What Do Nausea And Vomiting By An Elderly Person Indicate?

Posted on Thu, 30 Mar 2017

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 30 Mar 2017 Answered on

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 Last reviewed on

Question : My mom is 90 years old. She has nausea and a tiny bit of vomiting. Two weeks ago we took her to the E.R. for severe vomiting and nausea. They (doc's at E.R.) ran a bunch of tests, colon, stomach x-ray (may have been CAT or MRI). Blood tests. Everything checked out okay. Good, as a matter of fact. So they agreed with me that she just ate something bad. They gave us some Zofran to take home. (8mg) I gave her one tonight. She hates going to the E.R., but I can't figure out what she could have eaten that would have caused this. She has sneezed a couple of times, no fever. no pain in stomach or chest.

Do you think I should worry and take her to E.R. or just wait it out?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Muhammad Sareer Khalil (3 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Food poisoning

Detailed Answer:
Hello and Welcome

I appreciate your concern

Based on your description, it was most likely an episode of food poisoning related to intake of contaminated food. The offending agent could be a bacteria, virus or toxin.

The aim is to prevent dehydration and resulting electrolyte imbalance in such conditions. If the nausea and vomiting have subsided then there is little chance of dehydration. You can wait and keep using the Zofran for symptomatic relief from the nausea.

If the vomiting persists despite this then she should be taken to an ER to look for additional causes that may be causing these symptoms.

Wishing you best of health

Thanks

Let me know if you have any query

Please consult your doctor before deciding on any further course of action.

For future follow up / correspondence you may ask me directly at the link given below

http://doctor.healthcaremagic.com/Funnel?page=askDoctorDirectly&docId=68107

Dr. M.S. Khalil

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar