Nausea

Nausea has been defined as an ‘unpleasant painless subjective feeling that one will imminently vomit.’ [Hasler and Chey, 2003]

Nausea is an unpleasant sensation involving the urge to vomit and evolved to help us survive by prompting vomiting when we ingest toxins or contract an infection.

IBS and nausea are unfortunately interlinked

Nausea is a common symptom in people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), affecting roughly one-third of people experiencing IBS. For some people with IBS nausea can come and go. For others it is a constant, lingering, low-grade feeling. And for others it can spike after eating certain foods.

Possible causes for IBS related nausea

Some potential causes for IBS related nausea:

• One theory is that feelings of stress and anxiety over the unpleasant symptoms of IBS – such as bloating, cramping, and diarrhea – cause nausea.

• Another potential cause is that nausea is a side effect of medications (IBS or non-IBS related). Nausea is a common side effect of drugs since most drugs have multiple effects on the body. For instance, anti-inflammatory drugs may reduce pain but also irritate the stomach lining, causing nausea.

• Migraine headaches are also common in IBS and may lead to nausea.

• The nervous system in the gut (the enteric nervous system) transmits signals to the brain via the vagus nerve signaling the need to vomit. If these signals are confused or interpreted incorrectly by the brain, nausea can be the result.

Why Hypnosis can Help with Nausea

Hypnosis is a natural way to help reduce the occurrence of nausea and vomiting because nausea and vomiting are controlled by a combination of the vomiting centre in your brain, and areas within your gut.

Through hypnotic suggestions you can change how your vomiting centre interprets and reacts to a nausea signal from the body.

EXAMPLE Hypnosis Methods to Treat Nausea

When nausea is related to a physical issue, delivering metaphors during a hypnosis session that suggest downward motion can be helpful, since nausea heralds the possibility of something coming up. Therefore, imagery of a waterfall, rainfall, an escalator going down, or even landing on the moon can be helpful to resolve nausea.

Other images that can help reduce or eliminate nausea include:

·        turning down a nausea dial

·        lowering a lever that controls the feeling of nausea

·        adjusting a thermostat to reduce and eliminate the sensation of nausea

Do you need help with your nausea?

If you are experiencing constant or regular episodes of nausea, then you might like to consider using gut directed hypnotherapy to help overcome the problem.