Will Zofran Make My Nausea Go Away? 3 Women Who Say Yes
Key takeaways:
Zofran (ondansetron) is a medication used to stop nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy (“chemo”) and radiation. It also helps after surgery.
Common Zofran side effects are headaches, tiredness, and constipation.
Several women tell GoodRx that Zofran helped them through chemotherapy and morning sickness.
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Sarah Davis started to feel queasy about 6 weeks into her pregnancy.
Davis, a 28-year-old dental assistant in North Carolina, knew that morning sickness could be brutal. And in the ensuing weeks, hers grew worse.
At some points, she was throwing up — or on the verge of it — every few hours.
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“It hit me hard,” Sarah says. “I was sick all the time. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t work. Any time of the day, any time of the night — I was sick.”
She tried eating ginger, which helped but didn’t resolve it. Then she talked to her doctor. “I don’t know what to do,” she remembers asking. “Is this normal?”
That’s how she found out about Zofran (ondansetron) — one of the most commonly used anti-nausea medications. The FDA has approved it to prevent nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy and radiation. It’s also used to help prevent nausea and vomiting after surgery. It works by blocking certain serotonin receptors (chemical binding sites) in the brain and gut from causing nausea and vomiting. It comes in different types: pills, a liquid, and shots.
Zofran kept morning sickness at bay
Sarah was among the estimated half of women who often feel nauseous or vomit during the first 3 months of pregnancy. In some cases, morning sickness can interfere with eating a healthy diet or the ability to take products like prenatal vitamins.
Sarah didn’t have the severe type of morning sickness known as hyperemesis gravidarum. But it was bad enough. She tried antihistamines like doxylamine — often used for pregnancy-related nausea and vomiting — but they didn’t help.
Then her doctor prescribed Zofran.
Her doctors monitored her closely and kept her on a low dose out of caution. Sarah says she began to feel the Zofran start working in about 30 minutes. She didn't experience any side effects like headaches, constipation, or fatigue.
“When I took it, it was like night and day,” she says. “I was completely fine. When I was off it, I couldn’t function.”
It allowed her to sleep better at night and work. She kept taking the medication until she delivered a healthy boy — Asher — at 38 weeks. He’s now a healthy toddler.
A remedy for nausea from chemo and radiation
Diane Mapes received a diagnosis of lobular breast cancer at the age of 52. She faced several daunting treatments, including surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.
Diane, a writer from Seattle, worried about the side effects from chemotherapy. She imagined the nausea and vomiting would be debilitating.
Diane says she was concerned it would turn her into a “shambling scarecrow figure” and stop her from being able to eat or continue working.
“I had this fear of throwing up every 2 minutes, and that I wouldn't even be able to leave the house,” she says.
A couple of months after her double mastectomy in the spring of 2011, she began chemotherapy. Her doctor also prescribed Zofran to prevent nausea and vomiting. Diane learned that antiemetic medications like Zofran have made a huge difference in cancer treatment over the years with their ability to stop that nausea and help patients finish their chemotherapy.
While taking it, Diane says chemotherapy’s vomit-inducing side effects never materialized. She still felt a little queasy a few days after her treatment, but it wasn’t serious.
“I didn't throw up once all through chemotherapy,” she says. “And that was my little badge of honor. I was just so convinced that I would be spending the night on the bathroom floor, just sick to my stomach for so many hours. And that did not happen.”
Zofran helped her get through about 2 months of chemotherapy and move on to radiation therapy. And she was able to continue working.
“I think that having these really powerful antiemetics to help you get through your treatment is just a big boon for cancer patients,” says Diane, who is now 65 and writes about science and cancer research.
It kept her from feeling sick all day
Jenna McIntyre was thrilled to learn she was pregnant.
But Jenna, who is 28 and lives in a small North Carolina town about an hour west of Charlotte, soon began to get nauseous from morning sickness.
At a time when she was trying to eat a healthy diet, she began to lose weight. She could only work one day a week as a nurse at a local family practice. At one point, it got so bad she had to go to a nearby emergency room.
“In the last 2 weeks of my first trimester, I was sick all day every day, like 24 hours a day,” she says.
At the hospital, she was given a liquid form of ondansetron to stop feeling sick. It didn’t take long for it to start working, she says.
Because of her training as a nurse, she knew it was considered safe. One of her physicians had concerns about its side effects, which she says can include constipation. But Jenna says she tolerated it well. She often used it alongside medication to reduce stomach acid.
By July 2023, at 20 weeks into her pregnancy, she was taking it less — once every couple of days — rather than multiple times a day. And it helped her get back to working full time as a nurse.
“Thankfully I’m much better now,” she says.
What does the pharmacist say?
Joshua Murdock, PharmD, BCBBS
Pharmacy Editor
Zofran (ondansetron) is a prescription medication that’s FDA approved to prevent nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery. A type of serotonin antagonist (blocker), it’s one of the most popular medications prescribed for nausea.
Most people take Zofran as a convenient tablet or orally disintegrating tablet. These are available at most pharmacies as a generic product. But it also comes as an oral liquid, intravenous (IV) injection, and into-the-muscle (IM) injection. One formulation isn’t better than another.
A common myth about Zofran is that it’s a nausea treatment option. In reality, it’s better suited for nausea prevention. It’s less effective if you start taking it while you’re feeling nauseous. So, if you’re receiving cancer treatment, you’ll likely start taking it shortly before your procedure begins. Then, you’ll continue taking it for a few days afterward. This is also true if you’re scheduled to receive surgery.
Zofran does the trick for most people. But it’s just one nausea medication. Several other nausea medications are also options for you to use. These are helpful if Zofran isn’t effective or it’s causing bothersome side effects, such as constipation, fatigue, or headache. Drug interactions and certain health conditions can also come into play.
If you need another medication in the same class, your healthcare provider may recommend palonosetron injections or granisetron (Sancuso) patches, among others. If you need a different anti-nausea medication entirely, they may recommend an NK1 receptor antagonist like aprepitant (Emend), a dopamine blocker like prochlorperazine, or a cannabinoid like dronabinol (Marinol, Syndros). Corticosteroids like dexamethasone are common, too.
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