Check It Out

Uhhhhhhh, explained

A number of you are probably slumped at the kitchen table this morning/afternoon wondering, "Gosh, I wonder who used my head as a basketball last night?" That must be what happened, because certainly this confounded throbbing has nothing to do with those dozen Rusty Half Nelson gimlets from last night.

In fact, according to the explainers at Howstuffworks.com, it might could well have something to do with last evening's festivities.

How's that? you ask as you inadvertently drop two Alka Seltzers into your French roast.

Well, says HSW.com, "It's no secret that intoxication has a number of immediate negative consequences. Among other things ... it impairs the ability to do most things and it can bring on a depressed mood."

Explains last night's decision to rebuild the carburetor on the host's cherry '68 Mustang GT. But what about this morning?

"Even after a drinker has sobered up, alcohol can still be causing the body trouble," says HSW.com. This phenomenon is what we've come to know as a "hangover," the formal name for which is " 'veisalgia,' from the Norwegian word for 'uneasiness following debauchery' (kveis) and the Greek word for 'pain' (algia)."

"The most common symptoms are headache, fatigue and dehydration, and the least common is trembling."

(You're not trembling, are you?)

"The severity and number of symptoms varies from person to person; however, it is generally true that the more alcohol a drinker consumes, the worse the hangover will be."

But I only had eight Rusty Half Nelsons over four hours.

"It usually takes five to seven cocktails over the course of four to six hours to cause a hangover for a light-to-moderate drinker."

Oh. So why do I feel this way again?

"When alcohol is consumed, it enters the bloodstream and causes the pituitary gland in the brain to block the creation of vasopressin."

Vaso what? This is starting to hurt my head.

"Without this chemical, the kidneys send water directly to the bladder" --

uhhhhhh

-- "instead of reabsorbing it into the body."

You know what? Can you just leave the Web address and we'll look it up when the dribbling in our brain stops?

No prob: http://health.howstuffworks.com/ hangover.htm.

And good luck with the basketball thing.