# how to fight nausea caused by empty stomach?



## erin5983

I'm IBS with alternating C and D. I've noticed that when my stomach is empty, I get nauseous. As soon as I get some food in my stomach, I feel better. I try to carry snack foods with me at all times to fight this, but there have been a few situations where I'm in a position where I can't get food and have to wait until I can get somewhere. The nausea is awful, and I often throw up just stomach acid. Is it possible for the lining of my stomach to be irritated from being empty? I suppose the best solution would be to keep my stomach full all the time, but this isn't very practical, as I would be eating 7 or 8 meals a day. I've tried Zofran and Reglan, but they do nothing on the empty stomach. I'm dreading being in a situation again where I might find myself without availability to food for a bit. Does anyone else experience this? Are there any meds to take to combat it, or is the best solution just to constantly carry around food?


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## jezabel_007

I get that too at times, and I just know it's time to eat. I try to ease into it though, not have anything dairy and have some soda crackers at first, then perhaps some pasta. But I have no clue if it has anything to do with stomach irritation.Maybe take some snacks with you, nothing perishable, things like crackers, granola bars etc.


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## bkitepilot

I have had this problem for over 20 years and I find that chomping on wintergreen lifesavers/candy helps me combat the nausea until I can get some food in my stomach. I hate to vomit when I have an empty stomach! UGH!


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## soundie

Make sure you check to rule out if you have an ulcer, or oesophageal reflux syndrome. Just in case.


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## bonniei

You could be suffering from hypoglycemia. http://www.medicinenet.com/Hypoglycemia/article.htm


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## yellowstar

Hi erinjk!I have recently been diagnosed with IBS C/D too, and my first symptom was nausea. I get nausea when my tummy is empty, and eating does seem to help for a while. I have had the nausea for nearly a year (it's terrible isn't it?!), and was only diagnosed with IBS recently. I was prescribed something called cyclizine in the UK, and that works on the brain's nausea centre to prevent nausea. It really worked for me, and was a lifesaver, especially seeing as it took nearly a year for me to get a diagnosis. It's also prescribed for travel sickness and the like. I do also carry some food round with me though.The other thing that really helped is peppermint. I carry some strong mints in my bag, as well as some peppermint tea bags. Just a couple of mints makes me feel much better (it might be because peppermint is a muscle relaxant, I'm not sure). And of course, if you get anxious about being sick (especially in public) like I do, I'm sure this makes it worse, so just try to think about something else and chill out.I hope this helps you out a bit, and you feel much better soon.Take care.


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## bkitepilot

Yes as soundie stated..... rule out the ulcer. I have suffered with ulcer disease for several yrs. My nausea-on-empty-tummy showed up with my first pregnancy 20 yrs ago and continued on and on. I carry snacks with me and of course mints.I have never had a problem with hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia, but always good to rule out all.


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## Kathleen M.

One question is how long/how empty are we talking.I mean I get this when I am more than a few hours late for a meal...BUt it sound like you get this within an hour or two after you eat (If you need to eat 8 meals a day).You may need to be evaluated for ulcer/gastritis/h.pylori types of things. It may also be worth getting some functional studies of the stomach done, but I do not know exactly what would be appropriate.You could try keeping crystalized ginger in your pocket to pop when you start to feel bad, but if you can't eat, you may not even be able to do that...although Altoids does have a ginger version, so maybe you could do that (I'm not in many situations where I can't pop out for a quick bite if absolutely necessary).One other thought....do you have hypoglycemia? Does eating like you were help. Basically are you eating starchy foods to feel better or having mini-meals of protien and vegetables (usually most of what is easiest to snack on tends to be stuff that can cause surges and plunges in blood sugar and that many not help matters).South Beach or Glucose Revolution books can help you figure out how to eat lower on the Glycemic index to see if that helps at all.K.


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## AlphaMale

I used to have bad nausia when I had H.Pylori, but no ulcer though.I still have nausia but nothing compared to before I got the H.Pylori cleared.


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