Nausea and vomiting
Nausea is the uneasy feeling that you are about to throw up; vomiting is when the stomach actually empties out through the mouth. They are not a disease in themselves but a signal — from a stomach bug, travel, pregnancy, a migraine, food poisoning and many other causes.
- In a stomach bug, vomiting usually stops within 1 or 2 days
- About 70% of women get morning sickness in pregnancy
- Morning sickness usually eases around the 13th week of pregnancy
- The word nausea comes from the Greek word for ship
Source: NHS; Cleveland Clinic; StatPearls — Takov & Tadi, Motion Sickness (2023)
What is Nausea and vomiting?
Vomiting is a protective reflex. When the body senses something harmful in the stomach — or gets confusing signals from the balance organs — a control centre low in the brain stem sets off the reflex: the stomach and belly muscles squeeze, and the stomach empties upward.
Most nausea and vomiting pass in a day or two. The real danger is losing too much water and salt, especially in small children, older people and pregnant women. Vomiting that goes on, or comes with blood, severe pain or a stiff neck, points to something that needs a doctor.
What are the symptoms?
- A queasy, uneasy feeling in the stomach
- Throwing up, once or again and again
- Extra saliva, sweating and a pale face before vomiting
- Giddiness, especially when it comes from travel or the ear
- Dry mouth, little or dark urine, and weakness — signs the body is losing water
What causes it, and who is more likely to get it?
Stomach and gut
- Stomach infection (gastroenteritis) and food poisoning
- Acid reflux and ulcers
- A blocked intestine
Balance and the brain
- Motion sickness — buses, cars, boats
- Vertigo and giddiness from the inner ear
- Migraine
- Raised pressure inside the head
Medicines and other causes
- Some medicines, including cancer chemotherapy
- Stress and anxiety
How is it found?
The cause is usually clear from the story — what was eaten, travel, a missed period, a headache. Tests are used when vomiting goes on, keeps returning, or comes with warning signs.
History and examination
The doctor asks when it started, what came up, and checks the belly and for signs of losing water.
Blood and urine tests
To check the body's water and salt balance, and for infection.
Pregnancy test
For any woman who could be pregnant — it changes which treatments are safe.
A neurotherapist asks about pregnancy, back pain, any ulcer or old burning in the stomach, and whether the bowel is hard, with piles or fistula — each of these changes how the treatment is given. She also asks whether giddiness comes with the vomiting.
How Neurotherapy sees Nausea and vomiting
In LMNT, the first point for nausea and vomiting is Gas Only — pressed down both thighs, at least six places, with no space left empty. Guruji's teaching says it helps at once, especially in pregnant women.
When the nausea comes with giddiness, LMNT looks to the brain stem. (8) Medulla works through the eighth cranial nerve, which carries both hearing and balance from the inner ear; it is given for vertigo and for the nausea and vomiting it causes. Where the stomach itself is sore — an ulcer — Gas Only is held back, because it raises stomach acid.
Whether or not the patient gets immediate benefit from our treatment, let no harm reach him through our carelessness — attend to this.
Neurotherapy treatment for Nausea and vomiting, step by step
Examine first
Warning signs are asked first. Then the therapist asks about pregnancy, back pain, ulcer, hard stools, piles or fistula, and giddiness.
Gas Only
Given down both thighs, at least six places. Helpful at once, especially in pregnancy.
With a hard bowel, add Gas 'I'
Where there is constipation, piles or fistula, Gas 'I' — down both calves — must be given along with Gas Only.
Back pain: hands, not feet
If the person has back pain — common in pregnancy — the treatment is given with the hands rather than the feet.
With giddiness: (8) Medulla
When the nausea comes from giddiness or vertigo, (8) Medulla is given for the balance nerve.
Points and formulas used
Never do this
- Get urgent medical help for blood or "coffee grounds" in the vomit, green vomit, severe belly pain, a sudden severe headache or stiff neck, vomiting after a head injury, signs of losing water (dry mouth, little or dark urine, drowsiness), or a pregnant woman who cannot keep any food or fluid down.
- Vomiting that lasts more than a day in an adult — or keeps a child from drinking — needs a doctor. Sip water or oral rehydration solution (ORS) often, in small amounts.
- Gas Only is not given to a person with an ulcer in the stomach or duodenum. Gas Only
- With constipation, piles or fistula, Gas Only is never given alone — Gas 'I' must go with it. With back pain, the hands are used, not the feet. Gas 'I'
- In pregnancy, Thymus and Thymus + Chest are never given, and no treatment is given from which the baby may have trouble. Pregnancy
- Cancer: if the person has cancer, (10) Pan, Thymus, Pit, Lu + Sh, Rt. Ov / Lt. Ov and (30) Medulla are never given — the therapist changes the plan.
- Keep taking the medicines your doctor prescribed. Neurotherapy works alongside your medical care, never instead of it.
Watch
A practical demo by Dr. Diwakar Shukla on the 1 Gas Only point — given as 3, 6, ×3 and ×6 — for relief from gas.
A short self-help demonstration for vomiting, including travel sickness: a finger strokes straight down the Medulla line just beside and below the ear, 30 strokes on the left and 30 on the right — (15) Medulla — with a one-minute gap, repeated two or three times. Talc or a little oil is used so the skin is not rubbed raw.
LMNT teaching lists (8) Medulla — not (15) — for giddiness with nausea and vomiting, and the first point it gives for nausea and vomiting is Gas Only. Vomiting with blood, severe belly pain, a stiff neck or signs of losing water needs a doctor first.
Two demonstrations: the Gas Only point on the thighs, and a Medulla stroke beside the ear shown for travel vomiting.
From Ayurveda and the kitchen
Test yourself
What research says
- Strong evidence
A small area in the brain stem, the area postrema, is well known as the vomiting centre. It receives signals from the vagus and glossopharyngeal nerves, and when it is activated it passes them on to a neighbouring nucleus and nausea and vomiting follow.
- Strong evidence
Motion sickness starts when the signals from the inner ear's balance organs, the eyes and the body do not match what the brain expects. The brain stem nuclei that receive these signals then set off nausea, vomiting, cold sweat and pallor.
Takov V, Tadi P. Motion Sickness. StatPearls. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023.
No clinical trial of Neurotherapy in nausea and vomiting has been published yet. Improvements reported by neurotherapists are clinical observations.
For you
Pregnant women
Morning sickness is common and usually eases by mid-pregnancy. Take no new medicine without asking the doctor who is looking after you — and never stop one you have been given without asking the same person. Always tell the therapist you are pregnant.
Parents of small children
Children lose water fast. Give small sips of ORS often, watch for fewer wet nappies or drowsiness, and see a doctor early.
People who get travel sickness
Sit where the ride is smoothest, look at the horizon rather than a screen, and tell the therapist if giddiness comes with it.
This page explains; it does not diagnose. Neurotherapy works alongside your medical care — keep taking the medicines your doctor prescribed, and see a doctor for any new or severe symptom.