If you can’t stop throwing up, the most important things to do right now are stop eating, take very small sips of clear liquid, and stay sitting upright or on your side. Most vomiting episodes resolve within 12 to 48 hours, but persistent vomiting can lead to dangerous dehydration quickly, so knowing what to watch for matters.
What to Do Right Now
Sit still. Moving around tends to make nausea worse. If you’re too weak to sit up, lie on your side rather than your back. This keeps your airway clear so that if you vomit again, fluid drains out of your mouth instead of going into your lungs. This is especially important if you’re helping someone who is drowsy, intoxicated, or very young.
Don’t try to eat anything. Your stomach needs a break. Once the vomiting slows down, start sipping clear fluids: cold water, flat ginger ale (leave the can open so the carbonation fades), diluted fruit juice, or a sports drink. The key word is “sip.” Taking a few small sips every five to ten minutes is far more effective than gulping down a glass, which will likely come right back up. Your goal over the course of the day, once you can tolerate it, is about 8 to 10 cups of clear liquids.
After you eat or drink anything, stay sitting upright. Lying flat puts pressure on your stomach and makes reflux and nausea worse.
Signs You Need Emergency Help
Most vomiting is miserable but not dangerous. Certain warning signs change that equation. Get emergency medical care if:
- Your vomit contains blood or looks like coffee grounds. This can signal bleeding in your stomach or esophagus.
- Your vomit is bright green. Green vomit (bile) can indicate a bowel obstruction.
- Your vomit has a fecal smell. Call 911. This is a sign of a serious intestinal blockage.
Outside of those emergencies, the general rule is that adults should see a doctor if vomiting lasts more than two days. For children under two, the threshold is 24 hours. For infants, it’s 12 hours. If you’ve been dealing with recurring bouts of nausea and vomiting for longer than a month, that also warrants a medical visit even if each episode seems to pass on its own.
How to Spot Dehydration Early
Dehydration is the biggest immediate risk from prolonged vomiting. Your body loses water, salts, and minerals with every episode, and if you can’t keep fluids down, the deficit builds fast.
Early, mild dehydration shows up as increased thirst and darker urine, or simply peeing less often than usual. If you haven’t urinated in several hours, that’s a clear signal your fluid levels are dropping. More concerning signs include a noticeably faster heart rate, dry mouth and lips, dizziness when you stand up, and skin that doesn’t snap back quickly when you pinch it on the back of your hand. In children, look for fewer wet diapers, no tears when crying, and unusual sleepiness or irritability.
Severe dehydration is a medical emergency. Signs include confusion, rapid breathing, a weak pulse, and cold or blotchy-looking hands and feet. If you see any of these in yourself or someone you’re caring for, get medical help immediately.
Over-the-Counter Medications That Can Help
If you can keep a pill or chewable tablet down long enough for it to work, a few pharmacy options may help slow the vomiting. Antihistamine-based anti-nausea medications are the most widely available without a prescription. Dimenhydrinate (sold as Dramamine) and meclizine (sold as Bonine) are common choices. Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) also has anti-nausea properties. These medications work by blocking signals in the part of your brain that triggers the vomiting reflex. They tend to cause drowsiness, which can actually be helpful if you need rest.
For pregnancy-related nausea, the first-line approach is a combination of vitamin B6 and doxylamine, both available over the counter. If vomiting during pregnancy is severe enough that you can’t keep anything down, your doctor can prescribe stronger options.
One practical tip: if you can’t keep a tablet down, try letting a chewable tablet dissolve slowly in your mouth or ask a pharmacist about anti-nausea options that dissolve on the tongue or come as a suppository.
Common Causes of Persistent Vomiting
Understanding what’s causing the vomiting can help you decide how to respond. The most frequent culprits are viral gastroenteritis (stomach flu) and food poisoning. Stomach flu typically lasts one to three days and comes with watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, and sometimes a low fever. Food poisoning often hits harder and faster, usually within hours of eating contaminated food, and tends to resolve within 24 hours.
Migraines can cause intense nausea and vomiting even before the headache fully sets in. Motion sickness and vertigo (a spinning sensation from inner-ear problems) are other common triggers. Medications are a frequently overlooked cause; antibiotics, painkillers, and chemotherapy drugs are well-known for provoking nausea. If your vomiting started shortly after beginning a new medication, that connection is worth raising with your doctor.
Less common but more serious causes include gallbladder inflammation (often with sharp pain in the upper right abdomen), bowel obstructions (with bloating, cramping, and inability to pass gas), kidney stones (with severe flank pain), and gastroparesis, a condition where the stomach empties too slowly. Pregnancy is also a possibility worth considering if it hasn’t been ruled out, as severe morning sickness can cause relentless vomiting well beyond the first trimester in some cases.
What to Eat Once the Vomiting Stops
You may have heard of the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) as the go-to recovery plan. Current guidance from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases actually recommends against following a restricted diet. Research shows it doesn’t speed recovery. Once your appetite returns, you can go back to eating your normal foods, even if you still have some diarrhea.
That said, a few types of food and drink are worth avoiding in the first day or two because they’re more likely to irritate your stomach. High-fat foods like fried items and pizza can slow digestion. Caffeinated drinks like coffee and tea may worsen nausea. Very sugary beverages, including some fruit juices, can pull water into your intestines and make diarrhea worse. Dairy products deserve some caution too: your gut’s ability to digest lactose can be temporarily impaired after a stomach illness, sometimes for a month or more.
For children, the same principles apply. Give them their usual foods as soon as they’re willing to eat. Infants should continue breast milk or formula throughout the illness, since withholding feeds increases the risk of dehydration without any benefit.
If You Still Can’t Keep Anything Down
When vomiting is so persistent that you can’t hold down even small sips of water for more than a few hours, home management has its limits. At that point, you may need intravenous fluids to correct dehydration and prescription anti-nausea medication that bypasses your stomach entirely. This is especially urgent for very young children, older adults, pregnant people, and anyone with a chronic health condition like diabetes, where dehydration and inability to eat can destabilize blood sugar rapidly.
If someone near you is vomiting and becomes drowsy or unresponsive, roll them onto their side with their head tilted slightly forward. This recovery position keeps their airway open and prevents choking. Stay with them until they wake up or help arrives.