Vomiting and nausea (pagsusuka): what to do at home and when to get help

Nausea (pagkaduwal, "nasusuka ako") is the queasy feeling that you are about to throw up. Vomiting (pagsusuka) is when the stomach squeezes hard and pushes its contents out through the mouth. It is a symptom, not an illness.

• Most sudden vomiting is short. From a stomach bug, it usually stops within 1 to 2 days in adults and children.
• The main danger is dehydration. Watch for thirst, a dry mouth, peeing less or dark pee, no tears, sunken eyes, or feeling dizzy when standing up. Babies, young children and older adults dry out fastest.
• Babies often spit up a little milk after feeds without effort. That is not vomiting.

The most common causes are a stomach bug (gastroenteritis), such as norovirus or rotavirus, and food poisoning from food that was undercooked, left out too long or handled with unwashed hands.

Other causes include:

• motion sickness, and morning sickness in early pregnancy (see the early signs of pregnancy)
• migraine and other bad headaches
• alcohol and some medicines
• acid reflux and stomach ulcers
• other infections, such as a UTI or dengue
• strong pain, such as from kidney stones

Less often it is a sign of something serious: appendicitis, a blocked bowel, meningitis, poisoning, a head injury, or a serious diabetes problem called ketoacidosis (DKA). That is why the danger signs on this page matter.

• Yellow vomit is often bile, a digestive juice. It commonly comes up after vomiting many times on an empty stomach, as with a stomach bug. See a doctor if it keeps happening.
• Green vomit in an adult, or yellow-green or green vomit in a child or baby, can mean a blocked bowel. Go to the emergency room.
• Red blood, or brown or black bits like coffee grounds, is often a sign of bleeding in the food pipe or stomach, for example from an ulcer or a tear from hard vomiting. Always get medical help.
• Vomit that looks or smells like poo is an emergency.

Color alone can't tell the cause, so a doctor will look at your other symptoms too.

Most vomiting from a stomach bug or food poisoning can be cared for at home. The goal is to keep fluids going in.

1. Start with small sips every few minutes. Small sips stay down better than a big glass.
2. Use oral rehydration solution (ORS), often called Oresol, if vomiting goes on or comes with diarrhea. It replaces water and salts. Mix it with exactly the amount of clean water the packet says.
3. If a drink comes back up, pause for about 10 minutes and then go on sipping, more slowly than before.
4. Try something cold. Cold sips or ice chips often ease nausea. Clear soup (sabaw) and am (rice water) count as fluids too.
5. Eat when you feel ready: small amounts of plain food such as lugaw, rice or crackers.

May also help: fresh air, slow breathing and loose clothes. Avoid strong cooking smells and don't lie down right after eating. Salabat (ginger tea) helps some people, though the proof is mixed.

Avoid soft drinks, sports drinks, sweet juice, coffee, alcohol, and fried or spicy food. With loose stools too, see our diarrhea guide. Not sure if you need a doctor? Try our free AI symptoms guide.

• ORS is the most important medicine for vomiting from a stomach bug. It doesn't stop the vomiting, but it prevents dehydration.
• Anti-vomiting medicines (antiemetics): many need a prescription. A doctor may prescribe one for migraine, pregnancy sickness or after surgery. Don't use leftover tablets or someone else's medicine.
• For motion sickness, a pharmacist can suggest tablets to take before travel.
• Paracetamol can help a fever or aches. If dengue is possible, avoid ibuprofen and aspirin until a doctor checks you: they can raise the risk of bleeding.
• Birth control pills may not work if you vomit soon after taking one, or keep vomiting. How soon matters depends on the pill, so check the leaflet or ask a pharmacist, and use condoms until you know you are protected.

Follow the label or ask the pharmacist, and ask a doctor first if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, have a long-term illness, take other medicines, or are buying for a child. You can also ask our medicines guide.

Children vomit often, usually from a stomach bug, and they get dehydrated quickly.

• Keep breastfeeding, more often than usual, and offer the breast again after each vomit.
• Give small sips often of ORS or clean water from a cup or spoon. Chilled ORS can be easier to take.
• Don't force food. Eating little for a day or two is fine if they keep drinking.
• Don't give anti-vomiting syrup or tablets unless a doctor prescribes them. Ask a doctor or your health center how much ORS your child needs.

Get your child checked today if a baby under 6 months is vomiting or any baby stops feeding; if a child under 3 has been vomiting for 12 hours, under 6 for 24 hours, or older for 48 hours; or if there are fewer wet diapers or dark pee.

Go to the hospital now if your child vomits everything, can't drink or breastfeed, is very sleepy or hard to wake, has a fit, has green or bloody vomit, or has severe belly pain or a stiff neck.

With a fever too, see fever in babies and children. The rotavirus vaccine protects babies against a common cause of severe vomiting.

Older people dry out faster and may not feel thirsty, so offer sips of ORS often and ask about pee. Vomiting can also mean their daily tablets for blood pressure, diabetes or the heart are not staying down: ask their doctor what to do. Sudden nausea with chest pain or shortness of breath can be a heart attack: call 911. An older adult who keeps vomiting should see a doctor the same day.

Families have their own ways of caring for someone who is vomiting. Some are harmless; some delay care.

• "It's pasma or lamig sa tiyan from a cold drink." Sudden vomiting usually comes from a stomach bug or food poisoning. Small cold sips often ease nausea.
• "Have a hilot massage the belly." It may feel comforting, but it can't treat an infection. With strong belly pain, it can delay care for appendicitis or a blocked bowel, which need surgery.
• "You must eat to get strong." Forcing food brings on more vomiting. Fluids come first.
• "Soft drinks replace what you lost." They have the wrong mix of sugar and salt. Use ORS.
• "Make them vomit after swallowing poison." Don't give salt water or put a finger in the throat. Go to the emergency room or call 911, and bring the container.

Morning sickness is common in early pregnancy and usually eases by weeks 16 to 20. A severe form can cause dehydration. If you are pregnant, ask your doctor or midwife before any remedy or medicine. See our guide to prenatal check-ups.

Motion sickness comes from mixed signals between the eyes and inner ear. Sit in the front of the car or jeepney or the middle of a boat, look at the horizon, open a window, don't read or use your phone, and skip heavy meals before the trip.

A doctor will ask when the vomiting started, what it looks like, when you last peed, whether others who ate the same food are sick, what medicines you take, and whether you could be pregnant.

• Barangay health station, rural health unit (RHU) or city health center: start here. Find a health center, or learn how the public health system works.
• PhilHealth YAKAP: as of PhilHealth's July 2025 FAQ, people registered with a YAKAP clinic get free check-ups there, the lab tests their YAKAP doctor orders, and medicines that doctor prescribes from accredited GAMOT pharmacies, up to ₱20,000 a year. A private YAKAP clinic may charge up to ₱900 a year. In January 2026, PhilHealth said ORS and paracetamol remain among the 21 medicines at YAKAP clinics. See our PhilHealth YAKAP guide.
• Emergency room: as of November 2026, PhilHealth's Outpatient Emergency Care Benefit (Circular 2025-0020) lists persistent vomiting among the conditions it covers at PhilHealth-accredited hospitals, for patients sent home within 24 hours of arriving at the ER. Filipino citizens not yet registered with PhilHealth can be registered there. See what PhilHealth covers.

Want to talk it through? Book a call with a nurse.

• Wash hands with soap after the toilet or diapers, and before cooking or eating.
• Cook food well, eat it hot, and don't leave cooked food out for hours in the heat.
• Drink safe water; boil it if unsure.
• Stay home until 2 days after vomiting and diarrhea stop, and don't cook for others.
• Clean up vomit with gloves if you can, wash soiled clothes separately, and wash your hands after.

More on our stomach and digestion page, including stomach pain.