What Helps Against Nausea
There are many remedies for nausea. Some of them are available over-the-counter in pharmacies. These medications can be quite useful if nausea can be attributed to harmless causes.
These include, for example, a hearty feast at Christmas dinner or travel sickness. So a pharmacist can help answer the question, Whats a quick fix for nausea and vomiting? However, a drugstore remedy for nausea is not always necessary. Fortunately, there are many home remedies for nausea that can help with the annoying symptoms as well.
Nausea: Diagnosis By A Doctor
Anyone who visits a doctor with nausea will first be questioned in detail. During the doctor-patient discussion , the patients medical history can be obtained. In addition, the exchange of information provides valuable information about possible triggers.
The doctor can ask the following questions:
- How long has the nausea been present?
- Are there accompanying symptoms such as vomiting, fever, or pain?
- Is nausea tied to meals?
- If vomiting has occurred, what did the vomit look like?
- Are any medications being taken?
- Are there any chronic medical conditions present?
To answer the question, What helps vomiting? The first step is to determine the underlying cause.
Since there are numerous potential culprits, it is often useful to conduct various investigations. This is especially true if nausea lasts for a long time or recurs constantly.
To do this, the doctor can initiate the following procedures:
- Blood tests
- Measurement of pressure in the eyes or brain
- Endoscopy of the stomach or intestines
- ECG
The Side Effects Of Probiotics
Since probiotic bacteria and yeast already live in and on our bodies, theyre generally safe to use for most people.
Whether you take Probiotics in a supplemental form or you get them from food, they live in your gut and can cause digestive side effects while your body adjusts to the new influx of good microorganisms.
This adjustment period should only last for a few days and can differ depending on if youre taking a bacteria-based supplement or a yeast-based one.
For bacteria-based supplements, side effects include the aforementioned bloating and gas, and for yeast-based supplements, side effects include increased thirst and constipation.
Probiotics may not be safe for people with weakened or compromised immune systems. If that applies to you, check with your doctor before taking any probiotics. If any of these side effects last for more than a few weeks, consult your doctor.
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Select Your Probiotic Strains Carefully
some probiotics are responsible for the side effects that you get. It is advisable that you do a background check thoroughly so that you know the strains that are culprits. Seek the advice of a nutritionist or a pharmacist so that you are able to choose the friendliest probiotic.
If you are allergic to particular ingredients, then it is preferable to read the label first to avert it.
Go Slow On The Probiotics
Usually, the mainstay during side effects is withdrawal of the causative agent. Just reduce the dose in a tapering fashion. Reduce the frequency to which you are taking it then reduce the dose or size. This will enable you leave the probiotic without much strings attached.
To alleviate dizziness, then try do a half dose of the probiotic. This may help reduce it further.
Vivo Colostate University Phsyiology: http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/stomach/vomiting.html
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When To Consider Surgery
Patients failing medical therapy should have a thorough evaluation before considering surgical therapy. Surgical procedures all have inherent risks that need to be carefully weighed and understood. Most surgical treatments are irreversible, but work in carefully selected patients, having the correct surgery done, by an experienced and accomplished surgeon.
How Is Nausea Noticeable
Nausea is perceived as an unpleasant feeling in the upper abdomen. Loss of appetite often occurs at the same time. A feeling of pressure in the stomach or cramps can also occur. These are often limited to the so-called hypopharynx, the lower part of the throat. If nausea is pronounced, affected persons notice increased salivation.
After that, nausea sets in. If this is very pronounced, vomiting then occurs. Doctors call this vomitus or vomiting. Depending on the underlying cause, other symptoms may also occur.
The following combinations are particularly common:
- Chest pain and nausea
- Neck pain and nausea
Nausea can be linked to many other symptoms. For example, diarrhea and vomiting can accompany nausea.
However, there is just as much nausea without vomiting. The fact is that symptoms can tell medical professionals a lot about the underlying cause.
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New Clues From Gut Microbes And Byproducts
Participants also contributed fecal specimens before and during the study. The samples were analyzed to identify the type and number of microbes and the different byproducts of digestion.
This allowed the researchers to examine whether biomarkers in the fecal specimens corresponded with more severe nausea and assess how the probiotics affected participants who began the study with different baseline biomarkers.
One finding was that a low amount of bacteria that carry an enzyme named bile salt hydrolase, which generates bile acid to absorb nutrients, was associated with more pregnancy-related vomiting. Probiotics increase bile salt hydrolase-producing bacteria, which may explain why the supplements decreased levels of nausea and vomiting.
Another finding was that high levels of the gut microbes Akkermansia and A. muciniphila at the beginning of the study were associated with more vomiting. The probiotic significantly reduced the amount of those particular microbes and also reduced vomiting. This suggests Akkermansia and A. muciniphila may be reliable biomarkers that can predict vomiting in pregnancy.
Another finding was that vitamin E levels increased after taking probiotics. Higher levels of vitamin E were associated with low vomiting scores.
Although the findings are intriguing, the researchers caution that due to the small sample size, further studies will be needed to confirm the effects of the probiotics.
Can Probiotics Help In Vomiting
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What Is Morning Sickness
Morning sickness is the incidence of nausea and vomiting that affects up to 85% of all pregnant women. During pregnancy, estrogen and progesterone levels increase, and these hormonal changes can cause some adverse effects, such as morning sickness.
And don’t let the name fool you: morning sickness does not discriminate by time of day. It can occur morning or night, and while it’s most prevalent in the first trimester during early pregnancy, it can occur at any stage of pregnancy.
Most of the time, morning sickness is relatively mild. But in some cases, it can be more severe. As the lead author of the UC Davis study, Albert T. Liu, stated, “Nausea, vomiting and constipation during pregnancy can significantly diminish the quality of patients’ lives. Once nausea and vomiting during pregnancy progress, they can become difficult to control, and sometimes the patient even needs to be hospitalized.”
In some rare cases, morning sickness can even progress to a condition called hyperemesis gravidarum, or HG, where the symptoms of morning sickness can cause severe dehydration and result in loss of pre-pregnancy body weight.
Nausea: When To See A Doctor
Acute nausea is usually caused by harmless triggers. If it persists, however, it is essential to get to the bottom of the cause. If nausea leads to severe vomiting, it makes sense to consult a doctor.
This is especially true if vomiting occurs in a young child or a weakened person, or if vomiting blood is an issue. In order not to endanger the water balance, watery diarrhea, even without nausea, should be treated.
Otherwise, the body is at risk of dehydration. Special care should be taken if the vomit looks like coffee grounds. This indicates that there is bleeding in the stomach.
If the following symptoms are present, be sure to seek medical advice:
- Persistent or recurrent nausea
- Frequent, painful vomiting of bile
- Persistent vomiting in the child
- Nausea and severe diarrhea
- Vomiting blood
- Accompanying symptoms such as severe pain, impaired consciousness, fever
Vomiting should always be observed. If a small child has to vomit, they should be encouraged to drink regularly. This will counteract dehydration. In the baby, the fontanel on the head can provide a clue. If it is sunken in, this indicates a loss of fluid.
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What About Fermented Food Prepared At Home
Interestingly, studies indicate that homemade fermented vegetablesgenerally contain very low amounts of amines, too low to cause headaches in most people. One reason seems to be that other kinds of bacteria are involved when fermenting at home compared to commercially fermented foods. A suitable starter culture prevents high levels of amines from developing.Reduced biogenic amine contents in sauerkraut Biogenic amine contents in sauerkraut Academia.edu
Summary: Industry fermented foods can contain high levels of amines that in sensitive person can cause headaches. Keeping a food diary helps to determine which foods to avoid. Homemade fermented food using a starter is safer. Probiotics supplements do not contain amines.
Probiotics For Travellers Diarrhoea
Whether you’re going away to a familiar destination, returning home to see family or backpacking to distant lands to explore uncharted territory, holidays are invariably a memorable experience. However, sometimes these new experiences can also produce some nasty and uncomfortable stomach-related side effects.
Saccharomyces boulardii has also been extensively clinically researched6 for travellers diarrhoea and found to support gut health in those that travel abroad to exotic locations. S. boulardii, as mentioned above, works differently from other probiotics specifically because of its unique transient qualities. This means that it can pass through the system without binding to the gut wall. It works by adhering itself to harmful bacteria and gently removing those unwelcome pathogens from the system.
When travelling abroad, it is a good idea to also take other types of probiotics alongside Saccharomyces boulardii to give an extra level of protection to the gut, and to battle bad bacteria and other nasties in two ways. Live cultures, like L. acidophilus and L. rhamnosus possess qualities that enable them to line the interior of the gut wall, creating a physical barrier and fortifying the gut’s natural defences. They also create a gut environment which discourages the growth of pathogens so can be a particular aid against contracting upset stomachs in countries where tummy troubles are a common issue for travellers.
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What Can Be Done When Treatments Dont Seem To Help
Many people with gastroparesis will respond to medical management including some dietary modification. However, medication failures or side effects are common. Many physicians have little knowledge or experience with treating gastroparesis.
Some practical things to consider when treatment does not seem to help include:
- Check the diagnosis
- Know when to consider surgery
- Be persistent and be careful
Clinical Efficacy And Potential Mechanisms
A majority of the included comparisons reported probiotic benefits on the symptoms of GERD, such as regurgitation, heartburn, dyspepsia, nausea, abdominal pain, and gas-related symptoms . However, the heterogeneity in the outcomes made it impossible to perform a meta-analysis.
Probiotics have positive effects on reflux with regards to the presence of episodes and frequency scores . The presence of reflux episodes fell significantly by 40% in 20 pregnant women . To our knowledge, de Milliano et al. is the first trial to supplement with multi-strain probiotics, and reported benefits for reflux, particularly in constipated pregnant women. The product in this study contained six probiotic strains from six species, including Bifibacterium and Lactobacillus, providing efficacy for a wide range of upper- and lower-GI symptoms, such as abdominal pain and constipation .
Little is known about gastric microbiota and its function in the pathogenesis of GERD and FD . In Nakea et al. , FD patients had a clearly different bacterial community compared with healthy controls, in terms of overall community structure and bacterial taxonomic abundance. Prevotella spp. is the predominant taxa inhabiting the stomach . In this study, the relative abundance of Prevotella spp. was lower in FD patients versus healthy controls and significantly negatively correlated with the severity of postprandial distress symptoms scores, implicating Prevotella spp. in the occurrence of FD symptoms.
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Do Probiotics Help With Morning Sickness
Probiotics have a reputation for keeping the good bacteria in your gut and the bad bacteria out. They are most commonly known for supporting gut health, helping maintain a healthy microbiome and promoting healthy gastrointestinal function, but depending on the strain, they can have a wide variety of applications that can promote whole-body health. There are certain strains that can support almost every single part of the body, from heart health to the immune system.
The versatility of probiotics extends to the strain taken by the pregnant women in the UC Davis study: Lactobacillus. Study participants received 10 Lactobacillus probiotic strains, including L. plantarum 299v, L. bulgaricus Lb-87, L. paracasei DSM 13434, L. plantarum DSM 15312, L. salivarius Ls-33, L. brevis Lbr-35, L. acidophilus La-14, L. paracasei Lpc-37, and L. casei Lc-11, as well as one Bifidobacterium strain, B. lactis Bl-04.
After taking these probiotics in a cycle of 6 days on, 2 days off, and repeated for two cycles, for a total of 16 days, the women not only had reduced morning sickness, but overall improved quality of life. Why? “Probiotics likely produce free bile acids to facilitate intestinal mobility and metabolism,” the authors hypothesized.
Probiotics For Food Poisoning
People often ask whether probiotics help with food poisoning and, in short, the answer is yes. Specific strains of good bacteria have shown to help alleviate the symptoms of many gastric illnesses including diarrhoea and reduce symptom duration by up to 24 hours.
One particular strain, clinically trialled1 to reduce the effects of stomach upsets, is Saccharomyces boulardii. It is unique from other bacterial strains, such as Lactobacillus acidophilus, because it is actually a probiotic yeast. Originally found in lychee fruit, this probiotic strain is known for its transient qualities, meaning that it doesn’t colonise in the intestines. Interestingly, it is thought to have a sticky outer membrane which it uses to adhere itself to harmful bacteria, including E. coli and Salmonella. This process is thought to help remove any pathogens from the gut. Saccharomyces boulardii is the only probiotic that functions in this way, making it a valuable therapeutic tool to tackle most stomach upsets. It has even been found helpful in limiting Clostridium difficile2 infection in the gut. C. difficile is a notoriously difficult pathogen to eradicate, as it is becoming more and more resistant to antibiotics.
Read more about Saccharomyces boulardii at The Probiotics Database.
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The Cause Of The Gastroparesis Matters
In diabetic gastroparesis it is important to control the blood sugar, as intestinal motility is impaired when the blood sugar is elevated. Intravenous erythromycin should be considered in hospitalized patients with diabetes. Unfortunately, erythromycin seems to be beneficial for only a few days at a time.
Patients with idiopathic post-viral gastroparesis usually improve over the course of time, ranging from several months to one or two years. During that period it is important to consider that any irreversible surgical procedures not be performed in these patients to treat idiopathic post-viral gastroparesis.
Identifying and treating any underlying systemic disorder may rarely help, and is worth the effort.
How Probiotics Can Help Pregnant Women
The researchers had 32 pregnant women participate in a 16-day study. Over the course of the trial, the women took a probiotic supplement with 10 billion live cultures twice a day for six days. They then took a two-day break and then continued taking them for the remainder of the trial period. The participants tracked their symptoms nearly 20 times per day throughout the study and reported their conditions to the researchers to see how the supplements affected them.
The findings showed that probiotics were effective at reducing nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, and they also helped the womens overall health. The supplements were linked with reducing the number of times women vomited by 33% and lowered the number of hours the women felt nauseous by 16%.
The women also reported having a better appetite, better social lives, and generally better wellness when taking the probiotics.
Over the years, Ive observed that probiotics can reduce nausea and vomiting and ease constipation, said Liu. Its very encouraging that the study proved this to be true. Probiotics have also benefited many of my other patients who werent in the study.
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Replace Lost Fluids And Electrolytes
When you have viral gastroenteritis, you need to replace lost fluids and electrolytes to prevent dehydration or treat mild dehydration. You should drink plenty of liquids. If vomiting is a problem, try sipping small amounts of clear liquids.
Most adults with viral gastroenteritis can replace fluids and electrolytes with liquids such as
- water
- broths
Eating saltine crackers can also help replace electrolytes.
If your child has viral gastroenteritis, you should give your child an oral rehydration solutionsuch as Pedialyte, Naturalyte, Infalyte, and CeraLyteas directed to replace lost fluids and electrolytes. Oral rehydration solutions are liquids that contain glucose and electrolytes. Talk with a doctor about giving these solutions to your infant. Infants should drink breast milk or formula as usual.
Older adults, adults with a weakened immune system, and adults with severe diarrhea or symptoms of dehydration should also drink oral rehydration solutions.
Probiotics For Viral Gastroenteritis/stomach Flu
In the previous section we learnt that Saccharomyces boulardii can be used to cleanse the pathogens involved in food poisoning from the gut. However, this amazing probiotic strain has even proven to be effective against certain viruses including rotavirus3, one of the viruses often implicated in stomach flu. So it seems that whether symptoms were bought on by eating contaminated food, or simply through contact with a person suffering with a stomach virus, Saccharomyces boulardii is the best probiotic for upset stomach.
Saccharomyces boulardii
Another probiotic strain which could be of note here is Lactobacillus paracasei CASEI 431®. This strain is known for its immune-modulatory properties: one 2012 study4 showed that after just 6 weeks of intervention with this probiotic strain, study participants saw an average 37% increase in IgG production versus the placebo group, and a significant increase in sIgA over placebo. The antibody IgG protects against both viral and bacterial infections in the host.
Lactobacillus paracasei CASEI 431® has not been researched specifically for gastric flu but has been researched and shown to be help with diarrhoea in children5, and is well-documented for immune support so may be another option to consider for those who often suffer from viral upset stomachs.
Read more about Lactobacillus paracasei CASEI 431® over at The Probiotics Database.
Lactobacillus paracasei CASEI 431® is found in Optibac Immune Support.
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