Hopefully this won't gross you out too much - I've tried not to be graphic! If you don't want to know about my own personal nausea hell, skip the next few paragraphs and go straight to the Fixes for Nausea heading. I live by myself, so all my ideas involve having to cope without anyone else being able to run around for me.
For me nausea ranges from feeling slightly queasy all the way through to worst case projectile vomiting. But mostly it's like an ever-present roiling type of sea-sickness in waves that's hard to ignore - these days I rarely throw up as I make such an effort to stave it off.
Before I was diagnosed with CFS/ME in 2007 and before I realised what I was doing to myself, I used to throw up a lot. For me it was a combination of doing too much (without realising that was an issue) and permanently enlarged & sore tonsils that 'grabbed' my epiglottis and made me choke if I wasn't careful. That together with poor tooth enamel, the danger of being sick damaging your throat and dodgy core & neck muscles has made me really really really keen on NOT being sick.
I also had uneven hormone levels (probably this one's for the ladies!) which in effect gave me 'morning sickness' symptoms on a fairly permanent basis. Hopefully this has been fixed by the recent whipping out of my girly bits.
So, these are the non-prescription ideas I've tried - sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. And how long it takes them to work is variable:
FIXES FOR NAUSEA (both being sick and just feeling sick)
BEING SICK:
- STAY STABILISED AT YOUR BASELINE: Sounds stupid, but for me personally (though don't forget everyone with CFS/ME is different) this is key - the more stabilised my energy levels, the less nausea I get. The more I do beyond my baseline, the more likely I am to throw up. It doesn't fix all the nausea, but it does fix the worst bouts of it (barring infections/ bugs etc).
- KEEP HYDRATED: I know there's a lot said about drinking 8 glasses of water a day. But honestly, it's known that old people with infections become much more confused if they don't drink enough. And frankly as a symptom of ME/CFS is brain fog, and the body doesn't work so well without adequate hydration, it's a no brainer really. I find I have less nausea if I'm drinking enough liquids (tea & coffee & squash & milk counts, as does soup - it's the amount of liquid). When I'm flagging, I find having lots of milk in my cereal and soup or stew or food with gravy for the other meals helps me stay hydrated, somehow the effort of repeatedly lifting a glass of liquid feels so much more draining, even with a straw!
If you're having trouble keeping anything down - I find tiny little sips of water from a teaspoon maybe every 15mins for starters is often a good way to start keeping liquids down (works with kids, so it works for me!)
Then once that's stayed down, I move onto full fat coke, with ALL the bubbles KNOCKED OUT, again using a teaspoon and 15mins intervals. I find it useful to keep a can of full fat coke in the house as it's easier to do and just as effective as Dioralyte or other rehydrating powders when you're by yourself. You can also make up a rehydrating powder for yourself from salt & sugar (cheaper than Dioralyte but still needs organising when you're ill) - google it. - EAT AND DRINK FOOD THAT'S RELATIVELY PLEASANT ON THE WAY BACK: (sorry if that idea's grossed anyone out) - sometimes the fear of being actually sick is just as bad as the feeling sick and you can make that easier on yourself too. Try something bland, easy to digest, and being brutally frank, without lumps and above all SOFT!
I used to keep a few tins of Heinz Baby Apple in the cupboard, easy to open, small portions, light to lift and importantly, not too painful to throw up... Now you can get pouches of long life fruit compote which work just as well. Complan, milk, liquidised soup, and last but not least, water-soluble painkillers (have you ever brought back a partially digested fizzing paracetamol tablet that's got stuck in your nose? Take it from me, DON'T. I can laugh now about it but ow ow ow!) are also on my 'less unpleasant' list. - GORGEOUS SICK BUCKET: Not glamorous at the best of times, but in extremis I don't want to be staring into the abyss of a grubby huge domestic mop bucket stinking of bleach. It's not going to help! So I have a very pretty bucket just for this.
Cos let's face it, I don't have the energy to feel ill AND get to the loo on time, and I don't want to have to be straining to sit up as well as throw up. So why make it harder for myself! A shallow bowl? well, all I can say is, tsunami effects... You don't want to be faffing struggling with changing bedding or clothes when you're feeling that ill! If you're lying on the sofa or the bed you need a smaller lighter bucket anyway (15cm height is reasonable, 11cm height is better - I know this from experience)
I line my bucket with a large plastic sandwich bag after having already put a couple of spares folded up in the bottom of it (so I can reline fast if needed!) It means that when I'm by myself, clearing up is easy and keeps down nasty smells! (thx to ski-reps on end-of-holiday coach journeys to the airport after the night before for that idea). Also useful to fold up one or two such bags & keep them in the car or handbag - mobile sick buckets! (good for the daily commute if you fear travel sickness. I do find being prepared means it's less likely to happen cos I'm less stressed.
Then I also keep a couple of folded up sheets of kitchen towel in the bottom of the bucket. Finally I always have a covered glass of water in the rooms I spend most time in. If you take the bucket with you, you're always prepared!
I don't see why you have to surround yourself with ugly stuff if you're ill - you can get all sorts of cheerfully coloured buckets. There's swirly plastic ones in different colours, metal enamelled ones, patterned ones - have a look at ebay & Amazon, or the local pound shops. Mine's red enamelled with a cute wooden handle, 15cm/ 6" high - nice size for holding and heaving! - Sleep it off: not one for the insomniacs, but often I find if I can fall asleep, the nausea fades whilst I'm asleep. Until of course I start moving around too much again. But it can be welcome respite!
Similarly, lying still instead of wriggling around to try and get more comfortable sometimes works. But only if no position's comfortable!
- Distract yourself: I used to immerse myself in a book or some work and then I'd forget all about the queasiness until I surfaced. Now I'm relapsed, I can't do that, so instead I find something familiar and untaxing to listen to - like a YouTube playlist of a favourite band or composer, or an audiobook I've already listened to, or if my eyes are up to it - I watch Kittens sleep on Livestream (List of webcams HERE). If nothing's up to it, I stick earplugs in and watch clouds float past the window or imagine step by steps walks I've been on, even if I can only remember the way to the end of the street or the postbox.
- Arkopharma Traveller Roll-On: HERE. Mum found this for me in a health food/ barrels of protein powder type place. It's so good I have 2 - one for my handbag and one for in the house as it's only 4ml. You can get it on Amazon too. Again it's not much for the money but lasts for ages - particularly if kept in the dark.
Again, calorie free and user friendly - especially as the lid is relatively easy to unscrew even on a day when I'm fumble fingered and weak (you might have trouble as the lid's smooth and small, but you could wrap a small rubber band around it for grip).
You just roll it on your forehead. It's a far less aggressive smell than Ginger Oil (see below) - and is a mix of 100% essential oils of peppermint, ginger, geranium, and essences of orange & lemon. It's a gentle fresh smell, and even though my skin reacts to say, Neal's Yard Geranium shampoo, it's never reacted to this stuff. If in doubt I'm sure you could roll it on a tissue and sniff that instead! - Peppermint Tea: I quite like it lukewarm or cold - settles the stomach nicely, easy to digest and not unpleasant on the way back!
- Ginger Biscuits - loads easily available in the supermarkets. My personal fave is the Rington's Ginger Snaps HERE- nice and crunchy in the packet, and also go soft in the open air if that's what you prefer (less chewing for the weary), and in our area a man comes to the door for you to buy them! Not great if you can't keep anything down though.
- Ginger Tea - again fairly easily available in the supermarkets. I do like Twinings! Easier to keep down.
- Fresh Ginger - Comes as a root that you peel & chop or grate. Sometimes the roots are really big, but most shops don't mind you pulling off the amount you need (as long as you're leaving the biggest bit for others). You keep it in the fridge, but watch out cos it does go mouldy after a while.
fresh gingerYou pull or chop of a thumb sized chunk, then slice off the skin with a knife, then either chop finely, or grate - if you grate it, you can use one of the 'raised surface' garlic/ ginger graters, or even a garlic press (watch out with a garlic press, sometimes ginger can be very woody and therefore hard to squish!)
ginger grater
You can cook with it, use it as a tea infusion, all sorts! The Japanese often use just the juice squeezed out of the gratings in cooking. Loads of recipes on the internet. But not easy to handle if you're feeling ill.
I find using ginger regularly in my food does help reduce the roiling sea sick feeling that's pretty constant.
- Frozen Ginger (like icecubes) An easier way to have ginger for cooking with is the ready grated frozen ginger (looks like icecubes) by CoFresh that Tesco sometimes does (other places probably do it too) HERE.There's also jars of ginger, to use in cooking but they're often a bit vinegary. And of course there's the traditional dried powdered ginger.
- Ginger Oil (Essence) - you should be able to get it from a decent chemist that also does alternative medicines, or a health food shop. Some Boots, Holland & Barrett etc also do it. I get mine from Neal's Yard. You can get it online from Amazon etc. It's expensive but you only use a few drops and as long as you keep it in the dark and cool, it lasts a very long time in the bottle
You have to be careful with Essences, they can be very strong and also ginger in particular, if I get it on my skin, is very itchy and then goes crispy. Attractive!
You can either use a diffuser of some sort - Neal's Yard have an AromaStone (electrically powered, few drops of the oil in water in the dimple at the top and the smell evaporates off around the room), or a tea-light powered Burner (same idea, tea light in the bottom, a dish on top with water & oil in). But if you have smell sensitivities it can be a bit too pervasive! You can mix different oils in the diffusers, so you could use an oil you like the smell of that masks the ginger if you don't like it.
I've not looked into it, but there might be ginger flavoured incense available - though I reckon it might be too big a dose for the smell sensitive.
A DIY and cheaper way of doing this (good in winter) is to dab a few drops of oil onto a tissue, fold it up and put it on the radiator, the warmth from the radiator will evaporate the oil just as effectively. Take it from me, dropping oil straight onto the end of the radiator is effective but a nightmare to clean! Tissues are easier... In summer, you can stick the tissue under your pillow (folded so the oil doesn't get over you or your bedding).
If you're not always in one room or travelling around or smell sensitive, you can dab a few drops of oil onto a tissue and making sure the tissue is folded around the oil so you can't accidentally get it on your skin, stick it in a Ziplock sandwich bag, then just have a sniff when needed. I kept one of these in my handbag when I was working so if I felt travel sick I knew I could have a sniff and keep going (particularly important when stuck on the tube in a tunnel).
Best of all it's calorie free! and very user friendly even if you can't keep anything down.
Finally, I have little stashes of key stuff in a little makeup type bag - not just as individual items living separately in the kitchen or bathroom - in the living room and bedroom (ie places I am most often) ready for use. I've found that just the thought of moving to get stuff I need to feel better makes me feel worse. And just knowing it's easily reachable in extremis can be very comforting! Proper preparation prevents poor (and untidy) performance!
No comments:
Post a Comment