Eli5 What happens in our bodies when we throw up that makes us feel so weak?

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Eli5 What happens in our bodies when we throw up that makes us feel so weak?

In: Biology

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Good question. I don’t know, but I always thought it was my fear of throwing up. It could definitely be from dehydration, though, since you’re losing a lot of fluid

Anonymous 0 Comments

There are three main reasons. The initial weakness is because vomiting is a very physical act that uses up energy. If you went from sitting still to suddenly doing 10 jumping jacks your body wouldn’t be prepared for the rapid increase in oxygen demand and you could get light headed. The second reason is caused by the dehydration and loss of electrolytes that vomiting causes. This doesn’t happen if you vomit once, but repeated vomiting depletes the body of resources it needs. It begins a domino chain of events that overall weakens you and can cause various problems depending on individual electrolyte levels. The third reason is that whatever is causing you to vomit is also, likely, weakening you. The two most common reasons people vomit is infection or alcohol use. Both of these causes have their own negative effects on the body.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Well it depends on why you’re throwing up. I love to go fishing but I get sea sick very easily, so the first thing I try to do is throw up and once I do I feel fine, and there have been other situations where I’ve thrown up and feel much better. If you feel weak after throwing up it could be caused by whatever is making you sick, the emptiness in your stomach causing a feeling of uneasiness, or a genuine fatigue from the action of throwing up. The muscles in your abdomen have to squeeze your stomach hard enough to force the contents of your stomach up your esophagus and out your mouth. I imagine that that sudden burst of energy could be making you feel weak. Of course, there are always psychological aspects involved, and I can imagine the nausea associated with vomiting would make people weak