when is it really necessary to v?

[hairyfairy]

Iv`e read on this site & others that sometimes it`s absolutely necessary to v, & I`m wondering which occasions would these be? I`m sure that I could get by perfectly well without vting for the rest of my life without vting, besides, there`s always the southern route if a person eats something that`s disagreed with them, so if we couldn`t v, would that be such a bad thing?

[summerdazies]

Well, for one, if you were to ingest something that was truly dangerous to your health. That's the reason that ipecac exists. Do you "need" to v when you have a sv or fp? Probably not, but I'm not a doctor, so don't quote me. My impression is that in those cases, when you v, it's because of organisms or viruses multiplying and excreting chemicals that irritate your intestine or activate certain receptors in your brain that makes you n.

From a practical point of view, though, it's not really a question of "do I need to v or I will die," because in all likelihood it is not possible to change your body to only feel n or v when you have ingested something horrid/poisonous. As a thought experiment, however, I guess it makes sense...

[AoD]

Yes, it would be necessary in case you ingested a poison or something that would pose a physical risk (blocking your oesophagus or irritating your stomach). Rats don't vomit, for example, and they survive that way but if they ingest a poison, they die, they can't v* it out. So having the ability to do so is actually quite useful if rarely used nowadays for that purpose. It is also good in case of illness to remove the virus or bacteria that cause irritation. Sadly, a lot of sv* are actually caused by irritation of the small intestine so by the time you v* there is no use anymore as the pathogen has moved out of the stomach already.

[gumdropper1]

The only time I think vomiting is essential is in case of alcohol poisoning. In that case, it's best if a person pukes everything up. However, even in case of other poisoning, vomiting isn't usually helpful. In fact, parents are no longer encouraged to keep ipecac on hand in case of poisoning. It has gotten rarer that poison control centers suggest inducing vomiting in poisoning.

Doug

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All of these are spot on! Alcohol poisoning, and some drug overdoses caught early generally involve charcoal ingestion by a nurse or dr. to induce vomiting. As a former health care professional the only thing we discouraged patients to do was stop diarrhea. Because generally diarrhea is trying to rid something from the small intestine. Unless the d is ongoing, many bouts of and with v, we would encourage patients not to take an anti diarrheal, because that then traps the bacteria in the intestine.

[AlHale]

Under "Forum: Emetophobia Information and Research" there is a post about norovirus explaining some things about why you (don't) need to v. (at least in the case of norovirus )

[SnugglePuff]

By medical definition, vomiting is your body's way of getting rid of irritants. Be they poison, tainted food, etc. However, with some ingested poisons like bleach, for example, vomiting would only make matters worse because it would cause extensive damage to the esophagus and mouth.

The way I see it, if you throw up, there was some sort of reason for it or else your body wouldn't have done it. Heck, I know plenty of people (myself included, believe it or not) that swear that throwing up, while terrible in it's own right, leads to you feeling better overall since that irritant is now gone.

[ewilkins]

Yep, I agree with everyone else. Generally if you ingest poison (only some recommend v*) and during the event of alcohol poisoning. Generally with fp, it's already passed through your system, so it really does no good by the time the v* actually hits. I think sometimes the urge to v* is brought on by certain traumas, etc. I know that sometimes when people are really injured they will v* (I used to work as a med tech in the Air Force). Don't really know why that happens though.