Introduction
Vomiting can have many causes. On the one hand, it can be a protective function to rid the body of possible toxins, such as excessive medication or spoiled food, or a reaction to various diseases affecting the gastrointestinal tract.
- Noxes/toxins as causes: Substances with a damaging effect on the body often cause vomiting. Vomiting is therefore considered a protective function of the body
- Toxins/medication: by chemical influences in the stomach and intestines through excessive alcohol consumption or consumption of spoiled food
- Chemotherapy by the group of drugs used (“cytostatics”)
- Mechanical influences due to overstretching of the stomach with excessive food consumption vomiting is triggered
- Mechanical irritation of the mouth and throat area as a protective function against swallowing of bulky bodies
- Gastrointestinal diseases Inflammation of the stomach (gastritis), liver (hepatitis), gallbladder (cholecystitis), pancreas (pancreatitis), appendicitis (appendicitis), obstruction of passage in the stomach or intestine (stenosis)
- Movement stimuli via the organ of equilibrium through motion sickness (kinetosis), triggered by three-dimensional movement, e.g. on a ship, or contradiction between optical impression and vestibular sensation, e.g. in an airplane; vomiting is also triggered by Meniere’s disease or inflammation of the vestibular nerve
- Hormonal stimuli during pregnancy as causes rapid increase in estrogen production leads to irritation of the “vomiting center
- Postoperative nausea and vomiting after anesthesia
- Increased intracranial pressure due to volume expansion first at the expense of the spaces of the cerebral fluid (ventricles), then also at the expense of the rest of the brain; leads to massive restriction of blood circulation
- Other causes related to the central nervous systemMigraine, meningitis, sunstroke, strong sensory stimuli, intense pain, emotional response
- Mental illnessEating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, other mental illnesses
- Cumulative effectThe individual causes add up when they simultaneously affect the body, and only then do they lead to vomiting.
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