to me!
Needless to say, I could move and even went for a five-mile walk the next day, but I had a persistent headache. I do not blame AfterDrink for this (I mean, can I blame anyone but moi?), and possibly AfterDrink would have prevented my migraine if I took it as directed. Also, maybe nothing could have saved me!
Trial Two
Naturally, I drank the very next evening after Massey on the River. This time I took AfterDrink once I returned home and again in the morning. Prego! No hangover the next day! (Is prego the right word? I Googled for five minutes and could not decide what word I meant.)
Trial Three
The following week at a work happy hour, I snagged a few capsules when I arrived home and in the morning with my pre-workout before hitting the gym. Miraculously, I did not feel the effects of either the multiple vodka Diet Cokes or the loaded cheesy fries (which arguably presented the largest threat of a hangover).
Trial Four
Today, before writing this blogpost, I took AfterDrink simply as a pick-me-up—and I had too much Malbec over Ethiopian food last night. I bounced to work and through several reports without an itch of fatigue, migraine, or nausea.
Takeaway
As I approach 30 (gasp! eek! no!), hangovers loom like the worry of wrinkles, children, and marriage. Youth and overconsumption of water just don’t do the trick anymore. AfterDrink at least has some science behind it and seemed to work on the occasions where I didn’t try to drink an entire bar (which is not AfterDrink’s problem). It also gave me a boost even when I wasn’t threatening a hangover (though I’m not saying that isn’t a placebo effect…).
The biggest downside is, there are so many pills. Three is a lot. But then it’s six in total. The quantity matches the amount I sometimes drink. But it’s a tradeoff.
As my friend said when I told her about AfterDrink, “I would take the truck load of pills over the above”—the above being hangovers, wrinkles, marriage, and children.
If you enjoyed this, then you may also enjoy:
Traveling Without a Trust Fund: How To Go Abroad with “No Money”