Nausea Remedies

When I asked my fellow chronic illness folks from #NEISVoid twitter how to handle a really bad bout of nausea, the replies kept coming with so many different suggestions. These suggestions ranged from quick home remedies with things that we most likely will have at home to long term medication options for nausea. I was positively overwhelmed & some of the suggestions really worked  for me.

I thought it was not right that I kept these to myself but wanted to share it with the world. You never know when you might need a quick home remedy for nausea or speak with your doctor about ongoing nausea!

I have not tried all of these personally (but have tried some and they really saved me). This is a compilation of suggestions from various #NEISVoid folks who suffer from nausea as part of their chronic illnesses.

Needless to mention, please consult with your physician before trying any of the suggestions listed here and do not try until you do so.

Home Remedies

Ginger was, by far, the most popular choice. Ginger was recommended in several forms – from ginger tables, ginger tea (ginger in hot water, with honey or agave if you can stand it), ginger ale, ginger biscuits or crackers to sucking on fresh ginger.

Mint tea also seemed to be a popular option. Peppermint in all forms – tea, fresh leaves, breath mints, candy, peppermint oil capsules, etc also seem to be helpful. Personally, I don’t react well to to mint so I stay away from it.

Carbonated drinks like Diet coke (which has an anti-emetic added to it to counteract the sickly sweet artificial sweeteners, apparently) and Ginger ale (the normal one, not the diet version) also seem to help (I can testify to the latter).

Saltines, salted crackers or bouillon were also common suggestions, especially if nausea was due to an electrolyte imbalance.

One of the strangest but surprisingly popular suggestion was smelling isopropyl alcohol wipes. It takes only a tiny bit on a cotton ball or an alcohol wipe. You can read all about it here –  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6189884/. I couldn’t stand the smell (I have very heightened smell sensitivity) but there were a lot of people who swear by this! Some people also seem to be helped by smelling essential oils.

Medication and Supplements

The most popular medicine for chronic nausea is Zofran (available as a powder or sublingual tablet). For on and off use, Maxalon, Compazine and Metoclopromide were cited, as was Marinol.

Gaviscon (which is an antacid, chewable tablet, like tumms, that is available over the counter) surprisingly seems to work for nausea. Increasing B12 supplementation was also said to be helpful but may not be very effective immediately. Magnesium also seems to be helpful, perhaps by relaxing the muscles. Personally, a combination of magnesium (citrate) and Gaviscon, along with a small glass of ginger ale, works for me.

Checking whether certain medications you take may have nausea as a side effect and trying to find substitutes, if possible, was also recommended. Also, checking whether the medicines you take have any ingredient you are allergic to (for example, lactose may be used to coat a pill) may also be helpful in reducing chronic nausea. In these cases, compounded pure medication may be a safer alternative, if it is accessible.

Electrolytes

A near unanimous suggestion was to ensure electrolyte balance. Drinking water with an electrolyte powder or an electrolyte drink (gatorade or Pedialyte, for example) or even coconut water appears to be helpful. Personally, Macrogrol (which is a mild laxative combined with electrolytes) works well for me. My grandmother used to mix salt & sugar in warm water & give me when I had nausea as a child – I think that was her home made electrolyte drink!

How to stay hydrated?

Staying hydrated is important when you have nausea or vomiting but drinking water is made hard. So a number of useful alternatives were suggested by the lovely folks from #NEISVoid:

Electrolyte drinks, Ginger ale, Diet Coke, Coconut Water, Tea (perhaps without caffeine if you can’t stand it), smoothies or even carbonated water seem to be better options when you have nausea.

These seem to be particularly helpful to combat nausea in the morning, so that you don’t continue to stay dehydrated after the night (especially important if you have POTS) but get some liquid into you, along with electrolytes (or even proteins, if you can drink smoothies).

As for water, sipping it slowly or drinking through a straw seems to be slightly better than just gulping it from a glass.

Other options

Weed, Cannabis and Accupuncture also seem to be options that have worked for a lot of people. Last, but not least, SEA BANDS (I got them from here – www.sea-band.com). These are meant for motion sickness, morning sickness or post-chemo nausea but they work well for any kind of nausea, I believe. I bought a pair out of desperation but it really, really worked and I was pleasantly surprised.

I hope you can use one or more of the suggestions listed here to help reduce or handle your nausea.