Nausea is an unwell feeling in the stomach usually associated with the urge to vomit. The symptoms are the same even when the disorder is chronic, although vomiting does not always occur. Persistent nausea can have numerous causes (gastrointestinal pathologies, chronic infections, dizziness, constant anxiety, food allergies, etc.) that in many cases are difficult to diagnose, unlike the more common triggers, including pregnancy, food poisoning or intestinal flu. Even if your doctor cannot understand the source of the disorder, there are many remedies that can help you treat nausea, regardless of the cause.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Treating Chronic Nausea on Your Own
Step 1. Take a pregnancy test
The definition of chronic nausea has a different meaning for each person. Some think that the symptoms must last more than a week for the disorder to be defined as chronic, others believe that the minimum duration is a month. Pregnancy is a very common cause of nausea (better known as morning sickness), which can last a few weeks, but also much longer. If you are a sexually active woman and have been feeling nauseous in the morning for a week or more, buy a pregnancy test at the pharmacy and find out if you are pregnant.
- Morning sickness is most common during the first trimester of pregnancy, but in some rare cases it can last for as long as nine months.
- The best remedy for treating morning sickness is to avoid triggers, including for example odors, heat, humidity or loud noises and real or perceived movement.
- If you are pregnant and the nausea has persisted for more than a few weeks, make an appointment with your gynecologist for advice.
Step 2. Read the leaflet of the medications you are taking
Side effects from medication are another very common cause of seemingly unexplained nausea, especially among older people. Virtually every drug, over the counter or prescription, can trigger nausea as a side effect, but the most common culprits are chemotherapy drugs, pain relievers (especially opioids), antidepressants (SSRIs), and antibiotics.
- Read the list of side effects that can be caused by the medicines you are taking and see if nausea can be associated with any of them.
- Search online to find out if other people taking the same drug are inexplicably suffering from nausea.
- Ask your doctor if you can reduce the doses of the drug in question or replace it with one that offers the same benefits.
Step 3. Reduce your alcohol consumption
While drinking alcohol is deeply rooted in our culture and considered an accepted social activity, the truth is that ethanol is a toxic substance to the body, which can cause numerous negative symptoms, including nausea. After drinking too much the night before, it is common to wake up nauseous and dizzy, but if the nausea is chronic you may be allergic to alcohol. Analyze your symptoms to see if they can be linked to drinking alcohol.
- If you find that alcohol may be causing your nausea, you will need to cut back on it or avoid it altogether.
- Some ethnic groups are more susceptible to the negative effects of alcohol due to a lower presence of the enzymes that break down and process ethanol. This phenomenon is particularly evident in Asians and Native Americans.
- Switch to non-alcoholic drinks (cocktails and beers without alcohol and grape juice) instead of drinking wine, if you want to keep in the habit of hanging out in bars and clubs with friends.
Step 4. Eat plain, natural foods
Regardless of the cause of the nausea, fatty, fried, or heavily spiced foods tend to aggravate the disorder. Therefore you should try to eat simple, low-fat but high-fiber ingredients, such as wholemeal bread, bran, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Also try to chew slowly and eat light but frequent meals.
- If you have trouble keeping food in your stomach, munch on plain crackers or toast throughout the day.
- If you can only tolerate small amounts of food, make up your plate with white fish, chicken breast, rice, boiled potatoes, or bread. Vegetables are fine too, but avoid those that can cause gas and aggravate nausea, such as cauliflower, cabbage, and onions.
- You should wait 6 hours before eating any solid food after vomiting. In the meantime, you can drink a light meat broth.
Step 5. Determine if you may be allergic to any foods
Food allergies are not easy to diagnose, although they often cause chronic nausea and stomach upset. Common allergens include eggs, fish, cow's milk (and derivatives), peanuts, tree nuts, soy (and derivatives), seafood (shrimp, crab, mussels) and wheat. Pay attention to how you feel in the minutes following the intake of certain foods.
- Try an elimination diet (removing one food at a time) to see if the nausea improves or subsides.
- Other symptoms that can be caused by allergens include: swelling that affects any area of the face or throat, congestion of the respiratory tract, itching, hives, headache, mental fog and difficulty in breathing.
- If you think you may have a food allergy, ask your doctor or nutritionist for specific tests.
Step 6. Avoid strong odors
In addition to not eating fatty, fried or heavily spiced foods, you should also avoid smelling the scents in the air as they generally worsen the symptoms of nausea. Other strong smells that can make you feel worse include garlic, onion or curry, fragrance fragrances, cigarette smoke, and body odors. Stop going to restaurants until you feel better and try to be the master of most of your meals. Avoid areas reserved for fast food and restaurants and perfume shops when you go to a mall.
- Wear a surgical mask or apply menthol cream under your nostrils if you need to reduce the impact of strong odors when you're out and about.
- Other nausea-triggering factors that you should watch out for, when indoors or in other places, include intense heat, humidity, and flickering lights.
Step 7. Keep your body hydrated
Chronic poor hydration is a much more common condition than you think, especially in times when the weather is hot and humid. Most people consume numerous drinks every day, but ignore the fact that they contain large amounts of caffeine and refined sugars, which can lead to excessive fluid loss from the body. Furthermore, the risk of suffering from severe dehydration increases if nausea is associated with frequent episodes of vomiting.
- You should drink about 8 glasses of water (mineral or filtered) per day. Your fluid requirement increases when you exercise or sweat a lot.
- If you have trouble keeping water in your stomach, take small sips or let an ice cube melt slowly in your mouth.
- Avoid drinks that contain caffeine, such as black tea, coffee, hot chocolate, cola-based fizzy drinks, and energy drinks.
- Avoid milk if you are lactose intolerant. Possible symptoms, such as bloating, abdominal cramps, and dysentery, would aggravate the nausea.
- If you are losing a lot of fluids due to vomiting or dysentery, you need to restore the correct amounts of electrolytes (mineral salts) in your body. A simple and natural remedy is to drink diluted fruit and vegetable juices, as well as water.
Part 2 of 3: Cure Chronic Nausea with Natural Remedies
Step 1. Make herbal infusions
In addition to hydrating the body without risking further damage from caffeine or other harmful substances, herbal teas help treat nausea thanks to the natural ability of some herbs to calm the stomach and mind. For example, mint and chamomile are known to be able to soothe the stomach.
- Herbs that can help reduce anxiety and stress and have a positive impact on nausea include chamomile, valerian root, passionflower, and kava.
- You can buy them in herbal medicine, often in ready-made sachets, and use them to prepare an infusion whenever you feel the need.
- Do not use boiling water to prepare this type of herbal tea, otherwise you could destroy the beneficial substances contained in the herbs; it just needs to be very hot. Generally the recommended infusion time is 15 minutes.
Step 2. Use ginger
It too is a natural element that has been used for centuries as a remedy for nausea. In addition to having anti-inflammatory properties, it is considered a carminative, since it is able to limit the formation of gas during digestion: responsible for bloating and abdominal pain that can cause or aggravate nausea. You can use ginger root to make herbal tea or buy it in the form of capsules, lozenges, or chewable tablets.
- Most of the drinks marketed under the name of "ginger ale" (ginger in English means "ginger") do not really contain ginger, apart from some that are sold in stores that specialize in organic or natural foods. In any case, it is better to avoid fizzy drinks or let them degass before drinking them.
- Marinated ginger (typically paired with sushi) can be a tasty and fairly easy-to-find alternative.
- Whichever form you choose, you should take ginger about 15-30 minutes before eating to reduce the likelihood of nausea.
Step 3. Consider taking a vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) supplement
The results of some studies indicate that it can help relieve chronic nausea and vomiting, especially in pregnant women. The recommended dose is 30 mg of pyridoxine per day, to be taken for up to five consecutive days.
- Vitamin B6 supplements may only prove useful in some cases, based on the causes of chronic nausea, but they are affordable and generally worth a try.
- An excess of vitamin B6 (more than 100 mg daily) can irritate the nerves and cause numbness or tingling in the limbs. Make sure you don't take more than 50 mg per day to avoid putting your health at serious risk.
Part 3 of 3: Treating Chronic Nausea with Drugs
Step 1. Ask your doctor to recommend a nausea medication
If natural and home remedies have not produced the desired effect and the doctor is unable to understand what is causing the disorder, taking medications to combat nausea may be a viable option. Over-the-counter ones may work, but stronger ones require a prescription.
- Commonly prescribed nausea medications include granisetron hydrochloride (such as Kytril), ondansetron hydrochloride (such as Zofran), perphenazine (such as Trilafon), metoclopramide (such as Plasil) and thethylperazine (such as Torecan).
- Some cannabinoid drugs (derived from the active ingredient THC in cannabis) can also be helpful in fighting nausea.
- Note that all of these medications can cause serious side effects, such as high blood pressure and difficulty controlling muscle movements. Discuss the potential negative consequences of each drug at length with your doctor.
- If you are unable to take any medications by mouth due to severe nausea or vomiting, consider using suppositories with your doctor.
Step 2. Consider taking antibiotics for a short time
If your doctor (and other specialists) can't figure out why you have chronic nausea, it may be worth trying to treat it with a short course of antibiotics. In many cases, chronic, mild-type bacterial infections are difficult to diagnose and can often give rise to bouts of nausea, especially if they affect the gastrointestinal tract. Ask your doctor what the pros and cons of using antibiotics might be.
- The antibiotics themselves are known to cause nausea, so you should have some evidence that an infection may be present before taking them.
- Bacterial infections generally alter the results of blood tests. If some values appear abnormal, such as an exaggerated number of white blood cells, your immune system may be fighting an infection.
- Viral infections affecting the stomach can also cause nausea, but antibiotics are only effective against bacteria.
- Erythromycin is an example of an antibiotic your doctor might prescribe for you. It is used to promote the passage of intestinal contents. The chances of this type of antibiotic being able to cure nausea are very slim and, if taken for a long time, abdominal pain may even increase.
Step 3. Try using acupressure
This therapeutic technique is based on the stimulation of certain specific points of the body to trigger certain physiological reactions. The principle is the same as acupuncture, but needles are not used in this case. The results of the studies carried out indicate that there is a localized point on the wrist (called point P6) which, when pressed, is effective in reducing nausea. Most of the research has been done on pregnant women, but pressing the P6 point can help alleviate the disorder in other cases as well, for example when nausea is caused by movement or anxiety.
- You can consult an acupressure expert or you can search for videos on the internet that will help you locate the exact spot on the wrist to stimulate it yourself.
- Pressing the P6 point on either wrist for 30-60 seconds may be enough to reduce nausea. If not, try massaging it for 5 minutes.
- Search online and buy a bracelet designed to stimulate the P6 point while you are wearing it, which can be useful for fighting nausea caused by movement or pregnancy.
Step 4. Consult a chiropractor
Another alternative therapeutic treatment that can have a positive impact on nausea when the cause is not known is spinal manipulation. If the joints, nerves or muscles of the upper spine are irritated, the balance may be slightly impaired and cause a slight feeling of lightheadedness and nausea. Through neck manipulation, the chiropractor can be able to realign the spinal vertebrae and reduce tension in the upper part of the spine; consequently the nausea will also disappear.
- Generally, in order to intervene, the chiropractor needs to analyze an x-ray of the neck to make sure that the manipulation cannot cause damage to the spine.
- You may feel the bones creak almost completely painlessly during manipulation. These noises are due to gas bubbles, formed inside the joints, which burst without causing damage.
- In some cases, one session may be sufficient, but it is more likely that 3 to 5 are needed to adjust the upper portion of the neck.
Advice
- Even if your blood tests are normal, consider seeing an endocrinologist to check hormone function. Nausea could be caused by a hormonal imbalance.
- An exaggerated amount of exercise or physical activity or a lack of rest can aggravate nausea.
- The BRAT diet, based on bananas, rice, apples and toast, can be very helpful in preventing the onset of nausea.
- Traveling by car, bus, train, or ship can make you feel nauseous. If you have to go somewhere using the car, you better be the one to drive.
- Some patients who suffer from chronic nausea do not benefit from the use of specific drugs against this disorder. Cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy and antidepressant treatment can be helpful in these cases.
