Any Relief for Morning Sickness?

Hi M.,
I am currently 25 weeks pregnant with my first, and boy, was my morning sickness bad! I am an OB nurse and on my feet running around all day long. My long days at work made it hard for me to deal with the sickness and fatigue but I did discover some tricks along the way. First, try eating VERY small ammounts of bland food every 30 minutes. Maybe a cracker or two with a couple small sips of water. Do not try to eat a meal - no matter how hungry you might be. Just a bite or two every half hour. A vitamin B complex may help but you might not be able to hold it down. Has your MD given you any Zofran? It is a med that is safe to use in pregnancy that helps with the puking and dissolves in your mouth - so no swallowing needed. Ginger and peppermint are also known to be helpful in calming the stomach.
Good Luck!! And congratulations!!!
T.

My doctor prescribed a half a unisom and either B6 or B12 pill for my nausea. I was worried that the unisom would put me to sleep, but the combination of the two pills didn't make me tired and I no longer had the nausea. Several women in the office have tried the same thing and it has worked for them. Good luck to you on this pregnancy. :)

M.,
I feel your pain. I was soooo sick with my 2nd son. It was awful. I too lost weight during my 1st trimester. There is nothing worse than feeling like crap all the time!

I agree with both moms who have already responded - small snacks, peppermint and ginger, b vitamin, and I have also heard of the lemonheads.

Another odd thing that worked for me (and I have a friend who is a nurse told me about this) is to buy a jar of pickles and when you start to feel sick, open the jar and sniff the pickles. It helped. There is something in the pickle juice that does it. I don't remember what it was, but I know it worked.

Best of Luck to you and congratulations!
B.

Hi M.-

I had horrible morning (afternoon, evening and during the night) sickness as well with my first pregnancy from the minute I found out I was pregnant until I was 6 months along. It was so bad, I'm nervous to get pregnant again. I will, but pray it's better the 2nd time around. I think I tried everything possible and some things helped more than others. I considered taking the prescription to help control it but kept thinking it would be passing at any point so didn't. Little did I know it would last that long. I see a few other moms had the same ideas:

Peppermint Tea
Natural Ginger Ale (purchased at Whole Foods-helped me lot!)
B-12 Vitamins
Eating every couple of hours regardless if I was hungry--always kept tummy full
Cheese and/or bread really helped
Sea-Band wrist bands (purchased thru Pharmacy at Target)
Accupunture

Good luck! I feel for you!
D.

I was the same way until my 5 1/2 month mark! Plus I had Gastric Bypass Surgery so I was in double trouble becuase I cannot eat much as it is!

The dr gave me zofran to help curb the throwing up and nausea after about 1 1/12 months of throwing up 5 or more times per day and being miserable and green the rest of the day. Also, the pharmacist suggested lemon head candy.. the sour tartness helped a little too. Another suggestion is B6 the vitamin and I took chewable prenatals instead the the ones you swallow. the chewables never made me sick once. within minutes of taking every brand of the regular prenatals I was running to the bathroom puking it up!

hope this helps and good luck to you!

Congrads on your pregnancy!

I also agree with everyone, esp about Lemonheads, small, frequent bland meals every 1-2 hrs. Eat as soon as u get up in the morning. To stave off nausea I would chew peppermint or spearmint gum; the chewing and the strong taste would get my mind off the nausea. I'd be chewing gum all the time, and it did help me a lot. Maybe give that a try as well. This soon shall pass!

My Ob suggested 1/2 Unisom tablet and Vitamin B6. I took it each night before bed and it helped me sleep AND helped the nausea the whole next day. This worked like a miracle for me!!!
Good Luck!

Ask your doctor if it is o.k. to take 1/2 a Unisom plus vitamin B6, I think it is. This is the equivalent of something that is no longer produced in the U.S., but is available in Canada, I believe. You should obviously seek advice, but it may really help. I gained weight more in the 1st trimester than any other time, because grazing constantly really helped me. I was so sick of cracker, pretzels, and other dry bread items after that...

When I was pregnant, I felt sick anytime I let myself get hungry. I forced myself to eat things like chicken breast, potatoes, crackers and canned peaches. Keeping food in my stomach was the only thing that kept the nausea away. But, if I waited too long to eat, I threw up.
N.

My nausea was so bad at times that my OB prescribed zofran, which is a drug that was developed for patients undergoing chemotherapy. I was nervous about taking something like that b/c I wasn't convinced medical studies had sufficiently evaluated it's effect on a fetus, but my dr (and my best friend who's an OB) assured me it was safe. I mention my hesitation only in case you share similar concerns. After going through my pregnancy, I highly recommend zofran to anyone suffering from severe nausea. It made the difference between me being able to go to work each day versus hovering over the toilet at home!

Good luck and take care, K.

I used sea-bands and they really helped! I also took Premesis prenatal vitamins with controlled release B-6 and B-12 and they helped too. Natural ginger ale is good too.

I was a lucky one who didn't suffer for too long with morning sickness but for the short time i did, I would drink ginger tea. It made me feel so much better. Also Gatorade. The orange was the best flavor for me and it also prevented the dehydration.

My vitamins were a major culprit of nausea. Ask your doctor if you can take 2 Flintstone complete vitamins instead of your prenatals. That made me feel so much better.

As for coping with bouts of nausea, I kept a tin of Altoids tangerine sours on me all the time, and made sure that I never let myself get hungry. I kept snacks (dried fruit and nuts, Kashi fiber and protein bars, saltine crackers) with me all the time, no matter where I was. It really helped me get through work.

Talk to your doctor about medications that can help you not throw up as often. A few friends of mine had to take medication, and it really helped improve their quality of life.

I feel for you! I too had morning sickness, but it was more like all day sickness. My ob had a nutritionist on staff who helped. She explained (and she was right)that eating protein on a regular basis was helpful. The protein is the last think to leave your stomach and is much better than having fats left in you. I also ate Sweettarts which really helped and some people had luck with 7-11 Slurpies. I did well with hot pasta and chicken. With my 2nd, I worked with a hypnotherapist - mind over matter! With my 3rd I did end up taking medication - Reglan, I think. Good luck!
Also, I have a great home business if you are interested.

Ask your Gyn, mine prescribed a pill for me to take (forgot the name of it but it was a little blue pill)

This is going to sound extremely odd, and I didn't believe it either but I passed it on to others and they too said it worked! Lemonheads. Ya know, the candy....suck on lemonheads and they helped...let me know if it helps you too!

I feel your pain! I have three boys and I was sick as a dog for all three!! The wristband things that a previous poster mentioned are called Sea Bands I believe. They are for motion sickness. They do not work for everyone but they did work for me. I still felt blah but I was able to keep food down in small amounts!! I remember sucking on hard candy worked for me so I would give those Lemonheads a try. Good Luck.

When are you taking your vitamins. I figured out that my vitamins are a main contributor to my sick feelings. I save them for right before bed and I have a snack and a glass of milk when I take them. It seems to help some.

I have also been try to eat something small ever hour and a half to two hours. That helps too. I found that the larger the meal, the worse I feel. Small portions all the time is working better for me.

Good luck.

For me, as long as I kept my stomach full, it wasn't bad. I ate drank as much as I could when I didn't feel sick. I would also eat one cheerio at a time until i had finshed a bowl. I could manage to do this all day long. All of those pregnancy drops made it worse, but Lemonheads helped.

Zofran
I was so sick and tried all the other stuff...ginger (which I HATE), sour candy, those wrist band pressure point thigs (can't remember the name).
I ended up in the ER on IVs at one point. They prescribed Zofran. It worked! It is a tiny tablet that melts under your tongue so you don't even have to try to choke down (and keep down) a pill.
Sometimes I felt like it gave me a headache, but that was way better than the alternative.
I actually felt much better in a few days, I think because for the first time I wasn't chronically dehydrated.
My docs all said it was totally safe.
Good luck to you, I'm so sorry you feel so lousy.

I don't know if this will work for you, but it saved me! I was a massage therapist before I had kids and had horrible morning sickness with my 1st. I really couldn't be running out of a session to throw up. So, the morning sickness stressed me out. What ended up working was sniffing a little bit of peppermint oil from a cloth. I would put peppermint oil on a washcloth and as soon as I felt any nausea, I would put it over my nose and mouth and inhale. Papaya juice also helped -- I think it has a lot of b vitamins and is easy to digest -- I would have a small glass of papaya juice for breakfast. I also had to eat very small amounts of food and make sure I never let my stomach get completely empty, as others have said.