What’s going on in our bodies that makes us get tingly, sweaty, and light-headed just before throwing up, where the throwing up isn’t related to morning sickness, the flu, or another illness that makes us tingly, sweaty, and light-headed?
Or is it just me who gets tingly, sweaty, and light-headed?
Well, I am not a doctor, but the wiki article on the subject of vomiting mentions lots of exciting things involving the autonomous nervous system (which is the bit that also regulates heart/lung/etc. function), neurotransmitter activity, and reversal of normal bodily functions such as peristalsis. It would seem to me that expected side-effects of all that “getting ready to puke” activity would include you feeling very unusual indeed. I certainly get the same tingly/sweaty/dizzy feeling sometimes as a prelude to spewing, and I’ve always written it off as my body getting ready to put part of my GI tract into reverse.
I know it’s actually really seriously going to happen when I start overproducing saliva.
That’s what slaphead’s link said! Extra saliva is produced to protect the enamel on our teeth. I didn’t know that.
Many of the phenomena that accompany or precede vomiting are manifestations of the action of the Vagus Nerve. Specifically, salivation, nausea, sweating, and lightheadedness will all occur as a result of stimulating the vagus nerve. Of course, normal, physiologic actions of the vagus nerve include signalling the stomach to empty and for intestinal peristalsis to occur.
Years ago, I had an operation to cut my vagus nerve (it used to be done to treat ulcers in the days before drugs like Zantac and Prilosec). One day, many years after the surgery, it dawned me that I hadn’t vomited since the operation. Interestingly, some years later, I did vomit and have done so a few times since. Did my vagus grow back? Did another system take over? No idea.
Fascinating information. That certainly makes sense – I’ve always been able to tell that I was about to throw up because my mouth would suddenly fill up with saliva in a very disturbing manner. A couple years ago I read the sequel to Steven Gould’s book Jumper (which was recently made into a movie), titled Reflex, and learned all kinds of interesting stuff about the vagus nerve.