Physiology of nausea

Abstract

Nausea is an extremely common sensation but also a difficult symptom to describe. There are actually many different types of nausea, perceived in different locations and mediated by different pathways. Nausea can be studied in a laboratory using stimuli that range from the illusion of motion to ingestive disgust and bitter taste. Gastric electrical dysrhythmias and gastric accommodation abnormalities are two pathophysiological mechanisms that drive the symptom of nausea. Atypical GERD, small bowel bacterial overgrowth, and colonic dysfunction are distinct non-stomach pathophysiological entities that can evoke nausea. Different gut-brain and brain-gut pathways that mediate nausea require different treatment approaches, a goal that will require further laboratory and clinical investigations of the enigmatic sensation of nausea.