Throwing up out of the blue

Hi everyone. So yesterday I threw up in the street at 2pm for seemingly no reason. I felt fine afterwards and am not sick. I had eaten at about 9 am, around 90 calories and had 2 double espressos, and then a diet coke at about 1 pm. After that I was waiting in line for food for about 20 minutes and started to get that I need to eat right now feeling and feeling really sick..I went and sat down and finally got my food and tried to eat it as quickly as I could but at the point it was hard since i was naseous...I got most of it down and thought I was ok and went to go get some bread to get my blood sugar up and thats when I threw up. I felt fine after, I was just shaking a bit and ate a pastry and was fine as if nothing happened....any ideas why this happened? could calorie restriction play a part in this or was it just some weird anomolie? Thanks!

Er, probably the fact that you had around "90 calories and had 2 double espressos, and then a diet coke"? You need more than 90 cals for breakfast and less than 2 double espressos and a diet coke's worth of caffeine.

Then, once feeling sick, it's not exactly advisable to cram food into yourself as quickly as possible. Maybe a slice of dry bread, eaten slowly, would have helped.

Not letting your blood sugar drop to dangerous levels is probably better than getting it back up so quickly and forcibly that you throw up.

Sounds like a bit too much caffeine on an empty stomache to me. I know that it probably would have happened to me if all I had in my tummy was 90 calories and lots of caffeine over a 5 hour period.

If you are going to be on the go with a minimal amount of calories in the morning (not recommended BTW) then bring some kind of snack with you. Maybe some protein (nuts) or some carbs - (granola bar or something that will help soak up the caffeine). That way if you can't get to food on time, you will have at least something that will stave you over a give you a bit of energy until you can eat a proper meal.

Just my 2 cents... I could be totally wrong too!

EDIT: I seem to agree with the above too, so I can't be that far off base!

You had 3 caffeinated drinks and only 90 calories to go with them?  Um, yes this is related to calorie restriction.  You need to eat more than 90 calories before 2pm.  Period.  I don't care what your intake goal is or what your stats are or how much caffeine is typical for you, that is not enough food.  You probably would feel lightheaded on that few calories without the caffeine in the mix.  Both coffee and soda are pretty harsh on your stomach, so it's not surprising you got sick to boot.

You'd be better off eating a sensible amount of calories in the morning so that you don't have to eat a pastry to get your blood sugar back up - that's not exactly a healthy food. 

Based on your previous posts, you've been undereating for a while and possibly overexercising.  Your body is obviously trying to tell you something is wrong, so please listen to it!

Ok well for me that was a small amount of caffeine, and I am really used to doing about 90-150 calories in the morning with anywhere from 2-4 double espressos...I was trying to hold off because I knew I was having a big lunch but clearly that sorta just came back to bite me

And yeah I felt horrible about the pastry, but it was sort of the only thing around

I haven't actually been exercising that much recently, just a lot of walking,...no time and an unhappy knee...so don't worry! I thought it had to be that I didn't eat enough...I just wasn't sure if like from being really hungry you could throw up, since their are people who go much longer on zero food and don't throw up....but can that really be a reason? it just seems odd and I feel like I have gone longer before with no issues when I had run out of time or something to eat...thanks

If you're used to it that probably means you've being doing it for a while. Which probably means your body can't take it anymore. So, eat a healthier, more balanced diet, reasonable calories and less caffeine to feel good, or carry on how you are and get sick

No I am saying I am used to the caffeine, I know it's bad and I am working on cutting it out but it's hard!!

I am not saying that I am used to going that long without eating so much, I usually eat lunch by 1 pm and don't usually have a soda till the late afternoon before dinner...I actually pretty healthy, lot's of salads, soups, no fast food, almost no sweets (maybe once a week), basically vegitarian, etc and probably averaget between 1200-1500 calories, although there is usually one day a week where I go over just cuz...I know that my eating on the day I threw up wasn't good in the morning, don't worry!!! :)

my question was more can hunger trigger vommiting? does anyone know this?

Scientifically speaking...I have no idea.  Sorry, there's a reason I did not follow my dad's footsteps to become a doctor!

Speaking from personal experience, I have experienced light-headedness and mild nausea when my blood sugar drops too low.  This has never been to the point of vomiting, but then again I don't think I've ever eaten that few calories over that span of time (sleeping excluded of course).

I believe dehydration can also cause nausea - entirely possible given your caffeine intake. 

I still encourage you to think about your habits.  That is a LOT of caffeine, and you would probably do better with more protein and more calories in general in your diet, especially if your goal is to get more toned. 

Yeah I think maybe I was dehydrated, although I drank a ton of water the night before, plus it was really hot outside, and a low drop in blood sugar...yeah usually I just get naseous, not actual puking! 

I know the coffee is bad...but I live in France and I have an espresos machine in my house, at work, etc, etc and its just sooooooooooo easy to get coffee and its a viscious cycle, but I am working on slowly reducing the amount! Yeah I eat basically vegitarian so protein is always hard to get but I try to eat some cheese, milk, and an egg during the day.....thanks so much, just because I don't want to agree on some of everyone's points, I know that you're all right haha...thanks again...if anyone has a scientific reason for this I'd love to know out of pure curiousty...thanks again everyone for pointing out my sillyness...

Original Post by rosesarered12:

Yeah I think maybe I was dehydrated, although I drank a ton of water the night before, plus it was really hot outside, and a low drop in blood sugar...yeah usually I just get naseous, not actual puking! 

I know the coffee is bad...but I live in France and I have an espresos machine in my house, at work, etc, etc and its just sooooooooooo easy to get coffee and its a viscious cycle, but I am working on slowly reducing the amount! Yeah I eat basically vegitarian so protein is always hard to get but I try to eat some cheese, milk, and an egg during the day.....thanks so much, just because I don't want to agree on some of everyone's points, I know that you're all right haha...thanks again...if anyone has a scientific reason for this I'd love to know out of pure curiousty...thanks again everyone for pointing out my sillyness...

I might be totally wrong with this answer, but I used to have the same problems with low blood sugar.....I'd suddenly get super light headed, start sweating and then throw up....yuck. If I remember correctly, I think that my doctor said that when your blood sugar takes a drop like that, your body releases adrenaline to counter-act it? Or something along those lines.....and that's what causes the shakiness and vomiting. 

Again, I could be totally wrong on what I'm remembering......

This was def. caused from the caffeine - when I have too much with little to no food I get super shaky & nauseous! Next time either eat a bit more at breakfast to hold you over until lunch, or only drink one espresso. 

Original Post by misscherryjane:

Er, probably the fact that you had around "90 calories and had 2 double espressos, and then a diet coke"? You need more than 90 cals for breakfast and less than 2 double espressos and a diet coke's worth of caffeine.

Then, once feeling sick, it's not exactly advisable to cram food into yourself as quickly as possible. Maybe a slice of dry bread, eaten slowly, would have helped.

Not letting your blood sugar drop to dangerous levels is probably better than getting it back up so quickly and forcibly that you throw up.

Couldn't have said it better myself.  Make healthier choices tomorrow and see if it happens again, in which case it would be caused from something else. 

Yeah no puking or anything like naseausa since then so it must have been caused from a chain of not so great choices...thanks for the advice everyone!

urm, sometimes if you mix dairy and fizzy drinks it can make your tummy go funny. well, i tend to find it anyway. lol. don't know about anyone else? cause i'm guessing those 2 double espressos had dairy content? (i'm not a coffee drinker, so i don't really know whats in those things! lol)

no, I drink them black but my 90 calorie were made up of skim milk and some low-fat yogurt...so maybe that was it...in any case I'll be smarter next time!

could you be pregnant?