Vomiting (also called throwing up or emesis) is the forceful expulsion of the contents of one’s stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose. Vomiting may result from many causes, ranging from gastritis or poisoning to brain tumors, or elevated intracranial pressure (ICP). The feeling that one is about to vomit is called nausea.

Nausea usually precedes vomiting, but does not always lead to vomiting. Antiemetics are sometimes necessary to suppress nausea and vomiting, and, in severe cases where dehydration develops, intravenous fluid may need to be administered to replace fluid volume.

Vomiting is one of the ways your gastrointestinal system gets rid of the "bad stuff." Normally, it is a short-lived symptom; but the consequences of vomit should be quite apparent to even the most feeble minded.

When you have children, pets, and/or a significant other that suffers from bouts of vertigo/morning sickness, vomit is an unpleasant reality that you may have to clean up now and then. It’s important that you clean up immediately to avoid staining and to quickly disperse the unpleasant odor. For more information regarding this topic, just read and follow the simple tips below.

Vomit Smell Removal

* Remove the vomit from the carpet or other surface; this should always be the first step. Try to do this without spreading the mess around and be sure to wipe up any solids so that only the wet spot remains. Also, if nauseous, be sure to open up the windows for fresh air to let the fumes out, lest you donate your own two cents into the pile of semi-digested goop.

* Sponge the spot stained by the vomit with cool water. Then add half a cup of salt to two quarts of water and use this to further sponge the area and rinse with plain water.

If this does not work, soak the stain for 30 minutes with cool water. Blot the area again with a sponge and some diluted dish detergent until the stain is gone.

* Heavily sprinkle pet carpet deodorizer on the area and let sit for a short time. The just vacuum it up! You may have to do this a couple of times; if so, let the second "dose" sit for a while longer or even rub the deodorizer in with a damp rag. Let it dry and vacuum again. That should do it.

* There’s just something about vinegar when it comes to stains and odors, isn’t there? Vinegar (a weak acid) is a great way to clean, disinfect and deodorize surfaces, including those victimized by vomit.

Of course, vinegar doesn’t smell much better than vomit (one would say they smell almost the same), but the smell of vinegar eventually diminishes, while vomit smells doesn’t. It’s the lesser of two evils, if you will.

* If vomit has penetrated the actual cushion of your coach or carpet, you may have a harder time getting rid of the smell, but keep trying. You may have to saturate a cushion in vinegar water to get to the center to neutralize this smell.

Afterwards, let the cushion air dry outside in the warm sun for a few days. Then, just to be sure it’s dry all the way through, put the cover back on and tumble dry it at the laundromat with fabric softener sheets. The combined heat of the sun and the laundromat should help kill the vomit odors that the vinegar water didn’t neutralize.

* Another thought; after you’ve thoroughly gotten rid of the vomit smell, try child-proofing your couches. If the cushions have zippered covers, take all of the cushions out, and wrap the cushions in large plastic bags, tape tight as possible. Then put the cushions back in their cases.

Not only will you have waterproofed your cushions, but it the plastic-wrapped cushions are easily cleaned and maintained. Conversely, once you buy new cushions, never take them out of their vacuum-tight plastic packaging.

* Steam cleaning will help remove vomit smells. If soap and water doesn’t work, try renting a powerful steam cleaner with a hand-held attachment. Whatever you do, don’t use harsh chemicals and make sure you do your best to dry the area you’ve cleaned.

* Here’s an ensemble method using a whole bunch of cleaning agents: try spraying the affected area with a mixture of vinegar, Pine-Sol and a scented liquid soap. Let it dry thoroughly, and then use some Febreze spray to finish the job. It’s undoubtedly hard to work through all that, but it beats trying to run out to buy new furniture.

* Pour a generous amount of baking soda over the area and let it soak in. This will help get rid of the vomit odor; sodium bicarbonate is a great absorbent powder. Then vacuum up the baking soda residue completely.

Once that’s done, set a towel over the damp area, press down on the towel and leave it until the area dries completely. If the stench persists, either consult a cleaning professional or repeat this method until the stench is gone.

* Speaking of cleaning professionals, they’re also an open option for vomit smell removal. Whatever the situation of the hirer, a professional cleaning service can cost a lot less money than most people would expect. Indeed, if all else fails, commercial carpet and rug cleaning equipment do exist to help you out.

The cleaners provide all the equipment and detergents and above all, they have the experience of having cleaned rooms which would probably make your vomit-stinking room smell like the Rose Parade in comparison.

Vomit Smell Removing Products

* Nature’s Miracle truly is a miracle when it comes to bad odor removal, even vomit smell removal. Cat urine is the worst and hardest smell to get rid of, but it easily folded against the power and ability of Nature’s Miracle. You just need to saturate the affected area with the product and the natural enzymes will immediately get to work to rid you of the offensive smell.

Furthermore, it’s not just for cat urine; it also removes all organic stains and odors, including foods, blood, vomit, feces, grease, dirt, grass, smoke and perspiration. Add that to that fact that it’s usable on carpets, floors, furniture, clothing, and so on and so forth, and you have a winning brand right there! Goodbye, vomit smell!

* There’s this product called Dryell and you find it in Wal-Mart; it comes in a kit with bags and a bottle of special cleaning fluid. If you take the fluid and squirt it on the vomit stain repeatedly while blotting it with a white rag, the stain will eventually come out.

* Pine-Sol is a household cleaning agent used in bathrooms, kitchens, and other cleaning applications. The primary ingredients in Pine-Sol are pine oil, surfactants and isopropanol. Labeling also warns of alkyl alcohol ethoxylates content in the product, but all in all it’s a good cleaning product when it comes to vomit odors as well.

* Fresh Wave has an array of all natural, non-toxic and earth-friendly products for the laundry, upholstery, floors and the air that are designed to attract, capture and neutralize sour house odors.

* Buy a large pump of Febreze; it works on everything. Smelly hampers, sticky rental cars, sleeping bags that stink of camp fire, and of course the topic of discussion, odoriferous regurgitated food; you name the smell, Febreze can quickly quell.

* You might also want to try Resolve Carpet Cleaner if it was the rug that was ruined by the regurgitated food chunks… or even if the accident happened somewhere else aside from the carpet. A good number of customers have had success in removing vomit smells and residue with this product.

* Spray with Woolite Rug and Carpet Stain Remover and clean up as directed on the bottle. This stuff works great at removing all kinds of stains and odors, and vomit is no exception. If after cleaning (be sure to let the area dry first) there is still a vomit smell, use Lysol Disinfectant Spray to kill the bacteria/germs that are causing the smell.

Vomit FAQ

* Why do people vomit?

Vomiting is a complex reflex act common not only to people but also to lower animals possessing an alimentary tract and is basically a protective mechanism to eliminate toxic or irritating substances from the body. In humans it can be initiated by emotional, chemical (certain drugs) or physical stimulation.

The causes of vomiting are myriad; it can range from pregnancy, to nausea, to digestive tract infections, to self-induced eating disorders or sexual fetishes, to nervousness, to psychological factors, to psychosomatic causes, to alcohol, to hangovers… The list just goes on and on. Vomiting, tragically, is as natural as breathing for humans in general.

* Is the act of vomiting contagious?

It is quite common that, when one person vomits, others nearby will become nauseated, particularly when smelling the vomit of others, often to the point of vomiting themselves. It is believed that this is an evolved trait among primates.

Many primates in the wild will tend to browse for food in small groups. Should one member of the party react adversely to some ingested food, it may be advantageous (in a survival sense) for other members of the party also to vomit.

This tendency in human populations has been observed at drinking parties, where excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages may result in a number of party members vomiting nearly simultaneously, this being triggered by the initial vomiting of a single member of the party.