Hangover pills from the Rosengarten Report...

About a year and a half ago I was reading one of the Rosengarten reports and I read about this hangover cure pill that they had found in Australia. It was said to be a red pill that you dropped in water and it dissolved and you were supposed to chug it and lose all the bad feelings of a hangover. Since my sister is currently living in Sydney, I wanted to have her pick me up some but I cant remember the name. Does anybody have a clue about this product and its name? Thank You.

Now don't jump to any conclusions about my drinking habits just because I'm the bearer of good news about a hangover drug!

I believe the product you're referring to is made by the pharmaceutical company Roche and is called Berocca.

According to Rosengarten, The Australian Catalogue Company sells it. At the time of publication (from his "Five Star Finds" special issue of 2003) it went for $19.65 for a 20-tablet tube.

(800) 808-0938

You can find Berocca cheaper on-line. My co-worker is married to an Australian who swears by these. I bought some to try them out and they are pretty fantastic. They're really just a bunch of B vitamins and vitamin C in a fizzy red tablet. Nice, kind of fruit punchy flavor, and an easy way to drink another glass of water before bed and after a night of drinking.

1. Where can this be purchased in the chicago area?

2. Is this any different from Emergen-C?

Clearly, I have big plans for the holiday weekend!

greygardens wrote:1. Where can this be purchased in the chicago area?

2. Is this any different from Emergen-C?

Clearly, I have big plans for the holiday weekend!

They can't be purchased in the Chicago area. I don't think Roche sells it in the states (or outside of Australia and New Zealand) at all. I did a google search and found the best price and bought them on-line. They ended up being airmailed from a pharmacy in some little town in Queensland. But they came pretty fast, considering.

I've never had Emergen-C, but isn't it mostly, well, C? Berocca is mostly the B vitamins, plus C, calcium, and salt.

I have had a similar remedy suggested to me by a chiroprator friend and backed up by her sister, also a friend of mine.

The concoction is simply, after a night of imbibing:

1000 mg of Vitamin C
1 B complex (I take one with zinc that I picked up from CVS - "Stress B Complex" by Nature's Made)

Washed down with the largest cup of water in your home.

I add two Advil for good measure and have not awoken with a headache since.

kafein wrote:
I add two Advil for good measure and have not awoken with a headache since.

Actually, a clinical dose of 4 Advil before bed with copious amounts of water is a guaranteed hangover cure (they just can't market it that way).

Caveat Liver: A Dr. I was talking to said taking advil/asprin/etc. (before bed) after a night of drinking can be a pretty big blow to your liver. He suggests the same vitamin reg. before bed and the advil after you get up and have had a chance to process the alcohol. Also said a sports drink is far superior to water when your really hurting.

*edited for typo

First it was don't drink and drive. Then it was don't drink and operate heavy equipment. Now it's don't drink and take Advil. Next they'll probably say don't drink and have unprotected trans-species sex.

Oops. Was that my outside voice?

Well, definitely don't drink and Tylenol in the AM. That will for sure kill your liver. There is apparently a really small tolerance in your liver for toxic stuff. It can handle Tylenol, it can handle alcohol, it has a really hard time with both. And apparently it has the hardest time with alcohol withdrawal and tylenol (like if you only drink on the weekends, and tylenol it up on Monday am)

leek wrote:Well, definitely don't drink and Tylenol in the AM. That will for sure kill your liver. There is apparently a really small tolerance in your liver for toxic stuff. It can handle Tylenol, it can handle alcohol, it has a really hard time with both. And apparently it has the hardest time with alcohol withdrawal and tylenol (like if you only drink on the weekends, and tylenol it up on Monday am)

This is definately true, however Advil is Ibuprophen (SP) Tylenol is something different and is generally off limits to anyone with liver problems.

kl5 wrote:I've never had Emergen-C, but isn't it mostly, well, C? Berocca is mostly the B vitamins, plus C, calcium, and salt.

Emergen-C also contains a significant amount of B-12 and a bit of some other B vitamins, along with more potassium than you usually see in a supplement.

People will tell you that drinking depletes potassium. It may be psychosomatic but I find that getting some potassium along with C and B really helps me after drinking. Potassium is dangerous in large doses, so you can't buy supplements over the counter that are anywhere near the RDA. Sports drinks contain a pathetic amount too. I either drink V-8 or take a small amount of a salt subsitute that's pure potassium, dissolved in water. (Got to be a measured amount because too much will literally kill you. The amounts and RDA % are written on the container.)

I think both Airborne (the stuff you take when flying) and Emergen-C (much cheaper than Airborne) work for hangovers...you can get both at Dominick's or Jewel. I wonder about taking straight vitamins the night before...I always thought it was the fizzy, Alka-Seltzer to the rescue quality of those tablets (and probably the Australian stuff, too) that make 'em work so well. Something about the bubbles delivering the goods more quickly.

Then again...there's always the hair of the dog.