hi I'm dr. Ellie cannon I'm a GP and a
health writer and today I'm going to
talk to you about how you can stop
vomiting now obviously vomiting is quite
a common symptom it's something we've
all experienced at some time in our life
and most often people vomit in
association with an infection so
typically some sort of food poisoning or
what we would call a viral
gastroenteritis if you don't know why
you're vomiting and you've been vomiting
for more than a day or two I would
always see your GP especially with a
child so what can you do when you are
vomiting to help yourself first of all
it's absolutely crucial when you're
vomiting to keep hydrated you lose a
huge amount of fluid by vomiting and
it's important to replenish that fluid
in order not to become dehydrated now
obviously that's difficult if you're
drinking water and obviously throwing up
so what you can do is you can actually
take in fluid very very slowly either by
taking sips of water very small amounts
that won't cause you to vomit but very
often so for example taking two or three
sips of fluid every 10 minutes and that
should be enough to keep you hydrated
but not to cause you to vomit the other
thing that's quite useful to keep you
hydrated is to suck ice chips sucking
ice chips tends not to make people vomit
and can be really useful for children to
keep up the fluids if they are vomiting
and similarly sucking on an ice lolly
can be another good way to take in the
fluid people often use oral rehydration
salts such as dye or alight when they're
vomiting and this is also a good way to
keep up your fluid intake
if you are vomiting with the food
poisoning
then the vomiting is part of the process
of the illness and your body getting rid
of that toxin and although it's very
distressing the vomiting will normally
only last for 24 to 48 hours if it is
going on for longer then you can speak
to your pharmacist about buying a
medication such as domperidone or a
travel sickness medication which can
help to stop the vomiting don't worry
too much about what you're eating when
you're vomiting there are some foods
that can help to control
the feeling of nausea such as ginger
biscuits or taking dry crackers but the
most important thing really if you're
already vomiting is to drink and taking
any food will often cause you to vomit
again also be careful of any medications
that you may be taking that are causing
the vomiting this is a really common
reason to vomit so for example
antibiotics cause vomiting taking
ibuprofen can cause vomiting and other
pain killers such as codeine and
morphine all can be a source of vomiting
so have a look at the other things
you're taking that might be causing the
problem vomiting is a really important
symptom and as I've said if you don't
actually know why you are vomiting there
is not an obvious reason then you must
seek medical help this is particularly
important in children although the most
common reason for a child to vomit will
be an infection so there's some advice
on what to do if you're vomiting the
most important thing is to keep hydrated
you