For stomach symptoms, a useful note says what happened and when. Burning before a meal, feeling full after a few bites and food coming back up are different observations. Keeping them separate helps you explain the problem without needing to decide its cause first.
This checklist follows the stomach patterns Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride describes in Gut and Physiology Syndrome and the official FAQs. It is a way to record symptoms, not a score that diagnoses gastritis, low stomach acid, H. pylori, parasites or delayed emptying.[1][2]
Separate Urgent Symptoms From Routine Notes
Blood or coffee-ground material in vomit and black, tarry or bloody stool need urgent medical assessment. Bleeding can occur with erosions or ulcers, and it should not be filed as an ordinary food reaction or an assumed detox response.[3]
Repeated vomiting that prevents you from keeping fluids down, worsening pain, unexplained weight loss or increasing difficulty swallowing also needs assessment. If food seems stuck and you cannot swallow water or saliva, seek urgent care rather than trying another food or supplement.[8][9][10]
Call 911 for sudden crushing or squeezing chest pressure, pain spreading toward the jaw or arm, or chest symptoms with breathlessness, sweating, dizziness or a racing heart. A digestive symptom earlier in the day does not rule out a heart problem.[5]
Record the Main Sensation
| What You Notice | What to Write Down |
|---|---|
| Burning or pain in the upper abdomen | Record whether it starts before, during or after food and whether it wakes you at night. |
| Feeling full unusually early | Note how much you ate, whether the feeling persists and whether nausea comes with it. |
| Food seems to remain in the stomach | Describe the feeling and timing. A sensation of slow digestion is not a measured emptying result. |
| Belching, bloating or pressure under the ribs | Record the meal, the time and any change with posture or belching. |
| Food or liquid returns upward | Note a sour taste, throat symptoms and whether there is separate difficulty swallowing. |
The book connects these patterns with inflammation, gas, stomach acidity and movement. Common gastritis symptoms can include upper-abdominal discomfort, nausea, vomiting and early or prolonged fullness. Some people have gastritis without noticeable symptoms, so the number of boxes you recognize cannot establish whether it is present.[1][3]
Describe Vomiting Episodes as Episodes
Write the beginning and end of an episode, how often vomiting occurred and whether diarrhea or headache accompanied it. Note whether similar episodes happened before and whether you were able to keep fluids down between them.
The book discusses recurrent vomiting with an inflamed stomach and further irritants. It also discusses parasite activity and possible lunar timing. A recurring date does not diagnose parasites; a symptom record needs the actual dates and associated changes rather than a conclusion about which organism is involved.[1]
Episodes can differ in duration. Write down how long yours actually lasted, whether you were well between episodes and what help you needed. That keeps the record useful if the pattern changes.
Evening Nausea and Interrupted Sleep
The official FAQ has a question about unexplained evening nausea. Dr. Natasha’s answer discusses making the evening meal earlier and lighter, alongside digestive support. That is a response to that question, not proof that every evening episode is caused by poor fat digestion or too few carbohydrates.[2]
Her book also describes burping that interrupts sleep and hot flushes in its stomach-gas discussion. Record the time you woke, what you felt and any reflux or vomiting. Do not assume a hot flush at any age identifies stomach disease.[1]
If you work evenings or your family’s meal times vary, record the actual time you ate. A note tied to the meal is more useful than calling everything after dark “nighttime symptoms.”
Keep Stool and Nutrient Findings Separate
The digestive-enzyme chapter links poor digestion with pale floating stool and nutritional deficiencies in its low-acid account. The gastritis FAQ separately discusses impaired intrinsic-factor production and vitamin B12 absorption.[4][6]
These are useful details to bring to an assessment, not home proof of low acid. Write down whether a B12 deficiency was actually found on testing, what the result said and any treatment already prescribed. Avoid turning “I feel tired” into “I have B12 deficiency.”
The book also describes red urine or stool after cooked beetroot as an indication of low acid. Record food-related color changes if relevant, but do not use color as a gastric pH reading or assume every red or dark stool came from beetroot. Suspected blood belongs in the urgent category.[1][3]
Medicines, Dental Work and Other Relevant Context
The book discusses frequent or prolonged medication use, dental materials, unfiltered water, processed foods, alcohol, smoking and chronic stress as possible contributors. A list of exposures cannot tell you which caused your symptoms.[1]
- Record medicines and supplements by name, including when they were started or changed.
- Note the dose you were actually prescribed, not one you found in a general guide.
- Include recent dental work or a specific question about an existing restoration.
- Record alcohol, tobacco, food changes and significant stress without turning the list into a blame exercise.
Bring that list to the relevant review. It is not an instruction to stop medicines or remove dental work yourself.
What to Bring to an Appointment
Include existing diagnoses, weight changes, test results and the most disruptive symptom first. Doctors may investigate gastritis with a history, an examination, endoscopy with biopsies or other tests. Stool and urea breath tests can help assess H. pylori.[7]
You can say, “I feel full after a few bites and this started when my medicine changed,” without proving why it happened. That is already useful information. Matching several symptoms does not confirm H. pylori, an ulcer, gastroparesis or another diagnosis.
The Care Team Log in the WFLI Shop provides a place for observations, results and follow-up questions. A notebook works, too. For food questions, continue with the GAPS gastritis food guide; for the wider explanation, read the stomach overview and the guide to digestive mechanisms.
References
- Campbell-McBride, N. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), A–Z, “Stomach problems.”
- Campbell-McBride, N. Official GAPS FAQs, “Stomach,” questions 2–10.
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Symptoms & Causes of Gastritis & Gastropathy.
- Campbell-McBride, N. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), “Digestive Enzymes,” stomach acid booster and pancreatic enzymes discussions.
- MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine. Chest Pain.
- Campbell-McBride, N. Official GAPS FAQs, “Diseases and symptoms,” question 57, chronic gastritis discussion.
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Diagnosis of Gastritis & Gastropathy.
- MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine. Nausea and Vomiting: Adults.
- MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine. Swallowing Difficulty.
- World Gastroenterology Organisation. Festive Dysphagia: Food Bolus Obstruction and the Need for Public Awareness, clinical presentation and diagnosis.
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