# Which is worse: nausea/vomiting or cramping/diarrhea? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 27, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907 "2011-04-27T15:58:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2011, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/41 "2011-04-29T05:36:28Z")
I’ll take the diarrhea. I’ve puked three times since I was 18. The last time was H1N1 two January’s ago, and I had a hard time breathing during the process, plus broke a blood vessel or two and ended up horking up blood to top off the whole experience. I prefer not to repeat the experience, while diarrhea may not be a good time, it’s never been that bad. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2011, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/42 "2011-04-29T06:39:02Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Vomiting is the worse for me. The last time I vomited it was accompanied by severe vertigo. And it was the dry heaves. Absolute the worst is vomiting, and nothing comes out. > > I’ll take diarrhea anytime over vomiting. Dry heaves are the very worst. If I’m in that situation I’ll chug a glass of water just to have something to throw up. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/43 "2011-04-30T06:38:08Z")
I don’t think people are thinking this through. Diarrhea, meh … Cramping, however, can be painful as hell. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/44 "2011-04-30T06:39:49Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > Dry heaves are the very worst. If I’m in that situation I’ll chug a glass of water just to have something to throw up. drink tea. It is a pleasant drink in this situation. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/45 "2011-04-30T09:10:13Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > drink tea. It is a pleasant drink in this situation. I always found that ginger ale or sprite seems to taste the same up or down. And hospital fruit cup as well. Maybe that is why they tend to be among the first stuff offered post op? ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/46 "2011-04-30T09:15:13Z")
female here. I’d much rather puke my guts out once a month than have the monthly cramps and shits. Can someone use their mad cyber powers to make it happen? ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/47 "2011-04-30T10:05:21Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > drink tea. It is a pleasant drink in this situation. We’re usually talking something on the order of “I have less than a minute to get something in my stomach before I heave” so water is about the only option. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/48 "2011-04-30T14:50:50Z")
Explosive shitting isn’t a lot of fun, but at least my asshole is SUPPOSED to expel feces. Diarrhea is simply an issue of too much. Vomiting is an issue of things going in the wrong direction. ---
**Author:** ![MaddyStrut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@MaddyStrut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaddyStrut)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/49 "2011-04-30T14:57:04Z")
Nausea is the worst for me. I can tolerate a pretty high degree of pain. I’m miserable, but I get through it. I hate vomiting, but it’s not unbearable. Nausea? Just kill me now. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/50 "2011-04-30T15:12:57Z")
It’s the nausea that accompanies vomiting that clinches it for me. There’s hardly anything worse than that pale-green, clammy, sweaty ill feeling as your belly constantly rolls its swill around and around. The puking itself is no picnic, but nausea is hell. Also, I find that whatever I’m throwing up, I develop an instant aversion to that food which could last years (like that McDonald’s I horked years ago… I was shooting chunks of half-digested Big Mac out of my nose ferchristsake! ::shiver:: ) ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/51 "2011-05-01T01:08:09Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Explosive shitting isn’t a lot of fun, but at least my asshole is SUPPOSED to expel feces. > > Diarrhea is simply an issue of too much. Vomiting is an issue of things going in the wrong direction. Exactly. I’d rather have whatever going out the out, rather than out the in. Although I will agree with the people who said that nausea is often worse than actually vomiting. Along with that whole, “Is it or isn’t it?” feeling. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/52 "2011-05-01T02:27:52Z")
Other than the vomiting, what I seriously hate is that rush of spit that tastes _odd_ in the back of my mouth, and knowing that means I am about to vomit. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/53 "2011-05-01T02:56:04Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > Vomiting causes my facial blood vessels to burst fairly easily, and it comes up my nose. I’ll take the diarrhea. Yes, I get speckley from the broken blood vessels in my face for a day or so after a severe migraine. I once got a bleeding nose from the forceful vomiting. That was attractive, and fun too! I get the trots fairly often and hate it, but Id rather sit on the throne than kind of sprawl before it barfing and bleeding. ---
**Author:** ![Marc\_Xenos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Marc\_Xenos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marc_Xenos)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/54 "2011-05-01T05:29:01Z")
> [@thirdwarning](#): > > Exactly. I’d rather have whatever going out the out, rather than out the in. > > Although I will agree with the people who said that nausea is often worse than actually vomiting. Along with that whole, “Is it or isn’t it?” feeling. Hard to believe it’s been 40 years ago, but being young, we tied on a good one. And the next morning, oh what a nasty feeling. It’s coming up; no, stay down, dammit. Nope, it’s coming up. No, STAY down. A half hour of fighting the nausea, and it occurred to me, we’re at a cabin by the lake. Just go outside and puke on the dirt road; it ain’t gonna matter. And then it’ll be over with. So, I went outside, let nature take its course, and… nothing. Kinda like, if you’re not gonna fight it, then what’s the fun of making you puke? Never had a hangover since. Not even when the bed is spinning in one direction, and the room is spinning in the opposite direction. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/55 "2011-05-01T06:39:47Z")
Puking is way worse. Haven’t puked since 1995, and before that it was 1984. I hate puking and avoid it like crazy. The trots are no fun but like someone upthread said, I’d rather have them for a week than puke for a day. ---
**Author:** ![classyladyhp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5ac83/32.png) [@classyladyhp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/classyladyhp)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/56 "2011-05-01T13:57:24Z")
I am terrified of vomiting. I have a vomit streak going just like Seinfeld. The last time I vomited was 1999 so I’d rather have the alternative in the poll. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/57 "2011-05-01T14:43:57Z")
It does amuse me how many people have “vomit streaks” and know exactly how long it’s been since they last threw up. I thought I was kind of weird that way, but I guess I have a lot of company! Puke haters unite! ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/58 "2011-05-01T14:46:18Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I can read a book while doing the latter. The former, not so much. exactly! also a nice ice cold bottle of gatorade can help with hydration. ---
**Author:** ![Marc\_Xenos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Marc\_Xenos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marc_Xenos)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/59 "2011-05-01T21:45:45Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > It does amuse me how many people have “vomit streaks” and know exactly how long it’s been since they last threw up. I thought I was kind of weird that way, but I guess I have a lot of company! Puke haters unite! Only said that I’ve never had a hangover since, not that I’ve never puked since. But, fortunately, the few times I’ve puked, I’ve still been drunk, so I didn’t care. Actually went back inside and started drinking some more, since I now had more room for it. I’m also lucky that I’m not susceptible to the flu. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907/60 "2011-05-01T22:59:23Z")
Perhaps it’s only that the only times I’ve actually vomited as an adult was with hangovers, and I can count those occasions on one hand, but I voted for cramps/diarrhea being worse. If only because when I’ve been hungover, and thrown up, aside from the deep unpleasantness of actual puking I feel _so much better_ afterwards. The last time I spent most of the day feeling nausea; I was starting to consider doing something to jump-start the puke when it finally happened. During…ewww, awful. After…ahh. Whereas intestinal cramps hurt like an MF and can go on for hours. Pain is not so much fun. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-nausea-vomiting-or-cramping-diarrhea/579907.md?page=2)