Why do people throw up if they drink a lot?

[cwniles]

I can only speak to my experiences and I suppose there could some validity to the whole “booze is poison and so your body rejects it” line of thinking but that is not what I would argue.

The reason I have to be very careful about how much I drink is a very simple one. I am extremely susceptible to motion induced nausea. Whether it is airplanes, cars, boats (the worst!) or any sort of uncontrolled, unanticipatable (I know that is not a word but can’t think of a better descriptor at the moment) motion, I instantly transform in a pale, sweating, quivering and vomiting invalid for the duration. Alcohol or not. If it was a poison sort of thing, well, I get food poisoning and my brain tells my stomach to throw up and I throw up. With alcohol, it’s the loss of equilibrium and the resulting spinning that causes the vomiting. If it was poison, well, just like with food poisoning, wouldn’t you just feel sick and vomit? Why the whole production with spinning?

I have always marveled at the well conditioned drunks who one sees staggering to and fro down the street. How wonderful it must be to be for ones head to be spinning like a top and yet, except for a nice zigzag pattern and maybe a few unanticipated lie downs, they are none the worse for wear. I suppose I could marvel at the astronauts when they get flung around those centrifuge things or sailors who handle the roughest of seas without even a hiccup but, nah, those staggery drunks, how do they do it?

I suppose a good piece of information would be, take an astronaut for example, one who can spin in a centrifuge for hours and not get ill…or perhaps a fighter pilot though I believe a lot of times those are the same group of people…do they ever puke from drinking and if so, why?

I did once “semi” vomit after too many beer bongs in succession but that was really more of a burp in which a bunch of beer foam tried (and succeeded!) to make a run for it.

I am reminded though of the woman who died after drinking all that water in an attempt to win an Nintendo Wii (wee?) on a radio station contest.

[alphaboi867]

@YogSothoth

Would you still throw up if you drank an equal amount of water? Or soda?

Yes, if you drink enough water in a short period of lime (say on a dare at summer camp) you will get sick & start vomiting it back up.

[msmith537]

@Chronos

That’s putting the cart before the horse. Poisons don’t cause vomiting because they cause vertigo. Vertigo causes vomiting because it can be caused by poisons. If you throw up from just spinning around a bunch or the like, it’s happening because your body thinks it might be a sign that you’ve been poisoned.

You throw up because your stomach is trying to get rid of the poison. The vertigo sensation just makes the desire to vomit that much stronger. But you can experience alcohol induced vomiting without experiencing vertigo.

[kayaker]

Amateurs.

Anyone ever done the “shot of beer a minute for an hour” thing?

I’ll occasionally mention this to some naive acquaintance and they take the bait and run.

[oft_wears_hats]

@msmith537

You throw up because your stomach is trying to get rid of the poison. The vertigo sensation just makes the desire to vomit that much stronger. But you can experience alcohol induced vomiting without experiencing vertigo.

This is pretty much what I meant when I said that the vertigo can contribute to vomiting.