Most stomach aches respond to a few simple measures: stop eating heavy foods, apply warmth to your abdomen, sip water, and give your gut 30 to 60 minutes to settle. The majority of abdominal pain is short-lived and tied to digestion, gas, constipation, or something you ate. Below are the specific strategies that work, why they work, and how to tell when a stomach ache needs more than home care.
Give Your Gut a Break
The fastest way to ease a digestion-related stomach ache is to stop adding work for your digestive system. Skip your next full meal and, if you need to eat, stick to foods that require minimal effort to break down: plain crackers, bananas, white rice, brothy soups, oatmeal, or boiled potatoes. These are bland enough to avoid triggering more acid production or intestinal cramping.
The old advice to eat only bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast (the BRAT diet) is fine for a day or two, but you don’t need to limit yourself to just those four foods. Once your stomach starts to settle, add cooked carrots, skinless chicken, eggs, avocado, or butternut squash. These are still easy to digest but give your body the protein and nutrients it needs to recover faster.
Apply Heat to Your Abdomen
A heating pad or warm water bottle placed on your belly relaxes the muscles of your abdominal wall and can dull cramping pain surprisingly well. The goal is to raise tissue temperature by about 9 to 12 degrees Fahrenheit, which means the pad should feel comfortably warm but never hot. Keep the temperature below 113°F to avoid discomfort, and well below 122°F, which can burn skin. A warm bath works the same way if you’d rather soak than sit with a pad.
Stay Hydrated, Especially If You’re Vomiting or Have Diarrhea
Dehydration makes stomach pain worse and slows recovery. Small, frequent sips of water are easier to keep down than large gulps. If you’ve been vomiting or have diarrhea, a hydration formula with electrolytes replaces what you’re losing more effectively than plain water alone. Avoid carbonated drinks, alcohol, and coffee while your stomach is upset, as all three can increase acid production or irritate an already inflamed gut lining.
Try Ginger, Peppermint, or Licorice
These three remedies have the most evidence behind them for different types of stomach pain.
Ginger is most useful when nausea is part of the picture. It speeds up the rate at which your stomach empties into the small intestine and has direct anti-nausea effects in the brain. Clinical trials have used doses ranging from 250 mg to 1 g per day, split into three or four portions, and higher doses didn’t perform better than the 1 g amount. Fresh ginger steeped in hot water as tea, ginger chews, or capsules all deliver the active compounds.
Peppermint works best for cramping and bloating. It relaxes the smooth muscle lining your intestines by blocking calcium from entering muscle cells, which is essentially the same mechanism some prescription muscle relaxants use. Peppermint tea is the simplest option. If you use peppermint oil capsules, look for enteric-coated versions. The coating keeps the oil from releasing in your stomach, which prevents it from relaxing the valve at the top of your stomach and causing heartburn.
Licorice is traditionally used for gas pain and may help soothe an irritated stomach lining. Deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL) chewable tablets are widely available and remove the compound in licorice that can raise blood pressure with regular use.
Choose the Right Over-the-Counter Medication
Different types of stomach pain call for different medications, and picking the wrong one can make things worse.
- Antacids (calcium carbonate, magnesium hydroxide) neutralize stomach acid on contact. They work within minutes but wear off relatively quickly. Best for occasional heartburn or that burning feeling after a heavy meal.
- H2 blockers reduce how much acid your stomach produces. They have a quick onset and can be taken as needed, making them a good choice when antacids aren’t lasting long enough.
- Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are the strongest acid reducers available over the counter. They work best when taken 30 to 60 minutes before your first meal of the day, since they target acid-producing pumps that are most active after a fast. PPIs are designed for recurring acid problems rather than one-time relief.
- Simethicone breaks up gas bubbles in your digestive tract. If your pain feels like pressure or bloating and you’re passing a lot of gas, this is the most targeted option.
- Acetaminophen can help with general abdominal pain. Avoid ibuprofen and aspirin when your stomach is already upset, as both can irritate the stomach lining and make pain worse.
Try the P6 Pressure Point for Nausea
If nausea is your main symptom and you want something you can do right now with no supplies, acupressure on the P6 point is worth trying. It’s located on the inside of your forearm, about three finger-widths above your wrist crease, between the two tendons you can feel when you flex your wrist. Press firmly with your thumb for one to two minutes.
A meta-analysis of 33 trials involving over 3,300 patients found that P6 acupressure significantly reduced nausea scores, though researchers note that some of the benefit may come from a placebo effect. Even so, it’s free, safe, and takes less than two minutes, which makes it a reasonable first move while you wait for other remedies to kick in. Motion sickness wristbands work by applying steady pressure to this same spot.
Avoid Foods That Make Things Worse
While your stomach is recovering, certain foods are much more likely to trigger another wave of pain. Fatty or fried foods slow digestion and sit in your stomach longer. Dairy can be a problem if your gut is temporarily struggling to break down lactose, which is common during and after a stomach bug. Raw vegetables, beans, and high-fiber foods produce more gas during digestion. Spicy foods increase acid secretion.
If you find that stomach aches keep returning, pay attention to foods high in fermentable carbohydrates. These are sugars that your small intestine absorbs poorly, leaving them to ferment in your colon and produce gas, bloating, and cramping. Foods that tend to be gentler on a sensitive gut include bananas, blueberries, strawberries, carrots, cucumbers, rice, oats, hard cheeses like feta, and lactose-free dairy. These are staples of the low-FODMAP approach, which was developed specifically for people with recurring digestive pain.
When a Stomach Ache Needs Urgent Attention
Most stomach aches are harmless, but certain patterns signal something that needs immediate medical evaluation. Seek emergency care if your abdominal pain is sudden and excruciating, especially if it came on all at once rather than building gradually. Pain that gets dramatically worse when you cough, tap your heel on the ground, or press and release your abdomen suggests inflammation of the abdominal lining, which can be a surgical emergency.
Other warning signs include fever combined with worsening pain, a rapid heart rate, dizziness or lightheadedness when standing, vomiting blood or material that looks like coffee grounds, or bloody or black stools. Abdominal pain that steadily worsens over several hours without any relief from the measures described above also warrants a call to your doctor, even if none of the more dramatic red flags are present.