How To Make Yourself Throw Up? 10 Effective Ways to Induce Vomit Yourself

Some people may think of using the technique of inducing vomiting when they have severe food sickness or accidentally consume dangerous chemicals. This method may seem like a quick way to remove unwanted material from the stomach, but it is not always appropriate and requires careful use.

Vomiting can be more harmful than beneficial in some situations, such as when someone swallows sharp items or harsh substances, which can result in serious consequences like esophageal injury.

You must realize that you should only induce vomiting under strict supervision and in specific situations. This article aims to inform readers about safe and efficient methods of inducing vomiting when required, draw attention to the risks associated with this procedure, and give clear guidance on when it is best to avoid it entirely.

When to Make Someone Throw Up?

Your body may occasionally find itself in circumstances where pressing the “eject” button seems to be your only choice. The body’s natural tendency is to eliminate items it doesn’t require or perceives as dangerous or damaging.

This also applies to toxic chemicals or products. If you or a loved one swallows something potentially dangerous, speak with a physician or other professional. Avoid attempting to address the problem at home, as this may exacerbate it.

Vomiting by itself isn’t always enough to get rid of whatever you’ve swallowed, which is a significant factor in the fact that doctors no longer advise it.

Additionally, causing vomiting might result in:

• It harms the tissues of your mouth and throat.
• A combination of poison and stomach acid brings on additional damage.
• As the poison rises again, the chemical burns.

According to some research, consuming water before vomiting may help avoid the tooth damage that comes with vomiting. Brushing your teeth immediately after vomiting could exacerbate the damage, so it’s recommended to rinse or gargle with water instead.

However, remember that vomiting can be harmful and have significant side effects, so you should never induce vomiting unless your doctor tells you to.

Read More:  6 Remedies To Stop Throwing Up After Drinking

How to Make Yourself Throw Up?

You can use several methods for self-induced vomiting, but you should only consider them as a last option. Serious adverse effects may result if you make it a habit whenever you feel nauseous or have an upset stomach. Before throwing up, weighing all your alternative options carefully is crucial.

If you are looking up ways on how to induce vomiting, here are they:

1. Throw Up By Using Fingers

Your throat automatically contracts during the gag reflex to prevent you from breathing in foreign objects or food not swallowed into your stomach. Using a finger, toothbrush, or tongue scraper to poke the tonsil region or the back of the throat behind the tongue might cause this reflex. Due to the contraction, stomach contents frequently rise and fall back into the mouth.

2. Warm Salt Water

Pour a glass of warm water with two to three tablespoons of table salt, then immediately sip. The taste of excessive salt frequently tricks the stomach into rejecting its contents. Saltwater encourages the stomach to release its contents by irritating the stomach lining.

Avoid overusing this technique, though, as consuming too much salt can lead to electrolyte imbalances or dehydration. Always drink plenty of fresh water afterward to stay hydrated. One of the most reputable American Heart Organizations states that the daily allowance of salt should never exceed 1500 mg.

Read More Benefits of Gargling with Salt Water

3. Vigorous Gargling

The vomit response can be successfully triggered by gargling with liquid, like water, without making physical contact with the throat. Take a drink of warm water and gargle aggressively for a few seconds to make someone throw up. Gargling should be intense enough to cause vomiting, encouraging your stomach to release its contents.

Some people may find this technique more comfortable because it is less intrusive than using their fingers or other tools. The method works better if the water is warm since it relaxes the muscles in the throat. Use this method sparingly and only when required.

4. Egg Whites Can Make You Throw Up

Eggs are a common meal choice and ingredient since they are a great source of nutrients. However, eating eggs might make some people feel nauseous. The taste and smell of raw eggs significantly differ from what most people are used to. Thus, this is an excellent method of causing vomiting, especially in emergencies, and it does so quickly.

When one needs to induce vomiting right away after consuming any harmful substance, this procedure works quite well. Raw egg whites’ flavor and smell frequently cause the gag reflex, which makes vomiting easy.

5. Expose Yourself To Unpleasant Smells and Sights

A lot of people get the urge to throw up when they see or smell something unpleasant. These circumstances can occasionally induce vomiting, providing comfort to an uncomfortable person.

Consider sights or smells that typically make you sick, such as bad food or particular fragrances, and deliberately expose yourself to them. Your body reacts to these, and you may throw up. This is a natural technique to promote purging, but you should only use it rarely and in the right circumstances to prevent needless suffering.

6. Motion Sickness

Motion sickness is a feeling brought on by the brain being overloaded with sensory information. In other words, the brain cannot process all of the motions that occur when your eyes see an image, but your muscles feel a force contrary to what your ears perceive, and your ears perceive a shift in balance.

It frequently causes nausea and vomiting. If you are safe, you can create motion sickness by spinning in a circle or sitting on a computer chair with your eyes open.

7. Mustard Solution

Given its well-known natural emetic qualities, mustard works well to make people throw up. Its robust, intense flavor and noticeable heat can cause nausea and an uncomfortable sensation in the stomach, which can facilitate vomiting. The disagreeable taste triggers the gag response, which acts as a natural irritant. Add one or two teaspoons of mustard to a glass of water to cause self-induced vomiting. Drink the fluid after giving it a good stir.

8. Imagery in The Mind

Some people are more sensitive to sensory stimuli, which can cause them to throw up. These triggers frequently include strong reactions to particular noises, odors, or even ideas. For example, sensitive people may experience the gag response when they hear someone else throw up. Strong smells like bleach, rotting food, or the imagined scent of vomit can bring on nausea.

A person may become nauseous just by visualizing or thinking about eating something that doesn’t look appetizing. This sensitivity is quite personal, and knowing what signals trigger vomiting might be helpful in cases where it may be required to induce vomiting, such as following an unintentional toxic consumption.

Read More: The Art of Calling in Sick – 14 Ways to Make Yourself Look Sick

9. Make Use of a Toothbrush

Additionally, you can cause vomiting using your toothbrush. If sticking your finger down your throat makes you uneasy, this technique will be beneficial. Almost immediately after rubbing your toothbrush across the back of your tongue, you can find yourself throwing up.

10. Bloodroot Powder Can Induce Throw Up

Bloodroot is known in alternative medicine for its excellent medicinal properties. It can also help induce vomiting and relieve uneasy feelings. That being said, bloodroot can negatively impact one’s health if consumed in higher doses, so it is always best to consult a doctor before consuming it.

To use bloodroot to induce vomiting, add one tablespoon of powdered bloodroot to a glass of water. Give the mixture a good stir to guarantee that the powder is dispersed uniformly. When the glass is ready, sip it all at once.

How To Stop Yourself From Throwing Up?

Vomiting is a disagreeable and inconvenient situation. Your body uses vomiting as a means of getting rid of things it believes to be harmful or that it cannot digest, but occasionally, it feels the need to throw up more than is required. For this reason, knowing a few techniques to reduce your need to throw up can be beneficial. Some of the remedies that effectively help in stopping you from throwing up include:

Consume bland foods: Eating dry crackers, such as saltines or soda crackers, is a well-known treatment for nausea. People believe they help absorb stomach acids. Try eating some crackers before bed to help calm your stomach when you get morning sickness.

Try deep breathing: Inhale deeply by forcing air into your lungs through your nose. As you inhale, your abdomen should swell. After each inhalation, release the air slowly via your nose or mouth and let your stomach relax.

Acupressure for Vomiting at the Wrist: Acupressure is a standard treatment in traditional Chinese medicine that can also help reduce nausea and vomiting. People apply pressure to specific body areas to alleviate symptoms.

Ginger: Ginger supplements are one of the most extensively researched treatments for nausea and vomiting. A 2016 review of studies found that ginger was safe and helpful in treating and preventing nausea and vomiting in chemotherapy patients and pregnant women.

Side Effects of Throwing Up

“With every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Isaac Newton’s quote applies to every action we take, regardless of the situation and its consequences.

People with eating disorders frequently report self-induced vomiting as a compensatory mechanism, whereby they try to “undo” the consequences of eating to avoid gaining weight. Self-induced vomiting often creates a risky cycle of binge eating followed by vomiting to make up for a binge.

The act can cause long-term harm in addition to immediate discomfort.

1. Dental Complications

Changes in tooth texture and appearance may arise from frequent self-induced vomiting. They may turn brown or yellow, and in severe situations, they may fall out. It occurs because stomach acid enters the mouth and erodes tooth enamel. Generally speaking, enamel shields teeth from sensitivity, deterioration, and breaking. Ongoing enamel degradation can cause dental erosion, brittle teeth, or highly sensitive teeth.

2. Damage to the Oesophagus and Throat

Forceful elimination of food and acid from the stomach frequently causes irritation, injury, or esophagus rupture. Increased gastro-oesophageal sphincter laxity can result from this, leading to heartburn, reflux, and acid regurgitation—all of which can be highly uncomfortable.

3. Dehydration

Because the body loses water more quickly, there is a considerable chance of experiencing severe vomiting. Symptoms, including weariness, dry mouth, and lightheadedness, may result from this sudden fluid loss. Dehydration can become life-threatening in extreme situations, necessitating immediate medical intervention and intravenous fluids to replenish the body’s fluid reserves.

4. Electrolyte Imbalance

Due to food and fluid loss, the body may lose electrolytes, especially potassium, sodium, and chloride. These electrolytes are necessary for healthy body functioning because they keep the proper electrical and nerve impulses in muscles. If the heart is unable to control these impulses, it may cause cardiac arrest and even death.

Self-Induced Vomiting vs Anorexia vs Bulimia

Eating disorders are a very delicate and vital subject of concern. It is necessary to understand that just throwing up doesn’t necessarily insinuate that a person is suffering from an eating disorder—quite the opposite. There are multiple types of eating disorders, and even though they do include throwing up, the situations involved are often different.

Self-Induced Vomiting: A person is forced to opt for this process to provide relief, and it is only used in emergencies such as excess alcohol consumption, toxin ingestion, or overeating. It necessarily doesn’t have much to do with an eating disorder and the level of severity it binds itself with.

Anorexia: People with anorexia nervosa, often known as anorexia, have a low body weight based on their personal weight history. This eating condition is treatable. Even though many people with anorexia appear extremely thin, some may not, and others may appear overweight. However, they have either failed to attain the necessary weight or have lost it.

Even when they are tiny, people with anorexia may believe they are overweight because they have a severe fear of gaining weight. Anorexics frequently restrict their food intake to avoid gaining weight or to maintain their weight.

Bulimia Nervosa: Bulimia is a dangerous disorder that seriously impairs a person’s eating habits. Bingeing, or uncontrollably excessive eating bouts, is its hallmark. Purging via techniques like vomiting or abusing laxatives or water tablets (diuretics) comes next. Eating significantly more food than you would typically consume in a short time—often less than two hours—is known as bingeing.

You might believe that you have no control or ability to prevent these binge-eating episodes. Bulimia can turn fatal. The cycles of binge-purge can occur multiple times per day or multiple times per week.

FAQs

1: Is it Okay to Make Yourself Throw Up While Pregnant?

During pregnancy, certain phases can bring morning sickness and general nausea. Although it’s not recommended to make yourself throw up just because you feel unwell, intense morning sickness can sometimes make it feel like the only option.

2. Can You Make Yourself Throw Up On An Empty Stomach?

Yes, one can make themselves throw up on an empty stomach. However, the repercussions of that are seriously harmful. Since the stomach is empty, the only thing that possibly comes up while you purge is the stomach acid mixed with the bile, which is unsuitable for health.

3: Does Making Yourself Throw Up Hurt?

Yes, it does. Throwing up puts a lot of strain on your body and can cause tears or lesions in the GI tract, making it very painful. Repeated vomiting can also expose the tissues in the GI tract to stomach acid, which can burn them and cause even more pain.

Conclusion

You should never handle making someone throw up carelessly, as it is a serious matter. In some circumstances, it could seem like a quick remedy, but risks include the possibility of dehydration, esophageal damage, and long-term health effects.

Your safety and well-being should always come first. If you find yourself in a situation where vomiting seems necessary, take a moment to consider the risks and get professional help. Remember that expert medical advice is always safer and more effective than self-judgment.

• May 2018
  Written by Somapika D
• Feb 2025
  Edited by Ankita