What causes nausea and vomiting? Is it harmful to my health?
And how do I know when to contact a doctor?
These are questions that most women ask themselves. In this
article, we are going to deal with each of these questions.
What Causes Nausea and Vomiting?
The simplest and most straight forward answer is that it
depends.
In some cases it is a symptom of a disease, which may be
serious or not, a sign of a condition such as pregnancy; and in some cases, it
can be a sign that you are simply uncomfortable – think of motion sickness that
results from wearing some types of virtual reality gadgets or that results from traveling on a boat.
In short, the cause of nausea and vomiting can be either
psychological or physiological. Disorientation can cause nausea and vomiting.
So can food poisoning. So can chemotherapy. And so can serious medical
complications such as the rupturing of an ovarian cyst.
How do you know what is really causing your nausea and vomiting?
The best and easiest way of telling the root cause of your
nausea is to take note of the things that took place before and after you
started feeling nauseous.
Right after a meal?
If you start experiencing nausea immediately after a meal,
the problem is related to your digestive system. In such a case, you may be
suffering from gastritis or it may be that the walls of your stomach are not
functioning as they should, a condition commonly referred to as gastroparesis.
Food poisoning is also a common cause of nausea, and this is likely the case
especially if you start experiencing nausea after several hours of taking a
meal.
If you start experiencing nausea immediately after smelling
some food or some smells, it may be that you simply don’t like the smells or the
foods. Or to be more exact, your brain doesn’t like the smell.
Weeks after unprotected sex?
If you start experiencing nausea sometime after having
unprotected sex, it may be time to reach out for a pregnancy kit. It is likely
that your body is releasing a host of hormones in a bid to prepare your body
for pregnancy and that these hormones may be to blame for the bouts of nausea and
vomiting that you are experiencing.
During or right after traveling or after using a gadget?
The likely cause is motion sickness. Sea travel is the most
notorious for causing nausea. And so are some gadgets especially those that
have tend to deal with virtual reality. These things cause nausea simply
because they mess with your brain’s orientation sensors.
After chemotherapy or after taking certain medications?
Chemotherapy can induce bouts of nausea and vomiting. And so
can some medications. This is because they mess with the way the body normally
functions. It may be that they are messing with the body’s hormonal balance,
the stomach’s ability to hold its contents or the way your brain processes
signals. It may also be that you simply don’t like the smell of certain
medications.
A symptom of diseases or certain medical conditions
This is usually the cases when nausea and vomiting is
coupled with other symptoms. It may be headaches, pelvic or abdominal pain,
bleeding and so on. In such cases, it is advisable that you visit a doctor as
soon as possible for further check-up.
Here is a list of common medical conditions which have
nausea and vomiting as a common symptom: brain trauma, pancreatitis, viral
infections, cholecystitis, bilumia nervosa, crohns disease, intracranial
hematoma, hepatitis, thyroid complications, meningitis, peptic ulcers, pancreatic
cancer meniere’s disease, ear infections and intestinal ischemia. Even ovarian
cysts can cause nausea and vomiting.
Performing further medical tests is the only way to
determine the exact cause of the nausea that you are experiencing. A doctor is
therefore the only person who is best suited when it comes to telling you the
exact cause of your nausea and vomiting problems.
