Thursday, July 10, 2008

Alcohol = Headache?

It is pouring again this morning...I was just 20 feet away from the taxi to the lift lobby and I got drenched. My shoes are still wet...I had an umbrella, you know. But it was POURING down! I hate this weather.

It's less than 1 month to the Olympics whereby Hong Kong will be hosting the horse-riding competitions. I wonder if the horses will be drowned if this kind of weather continue?

I was out last night having dinner with a Japanese colleague who used to be my boss back in Singapore. We were at a little French restaurant inside Sport B by Agnes B at Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong and the food was fabulous. I bought him the set dinner which was a tasting menu while he paid for the wine. It was a good red wine, full bodied and very easy to drink. I had 2 glasses while he finished the rest of the bottle. As with most Japanese men, he is an alcoholic and he needs to drink every night to sleep well. As for me, I am just a social drinker. I drink only when I am having dinner with my Japanese colleagues or bosses. In Japan, it is a social etiquette to drink during dinner with friends or colleagues. At least a beer for the "kanpai!" which means "cheers" is a must. So after working for the Japanese for so many years, I have made a reputation for myself as a relatively good drinker which I have absolutely no idea how. Trust me, I don't drink a lot. Just 3 glasses of any kind of alcohol maximum.

I had a terrible headache last night waking me up at 3am. I thought wine was suppose to be good for health? I had only 2 glasses and I wasn't even feeling a hint of drunkenness! Why is it that I am getting these terrible headaches whenever I drink alcohol recently? The last time I had this terrible headache was when I had dinner with the CEO in April. I was in Kyoto and I didn't have my panadols with me. The headache was so terrible that I thought I needed to get into a hospital. In the end, I had to call the hotel front desk in the middle of the night to ask for help and they gave me some very mild painkiller which relieved me of my headache only for about an hour. In the morning, I still had to get some more painkiller from the pharmacy and you know what, they don't sell panadol in Japan!

Last night I had to take 3 tablets of panadol to help me get rid of my headache. I am feeling OK now but I just can't understand why am I getting these headaches which I never had before if I limited my consumption to just 2 or 3 glasses. Am I getting old? Is there something wrong with my body? It's worrying...do any of you get headache with alcohol consumption?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

3 glasses? I'm assuming you are referring to wine. I can't really hold my alcohol myself; a pint can get me rambling nonsense.

Drinking is so much integrated wiht the culture over here in London that people are given bottles of champagne after a deal is closed. lol

waitingkitty said...

What's it with the drinking culture anyway? I don't think in Singapore we have such a culture, do we? In China, businesses deals are given to those who can hold their alcohol, I heard! I guess I will never be able to close any deal then... :(