Types of Nausea

Nausea is grouped by how long it lasts and by its cause. This helps the doctor choose the next step.

By duration

• Acute nausea: lasts hours to a few days. Usually from infection, food, medicine or motion.
• Chronic nausea: lasts more than a month. Needs a medical review to find the cause.
• Recurrent or cyclic: repeated episodes with symptom-free gaps, such as cyclic vomiting or migraine.

By cause

• Gastrointestinal: infections, food poisoning, reflux, ulcers and blockage
• Central (brain): migraine, raised pressure, head injury and anxiety
• Vestibular: inner-ear disease and motion sickness
• Metabolic and hormonal: pregnancy, diabetes, kidney and liver disease, high calcium
• Drug-induced: many medicines, including chemotherapy
• Psychological: anxiety, stress and fear

Special forms

• Morning sickness: nausea in early pregnancy, often not limited to the morning
• Hyperemesis gravidarum: severe, continuous vomiting in pregnancy that needs medical care
• Postoperative nausea: after surgery and anaesthesia
• Chemotherapy-induced nausea: preventable with medicines given by the care team
• Cannabinoid and cyclic vomiting syndromes: repeated vomiting episodes
• Anticipatory nausea: nausea before a trigger, such as treatment, due to learned response

Ayurvedic view

Traditional texts group nausea and vomiting by Dosha. These groups do not match modern types.

Key point

Describing when the nausea occurs and what goes with it helps the doctor find the type.