How or by what means can you induce vomiting?

introduction

There are several methods that can be used to induce vomiting.
However, one should pay attention to the reasons why one wants to trigger this and whether it is a sensible means. If poisoning or ingestion of harmful substances such as acids is suspected, induction of vomiting is often not suitable for therapy and a doctor should be consulted as soon as possible or the poison information center should be contacted.

Nausea is a reflex that is controlled by the vomiting center in the brain. Therefore, it can be brought about both by processes that take place in the brain itself and by processes that are remote from the brain. In the case of the vomiting reflex, the 9th or 10th cranial nerve (glossopharyngeal nerve and vagus nerve) can be the cause. These run in the back of the throat.

Overview of the methods

First, it should be mentioned that it is only rarely useful to compulsively induce vomiting. If vomiting is really necessary for the body, such as in the case of poisoning with food, alcohol or other harmful substances, it will come naturally.
Artificially induced vomiting is often the first step in a pathological behavior such as anorexia (bulimia) and also leads to complications if carried out more frequently.
Since stomach acid is not tolerated anywhere except in the stomach itself, regular vomiting can worsen the condition of the teeth or irritate the esophagus.

Vomiting can be triggered very effectively by the "classic" technique of "sticking your finger in your throat". As soon as you touch the uvula, which is located at the back of the palate, reflex vomiting occurs. If you don't like to use your finger, you can of course use other objects such as a toothbrush or a pen (Roman method).
Mechanical irritation, such as forceful pressure on the abdominal wall, lead to reflex vomiting in some.

There are also a number of substances that are used in emergency medicine to induce vomiting.

Read our article on this:

• Nausea
• What are the consequences of anorexia

Induce vomiting with medication

If you want to induce vomiting, there are several medications available. The most common means of inducing vomiting is that Break root, a tropical plant better known as ipecacuanha. The root of the plant is processed into syrup as an emetic (Emetic) administered in acute poisoning. After about 15-45 minutes, the effect occurs through strong irritation of the gastric mucosa and the subsequent reflex-like contraction, leading to gushing vomiting.

Another drug that induces vomiting is apomorphine. This class of substances is closely related to morphine; in fact, apomorphine is formed through chemical conversions of morphine. Apomorphine works in places in the brain where the messenger substance dopamine normally works and triggers vomiting by stimulating the vomiting center.

Medicinal vomiting should only be induced if the patient is fully conscious. If the patient is sleepy or unconscious, protective reflexes fail, the vomit is inhaled into the lungs and leads to suffocation.
In general, therapeutic vomiting is rarely induced today. Gastric lavage and the administration of activated charcoal in the event of poisoning have replaced therapeutic vomiting.

Home remedies to induce vomiting

The easiest way to induce vomiting is mechanical irritation of the uvula by sticking your finger down your throat. It may be necessary to "tickle" the uvula a little to induce nausea. By stimulating the nerves running in the palate, signals are sent to the vomiting center and you have to vomit.

Other home remedies, such as mustard solutions, drinking a liter of milk quickly or gargling protein, often have no effect, but in the worst case can harm the patient. Because even when inducing vomiting with home remedies, the patient must be fully conscious so as not to accidentally inhale his or her vomit.

In the case of poisoning in the household, for example with cleaning agents, vomiting should not be induced under any circumstances, as many cleaning and cleaning agents contain acids, alkalis or foam-forming substances. If such substances pass through the esophagus again when vomiting, they cause massive damage. Poisoning is always an emergency. Rescue services or poison control centers should be alerted immediately if poisoning is suspected, because only through professional treatment can the absorption of the poison into the body and thus possible consequential damage be prevented.

Induce vomiting with salt water

Salt water was previously considered a home remedy for inducing vomiting. The effect of this measure, like that of the ipecacuana syrup, is based on excessive irritation of the gastric mucosa.

However, this is strongly advised against as it can lead to dangerous complications. The highly concentrated sodium contained in salt water, which is also found in our body, can cause a so-called electrolyte shift. This leads to seizures, epileptic seizures, unconsciousness and respiratory failure due to increased sodium levels. In the worst case, hypernatremia leads to death. If there is already a lack of water, the life-threatening threshold is quickly reached by drinking salt water.

Read more about this: Epileptical attack

Induce vomiting with your finger

In the back of the throat and the uvula there are many sensory cells that can induce vomiting when irritated.
These sensory cells of the vagus nerve can be reached and stimulated with the finger. However, some patients only react to this irritation to a very limited extent, while others react very sensitively to it and immediately begin to vomit. In individual cases, this can be a great way to end or improve nausea. However, if nausea or self-induced vomiting occur more frequently, a doctor should be contacted. He can find out the reason for vomiting through examinations and then treat it.

Induce vomiting in the child

It is no longer recommended to make children vomit, it is rather discouraged. A doctor should always be consulted, especially if there is a suspicion of poisoning in children.

In the case of poisoning, it is often unclear what the child has ingested. If the child is allowed to vomit, there is also a risk of inhaling vomit (aspiration) or repeated chemical burns from acids that may have been swallowed. If, in special cases, vomiting must be induced in the child with medication, the emergency doctor will use Ipecacuanha syrup, apomorphine should not be used in children.

Mechanically induced vomiting caused by irritation of the uvula can also lead to injuries in children if they defend themselves too much and should not be performed.

Induce vomiting in the event of poisoning

When poisoned, vomiting often occurs on its own. In some cases it can also be useful to induce vomiting. It is hoped that some of the toxins will be eliminated from the body before they are absorbed. However, there are also substances that should not be vomited under any circumstances, such as in the case of acids or bases. The decision about this should be made by a doctor, however, as only he can decide whether and how it can be expected of the patient. A good and safe alternative is to use a tube to express the contents of the stomach.

Read more on the subject at: Poisoning and chemical burns

Induce vomiting after alcohol

After excessive consumption of alcohol, which in these quantities is also a form of poisoning, most patients vomit on their own, often before a doctor can be contacted. Here, too, it can make sense to remove some of the alcohol by vomiting before it can be absorbed by the gastrointestinal system. Here, however, care should be taken to ensure that the patient is awake and that the protective reflexes are still working so that no vomit is inhaled. Otherwise, a nasogastric tube can also help to carry out this process in a controlled and safer manner. The contents of the stomach are pumped out in this way, preventing uncontrolled vomiting and breathing difficulties.

Read more on the subject at: Vomiting from alcohol

bulimia

Bulimia, also called vomiting and eating addiction, is a mental illness in the course of which cycles of uninhibited binge eating alternate with panic attacks, during which those affected try to get rid of what they have just eaten as quickly as possible. Bulimia patients are often female teenagers, but men and people of all ages can also get the disease. In the foreground in the eating-vomiting addiction, the triggering of vomiting is in order to absorb as little calories as possible and thus to stay thin. In the course of the addiction, the sick develop better and better evasive behavior, on the one hand to avoid eating and on the other hand to get rid of what they have eaten.

Many patients induce vomiting several times a day by sticking their fingers down their throat, taking emetics, or drinking salt water. Bulimics also use laxatives in the hope of losing even more weight through self-induced diarrhea. This becomes a habit and ultimately an addiction, so patients only eat and vomit immediately afterwards. If this behavior is continued over a long period of time, it can happen that the nausea is partially trained. Often bulimics then look desperately for new methods to induce vomiting, poisoning by self-made emetics and injuries due to the use of long objects to mechanically induce vomiting.

In the course of the disease, in addition to the often dramatic weight loss and the associated consequential damage, damage to the esophagus and mouth occurs, which is caused by the constant vomiting. The treatment of bulimia is difficult because the eating-vomiting behavior becomes addictive and the affected person is only able to eat again after lengthy therapy without feeling the urge to induce vomiting.

Read more on the topic: bulimia

Summary

Vomiting is a protective reflex of the body with which it tries to protect itself from poisoning and the ingestion of harmful substances. This leads to a reverse emptying of the stomach and intestines. This reflex is controlled by the vomiting center in the brain stem. In some cases, vomiting is induced on purpose (therapeutic vomiting). The acute poisoning should be mentioned here. Vomiting can prevent the toxins from being absorbed into the body, but may only be induced in certain situations. In the event of poisoning with acids, alkalis or foam-forming substances and if the poisoning was more than a few minutes ago, vomiting must not be induced.