Truthfully, the only difference between you and hangover experts is time. If you'll invest a little more time in reading, you'll be that much nearer to expert status when it comes to hangover.

CURE A HANGOVER

Pounding headache? Nausea? Dry mouth? Dizziness? Weakness? Trembling? Feeling like you got hit by a train last night? There are all symptoms of a nasty hangover.

Some people are bothered by hangovers a lot more than others. Unfortunately, I'm one of those unlucky people who get the really bad ones, which has prompted me to do a lot of research on how to prevent hangovers the night before and the best way to cure hangovers the next morning.

WHY WE GET HANGOVERS

One big reason why you feel like shit is because you're severely dehydrated. Alcohol has a diuretic effect, which is why you have to piss so much when you drink alcohol, and you lose more fluids than you gain throughout the night. Another cause of hangovers is from congeners, the byproducts from fermentation. Some people are capable of breaking down these byproducts better than others and that's one of the reasons why people like me get worse hangovers than others. As you could've guessed it, dark liquors and red wine have the greatest amount of these toxins, and that's why they give you the worst hangovers. There's many other causes of hangovers, but rather than get too scientific, I'm going to talk about the best ways to cure a hangover.

WHAT TO DO BEFORE THE NIGHT BEGINS

I'm sure you've heard this one before ... Eat a full meal! By eating a full meal, you will slow down the absorption of the alcohol. I always try to eat something with a lot of carbs - like bread or pasta. Fatty foods are also a good idea because the fat will stick to your stomach lining. Also, take a multivitamin with your meal and make sure you drink plenty of water because you'll be dehydrating yourself soon enough.

WHAT TO DO THE NIGHT OF DRINKING

There's a lot more that you can do the night of drinking to prevent a hangover rather than wait until the next morning. The single best thing that you can do is to drink as much water as possible! Whenever the night is winding down, I stop drinking alcohol and start drinking as many cups of water as physically possible. If you're at the bar, bartenders will be happy to give you free ice water. This method works like a charm. I can get completely shit faced, come home and drink as much water as I can while I do the normal drunk things I do like IM random people and raid the fridge, and I'll wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed. I also usually try to eat something. If for no other reason, it's going to be a lot easier to eat something the night before than the morning after when you've lost your appetite. Besides, drunk cooking is fun! Also, let time pass before passing out for the night. I don't see the point in drinking alcohol right up until the point that you go to bed. You're just drinking to make yourself more hungover. Why do you want to be drunk while you're asleep? Instead, let your buzz run it's course, it'll last for hours. Lastly, walk home if possible. It seems like any night when I've had to walk home after a long night of buzzing, I'm a lot less hungover.

HOME REMEDIES - WHAT TO DO THE MORNING AFTER

There's countless remedies for curing a hangover but here are some of the best ones that I've heard.

DRINK ALCOHOL This does work if you can actually stomach drinking more alcohol the next morning. However, you're only delaying the inevitable. When you finally stop drinking, not only will your hangover catch up to you, but you'll also feel like a complete alcoholic. (for good reason, drunky!)

DRINK WATER, JUICE, MILK, ETC. Although it will help you more if you drink water the night before, you still want to keep drinking as many fluids as you can the next morning. One of my friends swears that drinking chocolate milk works for her. I prefer orange juice. Just avoid drinking any caffeinated beverages, which will dehydrate you.

REPLENISH YOUR ELECTROLYTES You lost a lot of electrolytes the night before from all the pissing and especially if you threw up. Sports drinks like Gatorade are your best friend. Or, if this hangover is really extreme, you could buy a bottle of PediaLyte. That's what you give babies if they've been throwing up or have had diarrhea. I've heard this works so I tried it once but I thought the stuff tasted disgusting.

EAT BREAKFAST You should never skip breakfast, especially when you're hungover. The classic eggs and toast is your best bet. Get something in your stomach quick, before you feel too sick to eat, and then you're really screwed. It's been said that eating bananas is a good idea too b/c of the potassium in them. Sounds good to me. I love bananas.

TAKE YOUR PAIN KILLER OF CHOICE I think this one's kind of a no brainer but just to cover everything, you should absolutely pop a few tylenols, aspirins, ibprofens, whatever to get rid of that pounding headache! Take them the night before for that matter!

So now you know a little bit about hangover. Even if you don't know everything, you've done something worthwhile: you've expanded your knowledge.