No single medicine cures a hangover, and no product has FDA approval for that purpose. What you can do is treat individual symptoms, choosing the right over-the-counter option for headache, nausea, or stomach upset while avoiding one common painkiller that poses a real risk to your liver after drinking.
Pain Relief: Why Your Choice of Painkiller Matters
For a pounding headache, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) or naproxen (Aleve) are the safest over-the-counter options after a night of drinking. Both are anti-inflammatory, which helps because alcohol triggers low-grade inflammation throughout your body. Take either with food or water to reduce the chance of stomach irritation, since your stomach lining is already aggravated by alcohol.
Aspirin works similarly but is more likely to upset your stomach. If your gut already feels raw, ibuprofen is the better pick.
Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is the one to avoid. Your liver processes both alcohol and acetaminophen, and heavy drinking depletes the protective compound your liver relies on to handle acetaminophen safely. Combining the two raises the risk of liver damage. Cleveland Clinic doctors warn that people who regularly drink heavily should keep their acetaminophen dose under 2,000 mg per day, half the normal daily limit. Acetaminophen toxicity accounts for nearly half of acute liver failure cases in North America, so this isn’t a minor concern. If you drank enough to have a hangover, reach for ibuprofen instead.
Settling Your Stomach
Alcohol increases acid production and irritates your stomach lining directly, which is why nausea, heartburn, and a generally queasy feeling are so common the morning after. A basic antacid containing calcium carbonate (Tums) can help neutralize that extra acid and ease the burn.
You might think of reaching for bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol), but it has potential interactions with alcohol and likely won’t help much with hangover symptoms specifically. Most doctors suggest skipping it in this situation. Sticking with a simple antacid or just riding it out with bland foods like toast, bananas, crackers, or broth is a better approach.
If nausea is your worst symptom and you’re actively vomiting, an antihistamine like dimenhydrinate (Dramamine) can quiet that reflex. Be aware, though, that it causes drowsiness and its sedative effects are amplified when alcohol is still in your system. It’s best reserved for cases where you genuinely can’t keep anything down, not routine queasiness.
Rehydration Is More Important Than Any Pill
Alcohol is a diuretic. It suppresses the hormone that tells your kidneys to hold onto water, so you lose fluid fast. Along with that water, you lose electrolytes: sodium, potassium, and magnesium that your body uses to regulate muscle function, nerve signals, and even mood. Much of what feels like a hangover, the fatigue, brain fog, muscle weakness, and dizziness, is partly dehydration and electrolyte depletion.
Water alone helps, but drinks containing electrolytes work faster. Sports drinks, coconut water, or oral rehydration solutions all replenish what you lost more efficiently than plain water. Drinking a full glass of water or an electrolyte drink before you take any medicine gives it a better chance of staying down and absorbing properly. Start rehydrating as early as possible, ideally before bed after drinking, and continue through the next morning.
B Vitamins and Supplements
Alcohol rapidly depletes B vitamins, especially thiamine (B1). Low thiamine levels are linked to the fatigue, weakness, and mental fog that make hangovers feel so draining. Taking a B-complex vitamin won’t instantly fix your hangover, but it helps replenish what your body burned through overnight. Follow the dosage on the label; megadoses won’t speed things up.
You may have seen supplements containing dihydromyricetin (DHM), a plant compound derived from the Japanese raisin tree. It’s the active ingredient in several popular hangover products. Animal studies show it has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that may protect the liver from alcohol-related damage, including reducing markers of liver inflammation and improving how liver cells process fats. However, these results come from mice, not human clinical trials, and the FDA has not evaluated any DHM hangover product for safety or effectiveness. The agency has sent warning letters to companies marketing unapproved hangover remedies. DHM supplements won’t hurt most people, but treat the marketing claims with skepticism.
Timing and Practical Strategy
The order in which you address symptoms makes a difference. Start with water or an electrolyte drink as soon as you wake up. Give your stomach 15 to 20 minutes to settle before taking ibuprofen with a small amount of bland food. If nausea is severe enough that you can’t keep fluids down, take a Dramamine first and wait for it to kick in (about 30 minutes) before attempting to eat or drink more.
Most hangovers resolve within 24 hours as your body finishes metabolizing alcohol’s byproducts, particularly acetaldehyde, the toxic compound your liver produces as an intermediate step in breaking alcohol down. There is no way to speed up that process. What medicine does is make the wait more bearable by controlling the headache, nausea, and acid reflux while your body does the actual work.
Coffee can help if caffeine withdrawal is adding to your headache, but it’s also a mild diuretic, so pair it with extra water. And despite persistent folklore, there’s no evidence that “hair of the dog,” drinking more alcohol, does anything beyond delaying your symptoms.