One of the rather peculiar things about motion sickness, is that it can occur during exposure to physical motion, visual motion, and virtual motion.  In effect, it may be called motion sickness, but in many cases it isn't caused by motion at all, in some cases the whole process appears to be governed by the way our perceptions are being processed.  Thus we can conclude that this is a functional problem and one determined by our perception system and  reasoning system.  It is not a physical problem it is a mental problem - a problem of the mind and not the brain.  It may be helpful to have The Model of the Mind available whilst you read this explanation.

Igor Morski

The Perception activity produces Perceptions and Perceptions are a combined record of everything that has happened to things including us.  It is a log of activity and includes not just the input from the Senses but any Emotions as well.  There are two functions that then act on these perceptions - the learning and the reasoning systems.

The basic reasoning system [as opposed to the very advanced system which uses Memory more] helps the Will decide the next course of action.  But if a course of action is difficult to work out because the input is so confusing, there may be little reasoned input forthcoming.  The safest course of action in these circumstances is to lie down horizontally and close your eyes [an action which often relieves the problem].  And one way of making the person lie down is to make them feel ill, sick.  Thus in some senses the body is directing the Will at this stage - we can't work out what to do given the input we have received - play safe, as you might fall over and hurt yourself if you remain standing. 

It is a very intriguing process, as it shows how much the autonomic system can still control the Will - a fact we know from the sexual impulses, but we know less about in other areas.  Well here we have an example of a different sort of control.

Another extremely important finding of the research community is that it is exacerbated [not caused] by Sleep deprivation, insomnia and mental exhaustion.  In effect when the mind is even less able to reason because it is tired, it becomes worse.

There may be some of this functional overload activity present during morning sickness.  Morning sickness is not well named as it can happen at all times of the day.  And it may well be a means of getting the mother to rest more and sleep to let the baby grow.  We push ourselves very hard in western society continuing work, often under stress [which is not good for a baby at all] continuing to do housework and so on, when we might be better taking it easy.  The early stages of fetal development are absolutely key, as such the body may well be telling us to stop the relentless pushing and activity and give the baby a chance to grow in peace.

Igor Morski

Although studies into morning sickness worldwide are not very comprehensive, meta-analyses seem to indicate that it is a problem of the so called 'developed world', and that the more peaceful, relaxed, content and spiritually aware 'under-developed world', do not get it............

HG = hyperemesis gravidarum, the very severe form of  NVP.

Igor Morski

 Nutritional deprivation

Why should the body cause anyone, but especially pregnant women, to vomit when they may be suffering from nutritional deprivation and would seem to need all the food they can get?  The answer is because what they are eating is essentialy poisonous or toxic.

Western society has become a society of rubbish eating.  Instead of eating a balanced varied, simple, regular diet of organic foods, with lots of fruit, vegetables, fish, meat, seeds and wholegrains,  we stuff ourselves with some truly shocking food, often in overdose amounts, then try to counteract the effects of malnutrition by eating vitamin supplements, mineral supplements and all the other so called 'health food' which is not healthy at all.  Some pregnant mums are given iron supplements [which can cause brain damage to both you and the baby], for example and then wonder why they are sick and have constipation.  Another mineral which can cause problems during pregnancy, for example, if it is not in balance is Iodine/Iodide.

Both deficiency and overdose can cause problems in pregnant mothers and the rest of us.  Nausea and vomiting are a symptom of rubbish eating - eating in excess, drinking in excess, eating food with additives or artificial colouring,  eating food that has been waxed or stored for too long.  Eating food that is not fresh and thus is full of bacteria, fungi and toxins.

Igor Morski

Extreme emotion

All the 'negative' forms of extreme emotion can result in a person feeling sick - nauseous and in some cases lead to vomiting. 

So for example all the following Events might be classified as being ones which generate largely negative extreme emotion, often fear, sometimes grief, also pain - the list is not exhaustive but illustrative 

Why should such extreme emotion produce vomiting or nausea?

The answer lies in the ancient functions of the sympathetic nervous system.   The SNS is our fight and flight response system.  When it comes into play, the heart rate increases, the liver releases glucose into the blood stream to help us to flee and thus fuel the muscles; the arteries and veins dilate to enable more glucose to be pumped round the system and get to all the organs, the bronchi in the lungs expand ready to help us get more oxygen in our flight activity.  And blood vessels to the stomach, the pancreas, the bladder and intestine are constricted with processing as a consequence largely stopping  – so we have no need to poo or wee during flight.  All this is automatic. 

Igor Morski

Even if we are sitting at a desk about to take an exam, worried beyond belief, this same system is in operation.  Adrenaline is pumping round our bodies at a prodigious rate.  Unfortunately under extreme prolonged conditions of emotional stress, with nowhere to flee and no one to fight except ourselves, the blood glucose stays in our system eventually giving us diseases like atherosclerosis and diabetes and we suffer from constipation and gastrointestinal reflux and other stomach problems.  

What else happens?  If you are about to flee a ravenous Tyrannosaurus rex, the last thing you want in your stomach is food, which will weigh you down, is not being processed [as stomach action has been halted] and could be regurgitated in the flight response and suffocate you.  So the body removes the food by making you sick.  Extreme fear thus results in physical sickness, even though the Tyrannosaurus rex has long since disappeared as a problem.  It is an autonomic response and you can do nothing about it except to try to invoke your parasympathetic nervous system.

Viral infection

Viruses in general cause nausea and sickness as the body tries to expel the virus from the stomach, if it has managed to make its way into the body via the mouth. To take but one example, influenza causes nausea and vomiting.

Igor Morski

But there is an interesting additional viral problem which is rarely mentionned.  Many viruses, once in the body, stay with us for life.  The immune system does its best to keep them at bay, but overall they remain secreted and ready for action our entire life.  And if they can, they travel round the body.  One of the places they can find a home is the brain and once in the brain they can attack the organs of the brain including those in the ear which help with balance, as we saw above with brain damage:

Vestibular neuronitis can be a paroxysmal, single attack of vertigo, a series of attacks, or a persistent condition that diminishes over three to six weeks. It is a type of unilateral vestibular dysfunction and may be associated with nausea and vomiting.  Quite a number of viruses are already implicated.  The influenza virus is one, the virus responsible for the common cold is another, the herpes simplex virus is a third.  But in time I think we may find that most viruses can do this damage

A number of disease causing very similar symptoms - one of which is nausea - may have similar origins, for example Ménière's disease, and Labyrinthitis.

Igor Morski

 Vaccines

When we vaccinate someone we give them a dose of a virus in the hope they will build up immunity.  Where the vaccine used in the injection is a live virus, there are instances where it, although apparently vanquished by the immune system, lays low and continues to attack, albeit at a much reduced rate.  Some of these viruses can reach the brain and cause brain damage.  In some ways development of vaccines is putting the cart way before the horse and it is a runaway cart liable to do untold damage.  We do not know the entirety of diseases or illnesses caused by viruses or bacteria, nor do we know precisely whether each one is eradicated by the immune system or simply lies low.  To give anyone a live virus when this information is not known, carries enormous risk - and one of the risks is brain damage - with the repercussions described above.

Bacterial infection

Bacteria in general cause nausea and sickness as the body tries to expel the bacteria from the stomach, if it has managed to make its way into the body via the mouth. Dysentery, which causes both diarrhoea ad vomiting is caused by the Shigella and Salmonella bacteria.  Food poisoning  is any illness resulting from the consumption of food which has been contaminated by bacteria, viruses, or parasites.  Better out than in.  Vomiting is our protection mechanism against these invaders.

But bacteria can also cause brain damage, if it somehow by passes our normal defences.  Encephalitis  is an acute inflammation of the brain and can be caused by either a virus or bacteria, if it attacks the vestibular system it causes nausea.  Mastoiditis is caused by  Streptococcus pneumoniae, Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Haemophillus influenzae, and Moraxella catarrhalis and the infection can result in nausea and vomiting.  Meningitis can be caused by several types of bacteria.   In premature babies and newborns up to three months old, common causes are  group B streptococci, Escherichia coli and  Listeria monocytogenes.  It too can result in nausea.

Igor Morski

 Parasites

There are literally hundreds of parasites and depending on the site and circumstances of infection, they can get everywhere from the intestine to the brain, from the lungs to the pancreas. 

And they do, in high numbers. 

We tend to ingest them in food or water and once they reach the stomach, they cause nausea and hopefully vomiting, because the very last thing we want in our system is a parasite, as they are really killers.

Their presence is known from cysts, which form around the parasites if your immune system is working well.  But the presence of cysts is a sure indicator of damage.  And if they get to the brain - which the do - they can cause brain damage with all its repercussions - see above.

Toxoplasmosis, for example, is a parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. The parasite infects most genera of warm-blooded animals, including humans, but the primary host is the felid (cat) family - see Being with cats.

Fungal infection

Igor Morski

Fungal infection or fungi which enter the stomach - so for example on spoiled food or mouldy food, will cause nausea and hopefully the person will be sick enough to get rid of the fungi/mould.  But there is another more insidious route that mould and fungi can enter the body and do a great deal more harm - this time via the blood stream to the organs and the brain and this is the catheter.  If it enters the brain you get brain damage with the repercussions described above, for example:

Pharmaceuticals

The body regards most pharmaceuticals as toxins as they present a threat to the system and its balance and stability. Nausea is a known side-effect of chemotherapy teatments, for example, often accepted as being a necessary evil [although it may help to read the chemotherapy section and that on cancer].   The eHealthme site now has a very long list of pharmaceuticals which cause nausea.  The list of pharmaceuticals is based on Adverse Drug reports submitted to the FDA and SEDA.  The list can be found by following this LINK.

Igor Morski

Radiation

All radiation whether 'cosmic' or electromagnetic impacts our bodies and depending on its frequency it resonates different parts of us.  The reason that nuclear radiation is so dangerous is that it impacts cells, but what we appear to have overlooked is that all radiation impacts some part of us.

Every aggregate in our bodies - organs, cells, the body itself, has natural ‘resonance’.  Resonance is a substance’s natural tendency to oscillate – vibrate – at maximum amplitude at certain frequencies, known as the thing’s resonant frequency.

And long term exposure at the resonating frequency, or short term high intensity exposure to the resonating frequency of the stomach can cause nausea.  The same is true if the resonance occurs to the vestibular function. 

 Hypoxia

Igor Morski

There are all sorts of ways in which one can suffer from oxygen deprivation    -  strenuous physical exercise; from asphyxiation; from smoke inhalation or steam inhalation; from drowning; from gas inhalation; from winding or being winded;  from forms of breathing such as hyperventilation;  from going up high mountains where the air is thin; from ballooning at high altitude; from parachuting from high altitudes;  and the list could go on.  Inhaling volatiles and gases, including those used for anaesthesia, carbon monoxide poisoning, oxygen deprivation caused by such illnesses as sleep apnea, 'bad air' and air pollution, all can result in nausea.

This area is interesting, as the body is reacting to something going into the lungs not the stomach, which rather indicates that this is yet another functional effect - that the body is responding to a threat, by making you feel sick enough to want to remove yourself from the threat.

Treatment

 

Symptom based

The standard approach used in conventional and thus symptom based medicine is to treat the symptoms using anti-emetics, which given the nature of the causes could be very problematical, depending on the circumstances.

Another drug used to treat motion sickness is scopolamine. 

Cause based

The cause based approach says you need to find the cause of the nausea, and not to repress any symptoms; if anything if you feel sick, be sick, but make sure you do not get dehydration or mineral imbalance as a consequence.

The invocation of the parasympathetic nervous system is key in all functionally based forms of sickness - such as motion sickness.  Although ginger is often recommended, ginger I am afraid does not work, if it does it is a placebo effect, which serves to calm people:

But there are other approaches  which I have covered in the observations. 

Note that all the suppression activities are geared towards te invocation of the parasympathetic nervous system.  Thus warmth will help, for example, and LOVE.