Nausea plagues us all at one time; although the feeling of can be madding and often vomiting will relieve it. Imagine chronic nausea the kind that doesn’t allow you to vomit or often if you do it isn’t a relief.
Many people who suffer with a chronic illness suffer with bouts of ongoing nausea. Many times it’s caused by the illness itself, or it may be due to the medications. Having a chronic illness makes you extra delicate towards certain things. I know for me lupus has caused me nausea by the medication, irritable bowel syndrome or the lupus itself causing inflammation of the intestinal wall or bowels.
Amazingly enough there isn’t a whole lot of medication out there for chronic or sever nausea. There is over the counter gravol and chemo drugs that they prescribe to chemo patients for the nausea. The funny thing is often with the chemo drug that too can cause nausea and if taken on a regular basis and then suddenly stopped it can cause sever vomiting. Not pleasant! Over the counter gravol isn’t much better as often with sever nausea it’s not strong enough and requires you to take twice the recommended amount on the package. Also the main problem with any nausea medicine is that it mainly has antihistames in it that causes drowsiness or dizziness. I find that if I take a gravol anytime other than bedtime I will feel as though I’m going to keel over in utter exhaustion. Even taking it before bed leaves me the next morning feeling like I’m suffering from a bad hangover.
These are not economical especially when going to school or work or even just trying to function. I have done a bit of research and found some great home and natural remedies that do help.
Ginger!!!
Ginger is fabulous it’s healthy and cheap. You can buy it in a tea form at most stores but especially any oriental store. You can buy it fresh and make your own ginger tea that is what I like, or you can chew on crystallized ginger, which is just dried out ginger with sugar. Either form is great and helpful. I like to take the crystallized ginger out with me in my purse for those outings when I may need to take a quick bite of it to ease the nausea or else the ginger tea is so comforting. You can add honey or lemon to spruce it up and with the honey it takes the zing out of the ginger. In the summer if you can’t bare the hot tea cause of the heat let it steep and leave it to drink at room temperature it’s still tasty and will work just as good.
Sugar Syrup
We don’t know why but most times good sugar syrup will work wonders for nausea. I cheat and do it in an easy way. I take a glass of cold water and stir in a teaspoon to a tablespoon of sugar. It tastes good and will sometimes be enough to calm the nausea.
Flat Coke
Some have found that flat coke (regular not diet) has proven to help nausea. Stir it until it’s flat and preferably at room temperature. Again it’s probably due to the high sugar content. Remember though, if you have IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) this might upset it.
Salt Crackers.
Many pregnant ladies will tell you that they use these by the bedside for morning sickness. Some find that salted crackers help in alleviating the nausea. Just nibbling on a few crackers slowly has been known to help.
Chamomile, peppermint, mint and green tea.
Any one of the above has been known to help with nausea and the heat of the tea is very soothing. If you have it you can take fresh mint and a bay leaf and boil it for a while then drink the broth that is very good and helps too.
Fennel
Yes fennel can actually help with nausea as can liquorice oil. You can buy fresh fennel at any supermarket and it’s just like celery it’s crispy and water filled and has a slight taste of liquorice. It’s very very refreshing especially in the summer and if you eat a bit after dinner or any meal it does help with digestion. But it does seem to work even for nausea.
Relaxation.
I find that while I’m waiting for medication or the natural remedies to work it helps to do some relaxation tequchnics like deep breathing and meditation. Just lying and relaxing even listening to music, watching TV or a favourite movie can help to take your mind off of how you’re feeling and will help with the nausea too.
These are just a few tried and tested remedies that have been known to help nausea. With chronic nausea it helps to try other alternatives other then harsh medication. These are great for kids and adults during any kind of nausea even the kind due to a tummy flu. It’s safe and easy and for the most part very cheap.
Try them out!
