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Nausea, disgust in the mouth, occasional vomiting, belching … The first association that comes to mind for women in such a situation is pregnancy. Fortunately, this cause can be easily ruled out at a certain age. So what can lead to these unpleasant symptoms?
Nausea and vomiting can have many causes and at least several mechanisms. They can be a result of ingesting a poison, drug, bacterial toxin, but they can also be a symptom of a specific disease or the effect of an external factor on the body, e.g. radioactive radiation.
Scientists have also investigated that the gag reflex results not only from the biochemical or mechanical stimulation of the relevant nerve centers and fibers, but even from the influence of our psyche on the body. Ladies can say something about it, who – being pregnant – immediately ran to the toilet at the very thought of a particular dish.
A sensitive defense mechanism
From the “tangible” biochemical point of view, the most common cause of nausea is the increase in the concentration of certain substances in our blood called emetogenic substances, which cross the blood-brain barrier and affect the vomiting center in the medulla of the extended brain. These can be, for example, simple compounds such as calcium ions, urea or some drugs, such as morphine or digoxin.
Patients with renal failure who have to undergo dialysis to remove metabolites and unnecessary substances in the blood from the body are well aware of this. They feel worse over time since their previous dialysis treatment because the levels of emetogenic urea in their blood are rising, which cannot be removed by the diseased kidneys, causing a headache that gets worse over time, leading to nausea and vomiting.
Similar fluctuations in the concentration of various substances in the blood occur in many diseases (e.g. migraine), during which they irritate the emetic center. Sometimes this result is also achieved by the metabolites of some drugs used in the treatment of cancer, the so-called cytostatics.
In the simplest and most common situation, which is simple poisoning, harmful substances that have already been absorbed from stale food in the stomach and have penetrated the blood into the brain also stimulate the vomiting center, signaling the body to get rid of the dangerous contents of the stomach as soon as possible . What’s more, this mechanism also works when we empty its contents, because the concentration of emetogens in the blood reaching the brain has not yet decreased. That is why we sometimes struggle with the gag reflex, even when there is nothing else to vomit. Despite all these unpleasant symptoms, we should be happy that nature has equipped us with such a sensitive and fast-acting defense mechanism that does everything to prevent poison from getting inside the body.
Problems with the labyrinth
Sometimes it happens, however, that we do not take medications, we have not eaten anything bad, and yet we vomit. And are we not traveling at this time by car, train or plane? If so, it could be common motion sickness (in medical terms – kinetosis) in which the body becomes disoriented due to discrepancies that appear between the information perceived by the eyes and ears. This can cause nausea and vomiting, as well as, in severe cases, sweating and headaches.
Similar symptoms also occur in diseases of the labyrinth (Méniere’s disease, labyrinthitis, wandering otolith syndrome). An interesting fact is a slightly different mechanism of nausea formation. We all have tiny pebbles of calcium carbonate inside our ear that are suspended in a fluid called the endothelium. When we tilt our head, the position of the pebbles changes as a result of the influence of gravity on them – they press on the appropriate receptors, which gives the brain information about the position of the body in space. In the elderly, these pebbles are often crushed into smaller pieces that show movement even as soon as you hang your head or turn over in bed from side to side. Minimal irritation of receptors by fragments of otoliths generates a nervous signal that triggers the reactions of nausea and malaise.
Digestive tract diseases
Another cause of vomiting can be anatomical changes in the duodenum and intestine, which are present in some diseases. For example, in the case of a bowel obstruction caused by the ingestion of an object, atresia, or local necrosis of the intestine due to untreated chronic inflammation, vomiting called faecal vomiting may occur. The body then gets rid of the feces “over the top”, unable to remove them through the anus in the classic way.
Less drastic, but more common, vomiting of bile or duodenal content is caused by lesions in the gallbladder, duodenum or liver. Such vomiting often takes the form of so-called reflex vomiting, which is the body’s reaction to visceral pain, such as inflammation of the appendix, pancreas or gallbladder.
Moving up the digestive tract, we finally reach the duodenum and stomach. In the case of lesions caused by mucositis and ulceration, they may cause vomiting with acidic gastric contents, even with blood, provided that the wall of the stomach or duodenum has perforated or ruptured. However, this type of vomiting is always accompanied by more or less painful abdominal pain.
Another disease that may manifest itself in vomiting is gastroesophageal reflux disease, but in this case vomiting occurs much less frequently than, for example, in gastric ulcer disease and usually occurs only in the more advanced stage of the untreated disease, when the esophagus is ulcerated by returning to it acidic stomach contents.
The highest area in our body where the causes of vomiting can be found is the esophagus and throat. While everyone knows that irritation of the back of the throat causes the nerve to gag, a lesser-known issue is vomiting caused by tumors in the esophagus. These are also not typical, and are characterized by the fact that they occur during or after a meal, and are often accompanied by a feeling of pressure or difficulty swallowing a bite of food that irritates the affected area of the esophagus.
Are you seeing disturbing symptoms? Analyze them yourself in the medical questionnaire and decide whether to go to the doctor.
The organism under observation
I think that after an in-depth analysis of the causes of nausea, we already have a picture as such that can distinguish the typical symptoms associated with poisoning from the more serious ones, which are a warning sign in various diseases. However, we must always remember to observe our body as a whole. For example, if we vomit and have diarrhea or vomiting is accompanied by fever, chills and runny nose, we are much more likely to expect poisoning or gastric flu than cancer or ulcers in the stomach or intestine. However, if we diagnose any vomiting that recurs and is not related to banal poisoning or infection, never underestimate it and always go to a doctor in such a situation.
Ailments such as recurrent nausea, fever, diarrhea and chills cannot be ignored. It is worth consulting a doctor and getting professional advice and referral for further tests. Use the online visit option and receive e-Prescription, e-Release and e-Referral within 10 minutes.
Emergency help
If we find a minor poisoning that did not lead to dehydration, it is enough to regularly hydrate and replenish lost electrolytes, drinking mineral water and, for example, taking Gastrolit. We do the same in the case of the so-called stomach flu, taking additional antipyretic drugs and staying in bed, which will give our body time to regenerate and recover from the disease without complications.
However, if vomiting persists, we feel that we are getting weaker hour by hour, and our skin becomes wrinkled and after squeezing with two fingers, it does not want to return to its original shape for a long time, it means dehydration of the body. Such a condition requires a stay in the hospital for the administration of drips to balance electrolyte levels. Unfortunately, in this situation, this cannot be achieved by simply administering fluids orally.
You can also try CBD dried fruit, which has a calming effect. It is obtained from hemp flowers – they do not contain addictive substances.
In the case of severe food poisoning, for example caused by the consumption of an unknown species of mushrooms, the returned food content must be additionally secured for the toxicological examination (it is enough in an ordinary glass jar). In that case, it may even save our lives.
- Check out Ayurvedic tea for nausea
However, while our emetic ailments are related to the digestive system and are accompanied by stomach, duodenal or intestinal pains, unfortunately we will not avoid additional diagnostic tests, which will only show the cause of our suffering in full light. In that case, we need to see a doctor quickly. Until the visit, we can temporarily alleviate the unpleasant symptoms of pain, burning, heartburn or acidity with over-the-counter preparations at the pharmacy. However, only when we are examined by a doctor and it turns out that vomiting was only a symptom of “gastric flu” overlapping with reflux or hyperacidity, and the stomach itself is free of tumors and ulcers, we can safely go to the pharmacy and buy a supply of antiacid drugs Rennie, Maalox, Gasec, Ranigast etc.
In the case of easy to grasp or obvious causes of vomiting, e.g. during motion sickness, we can immediately use one of the many OTC preparations containing ginger extracts (Solgal, Zingibir, Imotiv, Lokomotiva, Ginger in capsules etc.) or dimenhydrinate under the name commercial Aviomarin.
Source: Let’s live longer
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