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Nausea

We took a survey of things that make tummies quiver and quake. In just half an hour we coughed up eggs, egg salad, eggs sunny-side up, needles, giving blood, seeing blood, hospital smells, hair in your food, bus exhaust, credit card bills, day-old grits, cooked carrots, Christmas morning anxiety, road kill, a graphic description of plastic surgery, greasy hamburger smells, "tee many martoonies," cigarette butts floating in a coffee cup, frying bacon, muck at the bottom of an old leaf pile, the smell of roasting chestnuts on the streets of New York City, a well-filled diaper, cat hairballs, bad fish, and other people being nauseous.

So how's your tummy, hmmmm? Are you a little queasy? What's that lump in your throat? Do you wish the world would end—and quickly? Well, don't worry. We've got some home remedies that will denauseate your tummy before you can say "tapeworm sandwich."

As beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so nausea is in the tummy of the nauseated. So, too, are the remedies. Keep trying until you find the one that works for you.

Let's get syrupy about it. If you're not that nauseated, "Coke syrup is something we use that seems to work real well," says pharmacist Robert Warren, Pharm.D., who heads Pharmacy Services at Valley Children's Hospital in Fresno, California. The noncarbonated syrup has concentrated carbohydrates that may help settle the stomach. In fact, Dr. Warren says, any soft drink liquid concentrate or even plain sugar syrup may help. The dose is 1 to 2 tablespoons for adults, at room temperature, as needed, and 1 to 2 teaspoons for children.

Or go for the uncola. Emetrol is "an over-the-counter product that works the same way as Coke syrup," Dr. Warren says, but is more expensive and without caffeine. It's a phosphorated carbohydrate solution containing the sugars glucose and fructose, and phosphoric acid.

Go for Bonine. These high-sugar syrups, however, are not for diabetics or for anyone who wants to avoid the calories. Instead, Dr. Warren says, an alternative is Bonine, a chewable antihistamine tablet with no sugar. Bonine is a motion sickness drug that works on your stomach. (Dramamine, another motion sickness medication, isn't effective against other kinds of nausea because it works on your inner ear.) As with any drug, be sure to read the precautions on the label first.

Keep in all clear down below. If you want food, stick to clear liquids like tea and juices, says nausea researcher Kenneth Koch, M.D., a gastroenterologist at Pennsylvania State University's Hershey Medical Center. These liquids should be warm or room temperature, not cold, to avoid further shock to your stomach. Drink no more than 1 or 2 ounces at a time.

Make it flat. "My mom used to give me 7-Up," Dr. Warren says. Other moms gave cola or ginger ale. Since our experts advise against cold beverages and carbonated ones, do as Stephen Bezruchka, M.D., an emergency physician at Providence Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, suggests. Let carbonated drinks stand until flat and lukewarm.

Eat carbos first. If you need something to eat, and your nausea isn't too bad, eat light carbohydrates in small amounts—toast or crackers, for instance, Dr. Koch says. As your tummy de-nauseates, graduate to light protein, like chicken breast or fish. Fatty foods are the last thing to add to your diet.

Get out of the pink. The stomach soother Pepto-Bismol and others such as Mylanta and Maalox are for disease-provoked stomach upsets, not for a queasy stomach. However, if your nausea is caused by inflammation or irritation, and if it's not too severe, Dr. Koch says, "they're reasonable to start with." But none of our experts wholeheartedly recommend them, because, as Samuel Klein, M.D., an assistant professor of gastroenterology at the University of Texas Medical School at Galveston notes, "none of them is specifically designed for nausea." And they're far from being the clear liquids doctors favor.

Try the ginger cure. Daniel B. Mowrey, Ph.D., a psychologist and psychopharmacologist in Lehi, Utah, who has been researching herbal medicine for 15 years, swears by gingerroot. "It will definitely take care of nausea," he says. Take capsules of the powdered root; the amount depends on how nauseated you are. "You know you've had enough when you burp and taste ginger," he says.

Make sure it's capsulized. Fresh ginger is too strong for most people in the amounts you have to take to get the same effect as with powder, Dr. Mowrey says. Ginger ale or ginger snaps may work if your symptoms are very mild.

End it all. One of the most effective ways to stop nausea is to allow yourself to vomit, Dr. Koch says. The nausea leaves you immediately, and maybe just one good upchuck will take care of it for good. At the very least you'll have a temporary respite from that queasy feeling. He doesn't, however, recommend making yourself vomit.

PANEL OF ADVISERS

Stephen Bezruchka, M.D., is an emergency physician at Providence Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, and author of The Pocket Doctor.

Joseph M. Helms, M.D., is a family practitioner in Berkely, California, and is president of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture.

Samuel Klein, M.D., is assistant professor of gastroenterology and human nutrition at the University of Texas Medical School at Galveston. He is also an editorial adviser to Prevention magazine.

Kenneth Koch, M.D., is a gastroenterologist at Pennsylvania State University's Hershey Medical Center and a leading researcher for NASA into the causes of nausea.

Daniel B. Mowrey, Ph.D., of Lehi, Utah, is a psychologist and psychopharmacologist who has been researching the use of herbs in medicine for 15 years. He is author of The Scientific Validation of Herbal Medicine and Next Generation Herbal Medicine.

Robert Warren, Pharm.D., is director of Pharmacy Services at Valley Children's Hospital in Fresno, California.