My Upchuck Setup

By Ray Li

1 min read

After my gallbladder was removed in 2011, one of the things that accompanied the IBS was constant nausea. I mean that literally, I experience constant nausea, it's never stopped. I had to learn the difference between feeling constant nausea and being able to tell when I was actually going to throw up (upchuck). The only way to tell is when my salivary glands actually start overproducing, that's when I'm going to upchuck.

Unfortunately, when it comes time for my stomach to purge itself, it's a violent act. There is so much force that the blood vessels around my eyes burst. I have pulled and strained muscles in my neck and my torso. If I'm on my hands and knees, which I like to do so gravity helps, my knees end up with bruises on them.

My upchuck setup

My setup first started with a footstool (It's under the blanket in the picture), I have my chest resting on that. I soon discovered I needed some sort of cushion between my body and the stool to avoid bruises. It didn't take long to clue in that if I had something under my knees, they wouldn't bruise. Now my setup consists of a pillow for under my knees, a blanket to cushion me from the stool, a box of kleenex, and a glass of water (the glass of water is missing from the picture).

I was super grateful for this setup two weeks ago. I had the most violent stomach purge I have ever experienced. I call it "My Exorcist moment". It was so violent that I burst blood vessels all over my face and a little on my chest despite the fact the blanket was there as padding. I strained muscles in my torso and my tongue even felt like it was almost strained. Thankfully, the pillow kept my knees from bruising.

Do you have a little setup for when your stomach plots against you and an uprising happens? (You better believe I was going to be inserting humor with this tale)

upchuck setup, stool, pillow, blanket, tissue

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Ray Li Member
Forgot to mention that I have a couple different puke bowls around the house to grab when I am going to be sick.
minna Member
Hello Ray, I need to comment on your post. I suffer from IBS-M, but mostly D. With travel being more or less available, we planned on a 2 week European trip for a family wedding. I had anxiety for 6 months on how to deal with “food” and all the festivities + bathrooms. I packed my probiotics, enzymes, peppermint gels, Imodium, an anti nausea med my gastroenterologist prescribed, power bars (that I can tolerate…..maybe I would eat these for 2 wks), along with a new wardrobe. Everything went well for the first 9 days, and I was very proud of myself. At the end of day 9, and the last of a 4 day wedding celebration, we returned to our hotel and I immediately had diarrhea. Ten minutes later I was violently throwing up and having diarrhea at the same time. I would crawl into the shower and “hose off”. This went on for almost 8 hours. Nausea med nor Imodium worked. We had been scheduled to leave for another city, the capital, to make our way home. I could not leave the hotel. A doctor was summoned, prescriptions given, and diagnoses was abdominal infection. We stayed at the hotel for another 3 days, until I could take a 2 hr train trip to the capital, where we waited for another 3 days for a direct flight home…12 hrs. I was terrified that I would have issues on the plane, but thankfully didn’t. My gastroenterologist is baffled. He knows it’s IBS, but thinks I might have a bacterial infection that makes things worse. We will see. I have a test coming up. I had a clean, perfect colonoscopy 2 years ago. I need to add that early this year I had to make a trip to the ER due to severe abdominal pain + diarrhea. Again diagnosed as IBS at its worst. I worst part of this, is that my daughter and SIL, live in one of the most fabulous of European capitals, and curtesy of them an open airline ticket and a place to stay, anytime I want to visit. How do I handle an 11 hr plane trip, and what if I get sick over there? I have anxiety if I accept a brunch or dinner invitation. Ray, I empathize with you, and needed to tell this humiliating story of mine. Minna
1. Ray Li Member
 <inline-mention username="minna" user-id="2332301"/> Thank you so much for sharing your story with me and everyone else. I very much appreciate it!! I am so sorry that happened to you, it definitely sucks when our bodies decide everything must go and at the same time. I've had to jump in the shower to wash poop off myself too. I hope they can figure out if it's a bacterial infection or not. I really hope it is a bacterial infection. Have you taken antibiotics recently? I can't imagine being on a plane for an 11hr trip, I absolutely understand your anxiety about that. I get anxious just leaving my place to go to a doctor's appointment a couple of blocks away. For me, the three main things to help lessen anxiety are always to be prepared & accept that sh*t will happen. The final thing is self talk, out loud. I ask why I am anxious and then tell myself that I am ok, I am safe and if sh*t happens, I will survive. This doesn't end the anxiety for me, it just drops it down to a more manageable level.

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