Dreaming about vomiting
One of the small number of dreams where the physical explanation should be checked before anything else, and where being unable to complete the act is reported more than the act itself.
Also searched as: being sick in a dream, throwing up, nausea, unable to be sick
The characteristic report is incompletion: retching that produces nothing, or an urge that will not resolve.
That structure belongs with the wider group of things the body cannot do in a dream, and it has the same motor explanation.
Where the act is completed, dreamers frequently report producing something impossible: objects, hair, or a quantity that could not fit, and dreams handle this without any objection.
Actual nausea on waking is reported by a minority, and where it occurs the physical cause is the thing to pursue.
Common associations
- An act that will not complete, the characteristic structure.
- Real nausea, where there is some.
- Impossible contents, in the completed reports.
- Rejection, in the idiomatic reading.
Positive readings
Nothing directly. Some dreamers report relief in the completed version, which is worth recording as an observation rather than a meaning.
Difficult readings
The incomplete version is genuinely unpleasant and dreamers describe it as one of the more physically uncomfortable dreams they have.
Where real nausea is present, particularly on waking and repeatedly, that is a matter for a doctor rather than a journal.
Psychological perspectives
Motor commands are not executed during REM, and the retching reports are that finding applied to a different muscle group. The dream produces the attempt and not the outcome.
Incorporation covers the reports where nausea is genuinely present, and it is testable.
The impossible-contents reports are a good illustration of the container principle described in the egg and bag entries: what comes out is generated at the moment of looking.
Cultural and historical
Purging carries ritual significance in a number of traditions and is a serious practice in several, with specific contexts and preparations.
The idiomatic reading, of rejecting something one cannot stomach, is available in English and in many languages and will be reached for whether or not it fits.
What the sleep science says
Well established: motor commands are not executed during REM, producing attempted actions without outcomes.
Well established: bodily states can be incorporated into dream content.
Not established: any symbolic meaning.
Your own context
- Did anything actually come up?
- Were you nauseous when you woke?
- Had you eaten late or drunk much?
- Was there an urge that would not resolve?
If this recurs
Recurring real nausea on waking is medical. Recurring dream retching without it belongs with the other incomplete-action dreams and the pattern lives there.
Emotions often reported
- disgust
- revulsion
- urgency
- frustration
- relief
- panic
Specific vomiting dreams
Each of these is written separately, not generated from this page.
Questions for reflection
These are for your journal, not for us. Nothing you write is shared.
- Did anything come up?
- Was I queasy when I woke?
- What had I eaten, and when?
Dream interpretation is subjective. Nothing here is a diagnosis, a prediction, or medical advice.
Sources and reviewed references
No sources are attached to this page yet. It has not been through editorial review. How we review material
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