Monday, September 13, 2010

Machete Aftermath and a New Look at a Hangover

“I’m never effing drinking again, I swear!!” Those were the first words I mumbled to my friends the morning after our tiny wine bottles and Machete movie night. This was probably the most dreadful hangover my body has ever been put through in my entire undergraduate life. My body felt like it was tossed out of a two story building, my head was throbbing almost at sync with every beat that my heart made, and my mouth tasted like a something or someone had died in it. As we tried to recap the crazy shenanigans that we partook in the night before I had to excuse myself in order to puke my face off every time the word “wine” was mentioned. It wasn’t until I was fully recovered that I felt like I should appreciate how hard my body was working to keep it at homeostasis even though it felt like it betrayed me that evil morning after.

To begin to understand what my body was doing I have to recall the symptoms I had felt after feeling I was on top of the world the night before. The day started with me waking up sweaty and startled as to how I got home. I had a fuzzy idea about what happened the night before but my memory was not it’s usual on cue self . I had a high sensitivity to light and woke up fatigued, nauseous, dry mouthed, and of course with a pounding headache. From what I remember from a bio lecture about alcohol breakdown in the liver, the body is capable of breaking down alcohol with no problem. It isn’t until the amount consumed overpowers what your body can break down that causes the major problems and the hangover symptoms we all love to hate. Within our bodies there is an enzyme (alcohol dehydrogenase aka ADH) in our liver cells that converts alcohol to acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is a toxic substance that is then converted by yet another enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) to acetate. (Hang Over how your body is affected article) . Although little is known about what specifically causes of headaches, alcohol is known to dilute the blood vessels in your brain. Coincidence, I think not.

It has also been mentioned that dehydration, which explains my fatigue and dry mouth, can trigger the throbbing headache like the one I encountered. Anyone that has had a few drinks in their system knows that alcohol causes frequent urination. Although I cannot recall exactly how many times I peed that night I do remember going more than usual. Symptoms of dehydration include dry mouth, thirst, dizziness, and headaches….all of which I felt the morning after.

Vomiting is not a result of your stomach being upset, instead it is forced from the respiratory muscles like the diaphragm. The act of vomiting is all coordinated by the medulla in the brain stem. The diaphragm descends downward and applies pressure on the stomach. At the same time the abdominal muscles compress causing the stomach to be squished between the diaphragm and the ab muscles. This causes the contents in the stomach to go up and out of the mouth. The side effects of vomiting that the body produces are salivation, sweating, rapid heart rate and the sensation of nausea all caused by the autonomic nervous system. HMM sounds like my symptoms. Vomiting can be triggered by emotional factors such as sights and orders which explains why just the thought of wine made me gag uncontrollably. As far as the memory loss of the night before (which I just learned in my Mam Phys class with Dr. Dearth) that can be attributed to the ethanol in alcoholic beverages that block the NMDA receptors (receptor-channel that permits Ca2+ entry when it is open) which is probably the reason people have difficulty remembering what happened during a time of heavy drinking.

Our amazing bodies are capable of having a good time and breaking down the alcohol we consume as long as the acetaldehyde levels remain low so that it can be easily converted to acetate. Once the levels of acetaldehyde levels build up, the fun stops, and you learn the hard way just as I did the day morning after when the sun comes through your blinds.

Special thanks to my Human Physiology From Cells to Systems 7edition Mamalian Physiology book and

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