First Aid for Nausea

Nausea is the feeling you get when you feel like throwing up. There are many causes of nausea, some of them include:

• Pregnancy
• Motion sickness
• Vertigo
• Digestive infection
• Certain medication
• Certain foods

The best way to treat nausea is to recognize the underlying cause and treat it. For example, if alcohol is causing the problem, stop drinking.

Treatment

There are, however, a few causes of nausea such as pregnancy that cannot be ‘treated’ or do not have to be treated for that matter. However, the problem can be alleviated by taking the following steps:

1. Take slow and deep breaths
2. Take ginger or vitamin B6 supplements
3. Take over-the-counter medication for nausea. This includes anti-histamines as well
4. Keep yourself well-hydrated with clear liquids such as broths, herbal tea and juices. Avoid fizzy drinks, soft drinks, alcohol, water and milk
5. Consult your doctor if the above mentioned treatment methods are ineffective. If you are pregnant, you should consult your doctor BEFORE you consider following the steps

Tips

• During pregnancy, avoid taking any dietary supplements or medication for nausea unless prescribed by your doctor
• Food poisoning is your body’s natural mechanism to remove bacteria. Within the first 2 hours, vomiting should be natural.  Consult your doctor if food poisoning remains persistent and vomiting continues for more than 2 hours. Uncontrolled vomiting may also cause dehydration due to excessive loss of water.

When to seek medical attention

• Vomiting continues for more than 1 day—if the sufferer is very young, see your doctor after a few hours of vomiting
• Blood is present in the vomit
• Head trauma or infection has caused the vomiting
• The sufferer is lethargic, confused, less alert or is showing other forms of unusual behavioural changes
• If the child is the sufferer and has not urinated for more than 6 hours
• If the person is suffering from a fever of more than 101 F
• If vomiting is accompanied by diarrhoea
• If the person suffers from severe abdominal pain

Learn More

Vomiting when partnered with other symptoms may be a sign of other serious medical emergencies. To learn about the other symptoms and how to manage emergency situations enrol into a first aid course with a credible provider via St Mark James. Learn when to contact EMS and how to recognize dozens of emergency scenarios.

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