I can’t handle the hangovers anymore

Hello all,

Some background, I am a 23 year old (M), who like most my age enjoy having some drinks on the weekends with friends. I am a recent college graduate, who works full time and I eat healthy/ and work out frequently. Throughout college, I would say I drank quite a bit (as most do), drinking about 3 days a week and drinking to get drunk. Don’t get me wrong, on days where I completely over did it, and didn’t eat or drink water in the night, I would wake up hungover, with a hurting stomach and a headache. Typically, though I could still operate throughout the day and it would go away after rehydrating and eating some food. This was all, till about 5 months ago.

Recently, I have experienced the absolute worst hangovers I have ever had in my life. I mean like, I absolutely think I am going to die. I wake up with my stomach in a complete knot, my head pounding, and the worst anxiety ever. I can’t sit still, am shaking and struggle to breathe properly, curling up in a ball laying on the floor. I chug water, eat food, but cannot operate for a solid 8 hours after waking up.

After experiencing this the first time, I figured I needed to change how I drank. So, I drank lots of water the night before going out, Powerade, took a b vitamin, had water in between drinks, only had about 6 drinks over the course of 6 hours, and went to bed practically sober. The next day, felt just about the same way (slightly better). I’ve tried this same experiment over most weekends without much luck.

Going sober has definitely crossed my mind, I know a lot of people will suggest. My question is, any suggestions for me, why is this happening, and will it get better? I understand my days of getting blacked out are over, but I would like to be able to have some drinks and relax without dying the next day.