Blue vomit

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU.

What would cause blue-ish, foamy vomit? Only thing I can think of ingesting something blue...

***Note, I am not inquiring about a diagnosis or anything of the like, just curious. A friend was talking about a sick relative and mentioned blue foamy vomit and she and I both thought that was odd...

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Accidental boric acid poisoning can cause a blue-ish/greenish vomit - this is a substance used in pesticides, antiseptics, etc. It is an emergency and can be fatal if immediate care is not sought. Urgent watery diarrhea is also prevelent along with abdominal pain, cramping, etc...I'm going to guess that death did not occur given the casual nature of your inquiry:)

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU.

Wow, that is really interesting! No, I don't believe that would be what this person had since as far as I know he stayed home and roughed it out and is doing better now. I tried finding more info about what causes the blue-green vomit in boric acid poisoning, but haven't found anything as of yet. Is that just the color the substance turns once ingested?

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How about...some kind of weird cleaning chemical in the toilet that reacted with the vomit once it hit the water and created the appearance of blue though it really wasn't upon exit? The vomit was probably acidic, it's possible.

Just an idea, btw, I don't know for sure.

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Blue jello? I know that green jello made my son's poop lime green, so maybe the same principal applies to vomit? :rolleyes:

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LuckyinKY said:
Blue jello? I know that green jello made my son's poop lime green, so maybe the same principal applies to vomit? :rolleyes:

The newer REALLY BLUE and/or REALLY GREEN cake frosting?

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teeniebert said:
The newer REALLY BLUE and/or REALLY GREEN cake frosting?

Oh yeah, I forgot icing will do it too, lol. Red icing makes for nasty poop.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

[color=deepskyblue]cool blue slurpee?

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU.

These are all very good (and creative!) ideas, lol! Another interesting tid bit I learned about when talking to my friend again is that the person had been vomiting normal (whatever that is) colored vomit all day, but ended with this blue foamy stuff. Weird!

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Blue raspberry jello shots.....

My vomit is usually colored by what I recently ate that day.

I've had pink vomit... the Pepto did not work obviously.

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Specializes in Mother Baby RN.

I had a boyfriend that was puking, so he drank gatorade to rehydrate and then started puking purple, haha. In that case it is totally normal! It was frothy too, but idk in the case you asked about.

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My 20 yr old son called and said he had been vomiting bright blue foamy/frothy vomit and had diarrhea. It's probably not normal that the 1st thing that came to mind is getting paranoid that his wife poisoned him with antifreeze, and Google results only worried me more. He said he's feeling better now, but I'm stressed. It sucks when they no longer live at home, so you can't nurse them and physically check on them around the clock!

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