Nausea can be difficult to live with, and in some cases can wind up causing a number of other health issues. If you can’t keep any food or drink down, you run the risk of dehydration or even malnutrition.
Nausea is usually a passing thing. Most people who become nauseous get over it in a few days, or maybe a couple of weeks. For most people, it happens once as a result of some cause or another, and then they may not be nauseous again for a long time.
There are a number of things that can cause nausea. Some of the most common conditions that can contribute to nausea include:
- Motion sickness
- Sea sickness
- Pregnancy-related nausea (which occurs in around 75% of pregnancies, and it’s accompanied by vomiting in about 30% of pregnancies)
- Nausea caused by medications
- Intense feelings of pain
- Emotional distress
- Fear
- Gallbladder illnesses
- Food poisoning
- A variety of infections, including what’s often called the “stomach flu”
- Overeating
- Intense smells or odors
- Heart problems or heart attack
- Brain injury
- Concussion
- Brain tumor
- Stomach ulcers
- Certain types of cancer
- Eating disorders such as bulimia
- Gastroparesis (which is a condition that’s associated with diabetes)
As you can see, there are a great many causes of nausea.
For young children, nausea usually comes from a virus, food poisoning, an allergy to food (especially milk) motion sickness, overeating, blocked intestines, severe cough, or an illness in which the young child has a high fever.
If you feel nauseous after eating, there are several possible causes. It could be from food poisoning, from an ulcer, bulimia, or inflammation of the stomach lining (known as gastritis). Some food bourne illnesses can take longer to cause nausea, and it can happen more than a day later.
If you have severe nausea, talk to your health care provider. There are a number of risks with long-term nausea, and there are a number of medical treatments as well that might be able to help with your nausea.