Defensive vomiting
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212903327
2008-05-16T20:11:09Z
24.4.20.11
'''Defensive vomiting''' is a symptom of [[anorexia nervosa]] and [[bulimia nervosa]] in which a person who has drastically over-eaten (generally in reaction to previous extreme dieting) [[vomit]]s as a reaction to an excess of food which the body is not prepared to handle.
Defensive vomiting can also refer to a tactic used by some animals. In the presence of a threat, they vomit towards the threat, thus possibly distracting a predator and perhaps obscuring their scent.
==See also==
* [[Sea cucumber]]s -- can vomit its internal organs as a defense, then regrow them.
* [[Turkey Vulture]]s -- produce foul-smelling vomit if attacked by predators in order to deter attack.
==External links==
*[http://www.swedauk.org/disorders/acrisp2.htm article on anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa by Arthur H. Crisp] from the ''Somerset & Wessex Eating Disorders Association'' site ([http://www.swedauk.org SWEDA])
*[http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/180/6/480 "A tale of corruption"] by Arthur H. Crisp, MD, from ''The [[British Journal of Psychiatry]]'' (2002) 180: 480-482
*[http://www.tpwmagazine.com/archive/2005/oct/legend/ "Scary Scavengers" By Sheryl Smith-Rodgers] Defensive vomiting by vultures, from ''Texas Parks and Wildlife'' Magazine, October 2005
*[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1775420&dopt=Abstract "The clinical features of late onset anorexia nervosa." by Joughin NA, Crisp AH, Gowers SG, and Bhat AV] from ''Postgrad Med J''. 1991 Nov;67(793):973-7.
[[Category:Reflexes]]