Nausea & Vomiting
By the AllHealth UK editorial teamLast reviewed Next review due Compiled from published NHS and NICE guidance. Not reviewed by a clinician.
Key facts
Nausea is the unpleasant sensation of feeling like you might vomit. Vomiting is the forceful emptying of stomach contents. Both are usually caused by infections, food issues, or motion sickness and typically resolve within 1–2 days.
Most often affects:Pregnant womenChildrenTravellersPost-surgery patients
What commonly causes nausea & vomiting
- Food poisoning — symptoms usually start within a few hours or a few days of eating the food, and sometimes not for a few weeks
- Motion sickness or travel sickness
- Pregnancy (morning sickness — despite the name, can occur any time)
- Medication side effects (antibiotics, painkillers, chemotherapy)
- Viral gastroenteritis (stomach flu/norovirus)
- Migraine aura
What helps at home
- Sip small amounts of clear fluids frequently — don't gulp
- Try flat ginger ale, ginger tea, or ginger biscuits
- Eat small, plain meals when ready — crackers, toast, plain rice
- Avoid strong smells, greasy food, and cooking odours
- Rest in a well-ventilated room, sitting slightly upright
- Distract yourself — listen to music or watch a film — and get plenty of fresh air.
When to get help
These three levels are different. Getting the level right is the single most useful thing this page can do for you.
Non-urgent advice: see a GP if
- Nausea keeps coming back over weeks with no clear cause
- You feel sick most mornings
- The nausea started after beginning a new medicine
- You have lost weight without trying
Urgent advice: ask for an urgent GP appointment or call 111 if
- You keep being sick and cannot keep fluid down
- You have signs of dehydration — dark urine, a dry mouth, or feeling dizzy when you stand up
- You have been vomiting for more than 2 days and it is not settling
- You have severe tummy pain alongside the vomiting
Immediate action required: call 999 or go to A&E if
- Vomiting blood, or vomit that looks like ground coffee
- Green vomit in an adult, or yellow-green or green vomit in a child
- You have diabetes and you are vomiting
- Vomiting with severe headache and stiff neck (meningitis)
- Vomiting after a head injury
- Vomiting with chest pain or difficulty breathing
What to do next
Not sure whether nausea & vomiting needs a doctor? These are your options, cheapest and fastest first.
Questions people ask about nausea & vomiting
Reducing the chance of it coming back
- Practice good food hygiene — wash hands, cook meat thoroughly
- Take travel sickness tablets 30 minutes before journeys
- Eat small, frequent meals rather than large ones
- Stay hydrated, especially in hot weather
Conditions this can be part of
Listed alphabetically, not by likelihood — this page does not tell you which one you have.
- Food poisoning
- Gastroenteritis
- Migraine
- Pregnancy
Sources and further reading
This page was written from the following published guidance. All links checked 26 August 2026.
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