Vomiting in children and adults: causes, symptoms and treatment

General practitioner (family doctor)

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Natalia Konstantinovna

20 years of experience

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Vomiting, the spontaneous release of stomach or duodenal contents through the mouth, can have many causes. A single urge, as a rule, does not cause any particular concern and does not require close attention. However, if an adult or child vomits more than once, this is a reason to consult a doctor.

Causes of vomiting

Vomiting almost never happens without a reason: there is always something that provoked it, and there can be many options:

• food poisoning, medicines, drugs, alcohol intoxication;
• allergic reaction to a food product;
• excess food intake;
• infection;
• pregnancy (especially the first trimester);
• disease of the abdominal organs, for example, ulcer, colitis, gastritis, intestinal or stomach tumor, appendicitis, kidney failure, pancreatitis, etc.);
• intestinal obstruction;
• gallbladder pathologies (cholecystitis, hepatitis, dyskinesia, cholelithiasis);
• severe stress;
• disturbances in the functioning of the central nervous system (cerebral circulatory insufficiency, brain tumor, meningitis, mechanical head injury, migraine condition);
• problems with the vestibular apparatus;
• diabetes mellitus of any stage;
• AIDS.

With any of the above factors, standard vomiting may be observed, supplemented by other symptoms:

• abdominal pain;
• vomiting blood;
• vomiting and fever;
• vomiting bile;
• green vomit;
• vomiting, weakness;
• headache;
• heartburn;
• frequent urge to go to the toilet;
• disturbance of mental activity.

When does vomiting require immediate medical attention?

Very often, even vomiting without fever is a reason to call an ambulance as soon as possible. If the patient experiences symptoms such as vomiting blood or a previous injury to the head, spine or abdomen, or if the urge does not stop, call a doctor immediately.

JSC “Medicine” (academician Roitberg’s clinic) has its own emergency department, whose specialists are ready to come to your aid 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can call a car by phone.

Diagnostics

In some cases, it can be difficult to determine why the body reacts the way it does. Therefore, the symptom cannot be stopped until the causes are known. Uncontrollable vomiting quickly exhausts the patient, so action must be taken immediately. Take the patient to the enteric virus department of the city clinic. The doctor will collect anamnesis and analyze the patient’s complaints and measure the temperature. Based on this, the main hypotheses are usually formed, to confirm which laboratory tests are carried out for the presence of infectious diseases and intoxication.

During the examination, the doctor will need to determine the degree of dehydration in the patient and conduct an examination for signs of damage to the digestive organs. If necessary, this can also be a bacteriological examination of vomit to identify the causative agent of infection.

First aid for vomiting

Despite the fact that medical manipulations should be carried out by a doctor, especially if brown vomiting, white foam vomiting or black vomiting is observed, it is not superfluous to know how to provide first aid to a victim with such a symptom.

• The sick person should be placed in a horizontal position, with a basin or other container placed nearby into which he could vomit if necessary.
• If severe vomiting is accompanied by weakness, then his head should be turned to the side in order to eliminate the possibility that the person will choke on the escaping masses.
• If this is vomiting due to poisoning or for any other reason, it is necessary to rinse your mouth with a disinfectant solution after the contents of the stomach are released.

These manipulations should be performed by calling a specialist.

Treatment of vomiting in the clinic of JSC "Medicine" (clinic of academician Roitberg)

Often the symptom goes away on its own. However, if its appearance was dictated by the presence of a serious illness, a visit to a specialist is required. Depending on the cause of vomiting, the diagnosis may be carried out by a general practitioner, pediatrician, gastroenterologist, infectious disease specialist or gynecologist.

An experienced doctor will carry out the required diagnostics, make a diagnosis and draw up the most appropriate treatment plan, first of all prescribing anti-vomiting medication.

JSC “Medicine” (clinic of academician Roitberg) employs the best specialists of the capital and region, conducting diagnostics using the most modern equipment of proven world brands. All this together makes the treatment process quick and as convenient as possible for the patient.

You can make an appointment with a doctor by calling +7 24 hours a day or using the feedback form on the official website of the medical center. The clinic is located in the central district of Moscow at 2nd Tverskoy-Yamskaya lane, building 10, next to the metro stations “Belorusskaya”, “Mayakovskaya”, “Tverskaya”, “Novoslobodskaya”, “Chekhovskaya”.

Which doctor should I contact?

To diagnose a disease manifested by vomiting, you need to contact a gastroenterologist or therapist. If the symptom is central vomiting, it is quite possible that you will need to consult a neurologist, and for psychogenic vomiting, a psychotherapist.

Treatment of vomiting is impossible without a thorough diagnosis of the underlying disease and treatment of its manifestations. Manifestations of the gag reflex should not be ignored; they can be a symptom of dangerous pathologies.

Author of the article:

Alekseeva Maria Yurievna |
Therapist Education: From 2010 to 2021 practicing physician at the therapeutic hospital of the central medical unit No. 21, the city of Elektrostal. Since 2021 he has been working at diagnostic center No. 3. Our authors

Features of treatment with medications

First of all, you should understand how to stop vomiting. For this purpose, the doctor prescribes a special anti-vomiting remedy: it can be in the form of injections (if it is absolutely impossible to swallow anything), tablets, syrups.

Since the release of stomach contents can provoke pain, medications are also prescribed to anesthetize the mucous walls of the stomach and relieve spasms. If the symptom is accompanied by diarrhea, then medications that relieve it are prescribed as an additional measure.

Vomiting after alcohol is a separate symptom. It is not stopped in any way, since the main goal is to rid the body of toxic substances. After this, it is necessary to restore the body’s water balance, and therefore it is recommended to drink as much plain water as possible.

Development mechanism

Vomiting is the result of a complex reflex reaction in which the uncontrolled contraction and relaxation of various muscle groups leads to the release of gastric chyme. The reflex is activated by influences on different links of the neural chain. Neuroreceptors that stimulate the vomiting center are located in the pharynx, stomach, intestines, bile ducts, peritoneum, coronary and mesenteric vessels, and a number of other organs. Their activation causes irritation of the mucous membranes with bacterial toxins, release of bioactive substances, pressure, vasospasm, and other visceral effects.

Impulses from peripheral receptors travel through vagal and sympathetic fibers to the vomiting center of the medulla oblongata. Neurons of the reticular formation can also be activated by the direct influence of toxic substances on the chemosensitive zone of the bottom of the fourth cerebral ventricle and by an increase in intracranial pressure. Less commonly, the gag reflex is triggered by impulses from the vestibular apparatus, exposure to mental stimuli, or intense pain of any origin.

The motor part of the reflex arc is represented by V, IX, X pairs of cranial nerves innervating the soft palate, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, stomach and diaphragm, spinal nerves providing contraction of the striated intercostal muscles and the muscles of the anterior abdominal wall. Since the vomiting center is located next to the cough, vasomotor, respiratory and other autonomic centers, their simultaneous activation causes hypersalivation, a drop in blood pressure, pallor and other parasympathetic reactions.

When efferent impulses arrive against the background of deep inspiration, the diaphragm lowers, the epiglottis closes the entrance to the respiratory tract, the larynx and palate rise, preventing the reflux of chyme into the trachea, bronchi and lungs. Tension of the diaphragmatic and abdominal muscles against the background of compression of the pylorus and relaxation of the cardia provides an increase in intra-abdominal and intragastric pressure, which ends in an attack of vomiting. In some conditions, antiperistaltic movements of the intestinal wall occur, causing intestinal contents to enter the stomach and then into the vomit.

Recovery after vomiting

Whatever the cause of the disease, after treatment it is necessary to undergo a recovery process. It includes the following items:

• the patient must remain in bed for some time;
• You should drink liquid often and little by little; for this it is better to alternate plain water, sweet tea and low-fat broth;
• temporarily stop consuming dairy products, as well as coffee, alcohol, citrus fruits, and aspirin-based medications;
• start eating food with light dietary foods: lean meat, bananas, rice, cereals;
• For 2-3 days, completely eliminate spicy, fried, smoked, and fatty foods.

Treating vomiting at home

While at home, you can also try to stop gagging using traditional medicine methods.

• Thus, tea based on mint leaves has an excellent calming effect. This is especially true for vomiting caused by a serious stressful situation. For the same purpose, you can drink 15 drops of mint tincture with water.
• A decoction of dill seeds, which can be purchased at any pharmacy, also has a beneficial effect on the treatment process.
• Lemon juice added to plain water is a great way to get rid of vomiting.
• If this is vomiting during pregnancy, then you should stick to fractional meals. Also an effective remedy during pregnancy is chewing a slice of lemon or simple crackers in the morning without getting out of bed, so it is better to prepare them in the evening.

The fair half of humanity

The first case is gastrointestinal diseases that cause nausea and vomiting of varying intensity. But if the patient is a woman, then the doctor should consider at least two more hypotheses:

• Pregnancy is a completely physiological phenomenon, but in some cases it is accompanied by severe toxicosis, up to complete loss of ability to work.
• Women more often than men suffer from mental disorders in which they independently induce vomiting.

Let’s put off pregnancy for now, we’ll talk about it a little later. Some women suffer from vomiting during menstruation. But in such cases, women know about the characteristics of their body. Therefore, they try not to eat heavily these days before leaving the house, and also keep a bottle of water with lemon juice dissolved in it on hand.

The desire to lose weight is common to many women today. But if it turns into a mental disorder, then the body begins to reject food. Anorexia is a deadly disease. Even in a hospital, you have to undergo treatment under the supervision of a psychotherapist for a very long time.

Finally, among women there are those who are more susceptible to stress than others. They may develop vomiting due to strong emotions, even after taking a sip of liquid.

Answers to the most common questions

• I am vomiting and have a fever, what should I do? You should not self-medicate; in this case, it is recommended to see a doctor as soon as possible.
• What does vomiting in the morning mean? It might be worth checking to see if you are pregnant. In all other cases, you should seek medical advice from a doctor.
• White vomit with mucus - what to do? Most likely, the person has recently consumed too much white bread, milk or rice. If there are no other signs of illness, then there is no need to panic.