being sick in my sleep

Everyday living
1

hi

i’ve been feeling very yuck due to a UTI.

last night i had to get out of bed because i “didn’t feel right”.

watched a bit of tv and dozed off.

then i woke up vomiting.

luckily i had a box of tissues to hand and managed to make it to the loo.

i still didn’t feel right so didnt go back to bed but messed on computer and dozed off again.

again i woke up vomiting.

in total this happened five times.

i chucked in an ashtray, waste paper basket and onto my dressing gown.

will phone my gp when they are open but just wondered if anyone else had experienced this

it first happened following my lumbar puncture in 2008.

my doctor said it was a reaction to having my cerebro spinal fluid taken.

so why is it happening again?

i’m quite laid back about my ms so please don’t think i’m being a mardy bum.

if i feel safe enough to go back to bed (without giving me the job of changing the bedding) that would count as a success.

thanks for listening to me whinge

carole x

2

Carole,

Sorry no useful info or experience ,just a bit of sympathy and to say You are not being a “mardy bum” just telling it straight. As the proud owner of an ‘O’ Level grade A in whingeing I can say that you barely qualify :slight_smile: Mick

3

Oh Carole, that is dangerous (as well as unpleasant, but that’s the least of it).

I certainly think you’re doing the right thing speaking to your doctor ASAP, and I hope you are never sleeping on your back!

I don’t have any idea as to causes, or even if it’s necessarily an MS thing. Might you just have a bug?

Mind you, I seem to have had more vomiting bugs in the five years since I was diagnosed than the 20 years before it, so I’m suspicious that not all are bugs. Occasionally I get a few days when I can’t keep down water. I have a suspicion that with me, it’s a medication intolerance. Codeine - which is the most effective painkiller in my armoury - unfortunately also makes me feel a bit sick and headachy. Usually, I manage to tread the line OK, between effective pain relief, and actually being sick, but just occasionally, my body seems to reject the codeine, and absolutely insist on a break.

I’ve no scientific proof, but when I get these attacks, I immediately get the feeling I don’t want to take codeine. It’s as if, at some level, my body knows what’s causing the problem, and is warning me off it.

I’ve never had to quit codeine altogether over it. Usually, I can subtly reintroduce it after a day or two. I only ever take a pill or two “as needed”, anyway, so I’m not hooked on it, but occasionally my body seems to get fed up with even the small amounts I do take, and insists on clearing the system.

My doctor thinks it’s all just psychological - that if I happened to be taking codeine, and was sick, I’d blame the codeine. She might be right, but I’m not convinced.

Tina

x

4

thanks mick, you made me smile!

thanks tina. i haven’t been to the doctor yet because i’m not dressed.

will definitely see the doc tomorrow.

i haven’t been taking any meds apart from tecfidera.

doubt it’s the tec because that side effect i had at the outset and am well over it.

i’ll tell my ms nurse though.

carole x

5

Sounds like acid reflux, Carole.
And, yes, I get it too.

Seems like anything rich can cause it for me: red wine, ice-cream, a cream sauce, a rich tomato sauce on pasta, chocolate, etc.
After anything like that, I take a Gaviscon tablet at about 9.30, my normal Gabapentin at around 11.00, and a second Gaviscon just before midnight. (You are not supposed to mix the two).

As acid reflux it is not uncommon with MS, and a kindly GP could prescribe Omeprazole tablets for it.
For me, the worst bit is when some acid gets into the airway - at which point I wake up coughing - and cough for the next half hour trying to clear the burning sensation.

So, it’s bread and water for you, my girl, from now on!

Geoff

6

I get this too. Have had it for 18 years, and been given numerous diagnosis. Hiatus hernia, achalasia (sp?), one consultant diagnosed me with ‘undiagnosed vomiting’! I also can vomit while laughing or coughing too hard, as well as suffering from heartburn, despite taking proton pump inhibitors. Eventually, I was given a pH & Manometry test (by the second gastro consultant I saw, having told my GP I wanted to be referred again as first one was the one who diagnosed 'undiagnosed vomiting!), and that showed that over about 20 hours, I had over 50 episodes of reflux (I think it was 53 in 21 hours). Gastro consultant confirmed that, in my case, I have a problem with my lower oesophageal sphincter. Today, I saw the surgeon, whose words were ‘I spend most of my life trying to put people off of having this operation, but yours is one of the most compelling cases I’ve heard’. Have to go back in February (he wants me to lose some weight beforehand), and then I’m going to have the op! I am going to be celebrating tonight (with a salad, I guess…).

Have you got a sleeping wedge? Triangular foam thing to sleep on? On my worst nights when I wake up with a mouth full of vomit, I use the wedge, and raising my head seems to help keep things down.

Could be any number of causes, I guess, but the advice from Dr Geoff above is invaluable. I would also say to keep on top of visiting your GP about it. I think mine could have been sorted years ago if I’d been more persistent and not accepted what I was told.

7

thank you all for your replies.

i’m going to definitely ask my gp for omeprazole and i will get a wedge pillow.

cheers you lot are the best.

carole x

8

If the omeprasole doesn’t work at first, let the GP know. We experimented with different doses, and with splitting doses (one in the morning, one in the evening). If you still have issues, there’s another ‘formulation’ of the drug called esomeprasole, which for me, seemed to work a bit better. It certainly cut the heartburn by about 90% for me, but I still get the odd bout, and chew on some settlers tums the similar. I was also prescribed domperidone, which encourages the stomach to empty quicker and more fully to stop the reflux/vomiting, but the success was negligible. The omeprasole/esomeprasole didn’t stop the vomiting in my case either, hence now I am going down the surgical route.

9

I’ve had this too. Also caused by acid reflux. In my case, I had loose bowels at the same time and was forced to do a quick turn around on the loo! I’ve also vomited in the waste paper basket beside the bed, all over the bed etc as well as just making it to the bathroom. Really unpleasant in the small hours of the morning. Also really bad for the fatigue. I’m still on lansaprazole because my surgery gives me the cheapest drug available even though it isn’t effective. They prescribed Gaviscon to take as well when I still have acid reflux.

I had a laparoscopy and endoscopy and was told there was nothing abnormal so that was the end of it. My MS nurse did write to my GP to ask what else could be done but I’ve heard nothing further.

I’ve resolved the issue myself to a large extent by amending my diet. I don’t eat tomato based sauces, no alcohol, no creamy sauces, no ice cream. Definitely no meals after 6.30pm, this means asking friends to accommodate me if we are planning a meal out because I know I will suffer if I eat later than that. If I eat something and immediately feel bloated or a bit of heartburn then I have some Gaviscon straightaway.

If I do have any further episodes, then I will return to my GP and ask for stronger PPIs but in the meantime things have settled down a lot.

Tracey x

10

aw heck tracey,

i have accepted the ms with all its delights

but now i also have eczema, a totally mental bladder and what seems like an hiatus hernia.

it really is the gift that keeps on giving.

carole x

11

Keep nagging if it persists, Elmo. I was misdiagnosed/brushed off for nearly 20 years. It was only when I had a pH & Manometry test that they actually found what the problem was. The endoscopies, barium swallows and barium meals which were repeated over the years revealed nothing. The drugs don’t work for me, because even if the stomach was 100% acid free, whatever is in there moves back up regardless. Even eating early didn’t solve the problem. I would just bring up whatever fluid was swilling around, and sometimes what appeared to be food, despite not having eaten for 12 hours. It was the manometry part of the test that proved that I do, in fact, have a functional disorder of the lower oesophageal sphincter.

12

I have eczema too since this summer. The cause - ruddy Fairy laundry liquid that I have used off and on for the past 22 years. They must have changed the formula in the last year because I have been using Persil non-bio as it’s always been on special offer. The trouble is I’m now sensitive to anything with perfume in it. I now have asthma, rhinitis and eczema. My immune system is well and truly broken . Whoever said ‘life begins at 40’ is the first against the wall if I stage a revolution

13

It happens very rarely now Loretta. I was hoping that restricting my diet would trim my waistline but that hasn’t worked as effectively as I hoped. I do know I can’t bend down to put things back in cupboards if I have just eaten, but I am managing it as best I can at the moment. Fingers crossed, it will stay calm for a good while. If it doesn’t, then I will have to make a nuisance of myself. That tactic worked with my migraines.