Cyclic vomiting syndrome

Cyclic vomiting syndrome is a chronic functional condition of unknown cause in which a person has repeated, stereotyped episodes of intense nausea and vomiting separated by symptom-free intervals. Each episode runs through four phases, a quiet inter-episodic phase, a prodrome with a warning feeling, the vomiting phase and a recovery phase, and may last from hours to weeks. Between episodes the person is usually well. It is thought to be closely related to migraine, and many patients have a family history of migraine. It is described as affecting about two percent of children, and adults can be affected too. Diagnosis rests on the pattern of at least three episodes in a year, since no genetic cause is established. Samuel Gee gave the first English description in 1882.