Very good point! In fact, if I understand the function of electrolytes correctly (and I may well not), one should really try to dose on the full complement of such minerals, not just salt. (Potassium, chloride, bicarbonate ... what else am I missing?) Depletion of any of these seems dire. Of course, they can be consumed in solid food as well, as humanodon mentions, but why not flank the problem?

Other comments offer a wide array of helpful methods. I don't have a solid source myself (nor an I/V setup for that matter) but I have it on good authority from several sources that b_b's saline drip is most definitely the fastest recovery method. AlderaanDuran introduces us to pedialyte (thanks!), which sounds like a more potent and medicinal gatorade, and just a little bit creeperish at the same time. I'll have to give it a try, though I might need some dinosaur vitamins to go with it. I do prefer to glean my remedies in the form of whole and non-chemically altered/isolated foods whenever possible though, which is why insomniasexx's recommendation of coconut water appeals to me so much. It's surely the most pleasurable of electrolyte packing liquids, with the possible exception of her other recommendation, beer, which scratches two itches at once, hydrating rapidly, while also taking the edge off (more on this in step ... 7?)

And for those who would rather get their electrolytes in (partially) solid and savory form, humanodon's recommendation of phở tái is truly difficult to beat. (For those among you not currently eating red meat, Olive and I recently proved the dish could be translated into shrimp and veggie territory to truly delightful effect.)

Thanks, mk, for bringing this up, and thanks all for the array of recommendations. I might have gotten around to covering this, but surely not as deeply as we've discussed it here. And thanks also for the word hyponatremia, which I didn't have stashed anywhere on my person! The symptoms of that, together with hypokalemia (potassium deficiency, yes?) sound like they offer several of the key culprits constituting the elsewise nameless dysphoria of the hangover.