Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with vomit

Is there anything else I can do for what has turned out to be a very expensive cat?

sugarfish — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 19:39:07 -0800

Are we doing the right things for our cat? Last night, our cat Mabeline vomited foamy stuff a couple of times. This isn't completely out of the ordinary for her; she does it a few times a year. We thought she was possibly trying to bring up a hairball.

However, today she was still vomiting. My husband called the vet and they asked him to bring her in. While she was there the vet took blood to look at her liver and kidney functions. The blood tests came back okay. He also gave her two injections, one meant to calm her stomach and one an antibiotic because she has food allergies and something in the first injection might cause a reaction. The different meds were called Cerenia and Convenia -- I'm not sure which is which. The doctor said that he would call on Monday for a follow-up.

Here's the thing, though. I don't know if she's eaten today at all. We feed our cats at night from a shared bowl. Though someone's clearly been in the bowl, we can't tell if it's just the healthy one, or if they've both been in. Today we tried to feed Mabeline dry treats and kibble out of hand before the vet visit and she wouldn't take them; since she's been home we've also added cheese to the mix but she's not interested. My husband let the vet know that she wasn't eating when she came in. I am concerned about fatty liver disease.

She eats Royal Canin Rabbit and Green Pea dry food. We switched the cats to that brand about five or six weeks ago on the recommendation of a feline dermatologist. (The switch was made gradually.) We took her to the derm because of constant recurring ear infections and overgrooming of the belly. The infections are mostly cleared up after switching to the high protein food and using Tresaderm drops in the ears twice a day.

Also, before she started on the new food, she weighed 14.1 lb, her highest weight ever. Last Saturday, at the follow-up appointment, she weighed 13.4 lb. Today she weighed in at 13 even. I don't know if that is relevant.

Other than the dry food, she will hardly eat anything else. This cat turned and ran the other way when we tried to feed her tuna once. Wet food is out of the question.

She hasn't vomited since she came home this afternoon. She spent the afternoon lying at the top of the stairs and even now doesn't seem like she has a lot of energy.

Is there anything else I could or should be doing for her? The vet is closed tomorrow and I want to make sure she will be okay.

Smells like teens' spirits

chalbe — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:13:01 -0800

Help me get the vomit smell out of a cotton canvas messenger bag. Long story short, I woke up one morning to find my cotton convas messenger bag covered in vomit. It must have been soaking in it for at least 7 hours. After some quick googling, I tried the following steps over two weeks to clean it but the smell still persists:

1. Washing machine with detergent and hung dry
2. Dry cleaned
3. Sprayed all over with Febreeze
4. Soaked in hot water with vinegar for 6 hours
5. 2nd trip in washing machine + extra vinegar and hung dry
6. And lastly, two days left in the freezer to try and draw out the smell

What am I missing? Is my bag doomed to a life of smelling like an awful mix of vomit, Febreeze, and vinegar?

I want to free my brother from his stomach issues.

stormygrey — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:55:24 -0800

What could be wrong with my brother's stomach? I come from a rather "robust" family, the kind of family where my size 10 makes me the skinny one and when I got to an 8 they thought I was sick, yet my youngest brother has always been very thin and a picky eater.

For the past year, he has had a severe digestive issue and has dropped an alarming amount of weight, its almost like his peristalic wave is severely retarded. I am going to give you a lot of back story in case somehow, somewhere, you can see a connection.

He started taking vitamins regularly at a very young age and has never seemed malnourished, however, he had the hardest time catching up in size and weight to his peers, he was a tiny, tiny child, until perhaps middle. He is currently 5'7 and normally weighs around 135 or so, so smallish, but in the realm of normal (I am 5'8 and my father is 5'9) We are also all academic, all of us (me and 3 brothers) were all star students, scholarshiped to death etc. My other brothers and I were diagnosed with ADD as young adults(19-21). He and I suffer from Asthma. I am allergic to shellfish, iodine, and wheat. He doesn't have food allergies that I know of, but he hasn't had the battery of tests I have.

I am going to give you a lot of back story in case somehow, somewhere, you can see a connection. I used to babysit an autistic child who also had horrible digestive problems, so there might be a connection. My brother had early signs of some manner of Autism (he is currently 27), the high pitched squeel, non verbalness etc. After lots of speech therapy, handwriting therapy etc. He is an awesome young man, not the most communicative, but awesome.

He received a double degree in French Horn perfomance/composition and physics, he understands the world in waves and is really a wander to behold, I had to learn about harmonics to talk to him more often. He ended up moving back home when he graduated to find a job. He ended up as a special needs teacher, one of his students said "I love Mr. Tim because he's just like me". He also started taking classes at night to get a teaching masters. He would drive almost two hours after school got out to get to his college. He understandably was a little stressed.

He doesn't show stress. He will nap as much as he can, etc. so when he started having stomach issues, everyone including the doctors thought it was stress. However, he finished his masters up, he transferred to a low stress small school and its still happening.

The biggest symptom that affects his life is that if he eats anything after 4 and then lays down around 10, it all just comes back up. Its not like he's throwing up exactly, its just rises back up into his mouth. The food that he does keep down takes a very, very long time to come out and he ends up painfully constipated. They tried laxatives, but that provoked some kind of crazy reaction that put him in the hospital (I am not clear on this, he doesn't exactly want to elaborate on his poo problems to his sister). He has done all kinds of research on his own, trying all manner of probiotics, supplements, etc. He has had scopes going up and scopes going down, contrasts etc. The doctors still almost blow him off, give him some antiacids and tell him to take it easy. It blows my mind. He is 27, 112lbs, and is now losing hair. He lives on yougurt, ensure, and vitamins. He is living a life dicated by when and how he can manage to get enough nutrition in him.

He's in the Chattnooga area, I am in the Atlanta area, I have want him to come live with me and see if any Atlanta specialist might have better luck. So wow, sorry, that was long and crazy. I am worried about him, worried about heart problems and quality of life. Hive mind, what can we try, what should he eat, who should we see?

Will you hold back my hair?

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:52:53 -0800

Make me throw up. There's gross stuff inside (of me and the explanation). I get food poisoning two or three times a year, today being one of those times. I seem to be particularly susceptible to it. Anyway, I have a feeling if I could just learn to vomit more easily, I'd be suffering a lot less. It's always such a production. It takes forever and I never get it all out. When I start to get nauseated, I become very disoriented and panicky, and of course this doesn't help. From the moment I know I need to vomit to the moment when I finally do can be ten minutes of misery.

I'm not sure if this makes a difference, but I have a hiatal hernia.

Any recommendations appreciated, though I'd rather not be sticking things down my throat.

Why does a little bit of alcohol make me vomit hours later?

wannaknow — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:15:09 -0800

I have a sensitive stomach and 1 drink can make me throw up 6 hours later. Help me find a way to combat this! When I was a teenager, I could drink whatever alcohol I liked, and the only thing that could make me throw up was excessive consumption. Now I'm in my 20s a cocktail or 2 will make me throw up the next morning (I pretty much stick to vodka). The only thing that keeps me from vomiting is smoking pot. When the pot starts to wear off (1-2 hours later) I go back to being nauseous.

If I don't have any pot around, I throw up yellow egg-yolk-like bile (apologies for the image).

Recently I drank (probably a little too much) and threw up every 10 minutes for 4 hours. I could not figure out how to stop it. Drinking a tiny bit of water or sprite didn't do a thing. Eating bread didn't help either.

Why do I always throw up hours after drinking? Does anyone know of a way to prevent this?

Also, if I start throwing up for hours after drinking too much, what can I do to end the vomiting after there is obviously nothing left to vomit up?

Thanks!

Why do some corridors/rooms/new books smell vaguely of vomit?

freddymetz — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 07:54:40 -0800

Why do some corridors/rooms/new books smell vaguely of vomit? I'm guessing, its some kind of similar chemical compound?
This has been bugging me for years.
And don't state the obvious (someone probably recently vomited there)!

How do I clean these shoes?

reenum — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:41:16 -0800

How can I clean vomit off leather shoes? My friends and I had a bit too much fun over New Year's, and my Florsheims paid the price.

I now have several whitish spots on them. All solids have been removed. I want to clean the shoes without ruining them.

Any ideas?

Cleaning Puke out of Feather Pillows

anastasiav — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:01:52 -0800

I have a pair of very heavy, dense feather (not down) pillows that were first owned by my Grandmother. Last night my son vomited all over one of them. Although we stripped the case of quickly, the vomit had already soaked into the pillow. Any suggestions on how to clean this? If they were down I'd just wash and dry them at the laundromat, being aware that it takes down pillows many, many hours to dry. However, with the feather pillows, I don't think even 8 - 10 hours in a commercial dryer would do the trick.

The Chunder Queen

showbiz_liz — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:52:24 -0800

I have a very weak stomach when it comes to alcohol. Help me not embarrass myself on my 21st birthday! I throw up a lot, compared to everyone I know. It's been that way for years- it just doesn't take much for me to vomit. I throw up when I get mild headaches, I throw up when I get dehydrated, I threw up after moshing in the streets when Obama won, and I throw up when I drink. More often than not, if I have more than four drinks or so, I wind up throwing up at the end of the night. I don't think that 5-6 drinks is an unreasonable amount for a 130lb girl to drink over the course of a night... and yet, it's enough to make me vomit. My friends have remarked about this before, and while it's kind of embarrassing, it's never bothered me enough to actually look into a solution. I only get that drunk maybe once every two or three months, if that- I'll usually just have a couple of beers at parties.

Well... on Tuesday I'm turning 21. I'm going to a bar on Monday night, and people are going to be buying me drinks. My friend's birthday was a few weeks ago, and he wound up with five drinks in front of him pretty much immediately after midnight. I'm not necessarily averse to drinking that much, but I'm worried about throwing up in the bar.

So, my question is, is there any way to control my weak stomach? Obviously I don't have time to slowly acclimate myself before the event- I suspect my fairly infrequent drinking is part of the reason I throw up- so...

Do I eat something special beforehand?
Is there a specific drink or type of drink I should get?
How about a type of drink I should avoid?
Other ideas?

I know I have the option of just refusing drinks, as mentioned in an askme a few weeks ago, so if there's no other way to control my excessive vomiting, that's what I'll do. But honestly, I would like the option of just getting ripped every now and then without the undignified denouement.

Will induced vomiting help my migraines?

Ms. Saint — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:03:58 -0800

I get migraines. Whenever I get a migraine, I sooner or later end up vomiting and it is vomiting that lets me feel better. So, my question is, would it be a good idea to induce vomiting when I get a migraine? From experience, I just know that a migraine is going to leave to me throwing up. That's just how it works for me, apparently. And throwing up somehow makes me feel a whole lot better. Before vomiting, I'm in horrible, horrible pain. After vomiting, there's usually a bit of pain, but I'm finally able to fall asleep and get better.

The problem is, I can never tell when I'm going to end up vomiting. Sometimes it's only a half hour between when the pain starts and when I'm throwing up. Other times, it can take hours.. And they are really miserable hours.

So, if I were to make myself throw up when I have a migraine, would it probably make me feel better, the way that naturally throwing up does? Would it be a bad idea for me to do this, even if it can make my migraine go away?

There are few things I'd like to do less than force myself to throw up.. And I know that, if done regularly, it's really bad for you.. But given that I'm going to end up throwing up anyway, it'd be really nice if I could just get through with it as quickly as possible instead of having to wait.

(Note: for those who would tell me I should talk to my doctor about migraine medications, I have. They don't work if I don't recognize the migraine signs early enough, and I usually just throw them up anyway. I also don't get migraines often enough to deserve drastic treatment -- we're just talking two or three times a year, here. So, I really just want to know, given that I'll be in pain and given that I'm going to throw up anyway, is it worthwhile for me to manually cause myself to throw up?)

How do I keep from getting dehydrated when I'm constantly vomiting and diarrhea-ing?

HotPatatta — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:04:17 -0800

I've had diarrhea and constant vomiting since last night. I can't even keep down water. What should I do to keep from getting dehydrated? It could be food poisoning. Yesterday's menu: my usual tofu wrap (lettuce, hummus, tofu on lavash bread) and Chinese food (pork, noodles, veggies) from a place I had never tried before. I don't feel ill otherwise--no fever, aches, pains. What should I try to eat or drink that will regulate my system and keep me from getting dehydrated? I ate some yogurt for lunch and mixed in a small amount of blueberry preserves and cereal, but I just vomited and, well, there it was. Every glass of water I've had has come back up, too.
My health insurance hasn't kicked in yet.

(My pants are noticeably looser, which is keeping my spirits up!)

How to keep the vomit in our cat and off our floor.

millipede — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 08:04:17 -0800

My roommate's adorable but extremely neurotic and emotionally needy cat has begun to upset herself to the point of vomitting sometimes when my roommate has to lock her out of her room. For the love of god, please help us. The cat's name is Kazu. (Here is a picture of her, if you're curious). She is a shelter cat we--we, but officially, my roommate--adopted last October. From what we could find out, she had a difficult kittenhood, moving from shelter to shelter to temporary owner to shelter, having most of her teeth removed, getting very sick from diarrhea, etc. Kazu is now almost five years old and she's the most affectionate and loving cat I've ever met. The flip side of this is that she always has to be right on you, or failing that, right next to you. Oftentimes, this is more endearing than it is exasperating, but that leads me to our problem.

The cat sleeps with my roommate. Around 5am, the cat goes nuts: running around the room, knocking things over, clawing the air conditioner, biting cords, dragging shopping bags around. My roommate's bleary-eyed fix for this, unfortunately, was to feed her. This worked for awhile. Kazu would have an early breakfast, and while she ate, my roommate would sneakily shut her door and go back to bed. Sometimes Kazu would cry and claw at the door for awhile, but she'd get over it.

My roommate decided she no longer wanted to lead the life of having to feed the cat at 5:30am every day, so she stopped. (As an aside: this stopping has happened before. My roommate went to Japan for about two weeks in April, leaving me in charge of Kazu. I am not the kind of person who feeds cats at 5:30am. Kazu dealt, with some whining and scratching at my bedroom door, which lessened over time). Now that my roommate has stopped feeding the cat at 5:30am when she shuts her out for waking her up, the cat does not deal. She mews and scratches at my roommate's door and has started leaving pools of vomit.

We think she is upsetting herself to the point that she throws up. I can relate to this. Apperently, I used to do it as a baby. I can still relate now. However, it sucks for us, and probably for Kazu as well.

Here are some facts and caveats:
-This only happens when my roommate is actually home. It only happens at night. It only happens when Kazu gets shut out of my roommate's room after having been there all night. My roommate sometimes goes out of town, and I don't sleep with Kazu, and I certainly don't feed Kazu at 5:30am, and she doesn't vomit. She sleeps or plays or does other appropriate cat things and then eats when I wake up, around 8.

-We really don't think she is physically ill. She's been to the vet recently, and nothing was wrong. She has never vomitted while we were awake or in any other circumstances. (She did, however, manage to vomit all over my roommate's Japan documents the day before she left, which did seem rather passive-aggressive (I jest about the passive-aggressive. Ah, double parentheses!))

-My roommate does not want to discontinue sleeping with Kazu. She also cannot stop kicking her out when she runs around the room and makes as much noise as possible, because my roommate needs her sleep. She's tried squirt bottles. Kazu doesn't mind water. (One day, we came home and found her sitting in the toilet, just minding her own business). She's tried other deterrents, like noise and a scat mat set around potentially noisy items that the cat seems particularly drawn to. Nothing fazes this cat, except being shut out, and the vacuum cleaner (and no, my roommate can't just start vacuuming at 5:30am every day. The point of kicking Kazu out is so she can sleep).

-I cannot split Kazu-sleeping-duty with my roommate. Neither I nor my boyfriend would deal well with her at night, and also my room is the poisonous plant room, so she can't be in there unsupervised. She's rarely in my room at all, and thus isn't as bothered by being shut out from it.

-Kazu does act out in other ways too. She sometimes leaves cat turds under the kitchen table or in other places they don't belong. We got the wrong kind of litter once, and she peed prolifically on the Japanese room-divider screen in our apartment. She has also, oddly, peed down the shower drain. She's a biter and a hisser and she's very moody--she can be purring and kneading you as you pet her, and then one minute later, she can bite you and hiss, and then the next minute, she's back on your lap. This is understandable, since she's had a hard life. We love her no matter what. But this new vomitting thing is troubling, and we're hoping to find a way to fix it--a way that satisfies all parties human and feline.

Please help me save someone from dehydration...

Unicorn on the cob — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:57:17 -0800

My boyfriend cannot stop vomiting. I know you are not a doctor, but I am desperate. Please advise if you have ever had this happen, I'm very worried. He started feeling poorly on Friday, and stayed confined mostly to bed Friday evening, all day Saturday and Saturday night, and beginning around 2 a.m. the vomiting began. He's vomiting about once every 10-15 minutes and has for 16-18 hours. I have tried all of the following:

- Dramamine
- Emetrol
- Anti-nausea chewables
- Gatorade
- Sparkling water
- Plain water
- Ice chips
- Ginger ale

I also drove to the pharmacy and begged the tech for help. She said "if stomach pain, try emetrol. If no stomach pain, try Dramamine."

Nothing has helped. He has no medical insurance. I have tried calling my doctor and he will not prescribe anything over the phone. There is no free clinic in Dallas. There is no Ask-a-Nurse number for Dallas. The last time I took him to the emergency room we waited a full 24 hours and watched a person have a seizure right in front of us and he spit blood and puke within a few inches of us. The bill was several thousand dollars. Neither of us has the strength to go through that again.

Symptoms: No fever, but body aches everywhere, extremely sore throat (totally from the vomiting), body aches, extended sneezing spells (he'll sneeze 6 times in a row, quickly, try to sip a little water, and spend the next five minutes violently vomiting).

I just... I don't know what to do. I don't know what this is. I have exhausted every friend, parent, and neighbor with requests for medication. All pharmacies have closed now and I'm exhausted, too.

Other factors: He has consumed no alcohol in several days, no new foods/medications/vitamins, no change in surroundings or usual daily activities, and the only things he has eaten are 100% fruit juice popsicles and a small bowl of pasta which I also ate and am fine.

He is not coughing, nothing is swollen, no stiffness in the neck, no fever... I just am at my wit's end. 1/2 a chunk of ice melting in his mouth triggers five minutes of vomiting. Any suggestions?

I have read that he needs to sleep for a few hours and let his digestive tract rest before trying fluids again, but he cannot fall asleep due to the overwhelming thirst. Ideas?

I have checked WebMD, ask-a-nurse medical services online and called my local hospital and they cryptically referred me to WebMD and then hung up on me.

Why does meat make vegetarians vomit?

giggleknickers — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:43:50 -0800

Why do vegetarians vomit if they eat meat? Every time I've seen a vegetarian eat meat, by accident or because they were giving up vegetarianism, they always vomited. I was just curious as to why this is. Does anyone know?

If you're going to answer, please have some knowledge about the subject and preferably have a source. I can come up with guesses myself.

No more Mr. Kitty Creosote! But why?

suki — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 08:34:52 -0800

Why have my cats STOPPED puking? Gross cat vomit related details inside. In mid February I adopted two cats from a local shelter. The shelter is about as posh as a cat shelter could be, so the cats had all their shots and tests, and each came with a fairly complete medical history. They also came with two big bags of Science Diet, which is what they were fed in the shelter.

They adjusted well, except for the fact that they puked - a lot. Luna is a 1 year old long haired coon cat female, and she made the classic hairball noises when throwing up, though didn't produce much vomit.

Tex is a big 5 year old boy. He was more of what I called a "stealth puker." It pretty much came out of nowhere, with no warning whatsoever. And it was large quantities of mostly undigested food.

They both also liked to nibble on plants and sometimes I would find part of a leaf in the vomit.

There were about 5 incidences a day and I was just getting ready to call the vet, when they ran out of Science Diet. I bought an emergency bag of 9 Lives at the local store, and now the vomiting has stopped completely. And from what I can tell, they're no longer interested in the plants.

I really would like to give these cats good food, and I have heard horror stories about the cheaper brands. But I'm wondering what it is about Science Diet that made them so sick. And why the low-end stuff doesn't seem to bother them at all? And whether the fact that they don't vomit up 9 Lives offsets the fact that I'm feeding them food that is not very good for them.

My cat's sick again, looking for ideas on what he's got and how I should proceed.

FortyT-wo — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 17:52:00 -0800

My cat was quite ill, got over it for a week, and now is ill again. We've taken him to the vet and still no ideas what's wrong with him. Anyone ever have a similar problem? So the week before last, on Sunday, my cat stopped eating much of anything. When he did eat something, after an hour or two, he would howl horribly, (like he's in pain) then vomit everywhere. He still showed great interest in food, but would sniff at it and not eat, or eat it and throw it up later.

This went on for 3 days, and I got really concerned. Took him into the vet, and the vet said he was dehydrated, weighed the cat and he was just 10 some lbs. instead of the 12 I was expecting. The vet gave him some nutritional goo and told us to wait a couple of days. I took kitty home, and after a bit he cried and vomited the goo all up. Even though I'd been told to wait, I was worried after he didn't keep his goo down and took kitty to the emergency room, where I had all the blood tests done again, more fluids put in him, an injection to make him less nauseous, and left... with still no idea what had been wrong with him.

His blood tests came back normal, except for high creatnine (vet said because he was dehydrated), high glucose (vet said because he was stressed), and borderline-high thyroid (vet said this is incidental, but look into irradiating him in the future ... I said I'd bring him back in about a month or so after he'd recovered to get a nice baseline blood test on him.)

This was on a Wednesday, and the next day kitty ate. And didn't vomit. He continued this for a few days, but I was suprised to never see any poop in his litterbox (I hadn't seen any since saturday). On Friday night I was SHOCKED to pull a (seriously) 6-inch long poop out of his box. Holy cow. All was well after this, kitty returned to normal.

One week passed, and he was fine. We were so relieved to have him well. And then again, Saturday or Sunday of this week, he stopped eating. If he tries to eat, he vomits it everywhere. No poop in the box whatsoever. Kitty is truly interested and excited about eating (we offer him treats and he comes running from across the house), but either does not eat them or does and vomits them up.

Today I called his vet and they basically would not help me in any way over the phone, said just to bring him in. A trip to the vet is torturous for kitty - he vomits, pees in his carrier, howls and pants in distress. I'm still feeling guilty about taking him to the vet twice week before last, which amounted to no help for him and $600 for me total... I don't want to do it to him again unless necessary.

Background info on kitty: He's a 10-year old good-sized tom. He is not, and has not ever been obese. He's indoors-only, an only cat for nearly 4 years now. No opportunity to come in contact with another cat. We haven't introduced anything new into the home. Before this started, he'd been fed Newman's Own cat-food, 1/3 can 2x daily. During the first illness I was trying to find something he'd eat and put dry food out. Vet suggested I give him dry kitten food to help him put weight on, and so for the last week, he's had a combo of Newman's Own dry cat food and Iam's dry kitten food. He's loved it and put on all his lost weight. Haven't tried going back to the canned stuff yet.

So: A few questions...

1.) How long should I wait before taking him to the vet in a case like this? He'd gotten back up to 12 lbs. in the last week, but he's not been able to hold anything down since sunday. I feel like if I'd not taken him to the vet at all the last time, he'd be just as well off, and less tortured. I'd also feel terrible if my waiting harmed him in any way. How long is it okay to let a cat eat little or nothing before I make him miserable with a visit to the vet, who might not be able to do much for him?

2.) What can this be? Kitty was sick for 4 days, well for 10, now sick again? Blood tests come back pretty much okay, except for a possible thyroid problem, which wouldn't be causing him not to be able to eat. Any clues?

We love our little guy and want to do whatever is best for him - am just really confused as to how to proceed here or what's going on. I don't want to torture him again with a visit to the vet unless he can be helped.

Thanks so much!

Shouldn't I be all better now?

scaryblackdeath — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 09:46:18 -0800

I puked my guts out on New Year's on my way back to my car. I had nothing alcoholic to drink. I ate at Wendy's before the party. All day yesterday and this morning I still feel like I've got a lead brick in my stomach. How should I treat this at home? WebMD hasn't been much help, actually. So far I've eaten mainly bread, saltine crackers and a little chicken soup to try to absorb the stomach acid. About the biggest improvement is that this morning I found that if I lie still the pain goes away.

Luckily, I had yesterday & today off.

Home remedies, anyone?

Minty fresh puke

klangklangston — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 10:39:20 -0800

Help me stop puking in the morning (toothpaste). I looked here, but there didn't seem to be an answer. I'm a guy, so I know it's not that I'm pregnant.

But I've tried switching toothpastes, and all of them seem to give me this thick coating of mucous in my mouth. I've always been sensitive to mucous, and when it gets to the back of my throat, I start to gag and then inevitably vomit.

It sucks, and I don't want to do it anymore.

Variables I've controlled for:

Eating/not eating. Eating a little something that doesn't include dairy, bread or fruit seems to be better than not eating anything, but finding a breakfast food that includes none of those things is kinda tough. Salty stuff makes it worse, as does dairy.

Coffee: Coffee does not have an appreciable effect (sometimes it's better, sometimes it's worse, I've been unable to control for variations in the coffee enough to tell if that has a significant effect).

Variables that seem to have an effect that I have not yet been able to isolate:

Cold weather: This seems to happen more as it has been getting colder.

Los Angeles: This seems to have become more frequent since I moved to LA, though I don't know if that's because I need to be up earlier in order to get to my job.

I have tried Tom's (Cinnamon, Peppermint, Spearmint, Mango Orange), Crest (Regular flavor, whitening/non-whitening, kids bubblegum), and just baking soda and water (which seems to have less of an effect, though it is vile).

What next? I know that I need to set up my first meeting with my new doctor soon, I imagine this is something that I should take up with him. There were many folks who seemed to have the same problem the last time this subject was broached—have any of you controlled for variables I've missed? Any success? I spent 15 minutes puking this morning, and I'd like to avoid that in the future.

What the hell did my cat puke up?

tristeza — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 19:21:38 -0800

Does this sound familiar: cat vomiting pinkish-red fluid after receiving rabies, and/or FVCVP vaccines? (Vet office is aware, don't panic). My poor kitty (El Diablo de la Tierra del Fuego, or Diablo, but most often "D") went to the vet yesterday for the first time for a checkup and vaccines since he was a baby 3 years ago, so, the second time for these shots. They gave him rabies and VCRVP vaccines, and his mood and energy seem fine. He's strictly indoor, always has been.

I came home from work today to about 4 piles of vomit (regular regurgitated food, but more than usual), and something weird: a splash on my tile floor of this pinkish red, slightly slimy, clear fluid, which had no discernable smell.

My immediate thought was bloody bile of some kind (but the lack of smell was odd).

I called the vet and described everything, as I was told to do if he puked a bunch today, and the vet tech told me not to worry about it, watch him carefully, and if it kept happening to call back.

For the record, she had never heard of anything like I described (the red-pink viscous fluid).

Does this sound familiar to anyone at all? I've googled and found nothing of interest.

(PS - I scooped up a bit of it into a baggie in case they want to test it if he gets worse, god help me.)

I touched someone else's vomit. Should I worry?

jal0021 — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 23:16:34 -0800

I touched someone else's vomit. Should I worry? So, someone decided to get sick all over the pump at the gas station... the same pump I pulled up to and parked at. Unfortunately, I didn't realize some had splattered on the nozzle handle until after I grabbed it.

I didn't bathe my hands in it or anything, but I did get a small amount on a few fingertips. And, since it was late at night, the attendant at the gas station had already closed up shop and didn't care to let me in to wash my hands ("Hey, someone puked all over Pump #6," didn't elicit much reaction, either). So, it wasn't until I got home ten minutes later that I finally had the opportunity to wash my hands.

I took extra care not to touch my nose, mouth, or face in the interim, but I obviously had to touch the steering wheel, the gear shift, door handles, etc. Is it necessary to disinfect these surfaces? Should I even be concerned? I know that touching blood or feces is generally a bad idea, but what about vomit? Any nurses out there with thoughts?

Generally, I wouldn't worry much about something like this, but I'm embarking on a road trip in a couple of days and would rather not get ill along the way.

My jacket stinks of puke

lou — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 12:38:19 -0800

How do I get the vomit out of a wool jacket? My friend had a little too much to drink one night and threw up all over my wool jacket. I tried to rinse it out with water in the sink but I didn't want to soak it because it's supposed to be dry cleaned. So a few days later I took it to the dry cleaners and they did everything they could, but when I got it back it still reeked and there's an oily feel to the wool where the vomit is. So. Did I do something wrong? Did the cleaners do something wrong? Is there anything else I can do? Or is the jacket ruined? (Yes, the smell still bothers me and I'll bet everyone can smell it too.)

Why do I get the dry heaves when I get hungry?

livinginmonrovia — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 20:36:12 -0800

Why do I get the dry heaves when I get hungry? I used to never had a problem getting hungry...if I couldn't eat for a little while. In the last couple of years I have an almost instantaneous reaction when I get hungry. All of a sudden I go into the dry heaves. I have to desperately search for something to eat or eat a Tums. It's rather annoying, not to mention uncomfortable. Other than that I don't have any symptoms. Does anyone have experience with this. Ideas? I'm a 44-year-old slender female without any major health problems. I have a fairly healthy diet with no restrictions.

Household Smellfilter

IronLizard — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 22:51:59 -0800

The reek of fresh vomit ..... is emanating from the washer/dryer in the kitchen area and refuses to reveal it's source after multiple suspect interrogations. There is no odor in the tub of the washer, as I had first suspected and the drain has been given generous amounts of bleach with no results. During the exploration, I did discover a very old bannana (thankfully with it's peel intact). This was not the culprit, but merely an unpleasant decoy left by the children. Has the washer gone to the dark side? Or has something crawled to an untimely death within my walls?

Help me make my stomach happy.

Lockeownzj00 — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 18:42:36 -0800

GastrointestinalFilter: My body disagrees with EVERYTHING. (warning: a lickle nasty) I've been wondering what it is for a while now.

I've grown used to it enough that I can "tell" when things are going to disagree with me, even if I don't know what exactly it is (as long as I know the contents).

After eating a bunch of things, if I'm offered a yogurt, or a sausage, or what have you, I know automatically, "no, I'll vomit." Or at least those tasty mouth-vomits that make you feel oh-so-good.

Everything gives me gas. It's not so bad that I can't do things (it doesn't necessarily obstruct my ability to socialise), but I seem to be in a perpetual on-off state of farting or waiting until I fart again.

I've determined by now that one thing may be a growing lactose-intolerance. I used to love milk, then every time I drank it, I got sick to my stomach. I seem to still be able to stomach some amount of dairy-products, but this is a problem for me. I love cheese on my pasta so when I do eat it (masochistically I suppose), I do get...uncomfortable afterwards.

Sometimes my stomach just feels like it's in a knot. And I especially seem to have trouble eating just about anything right after I wake up (more in the middle of the day than the morning), even when I feel extremely hungry.

That's another thing: I'm always hungry. Always. And I'm skinny as can be (125 pounds-ish...pale. got a mental image?). Granted--I'm a teenager, but I think my symptoms go beyond an unquenchable adolescent thirst for sustenance. I eat a whole plate of pasta--I want more. A slab or two of swordfish. More. If I don't eat more, I can't fight the hunger. If I satisfy the 'urge,' I feel like shit afterwards.

Speaking of shit--one thing I rarely if ever have, however, is diarrhea or anything like that. Always clean, easy...concise.

It's a goddamned vicious cycle and I'm convinced I have to "have" something. Even if it's a genetic defect, I want to know what the hell it is. Food is always, always a problem. Maybe it is "just me." But damned if I'm not curious (ps: sorry for the length).

Final note: no, I have not yet been to a doctor (I mentioned it once in a routine checkup, to no avail). It's bothered me enough that I've decided I'll go sometime soon, but I just want to pick mefi's brain for a bit.

Frequent flyer miles on the Vomit Comet.

anjamu — Wed, 31 May 2006 21:59:45 -0800

Why do I vomit so frequently? Is this out of the ordinary? I'm in my early twenties, in good health, not pregnant nor have I ever been, et cetera.

The problem is, I find myself vomiting once or twice a month for varied reasons. A glass of wine too much (we're talking 2.5 glasses instead of 1.5) does it. So does the beginning of a cycle of BCPs. Occasionally I am motion sick. I am especially prone to catching 24-hour bugs that cause vomiting. It happens most often in the mornings, but is by no means limited to a particular time of day.

Basically whenever I feel nervous/sick/affected by medicine, it's manifested by throwing up.

I don't honestly know how frequently most people vomit; anecdotal evidence suggests perhaps anywhere from twice a year to once every five years.

So my questions are, in jumbled order, how often do healthy people generally puke? Does my weak stomach suggest a bigger problem? Why do some people have "weak" stomachs to begin with?