What Causes Nausea and Vomiting?
Nausea can be related to different conditions and causes. Some of them are:
- Migraine
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease GERD
- Morning sickness
- Motion sickness
- Medication side effects, like chemotherapy drugs
- Food poisoning
- Food allergies
- Intestinal infections, gastroenteritis, or ulcers
- Intestinal obstruction
- Stress and anxiety
Even though it is possible to feel nauseous and not vomit, sometimes nausea is a forerunner to vomiting.
Many of the causes of vomiting are the same problems that caused your nausea in the first place. This may be an acute process, such as gastroenteritis, or it may be a chronic process, like GERD.
It is not your stomach letting your body know about the need to vomit; rather, it's your brain. Vomiting frequently is your body's way of attempting to clear itself from something harmful, such as bacteria.
You can also feel queasy and never vomit. Sometimes, though, nausea goes away after you vomit.
Home Remedies to Manage Nausea and Vomiting
In many cases of food poisoning or infection, vomiting is the body's natural way of purging the system of infectious substances. However, there are several things one can do to alleviate the nausea and stomach discomfort that is often experienced prior to and during an episode of vomiting. These include the following:
Dry crackers, soda crackers, or saltines seem to be a time-honoured solution for quelling nausea. It is believed that these crackers soak up stomach acids.
For morning sickness, try having some crackers before getting out of bed to help better your stomach.
Other bland foods like plain white rice or dry toast are good to eat while recovering from a stomach bug.
Avoid having spicy, salty, or fatty foods that could further irritate your stomach.
Also, make sure that you drink adequate fluids to help avoid dehydration as you start eating bland solid foods.
Aromatherapy may be useful for nausea and vomiting. Several studies were mixed in their effectiveness. To do aromatherapy, you can do deep breathing nearby with the bottle of essential oil open, using an essential oil diffuser or place a few drops on a cotton ball. Those scents that are thought to offer relief for nausea include:
- ginger
- chamomile
- lavender
- clove
- rose
- peppermint
- fennel
Before diffusing essential oils, if you have asthma or other respiratory illness, check with your physician.
Ginger has been used to treat nausea, stomachaches, and diarrhoea for centuries. For instance, in China, it has been utilized against digestive and disorder conditions related to pain, with a history dating back over 2,000 years. The mechanism of how ginger quells nausea remains not exactly known, but as believed, the active components—gingerols and shogaols—directly affect the digestive and central nervous system.
Peppermint has been used for many generations against digestive disorders and other health issues since the days of ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt. Both its leaves and its oil are helpful in fighting indigestion and irritable bowel syndrome. Peppermint relaxes. It alleviates nausea and soothes stomach muscles. The herb is also able to soothe inflamed tissues and fight against bacteria and microorganisms.
One of the most common forms that this remedy takes is peppermint tea. Iced peppermint tea may provide enough benefits because the cold can minimize nausea as well.
Practitioners of East Asian medicine have been stimulating pressure points all over the body to cure pain and illness for millennia. Acupuncture is one version of this approach, which involves the insertion of long, thin needles into the skin. Although there are many theories of how acupuncture works, scientists believe that many needles stimulate specific nerves in the body, and those nerves then transmit signals back to the brain to stimulate the release of hormones that reduce feelings of pain and nausea.
Acupressure may help relieve mild nausea and even morning sickness. You can do this by placing your middle and index fingers and pressing downward firmly on the groove between the two large tendons on the inside of your forearm about three finger widths up from your wrist. These presses are believed to allow your muscles to relax and improve blood flow.
Conclusion
Nausea and Vomiting can often be managed at home. Vomiting caused by the stomach flu or food poisoning usually requires medical treatment, especially if you have been vomiting constantly for more than one day.
Stay hydrated, and when you can resume regular eating, stick to a bland diet.
If one is concerned about persistent or recurrent nausea and vomiting or any of the signs of dehydration, consider visiting a doctor for further treatment.
Also, a doctor may prescribe medications and IV fluids according to the basic underlying causes to help in dehydration.
