Nausea: Mechanisms and Management

Nausea is a complex sensation that results from the interaction of certain fixed biological factors, such as gender, with changeable psychological factors, such as anxiety. This is the first book to provide a complete, in-depth explanation of what we know about nausea, along with the latest research results on its causes and treatment. As it is the product of long-term collaboration between scientists from the three main approaches to studying and treating nausea--psychology, gastroenterology, and physiology--the information this book provides is both comprehensive and well integrated.

The book is divided into two parts, on mechanisms and management, respectively, and four sections. The chapters in Section I introduce the concept of nausea as a protective control mechanism with individual dynamic thresholds, explain the function of nausea, review past and present conceptions of nausea, and describe the prevalence of nausea in different conditions.

Section II includes four basic chapters that review what is known about the physiological bases of nausea. Other chapters explore the roles of the central nervous system, autonomic nervous system, endocrine system, and gastric dysrhythmias. Section III presents the difficult problem of measuring nausea, with chapters focusing on measuring nausea in humans and studying it in animals.

Section IV forms the second part of the book, on the management of nausea. The main chapters cover nausea and its treatment in several conditions, including chronic nausea, diabetes, pregnancy, post-operative, cancer and its treatment, and provocative motion. A final chapter discusses future research, including three preliminary studies of novel treatment approaches.

R.M. Stern is a Professor of Psychology at Penn State University. Kenneth Koch is Chief of Section of Gastroenterology, Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of the Gastrointestinal Neuromuscular Disorders Center at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Paul Andrews is a Professor of Comparative Physiology at St. George's Hospital and Medical School at the University of London.