what would happen to us if we didn`t v

[hairyfairy]

I keep reading threads on this site from members saying that vting is a vital body function even though they`re terrified of it.i`ve never really understood this, as it seems to me that almost all vting is unnesessary, as most of us would not take anything poisonous unless we were very silly, or trying to commit suicide. I honestly wish that humans didn`t have a v reflex, & I`m sure that we would cope perfectly well without it. If this seems like nonsense, then how can you explain how so many people like me can go many years without vting & still be fine?

[kristinhorror]

It is will power and usually lots of pepto, antacids, and sleeping sitting up to prevent the v from coming out.

[KaydeeJayde]

Because you haven't ingested anything that your body NEEDS to get out. Because you haven't exposed your body to anything that will make it vomit.

Kristinhorror, no, it's not will power a lot of the time. If you need to vomit, you'll vomit. Sometimes, no amount of will power works.

[out_of_order]

Sometimes the strongest antiemetics in the world don't work because the body will do what it needs to do whether we like it or not or whether we think it's necessary or not. It doesn't make sense that we would have a bodily function that isn't (however rarely) necessary. That's like saying we have body parts that are not necessary. Sure, we can live without things like our appendix, tonsils, etc, but that doesn't mean they don't serve an important purpose in our bodies.

[gumdropper1]

Hairy, you are right. Most of the time, vomiting is unnecessary in terms of clearing out poisons. In food poisoning, by the time the poison is detected by the body, the tainted food has passed too far down the intestines for vomiting to do any good. I think the only important exception is alcohol overdose. Most of the time, the vomiting it causes really does flush undigested alcohol out of the body. More people would die of alcohol overdose if they couldn't vomit.

Also, even though most of the time, vomiting doesn't actually remove anything toxic from the body, it does make the person feel better by resetting the nausea switch.

Doug

[spilled_milk]

Most of the time vomiting is unnecessary, as everyone above has said. However, I ride horses, and they can't v*. I've seen what can happen firsthand when they need to vomit something up but they can't. Obviously, in any animal, if poison is ingested and not vomited up then you can die. In horses also, if they have an upset stomach, it can cause blockage in their intestines because they don't have the option of getting the bad stuff out the other way. It's called colic, and it comes on really quickly. The owner has to walk the horse constantly, even though it just wants to lie down with a stomach ache, and the vet has to come and put a tube down its nose into its stomach with lots of warm water to try and flush everything through. It's very dangerous and horses often die from this.

Basically, although I HATE v*ing and it is pretty much completely unnecessary during a stomach virus, there are certain situations that would be life-threatening if we didn't v*.

[DeadxxInside92]

I agree with what everyone has said. Anya, I have 2 horses and both have fallen victim to colic before. Fortunately, the both pulled through just fine but it's so frightening when that happens.

[jkl81]

If we couldn't vomit, probably nothing awful would happen. Alcohol poisoning and other ingestion of chemical poisons, particularly those without antidotes like methanol or ricin would be much more lethal. I did hear of one really sad local story where some really evil people allegedly killed a disabled relative by forcing him to eat snuff and then chasing it with a high dose of dramamine. I have put my money where my mouth is and done everything possible (antiemetics, willpower, everything) to stop v* from a SV. I did so in confidence because of what I had read here. I did not stay sick any longer than my dad who did v* or my mom who didn't v* but didn't stifle it with antiemetics. I fully recovered and don't have any problems now I didn't before and I believe it will always be this way with a SV safety wise. It may be that the antiemetics won't work sometime and I'd v* anyway but I don't think it could ever be a safety issue. As Doug said FP isn't much different. A couple types, the response is almost immediate and would be difficult to stop with antiemetics anyway, and the others hit hard hours after the food is out of your stomach.