Nauseous Definition, Reason, Symptoms, Treatment & Prevention
Understanding
Nausea is a sensation caused by discomfort in the stomach and accompanied by the urge to vomit. Many things can cause nausea. Starting from the movement of the body in the surrounding environment, certain types of food, and medicines, to the effects of certain health conditions.
Symptom
The typical symptom of nausea is the feeling of wanting to vomit, with or without other symptoms. Other symptoms may arise according to the conditions that cause them. For example, the presence of fever in nausea caused by infection or spinning vision in nausea caused by BPPV.
Reason
Nausea can be triggered by various conditions, such as:
-
- Movement
- Pregnancy
- Bacterial or viral infection
- Heartburn or Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)
- Chemotherapy
- Spicy or fatty foods
- Severe pain eg in pancreatitis
- Bowel injury
- Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)
- Ear infection
- Heart attack
- Meningitis
- Migraine
Diagnosis
Nausea is easy to know from the complaints of someone who experiences it. To find out the cause and establish a diagnosis, various examinations are needed.
This additional examination is carried out based on suspicion of the presence of certain disease disorders. For example, in persistent nausea and accompanied by weakness on one side of the body. Doctors will generally suggest additional examinations in the form of a CT- scan or MRI to see possible disorders in the brain such as stroke.
However, in some cases when nausea only occurs intermittently and there are conditions that precede it, such as a long road trip or pregnancy, no special additional examination is needed.
Treatment
Treatment of nausea is given based on the conditions underlying the problem of nausea. Such treatment may take the form of:
- Dimenhydrinate (Dramamine) in nausea caused by motion sickness
- Antacids or stomach acid-reducing drugs for nausea caused by stomach upset.
- Maintain adequate fluid intake to avoid dehydration
Complications
Someone who feels nauseous is at risk of becoming dehydrated if fluid intake is not maintained sufficiently.
Prevention
Prevention of nausea takes several steps, depending on the cause:
- Avoiding too bright a light on nausea triggered by a migraine attack
- Avoid environmental conditions that are too hot
- Avoid trips that can trigger motion sickness, for example, sea travel when conditions are choppy
- Avoid pungent odors
- Take dimenhydrinate before starting the journey
- Maintain a healthy diet by eating regularly, avoiding spicy and too fatty foods.