QUESTION & ANSWER
Q: Why are food smells making me nauseous when I'm not pregnant?

A:

Nausea is complex, and anyone can develop triggers for it. Drugs, chemicals, stomach irritation, motion, and psychic stimuli can all act on the part of the brain that controls nausea. Smells are psychic stimuli. Some people have a heightened sense of smell that can trigger nausea. The association of smells with nausea can trigger it when you smell the odor again.

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  1. Physiology of Vomiting. Colorado State University. http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/stomach/vomiting.html
  2. Singh P, Yoon SS, Kuo B. Nausea: a review of pathophysiology and therapeutics. Therap Adv Gastroenterol. 2016;9(1):98-112.

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