Nausea and vomiting are not always related to disease of the gastro-intestinal tract and have many possible causes.
Description
Nausea is an unpleasant feeling in the pit of the stomach that one is about to vomit. Vomiting is a reflex where the vomiting centre in the brain tells the intestines to reverse their peristaltic movements in order to force the contents of the stomach out through the mouth.
Reviewed by Dr Saville Furman, MBChB MFGP (SA). Family Physician, Part time lecturer in family medicine and primary care at UCT, Red Cross Children’s Hospital and Groote Schuur hospital, Cape Town. February 2015.
Previously reviewed by Prof Don du Toit.