Advice on antiemetics

[Sam_]

All I have is cheap stuff called anti nausea medicine that I turn to. Can anyone else give me some ideas for cheap, over the counter antiemetics?

[jkl81]

What is the active ingredient? If you're in the US, most of the good drugs are RX only. I have used dimenhdrinate as dramamine or it's generic equivalent, and that seems to help sometimes but maybe it's just a placebo effect..who knows. I do have emet friends who have gotten through SV with the use of dramamine and not v*, whether they would have or not without it is somewhat up for debate. Same thing with me and a SV I had in Dec, nd used dramamine and promethazine to avoid the dreaded v*. All these antiemetics can work very well, the thing is they have to be taken early enough, before the processes that lead to v* have gone too far to be stopped. The problem is that emets tend to always think we're sick so we could wait too long and v* anyway trying to be brave or worse take them all the time just in case. Self knowledge is the key, but I have not mastered it and have taken many, many needless antiemetics...I say needless, but at the same time, I can't find any evidence that these drugs will kill you or give you cancer or anything awful, so mostly just as a placebo and/or to help me relax. Wasted, but not really harmful. The equation changes when you mix drugs...just don't unless you know what you're doing. By that I mean, discuss any mixtures with a doctor or pharmacist or at least check with reputable drug interaction checkers such as drugs.com BEFORE you take anything. Mostly the risk from antiemetics is masking a more serious condition or stopping the v* process when you really need to. For me, I've had phantom nausea since I was tiny. I'm 31 now and pretty healthy, so if you're like me or you've been thoroughly checked out by a doctor, and/or these are not new symptoms, that risk is probably pretty minimal. The actual need to v* happens from chemical poisoning and maybe some types of food poisoning. It isn't likely to be a problem either. Accidental ingestion of a chemical poison would be unlikely in an adult, and the usual case where v* might help would be if you had alcohol poisoning where this is one of the symptoms your body is using to rid itself of the poison, also could be needed with a poison for which there is no antidote and was discovered quickly, something like ricin or methanol. You'd also have to v* pretty quickly for this to help and none of us is likely to ingest those things accidentally. The food toxins that might benefit from being removed from the stomach are ones that probably hit too quickly for you to even stop them with antiemetics and I suspect they wouldn't kill you even if somehow you suppressed the VERY strong urge to v* from them. Run of the mill SV and common food poisoning organisms are infections of the small intestine and there is no harm in stopping the v* response with them as it is simply not needed to recover. But I digress....to answer your question, in the US, diphenhydramine as benadryl or dimenhydrinate as dramamine are probably your best choices. In Canada, dimenhydrinate as gravol, and in the UK and some other countries where it is legally available OTC promethazine (various trade names) is very good.

[Murder-my-soul]

I use Tums, and Ice. Hmm... and crackers or bread. I hate Dramamine, it made me feel more queasy than before and I only took half of what was recommended.

[afraid213]

Doxylamine succinate and vitamin b6 together was once a RX anti-emetic....I forget what it was called...but those were the two active ingredients...I took them for the first 6 months of my pregnancy and never go sick...dramamine is effective in preventing nausea and vomiting as it is a anti hisimine..

[Sam_]

Thanks guys especially jkl81 for all the advice. I used to eat tums like candy then switched to pepto but I think they are making me constipated because I eat them too much. I get worried because the only time I was ever really truly nauseous I ate a bunch of pepto and didn't vomit but I spent all night coughing and gagging violently and it was horrible so I fear that they don't work as well as I thought

[jkl81]

Tums does not work as an antiemetic, although like you I used to eat them and rolaids like candy when I was younger. The pepto is more controversial. There is a study that IES member gumdropper1 often cites where people were given a small dose of ipecac and followed with pepto. Many of the people who got the pepto as antiemetic did not throw up. That having been said, it seem like anecdotally a lot of IES people that used pepto as their only antiemetic reported v* anyway when they were sick.

[worrier dad]

Be careful eating tums like candy, I had a buddy that did that and he ended up very I'll and hospitalized from calcium overdose.

[jkl81]

Be careful eating tums like candy, I had a buddy that did that and he ended up very I'll and hospitalized from calcium overdose.

It's a good idea to be careful. He must have taken a LOT of them, since Ca is so poorly absorbed, or he abosrobed more than the average person. In any case, don't go above the recommended maximum on the back of the bottle and it shouldn't be a problem.

[worrier dad]

Yeah he was seriously eating them like candy. One every hour or so all day long every day.

[krz91]

Doxylamine succinate and vitamin b6 together was once a RX anti-emetic....I forget what it was called...but those were the two active ingredients...I took them for the first 6 months of my pregnancy and never go sick...dramamine is effective in preventing nausea and vomiting as it is a anti hisimine..

Doxylamine succinate is Unisom sleep tabs. I've read about how Unisom sleep tabs (specifically the one with doxylamine succinate, not the others they manufacture) can prevent and stop n. and v. I've tried it at times I felt bad, and it didn't seem to help, but I wasn't actually sick, and I think it might've been more of a mental/anxiety thing causing the nausea, so that could be why.

[hairyfairy]

Motilium is quite good, it`s about £4-£5 for 20, also Pepto Bismol, but you don`t get much for your money, & of course ginger is good too.

[andee]

Meclizine is an anti motion sickness med that can help with n/v as well...although it kind of wipes you out and makes you tired. But at night, that may be good.

[Sam_]

I need anti motion sickness stuff cus I can't ride with other ppl in cars without getting super nauseous and my fear makes it worse. It's embarrassing and inconvenient when I always insist on driving. Also I'm a girl so it tends to piss guys off since they always prefer to drive haha