Question:
My 4 year old woke up this morning vomiting, and I had to run to the store for Pepto
Which started making me wonder about stomach medicines. If I had to take something for nausea and vomitting due to the flu or whatever, would I take the full adult strength, or lessen it, due to having a smaller stomach? Pray that I don't get when my daughter and DH have been up all night with... :( — Michelle J. (posted on December 9, 2003)
December 9, 2003
I am over a year post RNY. Last week I had need to take something for my
stomach. I took 2 Pepto Bismol chewable tablets and it worked just fine.
(Thank heavens!)
— koogy
December 9, 2003
When I was about a year post-op, I had a nasty intestinal virus with bad
diahrrea. I called my surgeon and he told me NOT to take over the counter
medicines like Pepto. It is very constipating and that is not a good thing
for us. This is something you should discuss with your surgeon - he can
tell you what to take and what strength.
— Patty_Butler
December 9, 2003
pepto is also full of sugar and that is why some people dump on it or so
I've been told.
— Delores S.
December 9, 2003
When I have experienced intense nausea, I tend to drink water (even more
than usual) in the hope of flushing out whatever the problem is; also, I've
used flat diet Coke to help control nausea. Many of the OTC anti-nausea
meds tend to be sugar based leaving us with few OTC remedies.
— SteveColarossi
December 9, 2003
The dosage does not change due to having a smaller stomach. If it's a med
that's OK to take, then you'd take the normal adult dose.
— mom2jtx3
December 9, 2003
If you can't take OTC remedies, a really good natural remedy for nausea is
ginger (REAL ginger, not ginger flavoring). Make tea out of fresh ginger
root (steep a small chunk of ginger in boiling water). Add a little
Splenda or Equal to make it drinkable. It takes some of the
"hot" flavor away to mix in some lemon juice. But, if you do
take OTC, take the full adult dosage. Nutrients (and therefore most
medicines) are mostly absorbed in the small intestine, not the stomach, so
the size of your pouch has nothing to do with the potency of the
medication. And, good luck avoiding the flu!
— Vespa R.
December 9, 2003
You would take the full adult dosage. That being said, I thought Pepto was
on the list of OTC meds NOT to take because it has aspirin in it? Anyone
else hear this?
— Ali M
December 9, 2003
I know alot of people say that Pepto has asperin in it, but it doesn't make
sense to me since bottles of Pepto say that it doesn't contain asparin.
Maybe someone could explain that one.
— thekatinthehat
December 9, 2003
The Pepto lable is at the following web address:
http://www.pepto-bismol.com/usage%20pepto%20bismol%20liquid.htm
On the Pepto website, they also provide an extensive FAQ but do not address
the issue of sugar content in their product.
— SteveColarossi
December 9, 2003
Whatever you do, DON'T TAKE NYQUIL!! I've never had such diarrhea!! Way
way too sugarfull.
— Kimberley E.
December 10, 2003
This is definitely another one of those cases of all of us being different.
I can take Nyquil without a problem at all and I do take the full dose. I
didn't take it when I first got these cold symptoms because I had read
warnings here but it has ALWAYS worked for me so I finally got desperate an
took it. No problem so once again, I learned that we each just have to try
some things ourselves and see how our body reacts.
— SCbabe B.
December 10, 2003
Wow, this thread raised a lot of interesting issues.
I don't dump, never have, so the sugar content of the medicine is not a
real issue for me. I take Tylenol for headaches now instead of ibuprofen
or aspirin, because I know it's better for my pouch. But I wonder if it's
overkill to avoid Pepto Bismol because of possible aspirin content, if it's
something you're only going to take once in a blue moon when you really
need it? How much damage could the aspirin content do once a year, for
example? And would aspirin in liquid form do the same damage to the
stomach lining? It would seem it would go pass your pouch so quickly
anyway, not like a pill which could linger longer.
I've taken Nyquil post op once or twice. Didn't notice any ill effects
except the buzz was much more noticeable, LOL. I generally think I'm
pretty cautious about following doctors' instructions but if I had a bug
and had diarrhea (not chronic) and I knew Pepto Bismol would put me out of
my misery, or if I had the flu, I don't worry so much about the
ibuprofen/aspirin content anymore. Taking in a little ibuprofen once or
twice a year seems an acceptable risk to me in trade for the relief of
what's ailing me. Am I minimizing the risks?
And as to the question of whether we should decrease dosages, I know that
many patients find they need to actually increase their dosage on some oral
medications because of the malapsorption factor. I know I had go to a
higher dosage birth control and then to the patch and it's why we hear
about so many unexpected post-WLS births to people on the pill!
If it's
— sandsonik
December 11, 2003
Again, everyone is different. My surgeon RECOMMENDED pepto chewables for
gas. At my year check up, I was complaining about freqent gas and he said
another patient had had success controlling it with pepto and suggested I
give it a try. I did and I have been taking it frequently ever since. No
problems to report. Oh yeah, it doesn't eliminate the gas (odor), but it
works better than the MANY other products I've tried. Shelley
— Shelley.
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