Nausea

Forum and Discount Information: Click Here.

Most people think vomiting is controlled by the stomach, but a special area of your brain called the vomiting center (of course!) is really in charge of throwing up. You can tell what triggers vomiting by where the vomiting center gets its information:

• Stomach and intestines (infection, injury, or food irritation)
• Inner ear (dizziness, motion sickness)
• Brain (head injury, brain infections or tumors, migraine)

When the vomiting center senses problems such as those above, it initiates the vomiting sequence. Without effort on your part, the windpipe closes and the abdominal wall and diaphragm muscles tighten suddenly and forcefully. The stomach itself is limp, but when squeezed forcefully by the abdominal wall, it ejects any food or fluid up the esophagus and out.

Vomiting is awful to experience, but usually harmless and stops by itself. Occasionally, it can be serious:

• It can cause severe dehydration, especially in infants and children.
• It can be a sign of a more serious illness 

• Concussion or other brain injury
• Brain infection (encephalitis or meningitis)
• Intestinal blockage
• Appendicitis
• Migraine
• Brain tumors

Vomiting is one health problem where advice for children and adults is completely different. If you're an adult with vomiting, you have a much lower risk of dehydration, and usually can tell by thirst and other symptoms when you are becoming dehydrated. Adults are also better at noticing signs in themselves that some other illness is causing the vomiting. But children dehydrate quickly (especially if they have diarrhea, too). And they often can't tell you about other symptoms they might be having. Causes of vomiting also differ based on age.