Q. What can I do to cure my hangover?

A. In a nutshell, take two Tylenols, drink tons of water, rest and go to an AA meeting.

Symptoms of a hangover include:

Hangovers come from excessive drinking and result in slower thinking and motor coordination impairment.

Your body becomes dehydrated and accumulates toxic byproducts of alcohol breakdown. Alcohol is absorbed quickly through the wall of the small intestine and doesn't require "digestion" to be directly admitted into the blood stream. Hence the effect of alcohol is noticed within 10 minutes of ingestion and peaks at about 40-60 minutes. Alcohol circulates in the bloodstream, affecting brain and nervous system activity with every pass, until it can be broken down in the liver.

If you consume alcohol faster than your liver can process it, your alcohol blood level rises.

The presence of food in the stomach decreases the absorption of alcohol. To prevent a hangover, then, one needs to drink plenty of water before, during and after alcohol consumption, and to remember never to consume alcohol on an empty stomach.

Widely available nonprescription "hangover pills" containing herbal substances, thiamine and B vitamins have no scientific backing even though their claims may appear to be logical. There is one new "hangover pill" on the market containing activated charcoal and called "Chaser," which may be promising.