Assessment
Questionnaire
Have a symptom?
See what questions
a doctor would ask.
See what questions
a doctor would ask.
During a consultation, your doctor will use various techniques to assess the symptom: Nausea. These will include a physical examination and possibly diagnostic tests. (Note: A physical exam is always done, diagnostic tests may or may not be performed depending on the suspected condition) Your doctor will ask several questions when assessing your condition. It is important to openly share any pertinent information to help your doctor make an accurate diagnosis.
It is also very important to bring an up-to-date list of all of your all medical conditions, medications including dosages, and names of numbers of any specialist you see.
Create your printable checklist by answering questions that your doctor may ask below:
Privacy Statement
No private information is transferred over the internet. Do not use the "Browser back button", as this may cause data loss.
Why: to determine if acute or chronic. If acute must consider gastroenteritis.
Why: may help determine the cause e.g. pregnancy sickness usually is worse at the start of the day; nausea and vomiting on waking may occur in the morning with excess alcohol use the night before; early morning nausea and vomiting is also characteristic of renal failure and raised intracranial pressure.
Why: e.g. eating food may aggravate a gastric ulcer; eating fried or fatty foods will aggravate biliary disease and functional dyspepsia ( dyspepsia when no specific cause can be demonstrated); alcohol will aggravate gastritis, peptic ulcer and pancreatitis.
Why: e.g. eating food may relive a duodenal ulcer.
Why: if nausea is relieved by food and antacids may suggest duodenal ulcer. If nausea is brought on by food may suggest cholecystitis, gastric ulcer or reactions to toxins in food such as MSG or sulfites.
Why: In the first trimester of pregnancy, nausea and vomiting are common.
Why: e.g. irritable bowel syndrome, gallstones, chronic pancreatitis, pernicious anemia (may increase the risk of stomach cancer), renal failure, diabetes mellitus, hypercalcaemia (elevated calcium levels).
Why: previous abdominal surgery increases the risk of abdominal adhesions which may cause nausea and vomiting; nausea and loss of appetite are common after post-vagotomy operations.
Why: e.g. non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (2-4 times the risk of gastric ulcers), aspirin, corticosteroids, digitalis, certain blood pressure lowering medications, some antibiotics - may cause gastric irritation, gastritis and nausea. Narcotics (such as morphine), cancer chemotherapy agents and iron preparations may also cause persisting nausea.
Why: e.g. drug induced angioedema may cause cramp-like abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting.
Why: cigarette smoking is an important cause of indigestion and nausea.
Why: alcohol is an important cause of gastric irritation, gastritis and nausea, both in the occasional drinker, especially red wine, with a large evening meal and in the problem drinker with alcoholic gastritis.
Why: e.g. cocaine ingestion may cause mesenteric ischemia; narcotics such as heroin and methadone may cause nausea.
Why: e.g. peptic ulcers.
Why: establish the duration, frequency and intensity of vomiting, and particularly its relationship to eating. Also establish the contents of the vomit which may help to determine the level of bowel obstruction.
Why: must consider acute cholecystitis (inflammation of the gallbladder usually due to obstruction from a gallstone), acute appendicitis, pyelonephritis (bacterial infection of the kidney), pancreatitis, renal stones and peritonitis.
Why: may suggest a localized abdominal condition (e.g. cholecystitis , acute appendicitis) or a systemic condition (e.g. tuberculosis, brucellosis, yellow fever).
Why: may suggest peptic ulcer.
Why: may suggest stomach cancer.
Why: must consider inner ear diseases such a Meniere's disease and labyrinthitis.
Why: must consider migraine, concussion, brain tumors, meningitis and subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Why: may suggest gastroenteritis, Crohn's disease.
Why: a common mistake is to attribute the discomfort of angina or a heart attack to a disorder of the gastro-intestinal tract. Must consider heartburn symptoms to be ischemic heart disease until proved otherwise. Angina and heart attack may be associated with nausea.
Why: may suggest stomach cancer, intestinal or mesenteric ischemia, chronic pancreatitis, chronic gastritis, renal failure and congestive heart failure.
Why: consider Meniere's disease.
Why: e.g. nausea, vomiting, fever, diarrhea.
Why: e.g. intermittent symptoms of gnawing or burning-type pain in the epigastrium (midline, under the ribs) which can be located by finger point, pain is worse before meals and relieved by taking antacids or food. Pain may waken the person at night. Nausea may accompany the pain, but vomiting is not frequent.
Why: e.g. deep boring upper abdominal pain, often radiating through to the back. Nausea and vomiting accompany the pain in most cases.
Why: e.g. gradual onset of severe constant right upper abdominal pain which may pass into the back. It can be associated with nausea and vomiting. Symptoms are induced by a fatty meal.
Why: e.g. alternating diarrhea and constipation, pellet-like stools, abdominal bloating, flatulence, belching and nausea.
Why: e.g. severe, poorly localized abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea 30 minutes after a meal, constipation. It is predominantly a disease of the elderly.
Why: e.g. missing periods, breast tenderness, breast enlargement - In the first trimester of pregnancy, nausea and vomiting are common.
Why: e.g. right upper abdominal pain radiating to the right side of the upper back. Fever, nausea and vomiting are often present, but the vomiting is rarely severe.
Why: e.g. vomiting, usually without pain. Vomiting is projectile and huge in volume, and the vomit contains particles of the previous day's food. May be due to active or healed peptic ulcer, stomach cancer or pancreas cancer.
Why: e.g. early satiety, abdominal fullness after a meal, nausea and loss of appetite.
Why: e.g. unilateral headache which may be accompanied by a prodrome of visual disturbances, nausea and vomiting.
The following list of conditions have 'Nausea' or similar listed as a symptom in our database. This computer-generated list may be inaccurate or incomplete. Always seek prompt professional medical advice about the cause of any symptom.
Select from the following alphabetical view of conditions which include a symptom of Nausea or choose View All.
The following list of medical conditions have 'Nausea'
or similar listed as a medical complication in our database.
Tools & Services:
Medical Articles:
» Next page: Types of Nausea
Medical Tools & Articles:
Forums & Message Boards
Search Specialists by State and City
By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use. Information provided on this site is for informational purposes only; it is not intended as a substitute for advice from your own medical team. The information on this site is not to be used for diagnosing or treating any health concerns you may have - please contact your physician or health care professional for all your medical needs. Please see our Terms of Use.
Copyright © 2011 Health Grades Inc. All rights reserved. Last Update: 7 May, 2013 (3:39)
