Back in my decadent days of youth, I suffered all too many hangovers, and besides that, burpy stomachs. The second was because I did things such as dining on Valentino's most-excellent pizzas and drinking down eggnog.
Never have pizza and eggnog together. It doesn't work. I tried many times to make it work, but trust me, it doesn't work.
Anyway, when I worked at the state Department of Health, I made the acquaintance of an old country doctor, and we used to spend our coffee breaks together.
One time, when I was complaining about a hangover suffered the weekend before, he suggested the best hangover preventative was.....plain ordinary water.
But not just a quick sip of it, or half a glassful; lots and lots of it.
In fact, if one could hook up the garden hose, the end in one's mouth while one slept, all the better. Actually, no, but the message was drinking a lot of water before going to bed, half a gallon, a gallon, or so. Water is a harmless substance; it doesn't hurt if one "overdoses."
I was skeptical, but I tried it.
It works.
No more hangovers.
I frequently suggested this to others who drank as much as I did, but I rarely got takers, because the suggestion of plain ordinary water for some reason seems to repel most people. I have no idea why there's such hostility to water.
About this same time, I had sneered about people who buy all these over-the-counter remedies for upset stomachs, spending $2-3-4 on them, when one got the same thing with a cent's worth of plain ordinary baking soda with water.
The good doctor said the baking soda wasn't necessary; the water was enough.
I tried that.
Damn.
Right again.