Nausea tips?

[jenett]

I'm asking here, as I've got a con-specific bit of question, but I'm open to more general advice too.

Hi. I've been getting treatment for hypothyroid issues and low Vitamin D issues since late January (my life is much improved, thankfully.) However, my body, in trying to figure out what to do with a metabolism, seems to have decided that nausea is an appropriate answer, and that's been true three or four days out of a week to some extent the last month or so.

I am fortunate in that it's almost entirely the 'lack of inclination to eat' and the 'can't eat much when I do' variants, not the 'must go now and find a convenient place to throw up' version, but it is still not exactly as much fun as could be. It's also unpredictable about when it strikes - yesterday was bad for about 4 hours in the morning, and a couple of hours in the evening when I hit overtired, today was milder (the 'I am not up for eating much' variant), but lasted about 6 hours. (and now, of course, I am in the "I really need to eat something more because part of me is now very hungry from not eating much at lunch, and am not sure what that should be" place.)



So, my question is two-fold:
1) General nausea tips welcome (though please assume that I'm already doing the most logical things like trying to eat things that seem to help, drinking plenty of water and not much stuff that might cause problems, etc.)

Ginger doesn't touch it, nor do a bunch of other common remedies. Pressure points sometimes help, but not for long - they help me through a bad surge of it, but not the generic ugh feeling that can go on for hours. Protein seems reliably to help, and scrambled eggs were a surprisingly nice thing yesterday. Drinking stuff that isn't very sweet, but isn't straight water is also helpful - diluted lemonade, a bit of lemon juice in a water bottle, etc.

2) I'm particularly interested in advice in managing at cons, especially one where a lot of the fun for me will be meals with people (good conversation!)

The con hotel has lots of food options within close range, so if I get a sudden "This is the thing I need to eat right now", chances are good I can take myself off and find it, but I'm open to other suggestions. Particularly helpful would be foods to consider when I'm off at a meal with other people, and want to eat something (so I can go have energy for programming and conversation later!) but my body is going "Ugh" at me in one way or another.

Most likely food options are the con hotel (which has a very good restaurant for a hotel with a bunch of options and a willingness to adapt things within reason), Chinese, and Indian within immediate reach, and a wider range of chain and local places within a short distance. The hospitality suite is, again, aiming at snacks + variety of drinklike objects, rather than meals.

There's no single food which has always been reliable for me - so simply having something on hand isn't the most ideal option. (I've got a small range of things that seem to be usually okay, but most of them are not very hotel-room friendly without a lot of fussing that I'd rather not do for other spoon reasons.)

Other notes
I am seeing my endocrinologist a week from tomorrow, and one of the things I'm going to ask is if switching my thyroid med (the only one I take daily) from morning to evening is worth trying. (Since, apparently, for some people, it helps.)

I'm getting blood drawn on Friday for that appointment, and should know numbers sometime next week, but my guess is that my TSH is between 1.5 and 2.0 at this point, and that my vitamin D is somewhere around the lower end of the desireable range. (Guesses based on where I was last time, when we did a dosage increase of the thyroid med: levothyroxine, currently at .88mcg, and how I feel now.)

Comments

[hyperfocused]

I'm afraid I don't have a lot of useful advice, but I wanted you to know you are not alone. I feel like I could have written this. I, too, have the low thyroid, low vitamin D, and near constant nausea (about a year now, but I've only thrown up a few times.) No appetite.

Medicine (promethazine, zofran, etc) hasn't done the trick. I was put on large D doses which made me very sick intestinally.

An ultrasound and upper endoscopy last week showed gallstones (thankfully I haven't felt them) and gastroparesis.

Other tests show a very high sedimentation rate, ovarian cyst, and inflamed lymph nodes in my groin. Not sure anything will prove relevant to your case.

Sorry for the novel, but hey, I comiserate totally.

[jenett]

I'm glad it's not just me! It's one of those things I could probably live with, but living with it well is preferable to living with it badly.

The megadoses of vitamin D mostly make me very lethargic, the day after I take them (much more so when I was doing 50,000 IU twice a week, and much less so now, when I'm doing 50,000 IU once a week.)

[anjak_j]

The only thing that helps me with the near-constant nausea that comes with high doses of opiates is drinking regular Coca Cola. I've even been given anti-nausea meds to no avail...

[jenett]

Thanks. Straight sugar soda is something I've been avoiding for a long time (both because I try to avoid HFCS, and caffeine except very deliberately), but I may give it a try and see what happens.

[duskpeterson]

"I'm particularly interested in advice in managing at cons, especially one where a lot of the fun for me will be meals with people (good conversation!)"

I just got back from a con. I have a hopefully-temporarily disability that prevents me from sitting in chairs. I empathize regarding your restaurant difficulty.

The first thing I'd suggest (in case you didn't think of this alraedy) is that you let people know about your condition - in passing, not making a big deal out of it - so that they're not left in the embarrassing position of badgering you into eating something you shouldn't be eating. (If you tell them, they'll probably confide to you their particular food restrictions. That happened to me.)

On nausea: I assume you've tried yogurt to scare away any nasty bacteria in your digestive system? I'm on cranberry pills to keep away urinary tract infection, but I don't suppose that helps with nausea. Flat Coke is supposed to help with nausea, I'm told; that's what my mother always gave me. But you've probably tried all this. Maybe you could check a bunch of pregnancy books, in case their sections on morning sickness have any helpful information to offer?

[jenett]

I am very lucky in that a substantial swath of the people at this con I'm likely to have meals with already know about the on and off nausea, and are likely to be very helpful about it. (Also helps that I've got a very good idea of the food options any of the places we're likely to end up.)

I've tried yogurt, and it's a food I do okay with (I usually do Greek yogurt, so it's especially high protein), but it doesn't seem to help with the general nausea.

[insomniac_tales]

I usually find munching on saltines to be helpful, but sometimes it doesn't touch the nausea and rarely they make it worse. Toast too, perfectly plain. Sometimes I just have to deal with it for the day, but that's certainly no fun when you're trying to be active at a con. I hope you can find something that helps.

[jenett]

I had forgotten about trying saltines! Thanks!

[fish_echo]

the 'lack of inclination to eat' and the 'can't eat much when I do' variants,

advice culled from things which have worked for me &/ people i know, please use/ignore/modify as you see fit (sorry that it's mostly phrased as commands but those are shorter to type and typing is painful for me today, stupid body, so please translate these all into suggestions):

-eat small amounts constantly. how frequently 'constantly' is and how much food is contained within 'a small amount' will of course be set by your body. my suggestion to start with is 1/2 hr and three bites. (if you have a poor sense of time, setting a small alarm is good, or tying it mentally to some sort of repeated action-- like the changing of speakers if that's a convenient increment of time).
-always carry snack-able foods with you (preferably stuff that doesn't go stale quickly so you can keep it in your purse/bag/pocket for several days if you need to), preferably smallish amounts of a number of things simultaneously (thus your tummy can be picky and you'll still have something to hand). i like having some protein-y stuff and some simpler starches stuff. possibilities include: nuts, chocolate, dried fruit, granola, beef jerky, crackers, potato bread (potato bread takes forever to go stale and tastes fine even when squished flat, so it's excellent).
-some food is room-temp storable but not very convenient for carrying around (eg, hard cheeses, tinned fish), having some of this in your room is nice.
-if refrigeration is useful for storage of some food: ice from ice machine + several plastic bags = way of chilling things in your hotel room w/o a fridge.
-remember that the difficulty in this sort of situation is actually getting enough calories whilst still meeting whatever the rest of the requirements are for food to be healthy for you. so opting for things like full fat milk, peanut butter, real sweeteners, drinking something other than water/tea/coffee at mealtimes are all ways of sneaking calories in without having to battle your brain/stomach.
-applesauce makes me happy. also, it comes in those little single-serving cups (for schoolkid lunches) so that's convenient.
-speaking of school lunches, that's a good place to look for single-serving things which need little/no prep and store fine at room temp.
-on an empty-ish tummy fruits are often a bit too acidic to be really happy, so if that's a problem eat something else with them.
-if you've gone longer than you should without having eaten anything, try starting off with something really easy to digest and bland-- boring starch is good for this. you may or may not want to give your stomach a little bit of time (20-30min) to work on digesting that before you feed it real food.
-things other than simple starches which are good at coaxing my stomach back on-line: rice pudding, bread pudding (stale bread+milk+spices), tapioca pudding, most custards.
-things which are advertised as breakfast-substitutes for people on diets, breakfast bars, or energy bars are generally fairly well-balanced and contain a decent number of calories for their size (even though they aren't a full proper meal). these are good for either eating sloooowly over a long time or scarfing down when suddenly your stomach reminds you that you haven't eaten since breakfast. also, they usually have horrible texture to begin with, so when they end up in the bottom of my purse for several days i can't tell the difference.
-veg have surprisingly few calories, sadly.
-things which are advertised as 'diet' or 'healthy [with connotations of fewer calories]' are really not at all useful if one is trying to /maximize/ one's caloric intake.
-variety is good because the tummy is fickle.
-no really, variety! at both the 'sorts of things' level (eg, nuts and also dried fruit and also fruit cups) and at the 'types of things' (eg, peanuts and also honey peanuts and also walnuts and also almonds)
-count (approx is fine) the calories you are eating each day
-having someone else sort of also monitoring your appetite is nice (and they can also remind you to eat if you forget!). ideally, someone who'll be around you much of the day so they can keep a weather eye on you without having to actually ask you (which can sound like nagging even if it isn't).
-liquids tend to be easiest and then very soft things. (basically, if you don't have to chew it you can sort of pretend you aren't eating anything)
-a good way to get ideas for the sorts of foods to have on hand are the sorts of things one would take camping.
-buying most of the food once you arrive is simplest. if there isn't a proper grocery in convenient distance, try a drug store, convenience store, gas station, or a supermarket.


Particularly helpful would be foods to consider when I'm off at a meal with other people, and want to eat something ... but my body is going "Ugh" at me in one way or another.
gah, eating out can be really annoying. also, this is really hard for me to say because i don't know you or your stomach at all. eh, may as well give it a stab.

to some extent this matters a little less if you are snacking constantly (because then a meal is just 'a larger snack eaten at a specific time'). most places have a rice/bread/potato/etc side-- that's usually pretty easy on the system. if you really like spicy/seasoned things, bringing a small amount of hot sauce/spice packets is nice (you get weird looks sometimes but eh), and you can add it to something which might be otherwise boring. if you aren't a spice-lover, avoiding spicy things when your tummy is annoyed is good. starch+dairy is a good combo usually (eg. mac&cheese, spaghetti alfredo, cheesy toast). actually, dairy things in general (mmmm mango lassi!). drinks with calories are awesome. things which will still be tasty when they cool down (so you can nursing your plate of whatever through the whole meal right up until everyone is gathering up their coats to leave. sadly, mac&cheese generally fails this criterion). ask your stomach what it wants, if it doesn't really want anything, ask it if it's being recalcitrant or if it is such that eating anything would make it worse-- if it's the latter, don't eat anything right then as it'd just cause problems but if it's the former, tell it to stop being sullen and that you /are/ going to feed it something and if it doesn't tell you what it wants then it'll just have to deal with whatever you decide to feed it. unless it sounds good to your stomach at the time, avoid fried food. often simpler foods (easy proxy: approximate number of ingredients) are better. as i said above, liquids & soft things (aka stuff wot doesn't need chewing) are often easier (eg, curry over rice at the indian place).

okay, this is all that i've got right now. let me know if any of this needs clarification or if you have any questions.

eta1-- sometimes ignoring the nausea and not eating anything works. but if one does this too often (especially if it's for consecutive day(s)) then it really /doesn't/ work-- because evidently our bodies need energy to function, wtf is up with that -hmphfs-. so don't try the 'ignore and it'll go away' method too often.

eta2a-- most sport-drink-type things are about twice as concentrated as your body likes its electrolytes. it's easiest if you can get the powders and mix it to half-strength yourself, but you can kludge something together if you only have the bottled pre-made stuff.

eta2b-- baklava is awesome. (but it's also sweet, which isn't so great for you, yeah?)

[jenett]

Much, much thanks for typing that all out! I much appreciate.

I haven't had a chance to try small meals regularly - up until last week, I was working as a school librarian, and eating in public spaces other than the cafeteria was complicated by being a public service postion. But I'm definitely up for giving that a try.

I've had generally good luck with cheese, with things with protein (chocolate covered almonds have been very good to me).

Sweet is so-so - baklava is certainly worth trying for me. And I'm definitely with you on the sports drinks: I generally dilute them half and half anyway. (Made easier by carrying my own water bottle.)

I'll think about bits of the rest of it, and try some stuff out, and hopefully remember to come back and talk about how that's working.

[staranise]

Ugh, nausea. I have gastritis, and am so damn happy it's apparently treatable. (Unless I have an ulcer. Please, Mr. Ulcer, be nonexistent.)

I find it worth the time and effort to find someone with a car and do a grocery run, especially if someone at the con has a kitchenette. I've gotten into the habit of going to dinner with people and nibbling on a thing-I-can-eat, and actually nourishing myself later when I find food I can get into my stomach.

I also sometimes keep something I can stomach with me (crackers, usually) and shove them into my mouth at intervals throughout the day. I can't imagine eating enough to constitute a whole meal all in one go without gagging; but if I say, "Oh, I only have to eat three of these" every half-hour, I keep more on an even keel.

[fish_echo]

OMFG, kitchenettes! -hearts in eyes- they make everything so much simpler, don't they?

[staranise]

*nodnod!* There are SO MANY TIMES I have suffered for want of a microwave.

[fish_echo]

at least food can be sort of cooled in a jury-rigged fashion if there's an ice machine but there's really no way to easily get heat vision without being part-kryptonian!

[hivesofactivity]

I'm prone to nausea at the best of times, but when I was pregnant, I was continually nauseous and throwing up for about seven months (to the point that any local bus journey had to be done in at least two stages, as I'd have to get off halfway there and throw up in the gutter). So, I have an idea what it's like to be carrying on with one's regular life - going shopping, going to work, dealing with other people, etc - with really bad nausea.

Ginger doesn't work for everyone - honestly, if I had ONE person saying "have you tried a ginger biscuit?", I had a thousand, and it used to make me want to scream by the end of it. (And I hope any of this information doesn't make you feel the same way.) The only ginger thing that wasn't completely pointless for me was that really fiery ginger beer (nonalcoholic) - and the useful component, for all I know, might have been the sugar rather than the ginger. I don't mean ginger ale, I mean the really spicy ginger beer, which has a significantly stronger ginger taste. As someone pointed out above, soft drinks containing sugar are sometimes easier to keep down than plain water, and so ginger beer with a bit of hot water added, and drunk as a hot drink, seemed to stay down longer than other things. I still use this mix for my kid, when he's ill.

I also get very vomity when I'm having a migraine, and the main thing that works then is a vegetable stock cube dissolved in hot water and drunk as a hot drink. I have no idea why it works - the salt, maybe? - but it often does, when plain water would come straight back out, and it does help to settle the nausea a bit.

Another thing I found worked for me sounds rather disgusting, but did make a difference: I chose food based not just on whether I could face eating the food in question, but whether it would taste really bad and feel really uncomfortable travelling in the other direction. I used to eat a lot of this sweetish bread that was available locally to me (like brioche, but less greasy), because I knew it wouldn't be completely vile during the process of its reappearance half an hour later. (I considered writing to the manufacturer to thank them, but "your product doesn't taste too bad when experienced as vomit" might not be seen as a compliment.) I think the texture of the bread helped with this, too. One of the reasons I found this useful was not just to make each individual instance of vomiting less dreadful, but to not make me dread the whole process of eating at all (I was constantly ravenous - which I gather you are not - but still, I didn't want to dread eating just because I knew how I'd feel afterwards).

In terms of what to do at a con - you mentioned that no one food worked reliably for you, but it still might be worth carrying around sweetish bread rolls (baked doughnuts? sugar buns?) and salted crackers anyway, just in case. If protein works for you, that's great, but I'd try to avoid anything that's too fatty, as that sometimes triggers rather than helps nausea (although this may not be the case with your body).

Good luck with finding something that works for you.

[hivesofactivity]

To add: I had totally forgotten about the prevalence of corn syrup in US soft drinks, until I saw the comment below by sanacrow. I just wanted to say that all my comments refer to sugar-based fizzy drinks, which are the standard where I live. I have no idea whether HFCS-based drinks would work in the same way at all.

[sashajwolf]

I get nausea from a combination of hormonal issues and complications of hayfever. The best thing I personally have found for it is a moderate amount of alcohol (probably acting in its guise as a central nervous system depressant, in this case.) I find the most effective variants are gin or a good dark ale, and two units of either is generally sufficient for me (one bottle of ale or a double measure of gin, preferably with lots of tonic).

I have no idea how specific this is to me, though, and obviously alcohol has its own risks, of which I know you'll be well aware. It does at least have the advantage of being widely available and often culturally appropriate for shared meals. When it isn't appropriate, e.g. at work, I use an over-the-counter travel sickness pill - of those, I find ones with hyoscine hydrobromide in them work best for me, but still not as well as a good beer!

[sanacrow]

I get frequent nausea from my meds, and the usual stuff doesn't often touch it. What I've found that works (for me) is:

- Small sips of *cold* carbonated soda almost always work. I can't do artificial sweeteners, and need to minimize HFCS so I try to get Jones or other "real" sugar sodas when possible. Really cold fizzy water will do in a pinch, but it doesn't seem to work as well as 'real' soda.

- I'm not often in the urpy states, but ice chips work well to help get through those bits when things are leaning in the 'must go now and find a convenient place to throw up' direction.

- Avoiding having a completely empty stomach helps LOTS. Even if it's just a couple of bites, a piece of candy or a couple of nuts, having something in there seems to help the guts complain a lot less, and I've had a lot less of the 'can't eat now' since I figured that out.

- When I do get to the 'can't eat now' and have to eat for med or glucose reasons, brown rice or potato bread seem to be less offensive than alot of the 'usual' things listed for such occasions. And buttermilk. (Don't know why about that one, had a granny-lady suggest it and it really seems to do something to make the tummy easier to get along with.)

- I split my daily thyroid meds between two doses, one in the morning and one at bedtime. It seems to help.

- When eating out or with others and I want to have something but am not sure what is 'safe', I often get a lighter appetizer or some sort of light finger food (preferably not fried unless it's something that made the tummy or taste buds especially perk up). Then I can pick at it as I can tolerate, and it's easy to get a doggy-bag for what's left for later noshing.

[evewithanapple]

I don't have any advice to offer (though I did go through something similar at FanExpo- I had to sit down for a bit, but having a slice of pizza settled my stomach a bit) but I've been going through the same thing for about a year now. Nausea popping up every few weeks, low appetite (granted that's been going on for years) and a lac of inclination to eat. No idea what causes it, but I wanted to commiserate. :/

[themeletor]

my frequent nausea has to do with overactive anxiety, reaction to prescrition medications, and recovery from eating disorders, so of course your mileage may vary.

that said, i agree with most of what other people have said; also i always keep a couple of oranges on me. they are my secret weapon. yes, they are relatively high-acid, which can be troublesome, but i find the hydration, nutrient density, and ease of mindless eating (peel, fidget, suddenly the orange is in me before i know it!) to be a viable trade-off. also for some reason they are less of a shock to my gi system than starches are after a long stretch of can't-bring-myself-to-insert-food, especially the little sweet ones like satsumas or clementines.