Vomiting

What is vomiting?

Vomiting means forcefully bringing up the contents of your stomach through your mouth, sometimes called being sick or throwing up. It's a reflex that helps your body get rid of something harmful, or a reaction to something that has irritated your gut.

What are the common causes of vomiting?

Common causes include:

• a stomach bug (gastroenteritis), caused by a virus or bacteria
• food poisoning
• morning sickness in pregnancy
• migraine
• motion sickness
• an inner ear infection (labyrinthitis), especially if you also feel dizzy or off balance
• drinking too much alcohol
• certain medicines, including some antibiotics, opioid painkillers, and chemotherapy drugs.

Less often, vomiting is linked to something more serious, such as:

• appendicitis
• a blocked bowel
• raised pressure inside your skull, for example after a head injury
• meningitis
• gallstones, or inflammation of the pancreas or liver
• kidney stones.

Are there different types of vomiting?

Vomiting is often described by how long it lasts. Sudden (acute) vomiting comes on quickly and usually settles within a day or two, often caused by an infection or something you've eaten. Ongoing or repeated (chronic) vomiting, which keeps happening over weeks or longer, is more likely to have an underlying cause that needs investigating.

Vomiting itself usually follows a pattern: first nausea (feeling sick), sometimes retching (straining without bringing anything up), and then vomiting, where the muscles in your stomach and chest force its contents back up.

How is the cause of vomiting diagnosed?

If you have a short episode of vomiting, you probably won't need any tests, since the cause is often clear from your symptoms alone. If it keeps happening or comes back, your doctor will ask about your symptoms and medical history, examine you, and may suggest blood tests, a urine test, or a pregnancy test.

Occasionally, if the cause isn't clear, you may be referred for further tests, such as an endoscopy or a CT scan, or to a specialist in digestive or nervous system conditions.

How is vomiting treated?

Treatment depends on the cause, but most cases, especially from a stomach bug, get better on their own within a day or two with simple self-care at home:

• Take small, frequent sips of fluid to avoid dehydration
• Avoid fruit juice and fizzy drinks, which can make things worse
• Eat when you feel able to, choosing bland foods such as rice, pasta, crackers, or toast
• Avoid fatty, spicy, or rich food until you're feeling better
• Take paracetamol if you're in discomfort
• Rest at home and avoid contact with others until you're feeling better.

A pharmacist can also help. They may recommend an oral rehydration drink, which replaces lost fluids, sugar and salts more effectively than water alone, or a short-term medicine to stop diarrhoea if you have that too. Your doctor may prescribe an anti-sickness medicine for an ongoing cause such as migraine or motion sickness.

If a baby or young child is vomiting, keep offering small, frequent sips of an oral rehydration solution rather than plain water, and continue breastfeeding or formula feeds if they can keep them down. Reintroduce their usual food gradually once the vomiting has settled.

When should I see a doctor?

Speak to a pharmacist, or contact your GP or NHS 111, if you or your child:

• keep vomiting and can't keep any fluids down
• are unable to consume as much fluid as usual, particularly in babies and young children
• are passing less urine than usual
• have vomiting lasting more than 2 days, or diarrhoea lasting more than 7 days.

Call 999 or go straight to A&E if you or your child:

• vomit blood, or vomit that looks like coffee grounds
• have green, or yellow-green, vomit
• have a sudden, severe headache, or a stiff neck with a fever
• have sudden, severe abdominal pain
• may have swallowed something poisonous
• have severe difficulty breathing, or blue, grey, pale, or blotchy skin, lips, or tongue
• are confused or unusually drowsy
• are vomiting after a head injury.