Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Vomiting

Vomiting is the logical conclusion of nausea. Your tummy is trying to get rid of whatever you did that made it sick. Your goals are to help your tummy settle down and to prevent dehydration. Here is what you should do:

Avoid being dehydrated
You lose a lot of fluid in vomiting, so the best thing is to replace it. Water, weak tea, juices are highly recommended.

Replace important nutrients
Vomiting flushes out minerals. Therefore taking clear soup and juices like apple or cranberry is better than drinking plain water. However water is better than nothing but adding a couple pinches of salt and sugar helps too.

Sip your drink
Sip your drink in tiny swallows.

Determine your timing
The less fluid you are sipping at a time, the more often you have to sip. How frequently you take fluids depends on how your stomach reacts.

Check your urine
The paler your urine, the better you are doing to prevent dehydration.

Avoid cold drinks
Drink warm drinks or those at room temperature.

No carbonated drinks
Tiny bubbles are not what you need if you are vomiting.

Coke syrup
Coke syrup proves to works both for children and adults. The dose for children is 1 to 2 teaspoons while adult is 1 to 2 tablespoons as often as needed between bouts of vomiting.

Start with carbohydrates
When the vomiting stops, the best way to start eating again is with a gelatin dessert. It is mostly liquid, easy on the stomach, high in carbohydrates and taste good. Non buttered toast or crackers are good too.

Add a light protein
When you are feeling a little better, you can move on to a light protein like chicken breast or fish. If you are taking chicken soup, be sure to skim off as much fat from the soup as you can.

Avoid fat
Avoid fatty meats and cream soups until you are really feeling better. Fat stays in the stomach too long and can add to the bloated, full feeling.

Vomiting can be a sign of something serious. If it is either bloody or persistent and nothing seems to help, seek help immediately.

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