Mechanisms of Nausea and Emesis: Introduction and Retrospective
John Kucharczyk, David J. Stewart, Alan D. Miller in Nausea and Vomiting: Recent Research and Clinical Advances, 2017
As discussed in Chapter 2, motion sickness is a syndrome of nausea and vomiting elicited by certain types of real or apparent body movements. More than a century ago, it was noted that individuals without a functional inner ear were immune to motion sickness,58 leading to the view that motion sickness results from overstimulation of the vestibular apparatus by “unnatural” motion of the body. Over the past 25 years, however, it has become apparent that the vestibular overstimulation hypothesis was incorrect since it did not explain several important findings concerning susceptibility to motion sickness.59,60 Motion sickness is now believed to result from sensory conflict or rearrangement between vestibular, visual, and other sensory information, and the input that is expected on the basis of past experience or exposure history.59,60
ENTRIES A–Z
Philip Winn in Dictionary of Biological Psychology, 2003
Motion sickness is produced by certain forms of motion under certain conditions: it is experienced typically by passengers in automobiles, trains, ships and boats, and (less typically) spacecraft. Two features stand out: first, motion sickness involves low- frequency movement generating conflicting signals to and from the VESTIBULAR SYSTEM about position in space; and second, that it is passengers that experience motion sickness, not drivers or pilots. This indicates that the foreknowledge of movement, however brief, is sufficient to allow the vestibular system to understand the nature of the movements being, and to be, experienced. The most notable account of motion sickness is the sensory conflict theory, which suggests that mismatches in the information about body position provided by various sensory systems, notably the vestibular system and VISUAL SYSTEM, generates NAUSEA. Various treatments are available for motion sickness, including various types of DRUG that affect HISTAMINE, ACETYLCHOLINE and SEROTONIN receptors.
Other symptoms and the psyche
Ad (Sandy) Macleod, Ian Maddocks in The Psychiatry of Palliative Medicine, 2018
Motion-induced nausea, a conflict between visual and vestibular sensors, can worsen rapidly (the avalanche syndrome) and be mercifully relieved by vomiting. Females suffering gynaecological cancers are at particular risk for this variant of nausea. This type of nausea is the most vulnerable to psychological influences, particularly expectation. Motion sickness can reduce pain sensitivity in a way analogous to stress-induced analgesia.19 In addressing motion sickness, adequate analgesia is necessary and this may need to be administered parenterally until control is regained. Attending to the mismatch between visual and vestibular information is difficult, if not impossible, as the movement inducing the nausea is commonly as simple as altering body posture in bed. Cyclizine and hyoscine, usual medications of early choice for motion sickness, may be sedating. Because levomepromazine hits multiple receptors it can be effective. Adventure sportsmen, at high risk for motion sickness, tend to opt for the phenothiazine antihistamine drug promethazine. Interestingly, after about 5 days at sea, seasickness usually resolves spontaneously. This is not necessarily so for space sickness nor for the nausea of advanced disease. For several days after return to land, seasickness may resurge (mal de débarquement). It is therefore clinically sensible to be patient and cautious, for successful relief of motion sickness may take several days to ‘bed-down’. Habituation does not appear to occur in cancer-related nausea, unlike seasickness. Fear and expectation seem more potent behavioural influences than desensitisation. Acupuncture and diet have no scientific support as interventions.20 Gastric stasis can be produced by motion sickness, resulting in secondary ‘gut-related’ nausea and poor oral absorption of anti-emetics.20
A comparative assessment of subjective experience in simulator and on-road driving under normal and time pressure driving conditions
Published in International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion, 2023
Nishant Mukund Pawar, Ankit Kumar Yadav, Nagendra R. Velaga
A driving simulator provides physical surrounding similar to an actual car with the help of control mechanisms and sound systems to stimulate the sense of driving experience. Nevertheless, the use of driving simulator is observed to be limited due to the adverse effect of simulator sickness. Simulator sickness is a condition analogous to motion sickness which is often experienced as a side effect during and after exposure to various virtual reality environments (Dużmańska et al., 2018; Lucas et al., 2020). Motion sickness is a sensation of wooziness often caused due to the perception of physical and visual motions (Heitz, 2018; Lucas et al., 2020). Drivers driving the simulator are in an illusion of self-motion where they experience movement due to simulation, but, in fact, are stationary. This effect is known as vection which produces an illusion of moving ahead (Almallah et al., 2021). The intensity of vection depends on the horizontal field of view. The horizontal field of view greater than 30 degrees results in a greater perception of self-motion (Stoner et al., 2011). However, a wide field of view is required in a driving simulator to display the right side and left side of the road for negotiating the driving scenario.
Virtual treatment for veteran social anxiety disorder: A comparison of 360° video and 3D virtual reality
Published in Journal of Technology in Human Services, 2020
Erica E. Nason, Mark Trahan, Scott Smith, Vangelis Metsis, Katherine Selber
Participants in both conditions reported few adverse reactions and endorsed minimal experiences of motion sickness (M = 1.33 in the VR environment versus M = 2.50 in the 360° video virtual environment using a scale of 0-10). However, there were large individual differences related to the experience of motion sickness in both conditions (range = 0-6.5 and SD = 2.44 in the VR environment versus range = 1-6 and SD = 2.18 in the 360° video virtual environment). Participants who endorsed higher levels of motion sickness described symptoms of nausea, perspiration, and dizziness. In the virtual reality environment, individuals who experienced motion sickness noted that going around corners in the environment and instances where the visual experience did not match the participants’ kinesthetic movements (e.g., when the participant moved their head and the image didn’t change as quickly). In contrast, participants in the 360° video virtual environment noted that their motion sickness was associated with instances when “you’re moving and the image is bouncing a bit more” and that the experience was worst “at the very beginning, until I got oriented to how things were moving”.
Managing limb pain using virtual reality: a systematic review of clinical and experimental studies
Published in Disability and Rehabilitation, 2019
Priscilla G. Wittkopf, Donna M. Lloyd, Mark I. Johnson
The two randomised controlled trials found no significant difference pre–post intervention nor between intervention and control groups for pain intensity (Table 1). All eight pretest–posttest studies without a control found that the intervention alleviated pain with the mean decrease in pain intensity post intervention relative to baseline between 64 [17] and 32% [21] (Table 2). In the case series, responses to the interventions were varied and included complete resolution of pain to worsening pain. There were seven reports of case series with 28 patients and one report of a single case (i.e., a total of 29 patients). Of these 29 patients, nine experienced more pain during the intervention or within a few hours after intervention, although in several of these cases pain was gradually reduced with the repetition of sessions. It was stated that patients did not experience adverse reactions from the intervention in one study report [27]. In one case series, it was reported that one patient experienced motion sickness (i.e., dizziness and nausea) [25]. There was no mention of adverse reactions in any of the other reports.
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