8,153
edits
Changes
no edit summary
* Much of the research on nausea and vomiting is actually focused on vomiting alone, limiting our understanding of nausea itself.
* It is not possible to detect or to test for nausea. There are various physiological symptoms which may indicate that the subject is the feeling nauseous, but none of these are definitive.
* Nausea is generally accepted to be a protective mechanism. When we ingest toxins nausea frequently follows. The sensation of nausea gives a stronger conditioning to avoid whatever food was consumed just prior to the onset of the nausea. This can cause problems for people undergoing chemotherapy, as they frequently develop many food and versionsaversions.
* Nausea tends to slow the digestive system, probably to reduce the rate of absorption of the toxins.
* After a fast, even as short as an overnight fast, people will sometimes report a mixture of hunger and nausea. Under exceptional circumstances, nausea can be confused with hunger. This may be an adaptive survival mechanism to prevent a ravenous individual from eating indiscriminately of spoiled food and becoming poisoned.