Hangovers are miserable. I hate them. While overindulgence does occasionally happen in my life, I’ve found very few real solutions exist to fight hangovers. I’ve tried countless homemade remedies: menudo (although delicious, I’ve never found it effective); Gatorade; aspirin; greasy breakfast foods; the hair of the dog (more alcohol); and even the infamous Prairie Oyster (raw egg, Worcestershire, salt, pepper, and Tabasco). Most remedies are ineffective at best, and some have made me feel far worse.

Through noteworthy experiences and vested maturity, I can say that drinking responsibly and knowing your personal limits is always the best strategy, but there may be times when you are bound to have a drink or two too many.

Luckily, I found a solution to help mitigate the effects of over consumption of alcohol, and it has proven to make the next day much more tolerable. I experimented with a transdermal patch called Bytox recently, simply applying it on to my forearm before enjoying a bottle of wine and some fine whiskies with friends. As the point was to consume enough alcohol to create a hangover the next day, I had a total of eight drinks. Despite my seasoned liver, eight drinks in an evening would normally leave me dehydrated, sluggish, and with a pounding headache the next morning. After applying the Bytox patch and leaving it on for a full eight hours after my last drink, I woke up feeling a bit dehydrated but no worse for wear. I didn’t feel nauseous or have a headache as I normally would, and I felt quite good after drinking a few glasses of water to rehydrate myself.

A few days later, I repeated my experiment with Bytox, this time making sure to drink a glass of water with every two drinks. Again, I consumed eight drinks in an evening, and this time I woke up the next day feeling entirely normal, as if I hadn’t consumed any alcohol at all the night before. Now, this doesn’t mean that I’ll be out drinking hard every night, but it is nice to know that I’ve got something to help reduce the effects of over consumption should I have a drink or two too many. If I can just remember to put the patch on before I tie one on I’ll be good to go, I’ll be keeping a box in my nightstand just in case.