Nausea and Vomiting

Since you do not have weight loss, the diagnoses that are most likely to explain your nausea or vomiting and abdominal pain are problems that can cause symptoms without interfering substantially with your digestion or with your overall health. The most common explanations that would fit with your symptoms are listed below.

Remember, repeated episodes of nausea and vomiting can arise from a variety of medical causes, including some serious conditions. Everyone who has unexplained nausea and vomiting that persists for longer than a week requires a medical evaluation by a doctor. Vomiting can deplete you of fluids and electrolytes, so repeated vomiting requires medical treatment if it results in a lasting lightheaded feeling or weakness. Please take the time today to arrange a medical evaluation, if you have not already done so.

Dyspepsia (Indigestion)

Abdominal discomfort after eating can occur even if digestion is occurring normally. When there is no medical problem that is causing symptoms of pain, nausea or vomiting, belching or sensitivity to specific foods, indigestion is occurring. Indigestion can be improved if you limit fat in your diet, if you limit foods such as beans and certain vegetables and fiber-rich foods that trigger gas formation, and possibly if you take anti-acid medicines.

Acid Reflux (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease -- GERD)

Most people who have acid reflux experience burning behind the breastbone (heartburn), but some experience upper abdominal pain, chest heaviness, nausea, or vomiting.

Constipation

Constipation commonly results in nausea. Severe constipation can cause an unmovable blockage of stool within the rectum (a "fecal impaction"), and this may result in more severe nausea with vomiting.

Peptic Ulcer Disease

An ulcer is an open sore in the lining of the stomach or duodenum. An ulcer commonly causes pain that may be diminished after eating. If the tissue around an ulcer is inflamed and swollen, it is common for this swelling to result in nausea or vomiting, particularly after a meal.

Gallstones

Pain and nausea or vomiting from gallstone disease typically occurs several hours after a meal, since contractions of your gallbladder are strongest following your initial stages of digestion.

Gastritis

Gastritis is irritation resulting in a "raw" stomach. The stomach can be irritated by medicines, alcohol, or an infection (usually a virus). Avoidance of alcohol and spicy or acidic foods may be helpful, and anti-acid medicines may also help.

Gastroparesis (Delayed Stomach Emptying)

When the stomach is abnormally slow to empty this can cause nausea, vomiting of undigested food, bloating, and a feeling of fullness after only a partial meal. Slow emptying of the stomach is known as gastroparesis. Gastroparesis is common in people who are vulnerable to nerve injury, including people with diabetes, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, or other causes of neuropathy.

Pancreatitis

Inflammation of the pancreas is called pancreatitis. Most of the time, when pancreatitis is long-lasting (chronic), it is the result of alcohol abuse. It causes abdominal pain in the central or upper abdomen and pain in the back as well as nausea and vomiting, weight loss, and (usually) diarrhea.

Dysmenorrhea (Painful Menses)

If you are a woman and your nausea or vomiting reliably occurs in the first few days of your menstrual period, your nausea or vomiting and abdominal pain may be caused by hormone shifts that are a normal part of the menstrual cycle.

Click below for more information:

Information on diabetic neuropathies (including gastroparesis)