What is Nausea and Why Does it Happen?
Nausea is the feeling that you might have to vomit, to bring up stomach contents. There may even be feelings of nausea before a Meniere’s disease attack. This is a most unpleasant feeling and many people just wouldn’t be able to work effectively. The question constantly would be “will I get there in time?”
Nausea can be a side effect of the dizziness that comes from the inner ear imbalance. There certainly are anti-emetic medications, but the side effects would probably cause the Meniere’s disease sufferer to be sleepy and non-productive. This dizziness can last for a short time or an extended period. Whichever time it lasts, it is very debilitating.
For the family this can be a very unpleasant task to help with. Patience and a lot of understanding will be helpful.
The Mayo Clinic in New York defines nausea as follows:
- “Nausea and vomiting are very common symptoms that can be caused by a wide variety of conditions. Nausea and vomiting most often are due to viral gastroenteritis — often mistakenly termed “stomach flu” — or the morning sickness of early pregnancy. Many medications can cause nausea and vomiting, as can general anesthesia for surgery. Rarely, nausea and vomiting may indicate a serious or even life-threatening problem.”
Again, the last sentence from the Mayo clinic is “Rarely, nausea and vomiting may indicate a serious or even life-threatening problem.” It all depends if you are affected by these symptoms. When you read these academic statements, it al sounds so innocent and harmless. However when you read the emails we receive daily from people suffering from this disease, they present a vey different picture.
There is another way to look at all of this. If you have read anything our website, (or had an email response from me,) you will have come across references to causes and effects of Meniere’s disease. This is a scientific occurrence. Absolutely NOTHING ever happens in our bodies without a cause. And a cause will create an effect, an outcome, a feeling.
So what could be a cause for nausea?
Here are a few possible causes as listed by the Mayo Clinic. It’s important to note that this is an accredited medical facility. I will pull out only terms you may be familiar with as you seek information on balance and hearing issues, the purpose of our website.
They list (amongst many other very serious causes): (some have links to learn more) Dizziness, Ear infection (middle ear), Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). I would encourage you to search for more understanding in this and similar sites.
So what could be the cause of nausea from our ordinary point of view?
If we take a step backward, why would the body even react to anything? Your body has an overall responsibility to keep you from harm (your immune system). And anything that comes to it as a potential harm, will be noted and you will be alerted. How? In this case with a feeling of nausea or in fact, if it’s serious enough, with vomiting.
You will recall if a child eats something harmful, we rush them to an emergency department and have their stomach cleaned out. The purpose of each event is similar. Get the bad, harmful “ingredient” out of the body. Nausea is a forerunner or warning of vomiting. Your body is warning you that something unpleasant is in you.
There can be two ways to get this potential harm out. You may realize that whatever you took, you cannot take any more, i.e. repeat the cause. or else, you can vomit it out. As you get this out of your body, you are already helping your body do its assigned job: keeping you from harm.
For instance, if you had food poisoning, you would insist this harmful food/cause comes out, somehow. And you would try to figure out what caused this in the very first place. That is the responsible thing to do. This is a bit trickier if you suspect a drug reaction. Nausea is often cited one of the side effects. So you have some choices to make.
This is a website about Meniere’s disease, so how do nausea and vomiting fit into this “picture”?
While nausea and vomiting are not directly linked to the classic symptoms of Meniere’s disease:
- Ear pain or inner ear pressure
- Tinnitus
- Dizziness / Vertigo
- Hearing loss or hearing fluctuation
People are often told to live with these symptoms as this is a disease and nothing can be done.
However, if you look at this from a different perspective, you may choose to look for the underlying cause of the nausea and draw your own conclusions. You now know that nothing ever happens in our bodies without a cause.
My point is that nausea and vomiting are not natural occurrences in your body. They are warnings for you to DO something different. Can you also now consider that the balance and hearing symptoms that “make up” the “Meniere’s disease” name, may also have underlying causes that might be fixed/repaired? Once you find that cause (of anything) and fix it, your symptoms should diminish or disappear.
- If you would like a copy of our Meniere’s Disease Study Guide, please click here. This guide is a step by step journey exploring your symptoms and what may be causing them.
- If you would like more information on the system that David, and numerous others, have used, please click here; What Finally Worked.
- If you have any health questions or concerns, please feel free to Contact Us and we will be happy to share our knowledge and ideas with you.
Karin Henderson, Retired Nurse
(604) 463-8666 – Pacific Standard Time