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Intestinal pseudo-obstruction: belly pain, bloating and vomiting with nothing blocking the intestines, the chronic and the sudden kind, the causes, the tests, treatment, and food
For anyone who has, or might have, intestinal pseudo-obstruction, for the parent of a baby or child with it, for a family whose loved one’s belly is swelling in the hospital, and for the people who help them. It passes on, by name, what the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK, part of the NIH) says: what intestinal pseudo-obstruction is, its chronic and sudden kinds, and its signs; its causes and complications; how doctors find it; treatment, from nutrition support and medicines to decompression and surgery; and food. It builds the questions to ask and prints a card. Nothing is saved.
Right now
- Belly pain, bloating and vomiting that are severe or will not go away? NIDDK says to see a doctor right away: a real blockage and pseudo-obstruction can both be life threatening without treatment.
- Severe belly pain with a hard or very swollen belly, vomiting that will not stop, fever with belly pain, or feeling faint? Call 911 (ours).
- At the end of your rope, or having thoughts of suicide? Call or text 988, any hour, free (ours).
More help
- The gut on this site: Gastroparesis · Short bowel syndrome · Abdominal adhesions · An ileostomy or a colostomy.
- The tests: Getting ready for an upper endoscopy · Getting ready for a colonoscopy · Caring for someone.
- For you: My medicines · Low-cost health care · Get ready for your appointment. In an emergency: Help right now (988, 911). All our free tools.
An upset stomach, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for throwing up, diarrhea, heartburn and constipation, on one list.
Other guides on this site that go with this page
Free to read. We chose these ourselves; no professional did. Each guide was written with AI and has not been reviewed by a professional. They are general information, not advice.
- Hirschsprung disease (a birth defect of the intestine): the signs, the tests, surgery, and after: Hirschsprung disease, a birth defect of the intestine: the signs in a newborn and an older child, enterocolitis, the tests, surgery, and after.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor or nurse has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 22, 2026 on NIDDK’s (NIH) page Intestinal Pseudo-obstruction, all five sections, last reviewed in October 2021. Ours: the 911 and 988 lines; telling the nurse or doctor in the hospital about a swelling belly or no gas or stool; asking before you stop or change a medicine; keeping one list of medicines and a record of weight; when to call the doctor soon, including with a feeding tube or a line in a vein; the questions to ask; the card; the links to our other pages; and the order of the steps. What we left out: its section on clinical trials, its references, its drawings, its acknowledgments, and the other pages it links to, which we did not read. Nothing you tick or type here is saved or sent.