Nausea & Vomiting

Nausea is a very common side effect of GLP1 and that over time it normally settles (1-2 months).

There are several lifestyle strategies that can ease your symptoms:

• Listen to hunger signals and eat only when hungry
• Practice intuitive eating - if you don’t feel like eating, don’t eat!
• Eat smaller meals more frequently
• Eat foods room temperature or cooler (avoid hot)
• Drink slowly as if you are drinking for the first time
• Avoid eating food near cooking odors to reduce the severity of nausea.
• Introduce mindful eating techniques: Eat slowly and pay attention to the smell, texture, taste and sound of food. Avoiding distraction and put cutlery down between mouthfuls.
• Keep a diary of when you feel nausea/when vomiting occurs, what you ate and how long it lasted  (use it as a reference to manage symptoms better)
• If vomiting: gradually increase fluid intake to avoid dehydration (e.g. teaspoon of water every 10 minutes, 1 tbsp every 20 mins).
• Incorporate foods that are easy to chew, swallow and digest, such as the table below

Nutritional management:

Eat  ✅	Avoid  ❌
Ginger & peppermint tea have been shown to reduce nausea	Spicy, hot foods
Cold foods might be tolerated better, e.g. chilled yoghurt of fruits	Fatty, greasy, or fried foods (tend to slow down the digestive system, and when combined with GLP1 therapy it can further aggravate nausea occurring)
Include protein at meals: yoghurt, broiled or boiled lean meat (chicken, turkey, seafood) eggs, cheese	Alcohol and fizzy drinks
Pureed soup, vegetable juice and other soft foods might be tolerated better in case of vomiting	Overly sweet foods (sweet beverages, sugary foods, cakes, candy)

When to contact Beyondbmi or seek medical assistance:

Nausea: 

• If you are unable to tolerate fluids or food for more than 72 hours, reach out to [e-mail]. and a member of our medical team will contact you within 24 hours
•  If symptoms get worse, in the interim you should attend GP or A&E
• Take no further doses of medication until reviewed

Vomiting:

• If vomiting persists, and you feel very unwell e.g. unable to tolerate fluids, please attend your GP or A&E
• Alert us at [e-mail] and a member of our medical team will contact you within 24 hours 
• Take no further doses of medication until reviewed