Disclaimer! I am not a Licensed Doctor nor medically trained in any way. It is understood that any suggestions made here will be checked with your doctor before undertaking. Anything that I wanted to do, I first printed out information and brought it to the doctor for approval. When dealing with cancer/disease there can be many drug interactions that could be hazardous to your health, ALWAYS bring information to your doctor and have the doctor read the information. You can print out this page using your web browser.

Everyone hates nausea but unfortunately it can be a frequent side effect of chemotherapy. Below is a list of things that have worked for us. Kayla (our daughter who is being treated for Leukemia) is on many different chemos that change every 8 weeks, and because of this we have had to try many things to help stop the nausea. There are only two anti-nausea medications available. One of them contains anti-depressants, which I do not recommend. Zofran is an excellent medication for nausea but stopped working after being used for months. The list below was put together after many months of treatment. We rotated remedies and found this to be very workable.

BioBand. This is a product found at www.biobands.com It is a cloth bracelet that has a round object inserted between the material for a pressure point. The idea is that you place the bracelet so that the round object is placed upon the inside, middle of the wrist, which is a pressure point for nausea. This has worked for Kayla almost instantly.

Burnt Toast is a remedy that has been around for hundreds of years. The idea behind this is that the burned part of the toast soaks up excess acid.

BRAT Diet This stands for banana, rice, applesauce and toast. This is a standard, medically recommended diet for gastrointestinal ailments.

Cider. One tablespoon of apple cider vinegar with one tablespoon of honey in eight ounces of water is an old remedy for nausea.

Crackers particularly soda crackers are helpful for nausea because they are made with bicarbonate of soda. This remedy has been helpful for the stomach.

Coke-a-Cola. This is a remedy that my mother used and it does work. We use cola syrup purchased at a drug store. Our doctor said that carbonated beverages should be avoided because they are bad for bone health. Another variation of the soda remedy is to allow the soda to go flat and sip the flat soda when nauseous. (I really do not like recommending soda as a remedy but feel that I have to because it works. Under normal circumstances I would not use it because it is so loaded with sugar, colors, and possibly other suspicious ingredients.) Cola syrup sold through local pharmacies costs about $3.00 and is a very effective remedy.

Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice. Sipped slowly fresh orange juice helps because it raises blood sugar. One theory is that not eating enough causes the blood sugar to drop, which will also cause nausea.

Ginger ale, or ginger tea can also be tried. Some people use fresh ginger and chew on it. Because ginger is considered an herb, again, check with your doctor first.

Ginger Soda. Some say that Ginger soda can help nausea. We have used this home made soda recipe for nausea and it does work. Here is the recipe if you would like to try it. There is also a website, www.realsimple.com for more recipes.

Ginger Ale

• 1-½ cups sliced fresh ginger. No need to peel. Wash thoroughly. You will need about 2 large chunks of fresh ginger root.

• 4 tablespoons of Xylitol sweetener (sugar is not good for cancer patients)

• ¼ cup of fresh lemon juice or 1 tablespoon of concentrated lemon juice.

• water to taste.

Combine xylitol, and ginger slices in a medium saucepan and add 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil then simmer for 40 minutes. Allow to cool, strain into a glass jar. This is your syrup base for ginger ale.

Pour a 1 to 2 tablespoons (depending upon your taste) of ginger syrup into a glass, and add water. I made white grape juice ice and add two ice cubes of this to the drink. You can also add more ginger. Kayla thought this was fabulous and it got rid of her nausea. We now keep this in the refrigerator for her at all times. The ginger syrup will last approximately a week if kept in your fridge. I also freeze the ginger syrup in small containers for future use. You can place the ginger syrup into ice trays and freeze. Place the ginger ice cubes into your favorite juice making a delicious drink.

Honey. A teaspoon of honey is helpful for blood sugar and nausea.

Licorice is another natural remedy for nausea. www.bestbuycandy.com has a salty licorice candy that you can try. Warning, you have to like the taste of licorice. Licorice tea is also available on the Internet. If you decide that you would like to try a licorice tea, ask your doctor first, as licorice is an herb.

Meals. Do not eat large meals and avoid fats as much as possible. Fats take longer to digest therefore increasing the chance of nausea. Small, frequent meals are the best method for nausea. You will have to experiment with food to figure out what works best for you. Vegetables and some fruits work for Kayla.

Mints. Mint candy, (from www.Emeraldforestsugar.com) mint tea, and mint gum. Peppermint is a very easy herb to grow and the tea is delicious. Peppermint Tea has been a natural remedy for hundreds of years. It is cheap and can be purchased at any grocery store.

Odors. Avoid odors, as they can be triggers for nausea. Use natural cleaning products that do not create odors like baking soda, white vinegar, and lemons, when cleaning. Avoid perfumes.

ONDANSETRON ODT is a prescribed medication for nausea. It is also known as Zofran. We only use this medication as a last resort because one of its side effects is a headache. This is a powerful drug and works immediately. The other anti-nausea medication available through your doctor contains antidepressants and I do not recommend it due to addiction and other serious side effects. When we use Zofran, it is a dissolving tablet that we break in half so that the full dose is not taken at one time. Otherwise you would have to wait eight hours before taking it again. At least with a half dose, if there is another bout of nausea you can take the other half.

Vitamin B6 ” …Conversely, vitamin B6 has been used successfully to stop the vomiting of pregnancy and of car, sea, air, and radiation sickness.” From the book Let’s Get Well, by Adelle Davis page 169. The maximum dose I have given Kayla is 100 mg. This is given one time, and not used repeatedly. This has worked when Kayla’s stomach felt ill or not quite right.

When dealing with long-term nausea many things are used on a rotational basis. For instance the Zofran worked every time until the sixth month of treatment. Early on, we discovered that headaches are a side effect of this medication for nausea. As a rule, we would try many things and things that worked at one time stopped working later on. For this reason I keep Peppermint tea, ginger soda syrup, (in the freezer) mint candy, coke syrup, crackers, and B6, on hand, at all times.

One thing I would like to bring to your attention is that if Kayla went to bed without eating it is almost assured she will have nausea in the morning, because low blood sugar sets in from going without food for too long a period of time. During these times of severe nausea, we resort to any food that she will eat. Otherwise no eating just exacerbates the whole situation. In these situations I would set up a plate of several different bland foods in two bite portions and just let her pick what she wanted. An example would be two grapes, half a piece of toast, half a carrot, and maybe some applesauce. You will have to experiment with this and see what works for you. Just keep trying to find what works and eventually you will figure it out.