I remember quite a few hangovers that lasted an extended amount of days. It's not uncommon according to Google to get a comedown lasting 2 days. There are many GPs who can agree to the fact that they do exist, but I didn’t need them to tell me! It felt like I was going to die, and it felt never-ending. I had cold and cold sweats and could not get out of bed for about 24 hours and more. It was just terrible, I don’t want to relive it.
The problem is that I had a few days in a row where I was drinking too much. Having extended days drinking each night, waking up and trying to recover, only to go out again the next evening. This is where the problem starts, the more alcohol you pump into your body, the more it needs to just feel normal again, and even more to get drunk. It could happen to you if you are a weekend drinker. You finish work on a Friday night, then go to the bar straight after work, only to wake up the next day and the next thing you know, it's Saturday night and time to start drinking again. Maybe it was a case of Friday night with your friends, then Saturday night out with your partner?
What is happening to my body?
You have consumed too much alcohol over a few days and now you have stopped drinking, your body is going to take longer than normal to recover. It is down to the fact that you have overindulged in consuming alcohol to some extent and now you are having to pay for it with a comedown. I'm afraid that people drink to feel the effects of alcohol and with it being a drug, you tend to want to drink more and more of the drug.
You might have had a few fast drinks to kick the evening off, it's interesting how good the first few beers or glasses of wine taste, and of course the rush of endorphins you get when the first feelings of alcohol take effect on your body.
You are also going to get a lot less quality sleep if you are drinking alcohol, so you will also feel groggy from lack of sleep. It’s a bit like long-distance travel and the jet lag you can get from crossing several time zones which makes your body clock go out of sync from the local time.
You will also be dehydrated with the loss of fluids from your body. Alcohol is a diuretic that causes you to expel more liquid than you consume, and this is going to cause you to become dehydrated. You might think that you have drunk enough water to combat this, but on a drinking binge, it's probably more likely that you ended up just drinking more alcohol. You might of even ended up with some salty food at the end of the night as well which is going to make you drink even more.
You will also be suffering from anxiety as well from cutting out the alcohol from your system. You have been feeding your body alcohol for the last few days and now you have stopped giving the body this powerful drug and it needs more. You are going to get anxiety because of this imbalance in your body chemistry. In extreme cases, you may start hearing people speaking in your head. I remember one time I was on holiday with my brother in Portugal, we had been drinking heavily for a few days. We got into an argument, so decided to spend some time apart to try and ease the tension. When I was walking around, I thought I could hear him talking about me to random people! We had spent so much time together that I was starting to hear his voice when we were not even together! The strange thing was, that when we met up later on, he also told me that he had exactly the same experience as I did. He was walking around and heard me speaking as well.
Can you next time just drink a couple of beers?
There is a reason why you have a 2 day hangover, and its not due to a ‘dodgy pint’ it is due to the fact that you have consumed too much. Is there a way that you can limit your drinking to just having a drink of alcohol woth your dinner or just having one drink with friends? I know I can not do this, if I start drinking, I don’t want to stop. I don’t see the point of just having one drink, it does nothing for me. I want to feel the alcohol and the only way to do this is to binge drink for me. Once I have finished my binge, then I am going to have to have a comedown. This comedown is going to be several days of recovery. Some people are able to just stop at 2 drinks, but if you are reading this, then you are not one of them as you have a 2 day hangover.
Are you getting irritated quickly?
Maybe a loved one is giving you a lecture about your drinking and you just down want to hear it, especially if you are hungover. You would much rather they talk to you about this when you have recovered from your hangover right? I understand the feeling and its very easy to react badly if they are giving you a hard time. Its another problem associated with coming off a drinking binge, and its going to take time for this feeling to pass.
You might want to isolate yourself if you are recovering from using alcohol. I used to stay away from people as I knew that I would not be very good company, this is fine if you have your own place, and have to time to be on your own. If you live with people though, or have to go to work, then you may end up in a situation where you have to interact with people. Try to count to 10 if you feel like you are in an irritable state of mind as you don’t want to react quickly if you are in a bad mood.
How long should a hangover normally last?
If you are past 24 hours of feeling like this, then you may be asking this question. A normal hangover should only last around 12 to 23 hours, but if its lasting longer, then it will be due to how much you have consumed.
The older we get, the harder it becomes to recover. When we get older, our quality of sleep becomes worse. Do you remember how much you could sleep when you were a teenager? It always seemed like you could not get enough sleep in the mornings, and could have a very long lye in providing nobody disturbed you, or if you didn’t have to go to work. The lack of quality sleep is going to make the hangovers harder to recover from.
As well as the sleep quality getting worse when we are older, the body also struggles breaking down toxins when we get older. Its to do with our cells in our body aging and not being able to to the same amount of work as they did in the past.
Maybe you have an allergy to alcohol or are sensitive to it
It could be none of the reasons that I've quoted above relating to drinking too much, it could just be an allergy. Lots of people are sensitive to certain types of food or perhaps certain types of animals such as cats. So it is possible that you have an intolerance to alcohol. Just one drink could give you a hangover, and if you have a bad intolerance, then your reaction to alcohol could last a lot longer than other people. Alcohol is made with hops and barley (gluten) so many people do have an intolerance to this.
If you have been drinking alcohol in the past, then now you only have just started getting hangovers for an extended period of time, then maybe your body could have recently become intolerant to alcohol. If could be worth checking with a doctor if you consistently get 2 days hangovers and never used to get them in the past. This could be what's known as an intolerance to alcohol.
Are you on medication?
Have you recently been on a course of medication, or are you currently on a course of medication that could be effecting your alcohol tolerance? Mixing medication and alcohol can cause significant problems.
Here are a few types of medications that can cause problems with side effects after drinking alcohol.
Sleeping Medication
High Blood Pressure Medication
Pain Medication
Muscle Relaxants
Diabetes Medication
If you are taking any of the above medications, then it could be a cause of a prolonged hangover. If will be a good idea to abstain from alcohol completely if you are taking these types of medications.
How can I recover from a 2 day hangover?
I have in the past tried all of the hangover cures which we read of on the internet.
A big breakfast
This normally makes me feel a lot worse than before, I have tried this on numerous occations and if im truly hungover, I just end up sweating a lot and putting on extra weight.
Sleep more
This can work if I can actually get to sleep, it does help me sleep off the hangover, but the only problem is that it messes up my body clock. If I have to be up for work the next day, then I will have trouble getting up for work the following day.
Drink water
Yes, drinking water does help my body if I’ve drunk a lot the previous day. This is the one thing which my body does actual need as the alcohol is a diuretic and it strips water from my body. Most of the time, a few extra litres of water throughout the day does help me to recover from a long hangover.
Have a break from alcohol
To me, this is the best cure for recovery. I like to abstain from alcohol now, for me, it’s the only way to stop getting hangovers. I tend to over do drinking, and the older I get, the worse the hangovers get as well. The only problem I find is that if I do have a break from alcohol, then I start to feel better a few days later and then I get the urge to drink again because I feel good.
I think that if im feeling so good, then whey not have a beer. But this is where the problem starts again, and a few days in the future I’ll be back to square one trying to recover from a hangover.
Conclusion
1) You could be suffering from drinking too much alcohol in the days before your hangover.
2) Can you moderate to avoid this feeling?
3) You are sensitive to alcohol?
4) Your medication is effecting your alcohol recovery time