PUKE??? OK, gross I know but I have a question....

[sdcabincrew74]

alright, at 7 tonight had dinner and took my meds like a good boy.  three hours later I am puking my guts out and wondering should I retake the meds?  I did not notice any pills in the toilet but I also did not look all that close....reyetaz, norvir and truvada here.  This does not happen often and took me by surprise....not sure I can keep anything down right now anyway.....

[thunter34]

Gosh...I wish I could tell you something more definitively, but I do not take those particular meds.  My docs told me regarding my own scrips (kaltra and combivir) that they would most likely be well absorbed within the first hour after ingesting them.  I've had that situation come up (literally) several times.  Every time, my docs told me to resume at my next normal dose time.  My best guess is that the same would hold true for you.  If anyone else here knows otherwise, please chime in!  Hope that helps.

~+

[Tucsonwoody]

This is from The Body - HIV site:  dated 2004

Should I re-take meds if I vomit a couple hours after dose?  http://www.thebody.org/Forums/AIDS/Meds/Archive/Adherence/Q155227.html

This is the answer given - not my opinion - too uneducated to have one...yet!

"if in doubt- take another dose." You may not need to take a dose if there are no pill fragments in the vomit. But, with HIV medicines it is generally better to take a bit too much (once in a blue moon) rather than too little. That is of course, not the case on a daily basis. There it is important to take the medicines "Just right" like the baby bear's porridge in Goldilock's.

I guess I should add that me and SD were chatting when he posted this question and in addition to the info above we found a website that indicated you should not take your meds again after this length of time - as far as I know that was the decision he made.

[Boo Radley]

I'm not an expert but believe the general advice is to wait to take your pills at the next scheduled dose.  If you regurgitated some of the meds it's not the end of the world, especially if you can keep the next dose down without getting sick again. 

If you're still nauseated you might try eating one or two saltine crackers or other relatively bland food (not the time for Super Nacho Doritos, obviously) and suck on a few ice cubes (one at a time) until each melts.  If you have a banana a few bites might also go down without problems. 

Hope you feel better soon! Good luck!

Boo

[cubbybear]

After 3 hours your meds should well and truly be on their way through your system.  Most food is broken down and started to pass through the small intestine by then.  If you had vomited shortly after taking them, and you could see your meds for the 2nd time (which I have experienced) I would take another dose, if you brought them all back up.  But really, after that amount of time, your meds would have been broken down and at least partly absorbed, so I'd just wait for my next dose.

Sorry to hear about your puking incident.  Try drinking some ginger tea to help with any nausea.

[Eldon]

Hey SD...

The meds may have been absorbed into your system already. The better choice would be to wait until your next dose. Take Care of YOU!

"Don't Give Up, Don't Give In... Cause it is ALL within you to WIN!"

[poet]

Medication administration again: please do NOT retake your meds.  I will disagree with Tucsonwoody here, that given the strength of hiv medications, given, as pointed out, their likely absorbtion already, if you think that you have missed a dose do two things: 1) make sure you take the next scheduled dose; 2) figure out WHY you missed that dose so that it doesn't happen again.  The only time that I would say yes, go ahead, is if it happened within less than an hour and you could see the pills in question.  I hope you are feeling better. Win

[sweetasmeli]

No idea about meds but you have plenty on here who do.

But I'm with Matt (Cubbybear) about any nausea: ginger tea ginger tea ginger tea! Just fresh ginger grated in hot/warm water...its miraculous! I'm actually sipping on some right now...not cos I'm nauseous but cos I like it and have it every morning when I wake up.

You have my empathy about puking though. Was right there the other day (bad reaction to spirulina not meds!)...projectile...right in the middle of the street too! Lovely.

Hope you're feeling better now!
If you're still queasy, seriously, ginger ginger ginger!!!

Melia

[Christine]

You're not alone. I have had the same thing happen to me also. First, i would call your doctor and ask them what their advice would be. I was told by my Dr, that the meds are absorbed within 20-30 minutes. I have thrown up a few times after taking my meds, and on each occasion, the doctor said to NOT retake the meds, wait until the next dosing time.

Talk to your doctor about the nausea, & vomitting. There are some nausea meds that can help. Also, try ginger as Matt and Melia have said. It does work pretty well. There is also an anti- nausea acupressure point on the inside of your wrist about one inch down from the wrist joint, between the two tendons. Push and hold for two minutes.

Eating small frequent meals through out the day can help also. Crackers, pretzels help some people.

Christine