OK, here's a note from JAMA Surgery online, via one of those Rx newsletters that I really do read now and then:
A small study - 120 ER patients - reviewed three treatments for nausea and vomiting:
(1) taking 4mg of Zofran (ondansetron) while sniffing an isopropanol pad (one of those little wrapped alcohol wipes used to scrub the skin before an injection);
(2) sniffing the isopropanol pad while taking a placebo tablet; and
(3) sniffing a pad soaked in salt water while taking a 4mg Zofran tablet.
(1) taking 4mg of Zofran (ondansetron) while sniffing an isopropanol pad (one of those little wrapped alcohol wipes used to scrub the skin before an injection);
(2) sniffing the isopropanol pad while taking a placebo tablet; and
(3) sniffing a pad soaked in salt water while taking a 4mg Zofran tablet.
They used a 100 point nausea scale to rank the results.
(1) Zofran/alcohol wipe - nausea down by 30 points
(2) Placebo/alcohol wipe - nausea down by 32 points
(3) Zofran/saline wipe - nausea down by 9 points.
(1) Zofran/alcohol wipe - nausea down by 30 points
(2) Placebo/alcohol wipe - nausea down by 32 points
(3) Zofran/saline wipe - nausea down by 9 points.
Alcohol wipes outperform a placebo and a gold-standard prescription medication for treatment of nausea and vomiting.
https://www.jwatch.org/na46286/2018/03/09/inhaled-isopropyl-alcohol-superior-oral-ondansetron