Nausea when triggered or anxious - also, anti-anxiety device blocking vagus nerve signals

[Flossy]

I have always had nausea when distressed but it has become worse recently.
I will speak to my doctor about it today and spoke to my pharmacist recently.
I asked about an anti-nausea drug called Odansetron. She said that is a reasonable way to go or my doctor might suggest I put my anti-depressant dose up for a couple of days. I actually did that last night (took an extra pill) and woke up without any nausea.
I take Pristiq which is an SNRI. It works best of all for me , I have had no panic attacks or Fibromyalgia pain for years when on it.

Just curious if anyone else has nausea with PTSD when triggered by a###oles or life.?

I have had PTSD for 5 years and lumped the nausea in with anxiety. So I take a tiny dose of Serepax when anxious/nauseous. I also found this device online, which looks promising.

Nausea Relief Devices & Effective Wearable Technology

Discover clinically-proven relief from nausea without medication. Our innovative wearable devices provide fast, drug-free treatment for motion sickness, morning sickness, and more. Choose from our premium selection of comfortable, water-resistant options with multiple intensity levels to match...

www.reliefband.com

I will post it up as a new thread so that people dont miss it.

 

[Flossy]

Nausea Relief Devices & Effective Wearable Technology

Discover clinically-proven relief from nausea without medication. Our innovative wearable devices provide fast, drug-free treatment for motion sickness, morning sickness, and more. Choose from our premium selection of comfortable, water-resistant options with multiple intensity levels to match...

www.reliefband.com

is said to block the signals between the brain and the stomach through the Vagus nerve. It can be used for motion sickness and also for anxiety.
Apparently, if it is unsuccessful in reducing nausea from anxiety after 30 days they will refund your money. I think it is worth a try as nausea is hugely attached to anxiety for me.
The only current methods I have for nausea/anxiety are a micro dose of Serepax 7.5mg or screaming until the valve at the top of my stomach opens and I burp.
Voila! Nausea gone, but not very handy when I am out and because twice now I have lost my memory for 5 hours after coughing or vomiting I am scared to do this.

Anyone who has watch National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, Like me, Eddy says, "I've got a metal plate in my head, when I walk past the microwave I shit myself and lose my memory for 8 hours". Thats' me with coughing or vomiting. :)

 

[Friday]

until the valve at the top of my stomach opens and I burp

…um…

So the reason you have to burp infants is that if you don’t -until they learn how to do it themselves, by reflex- they either throw up, or are in great distress (anxiety/pain/nausea/colicky).

Whilst there are certain medications dull/numb the reflex that allows you to burp, and some people (especially girls, most boys practice extensively) never learn to burp on purpose by using their diaphragm… there’s an easy solution to that. You burp yourself.

Screaming to burp says there’s nothing structurally wrong with you, the reflex is simply dulled for whatever reason (meds, disassociation, etc.) as screaming flexes your diaphragm whilst relaxing your throat. Singing -using ‘correct’ breath control would do the same thing.

But instead of screaming or singing you can simply flex/relax, or use 2 or 3 fingers on your abdomen (about a handspan beneat your sternum) whilst flexing, to get the right muscles working.

Similarly? Taking a deep breath, standing up straight, and then bending/twisting -or belly dancing undulations- can work gasses up towards the top of the stomach, if you’re finding trouble burping on purpose, even with a manual assist.

Like any physical skill, burping on purpose will probably take a bit of practice, but it’s a 2 second thing once you’re good at it… and doesn’t cost $250.

***
ETA
As an aside, since I just read your other thread? Needing to burp isn’t something I take zofran, for.

In the first place? It doesn’t work. You’ll still puke. It’s an amaaaaaazing drug for any nausea not caused by pressure against the sphincter. Once there is pressure there (from gas pressing on food/liquid if your digestive system is shut off from the anxiety so the muscles aren’t sending food down and gas up, or from the gas itself). In the second place, burping eliminates the nausea. So it just makes more sense to burp, ya know?

Just curious if anyone else has nausea with PTSD when triggered by a###oles or life.?

Yep.

And, as I’m emetiphobic, I take zofran/ ondansetron for anxiety puking, migraines, medication side effects, motion sickness, etc. Lovely stuff.

 

[Flossy]

…um…

So the reason you have to burp infants is that if you don’t -until they learn how to do it themselves, by reflex- they either throw up, or are in great distress (anxiety/pain/nausea/colicky).

Whilst there are certain medications dull/numb the reflex that allows you to burp, and some people (especially girls, most boys practice extensively) never learn to burp on purpose by using their diaphragm… there’s an easy solution to that. You burp yourself.

Screaming to burp says there’s nothing structurally wrong with you, the reflex is simply dulled for whatever reason (meds, disassociation, etc.) as screaming flexes your diaphragm whilst relaxing your throat. Singing -using ‘correct’ breath control would do the same thing.

But instead of screaming or singing you can simply flex/relax, or use 2 or 3 fingers on your abdomen (about a handspan beneat your sternum) whilst flexing, to get the right muscles working.

Similarly? Taking a deep breath, standing up straight, and then bending/twisting -or belly dancing undulations- can work gasses up towards the top of the stomach, if you’re finding trouble burping on purpose, even with a manual assist.

Like any physical skill, burping on purpose will probably take a bit of practice, but it’s a 2 second thing once you’re good at it… and doesn’t cost $250.

***
ETA
As an aside, since I just read your other thread? Needing to burp isn’t something I take zofran, for.

In the first place? It doesn’t work. You’ll still puke. It’s an amaaaaaazing drug for any nausea not caused by pressure against the sphincter. Once there is pressure there (from gas pressing on food/liquid if your digestive system is shut off from the anxiety so the muscles aren’t sending food down and gas up, or from the gas itself). In the second place, burping eliminates the nausea. So it just makes more sense to burp, ya know?

Excellent practical thinking and advice. Thank you so much. I will do some practice tonight. If I struggle to achieve it, I will get a guy to help me learn the technique.

Yep.

And, as I’m emetiphobic, I take zofran/ ondansetron for anxiety puking, migraines, medication side effects, motion sickness, etc. Lovely stuff.

Do you like Odansetron or are you being sarcastic about it being lovely stuff?

Can you tell me about how /when/how often you use Ondansetron please? My doc said on a zoom call he will give me a "box of 10" 4mg. That doesn't seem much to me if ten is the amount of dosages.

....Okay I just reread my other Thread and see you are the same responder. (brain fog today). What you are saying is that if the nausea is caused by pressure in the stomach building up the Odanstron won't stop the nausea. I am Emetiphobic too. I just didn't know there was a name for it.

 

[Sideways]

As an aside? I've only burped twice in my life. Twice.

I do gurgle a lot, though, instead. Weird.

Nausea and spewing when I'm anxious though? Every day of the week. I use maxalon (metacolpramide) with some benefit. But actually doing the deep breathing (which is necessary, because I've also been known to wet myself during a panic attack, and of the two options, I think it's slightly worse), I can get both of those symptoms under control these days, enough to get out of the situation causing the panic, which lets those symptoms settle.

My mum got onto the odansatron wafers to help with her chemo nausea. I use the much more mediocre metraclopramide (maxalon) because it's waaaaay cheaper, and available in big boxes!

Like soooo many other folks with ptsd, I'm also on a daily prazole (I take esomeprazole - there's a few different kinds these days) to help keep my stomach more settled. That's been a lifesaver, because I drop one in the morning with my other meds. The maxalon I have to a) have with me, and b) have the insight to take when I need it...which I don't always!

 

[Friday]

Do you like Odansetron or are you being sarcastic about it being lovely stuff?

Seriously lovely. Amazing.

Can you tell me about how /when/how often you use Ondansetron please? My doc said on a zoom call he will give me a "box of 10" 4mg. That doesn't seem much to me if ten is the amount of dosages.

It varies. I’ve taken it as often as around the clock, including woken up by nurses to take it with my other meds… to once a day when my anxiety is running hot… to a few times a month. So a box of 10 might last 3 days, or 10 days, or weeks/months.

 

[Flossy]

My mum got onto the odansatron wafers to help with her chemo nausea. I use the much more mediocre metraclopramide (maxalon) because it's waaaaay cheaper, and available in big boxes!

Like soooo many other folks with ptsd, I'm also on a daily prazole (I take esomeprazole - there's a few different kinds these days) to help keep my stomach more settled. That's been a lifesaver, because I drop one in the morning with my other meds. The maxalon I have to a) have with me, and b) have the insight to take when I need it...which I don't always!

I had no idea that other PTSD folks had gastro-intestinal problems. Duh me! Did your GP manage the decision of what to give you or did you have to be referred to a Specialist to see what was causing the stomach problems.

The Odansetron is not on the NHS and probably costs an arm and a leg.

I have taken esomeprazole for indigestion. It works great. I didn't realise it would fix nausea. Do you buy it over the counter? Does your GP approve of taking it every day? I am amazed at how little I know about my gut and how others consider it part of PTSD.

God, I have had shit doctors. Mine bangs on as if I was a Drug Crazed Opiod Seeker because I take Half a 30 mg Serepax at night.

"Oooh! I'm 68, cant have me being relaxed enough to sleep because next thing I will be shooting up Drano and might sue my GP Clinic when I get addicted to every drug known to mankind. Yet they happily try to push Mertazapine at every opportunity as a substitute, failing to mention that it is the worst Psych medication for rapid weight gain".

I just needed a brief whinge.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

 

[Flossy]

As an aside? I've only burped twice in my life. Twice.

I do gurgle a lot, though, instead. Weird.

Nausea and spewing when I'm anxious though? Every day of the week. I use maxalon (metacolpramide) with some benefit. But actually doing the deep breathing (which is necessary, because I've also been known to wet myself during a panic attack, and of the two options, I think it's slightly worse), I can get both of those symptoms under control these days, enough to get out of the situation causing the panic, which lets those symptoms settle.

You know what. I am the same. But, fart, the last few years I fart like an old woman nonstop at night. It is getting so bad I am scared I will forget when I am in public and just let 'er rip.

Since I didn't want to do the screaming any more to make me burp, I gurgle in my throat. I remembered that is what Tina Turner does daily to reduce her stress but she calls it chanting. I gurgle as much as I can without stimulating the gag reflex, trying to create a vibration in my throat to relax the valve there.

Maybe I need to make that a daily practise as I go about my day.

Nausea and spewing every day of the week is life diminishing you poor thing. I take Pristiq which is an SNRI not and SSRI which I have found useless to help PTSD.I have not had a panic attack for at least ten years or since I started it. I am not good at time frames. It also stops all Fibromyalgia pain for me. I am on the highest dose of 200mg a day but it has changed my life. It's a nightmare to get off it, causing brain zaps, but I know now I will never try to come off it again. It is the only one that works for me.

I wet myself when I have nightmares when I have accidentally allowed an a##hole into my life and got triggered.

 

[Mach123]

I was seasick when I went commercial fishing back in the 80’s and they had these wrist things then they did nothing. I had a prescription called Bendectine (sp?) that worked and I could take the roughest weather . Then my luck, they took it off the market claiming it caused birth defects . It’s back on the market now I think. It was developed for morning sickness in pregnancy. Good luck .

 

[PTSDisaster]

I'm also nauseaus because of ptsd. I read about it once and it's more common with CSA and when you have a freeze response. Because this part of your brain is connected with the vagus nerve.
Anyway I throw up a lot, it has got a bit better now but I'm afraid to go anywhere because I'm scared I will throw up in the store or wherever I go. When I really need to go somewhere I always throw up before I leave the house, sometimes I help myself to throw up a bit so I can feel more relieved.
I used to gag in my teenage years but everytime I got a boyfriend it got worse. Now I'm living together with my boyfriend and my ptsd got really bad and out of control mainly because I had to vomit all day. My boyfriend is not an a$$hole but he does trigger my ptsd A LOT. Everything that might arouse him is a trigger, so sex scenes in a movie/porn/pretty women it's all stressful to me (and my stomach).
What specific thing is your vomit trigger or is it men in general?

Yep.

And, as I’m emetiphobic, I take zofran/ ondansetron for anxiety puking, migraines, medication side effects, motion sickness, etc. Lovely stuff.

I just searched emetiphobia and now I'm wondering why non of my therapists brought this up

 

[Flossy]

What specific thing is your vomit trigger or is it men in general?

People with personality disorders. Eg: Narcissists or Borderlines. I seem to attract women with Borderline Personality who want to be my friend. My trauma was caused by my mother with Narcissistic Personality Disorder and there are a number of females in my family with Borderline Personality Disorder. So the behaviours of both of these personality types are triggers for me. I no longer attract Narcissists but am still working on strategies to identify problem people earlier. Men are not a problem for me now that I so easily recognise Narcissism.

But, any time spent with someone who rubs me the wrong way will create nausea in me.

 

[Mee]

Yes- always have been the type of person who gets nauseated when upset and luckily for me i don’t get upset by vomiting itself so I tended to just - vomit . Living with it daily however is no good - damaging for your gastrointestinal system.