Nausea: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment & Prevention

Have you ever had this queasy feeling in the stomach, mostly while traveling or watching/reading something during travel? Or after having eaten something that doesn’t agree with your body? The term that refers to all these is called “nausea”. A word for the queasy sensation in your stomach indicates you could vomit. An uneasy feeling in the stomach called nausea frequently precedes vomiting. Vomiting forces the stomach contents up through the mouth, voluntarily or involuntarily.

Why Nausea Happens: Common Causes

• Digestive issues
  • Acid reflux (GERD) and heartburn
  • Ulcers in the stomach or small intestine
  • Overeating or eating very fatty/spicy foods
  • Food allergies or food intolerance
  • Slow stomach emptying (gastroparesis)
  • Intestinal blockage or appendicitis
  • Gallbladder problems
• Infections
  • Food poisoning from contaminated food
  • Viral or bacterial stomach infections (stomach flu)
• Motion and balance problems
  • Motion sickness (car, bus, plane)
  • Seasickness
• Pain-related conditions
  • Migraines
  • Kidney stones
  • Gallstones
  • Pancreatitis
  • Severe abdominal pain
• Hormonal and emotional triggers
  • Early pregnancy
  • Anxiety, fear, or emotional stress
• Medication and sensitivity triggers
  • Side effects of certain medicines
  • Strong smells, tastes, or fragrances
• Other medical conditions
  • Liver disease or liver failure
  • Meningitis
  • Concussion or brain injury
  • Brain tumors
  • Chest pain related to heart problems
  • Eating disorders such as bulimia
  • Hearing loss or inner ear conditions

Symptoms and Signs

You generally feel ill in your stomach when you have Nausea.

• Weakness
• Sweating
• Saliva is accumulating in your mouth
• Urge to vomit

Diagnosis

To identify the cause of your nausea, your doctor will evaluate your health history, discuss your symptoms, and carry out a physical examination. In addition, they may do specific tests, such as blood, urine, and sometimes a pregnancy test, and search for indications of dehydration.

The prognosis for Nausea

Most of the time, Nausea is not dangerous and subsides within a day or two. However, nausea can also indicate a wide range of other diseases. Rarely, it may be a symptom of a serious or life-threatening medical condition.

Duration of Nausea

The reason will determine how long the Nausea lasts. Vomiting and Nausea brought on by the stomach flu typically start to improve within a day. However, food poisoning-related nausea and vomiting can last up to 48 hours. If your Nausea persists for more than a week, call your doctor; you might also want to check to see if you could be pregnant. Likewise, contact your doctor if vomiting persists along with your Nausea for more than a day.

Treatment Options

Self-care techniques that are low-risk can frequently relieve Nausea. The following advice might be helpful:

• Sit down and relax: Too much activity might worsen Nausea.
• Stay hydrated: Try to drink short sips of cool, clear, carbonated, or sour liquids like water, ginger ale, lemonade, or soda. Additionally, mint tea may reduce Nausea. Dehydration may be avoided using oral rehydration products like Pedialyte.
• Avoid smells with a strong scent: Smoke, perfume, and the scent of food can trigger.
• Avoid more triggers: Other factors that might cause Nausea and vomiting include hot weather, humidity, flickering lights, and driving.
• Eat bland meals: If you’ve been throwing up, wait until your body feels ready to ingest solid foods. Start with simple-to-digest items like rice, crackers, toast, applesauce, and bananas when you feel you can handle solids. If you have been vomiting or feel like you might start, try cereal, rice, fruit, and salty or high-protein, high-carbohydrate items when you can hold them down without throwing up.
• Do not eat anything hot or greasy. These meals may worsen your Nausea.

Complications

Nausea usually goes away on its own, but when it lasts for a long time or becomes severe, it can lead to health problems. Repeated nausea and vomiting can cause the body to lose too much fluid, leading to dehydration. This may result in dry mouth, dizziness, low urine output, and weakness. Along with fluid loss, the body may also lose important minerals, which can affect muscle function and heart rhythm.

Ongoing nausea can reduce appetite and food intake, leading to poor nutrition and weight loss. Over time, this may weaken the immune system and lower energy levels. Frequent vomiting can also irritate the food pipe and, in rare cases, cause tears that may need medical care.

In some people, nausea occurs in repeated episodes without a clear reason, such as in cyclic vomiting syndrome. During pregnancy, severe and frequent vomiting can develop into hyperemesis gravidarum, which may affect both the mother and the baby if not treated.

Long-lasting nausea can also impact daily life and mental health, making it harder to work, eat, or socialise. Seeking medical help for persistent or severe nausea can help prevent these complications and protect overall health.

Prevention

• Safe home remedies, advice, and techniques for preventing Nausea include the following.
• Take frequent, smaller meals throughout the day rather than three large ones.
• Eat slowly
• Avoid eating things that are hard to digest.
• Eat cold or room-temperature food.
• After eating, nap and keep your head approximately 12 inches above your feet.
• If you wake up feeling queasy, eat a few crackers before getting out of bed or have a high-protein snack before going to bed (lean meat or cheese).
• Avoid consuming too many fluids during meals.
• To avoid dehydration, consume six to eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily.
• Wait until you feel less queasy before eating.

Frequently Asked Questions