Throwing up yellow bile is a common problem that everyone faces once in their lifetime. Most people experience vomiting bile in the morning and some may throw up for no reason. If your vomit looks like greenish yellow, then you may be throwing up bile. Stomach pain, dehydration, food poisoning and allergies are the common causes associated with throwing up yellow liquid or vomiting.
Throwing up bile is commonly called as yellow vomit or puking yellow bile. If your baby vomiting greenish-yellow material, then it’s a bile accumulation. A large amount of mucus formation in the stomach during respiratory infections, which can gradually build up and lead to vomiting.
Okay, What is a bile? Is vomiting bile dangerous? No, puking up yellow bile can be cured with the below listed simple home remedies.
Green or Yellow Vomit
Stomach Bile, commonly referred as a Bile is a dark green to yellowish brown fluid, produced by the liver. It is stored and concentrated in the gallbladder. The release of bile occurs when an individual is vomiting on an empty stomach.
Bile contains cholesterol, bile acids, and bilirubin, water, potassium, sodium, Copper and other metals. Bile aids digestion.
Causes for Throwing Up Yellow Bile
What does it mean when you throw up yellow bile? There are many causes for throwing up bile.
1. Intestinal Blockage
The most common reason for the throwing up yellow bile is the intestinal blockage. An intestinal blockage occurs when your small or large intestine is blocked. This blockage may totally or partially prevent the passage of food and fluid.
So, the pressure created in the intestine can rupture it and causes leakage of the blocked substances into your abdominal cavity. This makes you throw up yellow-green bile.
2. Bile reflux
Bile reflux occurs when bile backs up (refluxes) into your stomach and esophagus (the tube that connects your mouth and stomach). Your stomach does not bear this bile accumulation and tries to get rid of it by throwing it up as a stomach bile. Some people may experience dark green vomiting due to the stomach bile.
The common causes of bile reflux are Gastric surgery, peptic ulcers, and gallbladder surgery.
3. Dehydration
This is one of the common cause for the vomiting and throwing up stomach bile. It occurs when you lose the fluid content of your body more than the intake. So, your body does not have enough water to carry out its normal functions. This leads to thirst, dry mouth, vomiting, Dark-colored urine, and dizziness
4. Food Poisoning
As per the Centers for Disease Control, one in six Americans are infected from food poisoning every year.
Eating contaminated or toxic foods may result in food poisoning. Food poisoning is caused due to bacterial, viral and parasitic infections and the symptoms include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, headaches, and diarrhea.
Food poisoning often results in throwing up (vomiting) and sometimes as throw up yellow bile or throwing up yellow vomit.
5. Food Allergies
It occurs when your immune system reacts unusually to specific foods. The symptoms include an itchy sensation inside mouth and throat, itchy red rashes, vomiting, throwing up yellow bile, swelling of the tongue, face, lips, and roof of the mouth.
6. Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome
This is one of the rare conditions that makes you to vomiting bile. Repeated vomiting continued for few hours to days is termed as cyclic vomiting syndrome. Cyclic vomiting syndrome affects the upper GI tract, which includes the mouth, small intestine esophagus, stomach, and duodenum.
Symptoms include loss of appetite, headache, dizziness, diarrhea, stomach pain, and vomiting. The continuous vomiting and pain may irritate your stomach and creates an excess production of bile. The excess bile should be removed from your stomach as throwing up yellow vomit.
7. Drug and Alcohol
Vomiting bile after drinking alcohol is a common thing. Regular drinking alcohol and some drugs may annoy your stomach and results in throwing up yellow bile and vomiting.
8. Gastroenteritis
This is caused by the viral or bacterial infection. This condition irritates your stomach and makes the intestine swollen. This results in watery diarrhea, throwing up stomach acid and vomiting yellow bile.
9. Empty Stomach
If you are vomiting in an empty stomach, there is nothing to throw up from your stomach. Hence the digestive juice should be expelled from your stomach as a greenish yellow bile (stomach bile).
10. Morning Sickness
Morning sickness is common in early stages of pregnancy. This results in vomiting and dizziness. Throwing up yellow bile or yellow vomit is usual at this stage and no need to worry. Since this is one of the early stages of pregnancy, throwing up bile does not harm you.
But excessive throw up may result in dehydration. So consume more liquid foods to maintain body fluid content.
Note: Throwing up in the morning is one of the symptoms of early pregnancy. No need to worry about throwing up bile if you are pregnant.
11. Upper Respiratory Inflammation
The upper respiratory tract inflammation such as the common cold or pneumonia may result in vomiting yellow bile. The accumulated mucus in your body comes out while you are vomiting.
How to Stop Throwing Up Yellow Bile
How to stop throwing up bile? There are many ways to stop throwing up bile. The yellow vomit should be prevented and stopped with the help of below remedies.
1. Avoid Foods that are Hard to Digest
Some foods are very hard to digest and those foods may sometimes make digestion problems. This results in constipation, throwing up yellow stuff and diarrhea. So it’s better to avoid those foods to free from indigestion problems. The foods to avoid or to take in low quantity are,
- Artificial sweeteners
- Processed foods
- Acidic foods
- Spicy foods
- Greasy and fried foods
- Fatty foods such as red meat, butter, ice cream, Cheese, etc
- Vinegar-based dressings
- Onion and tomato-based foods
2. Avoid Foods That Cause Allergies
Food allergy is one of the main causes of throwing up yellow bile. So it is better to avoid those foods to get rid of vomiting yellow bile. The common foods associated with food allergies are,
- Milk
- Eggs
- Fish
- Peanuts
- Sesame and mustard seeds
- Shellfish
- Shrimp
- Soy
- Tree nuts
- Wheat
3. Take Ginger to Suppress Excess Bile
Ginger regulates your irritated bowels. Ginger is known for its healing properties. It reduces cramps, reduces abdominal pain, and fights against food poisoning. It helps to soothe your digestive tract by releasing gastric juices and in turn improve digestion.
You can consume fresh raw ginger itself. But due to its spicy taste, most people don’t eat raw ginger. So try the below alternative ways.
Method 1: Ginger with Honey
- Take a glass of water.
- Add a teaspoon of freshly grated ginger.
- Add 2 teaspoons of lemon in it.
- Mix well and drink 4 glasses per day
Method 2: Ginger with Asafoetida
- Take a glass of water.
- Add a teaspoon of freshly grated ginger.
- Add a pinch of asafetida powder
- Mix well and drink 3 glasses per day
Asafetida is the well-known digestion aid. It has anti-spasmodic and anti-flatulent properties to cure abdominal pain. It is a good intestinal pain reliever without any side effects.
4. Avoid Drinking Alcohol
Most people experience throwing up after drinking alcohol. Drinking alcohol relaxes the lower esophageal sphincter and irritates the esophagus. This, in turn, makes you throw up yellow bile. So completely avoid alcohol drinking or limit its quantity.
5. Quit Smoking
Smoking increases the production of stomach acid and dries up saliva. Saliva is necessary to protect the esophagus. This creates throwing up yellow bile. So avoiding the habit of smoking should be helpful in preventing the excessive production of bile.
6. Lose Your Excess Body Weight
Your excess weight adds pressure on your stomach and leads to throwing up yellow liquid. There are many ways to lose your excess weight. Here are our weight loss articles. Choose which one is suitable fo you as per your convenience.
- Reducing overall body fat
- Losing weight with Juices
- 10 ways to lose weight
- Apple Cider Vinegar for Weight loss
- 10 best foods to lose weight in a month
- How to lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks
- How to lose 10 pounds in a week
Here are some of the diets for you to follow.
7. Raise Your Bed
Raising your bed to 10-15 cm may help you in preventing vomiting bile. Your upper respiratory tract should be at higher level. This aids in digestion and prevents throw up in the morning. Sleeping on a foam wedge or blocks are more helpful than extra pillows.
8. Do Not Lay Down Immediately After Eating
Don’t go to bed immediately after eating. Sit for a while (at least 30 minutes) and let your digestive system to start to digest the recently taken foods. This aids the digestive system to process the foods completely and you can free from throw up problems due to indigestion.
Note: Digestion varies with individuals. Usually, it takes 6-8 hours to digest the foods completely.
9. Limit the Fat Consumption
Bile aids in digesting the fats. Limiting the fat consumption may reduce its secretion. So try to limit fats and lipids. But you have to choose healthy fat and avoid unhealthy fat.
Healthy fats are high in the below foods.
- Almond butter
- Avocados
- Canola
- Corn
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Fish oils
- Flaxseeds
- Nuts
- Peanut butter
- Pistachios
- Safflower oils
- Salmon
- Sesame oils
- Soybean oil
10. Take Small Amount of Frequent Meals
Eating smaller and more frequent meals should reduce pressure on the lower esophageal sphincter. This helps in preventing the opening of the valve at the wrong time. So throwing up yellow bile should be avoided by reducing the bile production.
11. Stay Hydrated
Keep your body hydrated is must prevent the loss of bile. Drink plenty of fluids to maintain your body to stay hydrated. Drink more water, sports drinks, and fruits that are rich in water content like watermelon, Iceberg Lettuce, Celery, Radishes, Tomatoes, Green Bell Peppers, Cauliflower, Starfruit, strawberries, grapefruit, etc.
12. Be Relaxed
Rest is the key to easing the throwing up bile problem. Enough rest is necessary to treat all kinds of illness. While you are at rest, your body has the full ability to fight the infection (throw up yellow bile or vomit).
Try to do yoga, deep breathing, meditation, listening to the song, etc.
In a nutshell,
Throwing up yellow bile is a common problem. If your vomit looks like greenish yellow, then you may be throwing up bile. The above causes are associated with throwing up yellow liquid or vomiting. Follow the above home remedies to get rid of throwing up yellow mucus or bright yellow vomit.
I vomit on an empty stomach due to migraines. This is very common, so would be good to add as a cause to your article. Once it starts it’s very hard to stop. Migraines usually strike in early morning when the stomach is empty anyway. If I feel a migraine coming on I try to nibble on something bland like a piece of bread to give my stomach something to work on before the vomiting impulse starts. If I take my oral migraine medication I will often throw that up. At $90 a pill that is upsetting. Dramamine and anti-nausea meds are also oral and will be thrown up.
My neurologist says the impulse of overactive nerves triggered by a migraine also affect the nerves in the stomach, which is why vomiting is a frequent side effect.
Ginger works the best for me of anything I’ve tried. I buy packaged crystallized ginger. This is much easier to keep on hand than fresh ginger. Just start nibbling on a piece before the vomiting really gets started, or when it calms down. Ginger also helps the actual headache. It’s more of a preventative to break a migraine cycle than to cure a headache at the moment.
There is also ginger candy which is good to have for trips. Once brand is Gin Gin. Not as effective as the crystallized ginger. My daughter once stopped seasickness on a sailing ship full of classmates by passing out ginger candies.
I have not tried the asafoetida. What form is that in? A powder?