# Is throwing up necessary? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 15, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290 "2013-01-15T15:47:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/1 "2013-01-15T15:47:41Z")
So suppose you have some stomach bug – norovirus, let’s say, since it’s going around. Does throwing up in that case actually do anything for you? For food poisoning, sure, I see the use – get rid of the source of the problem, as it were. But for norovirus, the problem is not actually what you’ve eaten, so the throwing up just seems like an annoying secondary effect. So if that’s the case, can you suppress the throwing up with anti-emetics, without affecting the disease progression in any way? This is more of a theoretical question; I realize in the real world people shouldn’t be eating anti-emetics like Tums. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/2 "2013-01-15T17:22:38Z")
> [@Sal\_Ammoniac](#): > > So suppose you have some stomach bug – norovirus, let’s say, since it’s going around. Does throwing up in that case actually do anything for you? For food poisoning, sure, I see the use – get rid of the source of the problem, as it were. But for norovirus, the problem is not actually what you’ve eaten, so the throwing up just seems like an annoying secondary effect. it’s plausible that not having to expend energy digesting food allows you to bring more resources to fight the virus. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/3 "2013-01-15T19:33:08Z")
I wouldn’t exactly call TUMS an anti-emetic. If it’s an occasional barf, I don’t see the harm. If you are doing continual dry heaves, that’s a problem, especially if you are squirting from the other end. Your real concern is dehydration. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/4 "2013-01-16T02:01:34Z")
I once asked my doctor how often it was normal to vomit. She said, emphatically, that it is NEVER normal to vomit. I restated the question: on the average, how often does a typical person vomit. She nodded sagely and said, about once a year. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/5 "2013-01-16T02:50:12Z")
> [@Sal\_Ammoniac](#): > > So if that’s the case, can you suppress the throwing up with anti-emetics, without affecting the disease progression in any way? Well… when I had norovirus in 2005 I pretty much threw up any time I swallowed anything other than my own spit (and sometimes then as well). If there was anything protective about puking I had gone past that into “doing more harm than good”. Were it not for IV’s full of saline I’d not be here typing this today. I actually started getting better when I stopped trying to eat or drink _anything_ because I was no longer expending so much energy throwing up, in dry heaves, and I don’t think the strained muscles and/or broken capillaries (yuck, dry heaves with a hint of blood…) were helping either. I was pretty out of it the first two days or so in the hospital so I don’t recall if they added anti-emetics to my IV or not or I just stopped puking when I stopped trying to use my gastrointestinal system. So… while sometimes throwing up might serve a useful purpose (such as in eliminating a poison from the stomach) there are times when it becomes detrimental or even life-threatening. Context is important. In the case of norovirus I don’t know if vomiting serves any useful purpose at all, or if it’s a symptom of something being wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/6 "2013-01-16T02:57:01Z")
Given that it’s a virus, an obvious possible cause is the virus attempting to spread itself through liquid contact. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/7 "2013-01-16T13:44:05Z")
Good point. Throwing up can be construed as necessary for the virus, but hardly necessary for you, the suffering host. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/8 "2013-01-16T14:16:47Z")
I would guess it is seldom necessary. I haven’t thrown up in fifteen years - though I’ve come near to doing it a couple of times. Of course, I have a paralyzing anxiety associated with nausea, which makes me resistant to the actual up-chucking. The downside is that any bout of nausea tends to start an anxiety feedback loop (since anxiety can cause nausea) that tends to escalate into a panic attack. Fortunately, nausea is pretty rare for me. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/9 "2013-01-16T14:29:52Z")
I’ve known for years that dogs will throw up at the drop of a hat, sometimes with as much apparent distress as a good fart for us. It’s good to be aware of when your wife panics about Canine Black Plague every time your dog sneezes. What’s up with that, compared to us (the dog-vomit thing, not my wife)? I haven’t owned a cat in ages, but they have a hard time coughing up fur balls; I don’t know their vomiting scenarios. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/10 "2013-01-16T15:33:37Z")
I don’t know about necessary, but it’s not always voluntary. ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/11 "2013-01-16T15:41:35Z")
Once per year? Someone has been doing a lot of barfing for me. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/12 "2013-01-16T15:41:39Z")
The purpose of vomit, obviously, is to clear the stomach in case the cause of distress is bad food… a natural reaction back when your daily meal was picked from near-at-hand plants and dead animals, and sickness was very likely to be bad food. If you ate something bad, best to get it out. Even today, food poisoning is a not unknown problem. It’s also suggested that this is why children tend to be picky eaters - find a favourite food and refuse to eat anything much else… because children have less experience than adults at figuring out what in the landscape is and is not good to graze on. After all, if you are sick but it’s not your meal’s fault - better safe than sorry, chuck it up. Also, the embryo is most sensitive to problems and poisoning in the first few weeks, so again - at the least hint that mama’s stomach contents are less than optimal, out it goes, better safe than sorry. So for the OP - IANAD, but if the cause of sickness is related to food eaten, best to upchuck. Otherwise, it should not matter. ---
**Author:** ![sidecar\_jon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@sidecar\_jon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidecar_jon)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/13 "2013-01-16T15:50:48Z")
rats cant vomit and they eat all sorts of rubbish,the on-vomit thing is usefully used in rat poisons that often now include an emetic, so any domestic pets etc vomit the poison. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/14 "2013-01-16T16:06:54Z")
I was very happy that I could vomit the time I suffered from acute chocolate poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/15 "2013-01-16T16:21:39Z")
Not bad OP username/topic combo, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/16 "2013-01-16T17:07:27Z")
I can understand the occasional need for a good puke, but WTF could hiccups ever have been necessary for? Hiccups just piss me right off. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/17 "2013-01-16T17:41:52Z")
> [@FuzzyOgre](#): > > Once per year? Someone has been doing a lot of barfing for me. You’re welcome. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/18 "2013-01-16T19:35:53Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > I was very happy that I could vomit the time I suffered from acute chocolate poisoning. Chocolate poisoning? Is that anything like the comfy chair torture? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/19 "2013-01-16T19:42:24Z")
It’s possible he actually _is_ a dog on the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290/20 "2013-01-16T21:35:53Z")
I’d assume that if the human body is designed in such a way that it involuntarily and reflexively goes through some sort of shudder like that, that it has served the animal well over the years, maybe even to the degree that it has enhanced its survival. “Necessary” is a strange characterization of a reflexive action. It’s like asking is it necessary to pull your hand away when you poke yourself on a rose thorn? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-throwing-up-necessary/647290.md?page=2)