Alcoholism or Consorting With Dead Soldiers and Fighting a Hangover
In the rurals of West Virginia someone who was useless for work during the day due to their drinking habits at night was said to be guilty of “consorting with dead soldiers.” Dead soldiers being the common term for a pile of empty beer bottles or cans.
In a community where the economy is marginal and depression surpasses the national norm, this is a more common phenomena than you might imagine.
As a tertiary result one of the most needed strengths for a counselor is in the area of drug and alcohol abuse; and such was a considerable component in my doctoral program.
Unfortunately, many with this self medicating addiction don’t want counseling. They want a cure for their hangover. And, if you want to make headway in getting the trust of these persons, so that you might be able to later actually counsel them, it is a good thing to have some of these “cures” in your repertoire. I don’t guarantee any to work.
1. Eat a banana. It settles the stomach and is almost as smooth coming back up as it was going down.
2. Aspirin and peppermint. Peppermint soothes and protects the stomach while the aspirin works on the headache.
3. Tomato Juice. It contains a lot of simple sugar (fructose I believe) that helps the body metabolize the alcohol.
4. Caffeine free Coke. The bubbles soothe the nausea and the sugar will make you a little more lively. Plus you’ll avoid the caffeine of regular coke which can act as a diuretic, something you really don’t want to deal with at this point.
5. Counter Attack with Toast Soldiers. Toast cut into 2 inch strips is perfect for dipping into a soft boiled egg. This is an excellent and nutritive, restorative for to counteract the previous evenings “dead soldiers.”
But, here is the greatest strategy of all, DON’T DRINK.
Alcoholism is serious, alcoholism is real, alcoholism is dangerous, alcoholism is treatable.
If you know (or are) someone who needs help, try these resources.
AA
Resource center
Hotline
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:06 pm
local chamber events seemingly revolve around many a happy hour or after hours hosted events, i found with my sparkling glass of water I’d laughingly say ya know I know a really great nutritional approach to that hangover your going to have…needless to say I didn’t get any takers. I decided chamber events, at least those were probably not the best place for me. It’s B Complex, in case you are wondering!
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:28 pm
You know I never really understood the purpose of that type of mixers until I began working on a social media series of articles. Prior to that my view of the forest was always obstructed by the trees. But, thanks for the B Complex tip. I’ll keep it in mind after Communion :).