Nausea and Vomiting

The most common cause of acute nausea is an acute gastroenteritis. The patient usually has concurrent watery diarrhoea, abdominal cramps and fever. Similar illness is possibly found in close contacts of the patient. Nausea may be caused by a condition needing urgent treatment: myocardial infarction, hypoglycaemia, ketoacidosis, pancreatitis, gastrointestinal obstruction, appendicitis, meningitis or other severe infection (pneumonia, septicaemia), increased intracranial pressure, acute cerebrovascular disorder or intoxication.Other causes of nause include e.g. epilepsy, pregnancy, radiotherapy, cytotoxic chemotherapy, hepatitis (e.g. hepatitis A), thyrotoxicosis and gastritis. Fairly common causes of prolonged or recurrent nausea encountered in outpatient care include migraine and episodes of bulimia.