ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the medical conditions of nausea and vomiting. Nausea is the unpleasant feeling of needing to vomit, and may be accompanied by symptoms such as feeling sweaty and clammy, and the patient may have no desire to do anything except lie quiet and still. Vomiting is the forceful expulsion of the gastric contents through the mouth. Nausea is under the physiological control of the vomiting centre in the medulla. Oral medication may be adequate to control nausea, but the rectal or subcutaneous route may be better for persistent nausea. The patient's nausea may be caused by more than one stimulus activating more than one site in the brain. Corticosteroids are not anti-emetics as such, but sometimes have a non-specific action in reducing nausea and vomiting and, of course, have a role in reducing raised intracranial pressure or reducing the size of an enlarging liver pressing on the stomach.
