Video: Can Vomiting Break Blood Vessels?

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Vomiting can potentially break blood vessels in the esophagus if the antiperistalsis contractions are particularly strong for an extended period of time. Understand the causes of blood in vomit with health information from a physician's assistant in this free video on medical conditions.

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Video Transcript

Vomiting is actually antiperistalsis which is the reverse of peristalsis. Peristalsis is the way for muscular contraction that moves swallow food and liquid substances from the back of your mouth down to your stomach through the esophagus. Vomiting is the reverse, the wave of contraction moves up from the stomach bringing things up out of the stomach and through the mouth. If these contractions are hard enough and strong enough for long enough period of time, they can cause ruptured blood vessels in the esophagus. Particularly if there is a problem with liver disease and you have what we call varices or dilated blood vessels in the esophagus itself. This puts you at particularly high risk for rupturing the blood vessels if you had sustained vomiting. Well at any time you should go to the hospital should you vomit and see blood because then you have ruptured a blood vessel or have some tear in the esophagus which could be a cause of infection and or continued bleeding. So any vomit with blood in it needs to be checked out by a physician or an emergency room.

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Can Vomiting Break Blood Vessels?

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