Natural Remedies For Nausea
Everyone get nauseous once in awhile. Whether you get nauseous from acid reflux, a cancer treatment or because you’re pregnant, there are natural remedies that may give you some relief. Making sure your pantry is stocked with natural remedies, will keep you prepared for your next bout of nausea. While different types of nausea may require different natural remedies and you should run everything by your doctor, they are all generally safe for use even if you are pregnant. Here then are a couple natural remedies for nausea:
Ginger
Researchers may not totally agree on how effective it is, nevertheless, ginger has an incredibly long history of being used as a natural remedy for the treatment of nausea, diarrhea, and stomach aches. In fact, the University of Maryland Medical Center confirms that for over 2,000 years the Chinese have used it to treat a number of different pain and digestive issues. It is generally believed that ginger's active ingredients, like gingerol, have an effect on both the central nervous and digestive systems.
Assistant professor of family and community medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, Lauren Richter, DO, states that it is a great cure “for nausea, especially in pregnancy.” The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) adds that research indicates that the short-term use of ginger is not only effective in relieving nausea symptoms but is safe even during pregnancy. While most investigative teams concur that more studies are required to determine specifically what ginger can and can’t do, it is clear that it is effective in the treatment of chemotherapy-related and post-operative nausea too.
A study of 100 advanced breast cancer patients published in a 2012 edition of Integrative Cancer Therapies showed that the subjects who were given ginger after chemotherapy had significantly less nausea in the first six to 24 hours after treatment than the subjects who did not. Richter noted there are a number of ways to take ginger. She suggests you can drink it in tea, put raw ginger in your food, eat it in candied form or “dissolve it” in your mouth like a simple mint.
Peppermint
Peppermint is another traditional, natural remedy. It, too, has a long history of being used to treat nausea. The NCCIH confirms that both peppermint oil and peppermint leaves work in treating irritable bowel syndrome and indigestion.
Richter reports that it is “wonderful for nausea” as well because it has a numbing, calming effect. It essentially relaxes the muscles of your stomach which then allows the bile to better break down fats and thus the food can flow through your stomach quicker. (According to data from the University of Maryland Medical Center, people who suffer from GERD or gastroesophageal reflux disease, are an exception and should never use peppermint.)
Peppermint can be found in several different treatments and forms such as skin irritation ointments. Additional research indicates that in some cases the mere scent of peppermint oil can damper nausea. The most common way to make use of this remedy is by drinking peppermint tea. Peppermint can also be purchased as an essential oil or in capsules too. Richter concludes that this, too, is “very safe in pregnancy.”
(All photographs are courtesy of the original owners unless otherwise indicated)
From the Web
