Vomiting from excessive drinking is simply your body’s way of getting rid of the toxins in alcohol quickly. Vomiting is not a bad thing in this case, but repeated hurling can lead to potentially life-threatening dehydration and electrolyte imbalances. There is also the danger of choking on vomit, like the guy from Led Zeppelin.
The urge to vomit comes from two anatomically and functionally separate units – a vomiting center and a chemoreceptor trigger zone. The vomiting center, which has overall control of vomiting, is located in the part of the brain called the medulla. The chemoreceptor trigger zone, which sends signals to the vomiting center, is found in the fourth ventricle of the brain. The ventricles are a system of four communicating cavities in the brain that are filled with cerebrospinal fluid. Alcohol probably acts on the chemoreceptor trigger zone.
In the hospital vomiting is referred to as emesis, but many doctors prefer these more colorful terms:
- puke
- barf
- uneat
- blow chow
- ride the porcelain bus
- pray to the porcelain god
- technicolor yawn
- toss your cookies
- lose your lunch
- feed the fish
- spill the groceries
By Mark Leyner
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"Why do you throw up when you drink too much?" was posted on Monday, September 24th, 2007 at 10:28 pm.
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