anyone know of any safe herb to settle an upset stomach

My 17 year old has been sick for almost a week now. She is sick for 4 or 5 hours and then feels fairly well for the rest of the day. She has had urine tests and basic blood work but nothing has shown up to determine the cause of this. She has been to the nurse at the university and the clinic Doctor. My husband went to pick her up at school this morning and she went to see our family Doctor this afternoon who told us that it is just a virus and to let nature take its course. Poor girl is so tird of being sick so many hours each day.

a couple of pieces of raw potato settle mine...better than anything I've found.

A cup of peppermint tea sometimes helps too.

Mint candy or chamomile tea often help me.

groung ginger mixed into a clear soda

She actually liked the chamomile tea. I had purchased ginger ale for her but the seet taste turned her nose up. She was only sick for 3 hours this morning so maybe the virus is finally winding down. Poor thing is living on crackers, rice and bread. I have never had a family member so sick for so long. Its very frustrating to just sit back and not be able to be of any real help.

Not from a virus, but from being pregnant i was so very sick. Sourdough toast with peanut butter and spearmint tea was how i started my day. It really worked for me, i didn't feel completely better, but it helped a lot!

Pearberry scent from Bath and Body works helped keep me from feeling sick to my stomach when I was prego. I know being prego and having a virus are not the same thing but I was totaly amazed how a scent could make my stomach feel normal again. Its worth a try and she can take it where ever she goes. I think I carried my little bottle with me for a year.

Hope shes feeling better soon.

I drink a little aloe vera juice and it works wonders. You can purchase it at the health food stores.

Fairyhunter, is your daughter feeling better?

fairy hunter: if you mean by sick, nauseated, peppermint tea; fresh ginger tea; coca cola syrup and my sister tells me, tootsie rolls, help. if its really bad compozine (by prescription only). hope she is better. dooley worth

I hope she's better, too!

I was once told, and discovered it's true....chew or suck on anything 'Peppermint' for an upset stomach...works for me everytime.

A cold washcloth held to your throat will help bouts of nausea to pass too.

If she can't drink ginger ale she might be abl to eat candied ginger.

Also, there are accupressure points in your wrists for nausea. Most pharmacies carry "sea bands"....they are elastic wristlets with a little plastic bump which the package shows you how to position over the accupressure point. I lost 25 pounds the first 2 months I was pregnant with my second and this was the only thing that helped.

When I was preg. I lost 30 lbs from upchucking and the only thing that helped was ginger root capsules. Found them at a natural health food store. Doctor said it was perfectly safe. Believe me I had tried anything and everything and this was my last resort short of being hospitalized for dehydration. Hope she is better, just be on the lookout for meningitis. If she has not had the vacine and she is in college it might be a good idea to get one. Last year we had a big scare with students in college contracting meningitis and we lost a few students. The vaccine is now mandatory. I think the symptoms start out like flu. Very fast virus. Don't want to scare you, just want you to take precautions.
lilbit

Not been at DG lately. Very busy with Stacy trying to get her well. After another week of testing and finding no answers we had to put her in the hospital. She had labwork results that showed tht the Ketones were very high. This is what happens when people are basicly starving. Also the Electrolytes were off. Same reason. No food and dehydration which goes along with not being able to eat and drink. She was in the hospital from Friday to Wednesday and all they could say was she had a bad virus and because she was so sick from vomiting every day that when the virus had gone its course she was so sick from not eating that she too much nausea to eat. This morning she actually ate a bowl of cereal. She is finally saying she is hungry which after spending the last 5 days sitting with her and all she gets is an IV drip for fluids and she can't eat and says she is not even hungry Its really good to see her eat food again. Im so glad she was a curvy girl with plenty of fat because now she is rail thin and people who have known her all her life seem very disturbed at the rapid weight loss. It was about 17 days of involuntary fasting. I really appreciate all the suggestions about treatments for nausea. Thanks for all of you and all your concern and thoughtful suggestions.

lilbit:

what were the symptoms of meningitis? By "lost"do you mean they had to leave the school?

I am so tired of being worried. My biggest fear is that she has something other than a bad virus gone bad. None of the other children at school are sick. Nobody here is sick. The hospital didn't want to do any procedures other than repetitive blood and urine tests. I thought they should take a look see into her stomach with a scope and see if she had some kind of growth. I also worry that it could be something in the brain although she got no headaches and hasn't complained about them in years. Last time she had one was during a bad cold years ago.

They say that with her health history and the family health history that the things they would be looking for are not likely to be found doing any further proceedures. I just didn't want to find something bad down the road 6 months from now or even years from now that they missed because my hmo frowns at them.

Hi fairyhunter! I'm sure you've heard about the E. coli scare sweeping the country. Any chance your daughter ate spinach salad prior to getting sick? That is so scary, people are always telling us to eat more greens and vegatables, then we're getting deathly ill from eating them. I sincerely hope that isn't the case here, made me wonder. The good news is, she's being supervised, under a doctor's care and yours, that hopefully means she will be well soon.

I don't want to upset you,but when I said "lost students", I meant that they died extremely fast. The counsler at the high school that I work for lost her son last year from memingitis. He was in college and one day he went home with a very bad headache and thought he was getting the flu. Within 24 hours he died. We lost at least four students within a month to meningitis last year. They were even thinking about giving the vaccine to high school age children. It was offered to them last year but they are considering making it mandatory for their age as well.

I mentioned that I had lost 30 pounds when I was pregnant. I was put in the hospital and had my stomach pumped to test its contents for a parasite. Luckily none was found. I finally figured out that I was having a problem with the iron in the prenatal vitamins . When I stopped taking them the nausea stopped. When I had to start taking them again, I got sick again. The official diagnosis from the hospital said that I had a spasmotic stomach. Every time the doctor says I need to take vitamins, because I tend to be low on potasssium, I get sick again. I told the doctor that I would just eat bunches of bananas.

I cann't imagine how freightened you must be not knowing what the cause of your child's illness is. Keep pursuing the doctors. Ask to see Gastrologist . This type of doctor will know what to look for. Be persistent. You need to get to the bottom of her problem. I hope you do not let the hospital make you feel as if you are blowing this out of proportion. Wishing you and your family good news.
lilbit

This message was edited Sep 21, 2006 8:53 PM

Wow that really scary. Im very glad my daughter is well on the road to recovery. I do remember one of the questions all three Doctors were asking was "Do you have a headache" No wonder they were persistant with the same questions. Having a sick child is just about the worst thing I have ever been put through. I guess most people would put that at the top of their list of things they would rather be spared.

No E-Coli either. Several people here in Maine did get sick from that but she was at school when that started and they didn't have that on the menue at that time. She never had those kind of symptoms. Just the nausea and vomiting. Eventually for the last 3 days in the hospital she had a slight fever but I wondered if she caught a slight virus at the hospital on top of what she was already ailing from.

Its so good to see her feeling more herself. Smiling and laughing and responding to humor is more like the old Stacy girl.

Again thanks for all the well wishes and helpful and thoughtful advice

I'm glad she's feeling better, being sick is the worst.

Being sick IS the worst. You got that right. One of my step sisters called the other night all indignant because nobody had told her earlier about my daughter being sick. With such a huge family on my side and my husbands side I don't know how everyone things they were all getting long distance phone calls about this. Some of my husbands cousins called and it was clear they felt like they had been left out of the loop. They found out while she was still in the hospital and when the two sisters came with flowers it was so clear that they were annoyed with me. Honestly when your daughter is that ill you just don't feel like spending hours and hours on the phone. I am very surprised at how many distant family members are suffering different degrees of resentment that they didn't get a personal phone call. Stacy is a lovely girl with many family members who hold her near and dear to their heart and I guess I didn't get information out to family members very appropriately to suit some of them. I went to work as much as I was able to and spent all my time in between sleeping or at my daughters bedside. I wasn't home much to field phone calls. One of my sister in laws told me that she "understood" why we hadn't let them know sooner in such a way that it was clear that other members in the family were not so understanding.

Just what you need right now, more stress! (((hugs))) Hope Stacy is feeling much better, and that you're holding up all right as well.

So sorry to hear (some of) your family are being less than supportive. Where is the family gossip network when you need it? LOL

I am very glad to hear she is feeling better!

I honestly thought the family would understand. We told both our parents within a few hours of her going into the hospital and I know they filled people in. Only a few people came flat out and said they had expected a phone call about it. Others hinted at it. I never meant make anyone feel like they were not important enough to get a personal phone call.

Stacy is doing so much better. I can hardly believe she is the same girl. She is really snapping back to her old self again. We are thinking of letting her go back to school next week if she continues to feel this good. Eating like normal and laughing and fighting with her 10 year old sister just like always.

whew, glad to hear it! maybe the indignance was misplaced fear, and I hope relief now at the outcome. You can't take it seriously, these are people you barely know.

went back last thursday to get Stacy from school again. Each day she is less and less sick. Yesterday and today she ate normal meals and had no more nausea at all. So strange that each time she goes back to school she gets sick and when she is home she gradually gets well again. The girls and my husband have both gone hiking today. Thats the best she has felt this whole month ever since this mess started happening. Does anyone think that a person could get so home sick that they could even end up in the hospital? I know this sounds odd but what else makes any sense? The odd think is that she really likes school and all the kids seem to be very nice to her. She claims to like the school. We are not taking her back this sememster at all. And she is now saying she doesn't want to go back for the first time. And the second semester starts in January and I don't think she is going to change much from now to January. Has anyone out there heard similar stories of this kind of homesickness making someone sick even when they are having a good time and are well liked where they are at?

Thanks

Teresa

Might not be homesickness - it might be stress-sick, induced by either peers, professors, or self-induced pressure to succeed. Could it also be bad eating habits at school that aren't as obvious when she's at home and you see what she's eating?

I'm quite familiar with the stress-sick, and most of mine is self-induced from wanting to succeed..... I always end up feeling better when I'm back where things are "comfortable", wherever that may be.

This is all very interesting, as I have finally realized that I may be making myself sick. For the same reasons that AngelSong (what a lovely name) pointed out, in my case, "self-induced pressure to suceed."

Last week, I went to the doctor twice (I haven't been in years), my tummy has been hurting so bad, can't sleep, tired all the time. He said it was gastritis, gave me some drug samples, and since I have mild scoliosis, (he's an osteopath) he gave me a back adjustment.

I was back two days later, the pains were freaking me out, I said I feel "pressure", I've put on a LOT of weight the last few years, so he couldn't feel anything but fat. He gave me a Rx for Nexium, one for chest wall inflammation he missed two days before, and said I possibly have an inguinal hernia! Well, I nearly finished taking the steroids for the inflammation, and let me tell you, I felt SOMETHING right where my stomach is. So I called him back, and he scheduled a CAT scan for me on Thursday.

In the meantime, I have not been going to my Landscape Plans class. This class involves measuring, drafting, reading blueprints. It requires great organizational skills, and a place to set up and draw plans, which so far are a site plan and site analysis. This is my second attempt at this class, I dropped it last fall. I have finally given myself permission to drop this class for good. I intend to pick up the lectures and read the book, but I will not take it for credit. The instructor is so un-organized, he drives me crazy! And the material is difficult enough that I don't really enjoy it. And you know something, when I finally gave myself permission to go in another direction, I feel much less anxious and I know that will help me face whatever I have to now.

Maybe I was given the gift of Stacy's story for a reason. And this is truly a case (or two) of listening to your "gut" feelings! I hope she is feeling better now too, take care. ~ Vicki

This message was edited Oct 3, 2006 12:39 PM

There is also the possibility of indoor allergies. I had a friend who worked in an office building that literally made her sick! she found out that along with a mold issue they were using a cleaner on the carpets that she was really allergic too. Took her almost a year of vomiting and feeling terrible on and off to figure it out.

Prairie, hope you are feeling better soon. Let us know how the CAT scan goes!

I have heard of the sick building syndrome! Good idea to check it out.

its very interesting that not one of the other kids is sick but her and that dormitory is packed. Not just the kids who live there but kids who hang out all their free time visiting friends. She is fine again because she is home again. That has always made her fine. Now that she is home she is not even nauseas anymore. We are going to arrange for her to stay there one more time as a visitor only with no school stress or pressure. Her room mate is her best friend and nobody is going to take her room at least not until she drops the school for good. We are not too crazy about taking the chance on her getting sick again but it will determine is she is sick from stress or if its something in the school like a cleaner, mold or whatever

That sounds like a plan! Please keep us posted.

Well, it's happened again. Another college student has meningitis and he has the bacteria strain. The sad thing is that he had the vacanation before he got sick. So far he has survived, but everyone that had anything to do with him had to go through another round of vaccinations. They claim it is the same stain that showed up last year. It makes on wonder if there isn't something in the college that is harboring this virus.

lilbit