Excessive Vomiting
Reasons For Excessive Vomiting
There are many reasons why a person can experience excessive vomiting. Nausea and vomiting are clear indications that something you have ingested is causing harm to the body. The body tries to force the harmful substance back up through the esophagus, to eliminate it. When the substance is removed from the body, the person usually can begin to feel better. But excessive vomiting over a long period of time can be a sign of something else.
Viruses like the flu can cause a person to have a high fever, dizziness and excessive vomiting. The lining of the stomach wall can become affected and nausea and vomiting can occur. There are no known cures for viruses, but a doctor can prescribe medication for a person suffering with excessive vomiting and any other flu like symptoms. After this illness runs its course the vomiting also stops.
People who are on certain types of medications can suffer with excessive vomiting. Any prescribed medication has side affects but only some people may experience them and they do include nausea and vomiting. They doctor may opt to change the prescription if the patient is having ill affects but some medications are known to cause these symptoms. Patients who are undergoing chemo therapy or radiation also have problems with excessive vomiting because the body sees the medication as a harmful substance and tries to eliminate it. Chemo and radiation treatments can last for months at a time, so people who are having these treatments will have to also take an anti nausea medication along with their treatments to avoid excessive vomiting.
Mental health problems or an anxiety disorder can make a person feel or become ill. A certain type or scent of food that a person associates with a bad experience can cause gagging and vomiting. Or being in a situation that causes nervousness or stress can bring around a nauseated feeling in a person with a stress related mental illness. Depression and self loathing issues can also cause nausea and vomiting and so can a feeling of hopelessness.
Expectant mothers can experience excessive vomiting for a number of weeks after conception. This is due to hormonal and physical changes with in the body. But after a period of time the symptoms usually go away and by the third month they stop altogether.
Alcoholics can have a problem with vomiting. Because they are consuming large amounts of a known stomach irritant, they can feel dizzy, nauseous and violently ill. The symptoms can continue until the persons body eventually becomes used to the amount of alcohol. During this process the organs like the liver and bladder are also negatively affected, causing further harm to the body. Illegal drugs can have this same type of affect and the person using may become used to vomiting on a daily basis.
There are certain diseases that can cause excessive vomiting. Diabetes, liver disease and gastritis can all affect the stomach and digestive process and they can cause nausea. For these types of diseases the doctor can eliminate feelings of sickness by prescribing an anti nausea drug along with the recommended medication for the initial disease.
Vertigo is an illness that makes a person feel extremely dizzy and light headed. It can cause nausea and vomiting because it affects balance. It has been suggested that vertigo happens because of an inner ear infection or problems with the middle ear. But a head injury or a displacement of the spine can also bring on this condition.
Excessive vomiting over a long period of time can be dangerous because it causes dehydration. If it isn't addressed quickly it can cause coma or even death.