Vomiting is a common problem faced by people suffering from motion sickness. However, vomiting is good. It is natural protective mechanism of the body, which helps to protect it from unknown and undesirable foreign object entering through the oral cavity. Howvere, uncontrolled vomiting or vomiting caused to due to an underlying disorder like stomach pain etc. should be controlled immediately. Uncontrolled vomiting can be very dangerous. It can even lead to death by physiological shock if it is not controlled.
In Ayurveda, vomiting is called “vaman” or “chardi”. It has many other sanskri names apart from these 2 main synonyms.
Causes of vomiting according to Ayurveda
Dietary causes
- Excessive consumption of extremely liquid and oily food
- Consumption of food that you despise
- Excessive consumption of salty food
- Over-eating
- Irregular meal time
- Intake of poisonous or undesirable food
- Eating food while suffering from indigestion
Lifestyle related causes
- Eating food at a very fast pace
- Excessive manual labor ( beyond your natural capacity)
- Exercise immediately after eating
Mental causes
- Disgust
- Fear
- Anxiety
Other reasons
- Intestinal worms
- Pregnancy
- Excessive pressure on the stomach after a meal
- Motion sickness
For the benefit of the user, we will discuss a very wide range of Ayurvedic remedies for vomiting in this article. Some of them might suit you better than the others according to your prakrati. Therefore, we suggest that you either consult an Ayurvedic physician for your best remedy, or check your prakrati and follow the remedies accordingly.
Sutra for finding the best remedy
Many people try taking herbal remedies but most of the time, the herbal remedies don’t work. This is for the reason that a particular herbal remedy is not suitable for their body type. Let us take the example of auto-parts to understand this concept better. If you are a Toyota, the parts of a ford car won’t fit you, even when both Toyota and ford are cars. Smilarly, one herbal remedy might not fit you, whereas it might give excellent results for someone else. Here the Ayurvedic concept of prakrati becomes extremely important. We, as human beings, are completely distinct from one another and Ayurveda respects this fact.
How to Find YOUR Best Herbal Remedy
According to Body Type
Vata prakrati – warm, hot, moist or oily herbs like ginger, garlic, clove etc. work very well for all vata disorders. Even if the remedy suggest to take anything with normal water , you can try to take it with warm water if you have a vata prakrati.
Pitta prakrati – cool, refreshing, and aromatic herbs work the best for pitta dosha, for example coriander etc.
Kapha prakrati – most of the herbs that work for vata might work for kapha prakrati people as well. hot/warm, dry, light to digest herbs are very good for kapha, as kapha is heavy, oily and cold in temperament.
In case, you are confused about which remedy is best for you, please consult your Ayurveda physician.
General Treatment policy for vomiting (chardi) in Ayurveda
Vomiting is a sign of aggravated kapha dosha in the body. Kapha signifies heaviness and stiffness in the body. Therefore, fasting is one of the primary line of treatment for all kinds of vomiting. It is one of the safest and most effective treatment. However, it is important to consider the general health of the pateinet while observing a fast.
- If the patient of vomiting is very weak, traumatied, or is a child, elderly or a pregnant woman, only mild fasting is recommended. Therefore, it is imperative to be judicious while chosing fasting as the first treatment.
- Also if you have a vata prakrati, you should avoid a complete fasting. You should opt for mild fasting with warm grain-less diet, like rajgira kheer, aloo recipes etc.
- If you are a pitta prakrati person with hyperacidity, you should opt for a mild grain-less fasting with milk, kheer, squash, fruits, salads etc.
- If you are a kapha prakrati person, you should go for a complete fast, or fast on vegetable soups.
- If followed properly, fasting is a method that can completely cure fasting. For chronic prblems of fasting, you should try intermitant fasting. Here hindu religious feasivals like ekapdeshi become very instrumental in maintaining the health of a person and in effective prevention of vomiting.
Dietary and Lifestyle recommendations for prevention of vomiting
- Regular meal time
- Intake of light, and easy to digest food, no overeating
- Peaceful and happy mindset while eating
- No consumption of water immediately before, during or immediately after a meal (you can consue digestive liquids like buttermilk, jaljira etc., in small amount, during a meal)
- Avoidance of sleep immediately after a meal
- Avoidance of Excessive exercise after a heavy meal
- Avoidance of sleeping during the transition periods of sun – dawn and dusk
- Avoidance of large meals/ excessive fluid intake before a long journey by road.
How to stop a vomiting instantly
Having said all the above points , we have to acknowledge the urgent and immediate need to stop vomiting sometimes following remedies might help to relieve vomiting instantly. If you suffer from bouts of motion sickness, then you can prepare and store many of the herbal remedies for instant use.
Ayurvedic anti-vomiting remedies
Remedy No.1
Roast 5-6 green cardamoms. Grind and mix them in 11 mg of Mayurpiccha bhasma. This bhasma is available in the market as a Ayurvedic medicine. You can make a larger maount in the same proportion and store it for instant use.
When facing a vomiting attack, add a little raw honey to 1 gm of the stored powder and lick. This is a very good remedy for vomiting. It is suitable for all prakrati people. However, it is esp. beneficial for pitta prakrati.
Remedy No.2
Chew mint leaves when you start to feel nauseaous. This will help to prevent vomiitn g induced by motion sickness.
Remedy No.3
Burn the coconut shell and collect the ash. Mix ground rock sugar (mishri) in the ash and store for instant use.
If you feel nauseated, add this powder in small amount of water and sip. This remedy is good for all prakrati.
Remedy No.4
Roast 5-6 green cardamom and 10 gm of saunf (fennel). Add 10 gm of rock sugar, grind the entire mixture and store for instant use. If you are not very fond off sweet things, you can also use black salt in place of rock sugar.
Lick the powder whne you are feeling nauseated.
Remedy No.5
Keep small pieces of raw mango/ lemon/pomegranate/ puffed rice/ new leaves of mango tree/ sour ber (blackberry)/ khus (vetiver) powder in a box while you are traveling. If you are prone to motion sickness, lick anyone of these once in few minutes. This will prevent the nausea from building up.
Remedy No.6
Suck ice. This remedy is best for pitta prakrati people. Ice helps to numb the sensations in the oral cavity and helps to prevent the feeling of nausea.
Remedy No.7
Keep a small piece of kapur (camphor) and smell during a long road journey. This is will help to prevent the feeling of nausea for all prakrati people.
Remedy No.8
Mix 1 gm saidha namak(rock salt) in 10 gm ghee(Similar proportion should be used for a larger amount of this preparation.) and store in a container.
Lick small amount of this mixture whenever you feel nauseated. This remedy works very well for vata dominant people.
Remedy No.9
Add 1 gm black salt in 10 gm munnaka (black currant). Grind this misture to make a smooth paste. Make small (1 cm diameter) balls from this mixture. Store it for instant use in vomiting.
Consume 1 ball every 15-20 min to prevent the feeling of nausea. This remedy is good for all prakrati people.
All the above remedies are safe to use and easy to prepare. They have a great preventive as well as curative effect. However, the most important factor that control all disorders, including vomiting should be monitored for effective prevention and cure.
Mental Control of Vomiting
Practice of constant mindfulness can help an individual to be calm and peaceful. A stress free mind can control all the body functions, even vomiting. For example, a person who is watching a very engaging movie during a long road journey,might not suffer from motion sickness at all, even if he prone to it. Mind has such a powerful effect over the human metabolism that all disorders can be cured by controlling the mind only.
Therefore, if you suffer from motion sickness, nausea or chrnic vomiting due to any other reason, please try meditation. It might do wonders to you!
We hope that this blog helped you with some useful information about vomiting. If you feel happy with the blog, please do pass it on to anyone in need!
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
Ritucharya 