The act of vomiting or throwing up is an uncomfortable--but
amazing--process to help protect a person from serious injury or even death.
It typically happens when a person eats or drinks something that the body
deems as poisonous. Sometimes it is a result of toxins created by an illness
or disease. There are also situations where vomiting is an unnecessary
side-effect to another condition, such as "morning sickness" for a pregnant
woman.
Questions you may have include:
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Why would eating cause vomiting?
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What good is throwing up when you are sick?
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What causes such things as morning sickness?
The following material answers those questions. There is a
Mini-Quiz at the end of this lesson.
Process
If poisonous or harmful in your
stomach, that material sends warning signals to your brain. The defense
mechanism is to immediately eject that poisonous material from the body.
This is done through the act of vomiting.
Muscles around the stomach start to contract violently,
forcing the poisonous contents up and out. Any other food in the stomach is
also ejected. Some may even pass through your nose during the vomiting
process. Even if everything in the stomach has been ejected, the vomiting
process may still continue. This is called "dry heaves" by some people.
Although it is extremely uncomfortable to throw up, you
often feel much better afterwards, especially if you have felt the symptoms
of a illness. It is an amazing process to protect your body from harm.
Poison in the stomach
Poison or toxic material may get into the stomach from
spoiled food, drinking poison or acid, drinking too much alcohol, allergic
reaction, or through an illness.
Spoiled food
Spoiled food may have bacteria that produce harmful toxins.
Usually throwing up will rid the body of such toxins. In some cases, toxins
from the e coli bacteria get into the system so quickly that the vomiting
reaction isn't sufficient to protect against death.
Drinking poison
Certainly drinking some poisonous material can cause serious
damage or death. In some cases vomiting helps to rid the body of the poison.
In the case of drinking an acid or some caustic liquid, it is better to
provide a buffer the neutralize the material than to have the person vomit,
which might cause even more damage.
Alcohol
When so much alcohol is consumed that the body cannot
process it, the person may start to vomit. Otherwise the person may pass out
and could even die from alcohol poisoning.
Allergic reaction
A person who is allergic to certain types of food may throw
up, as a result of ingesting that food. One example is if a person is lactic
intolerant and drinks some milk or eats some ice cream. That person may then
vomit to rid the body of the undesirable material.
Disease
A person may become ill or contract a disease in various
ways. Some diseases result in toxins within the stomach. In such a case, the
person may throw up to help rid the body of those toxins.
Other reasons
There are times when a person will throw up for reasons
other than to rid the stomach of poisons or toxins.
One example is when some pregnant women suffer from morning
sickness, causing them to throw up upon waking up in the morning. It is
typically caused by the pressure of the pregnancy on the stomach, especially
when laying down at night. It is not a beneficial reaction and can make the
pregnancy very uncomfortable for the women affected by this malady.
In conclusion
Vomiting or throwing up is usually a beneficial process to
help protect a person from serious injury or even death. The body reacts
quickly and violently to rid the stomach of any harmful material. In some
cases, like morning sickness, it is an unfortunate side effect that is not
beneficial.
