Every year, American doctors treat over 3 million cases of gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, a digestive disorder that affects the ring of muscle between your esophagus and stomach, called the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), With GERD, the LES becomes weakened or overly relaxed, allowing stomach acid to flow into your esophagus, causing irritation and inflammation.
GERD treatment most often involves acid-reducing medications like antacids, H-2 receptor blockers and proton pump inhibitors, all designed to reduce or block acid production. Like all medications, acid reducers have certain side effects, one of which is a heightened sensitivity to the effects of alcohol, leading to more severe hangovers.
Nutrient Absorption and Acid Reducers
While acid reducing drugs may ease your GERD discomfort in the short run, they can do more harm than good over time. Stomach acid helps you break down food, making essential nutrients available for absorption. When acid is reduced or blocked, food may pass through your digestive tract without being completely broken down, carrying nutrients away with it.
In particular, B vitamins and magnesium absorption are reduced, leading to serious nutrient deficiencies that can affect your heart, brain and nervous system. Stomach acid actually helps to activate antioxidants like Vitamin C, important for fighting free radicals that can lead to cancer and metabolic disease. Taking oral vitamins won’t help, because they also rely on stomach acid to be broken down and absorbed.
Acid Reducers and Hangovers
So how do acid reducers affect the severity of your hangover?
- Reduced electrolytes: Drinking alcohol speeds up urine production and dries you out, increasing the concentration of alcohol and toxins in your blood and reducing electrolytes. If you have been taking acid reducers for a while, your electrolytes may already be depleted due to poor absorption, setting you up for consequences ranging from fatigue to heart arrhythmia.
- Increased free radicals: The acetaldehyde in alcohol causes oxidative stress in your body, taking a toll on your brain, liver and kidneys. When antioxidants are in ample supply, they quickly respond to eliminate free radicals and protect your cells from oxidative stress. But acid reducers can inhibit antioxidant absorption and reduce their activation, making you feel tired and depressed, and increasing your risk of disease.
- Increased gastric discomfort: Alcohol irritates the lining your stomach and intestines, causing nausea and discomfort and stimulating acid production, essentially nullifying the effects of your medication.
The Hangover Cocktail that Cures
Taking vitamins and oral hangover medications on an already queasy stomach can make you feel worse. At the same time, suppressed stomach acid production can inhibit absorption of pills and capsules, reducing their benefits.
A more efficient and effective way to boost essential nutrients and get relief for nausea and headache symptoms is via an intravenous Hangover Cocktail. An IV Hangover Cure Cocktail delivers potent nutrients and drugs directly to your bloodstream, bypassing your GI tract. Because you don’t have to rely on your digestive system to break down and absorb the ingredients, you get all the benefits of hangover relief, with the added bonus of improved nutritional balance.
IV Hangover Cure in NYC
If you are taking acid reducers and have a hangover, contact Advanced Cryo NYC and ask for a Hangover Relief IV Cocktail. Relax in comfort, and even take a nap, as our potent hangover cure formula is infused to your bloodstream, and carried to cells and vital organs where you need the most relief. During your visit, be sure to ask about our variety of other vitamin cocktails that can help you get all the nutrients you need while taking acid reducing medication.
