Need Solutions for Early Pregnancy Nausea

Have not tried the B12 shot but while I was pregnant my doctor prescribed me a pill that was a mega dose of B12 combined with an anti histamine. I don't know if you are working but it knocks you out for a little while after taking it if you're one of those who gets really groggy off benadryl. It might be worth it though.

I found my nausea got worse the more tired I was. So sleep as much as you can. The other thing I did was eat as often as I could whatever sounded good. I tried to change to "healthy eatting habits" but munching on M&M's worked much better. You might try getting low-iron prenatal vitamins too.

Vitamin B6 worked wonders for me- didn't completely get rid of all the nausea, but I was able to function like a normal person again! Get the 50mg tablets and take it 2-4 times a day. Good luck! I just got out of the m/s phase myself and understand what you're going through (altho I didn't have HG) and Congratulations!

You've probably also noticed that the nausea is really set off by certain smells, so make sure you have fresh air flowing, also take No to morning sickness tea. It helped me a lot.

Congrats on your pregnancy! So sorry to hear you are so sick. I was also nauseous with both of my two pregnancies that I could barely eat anything and lost 10 lbs in the first 3 months with each. I too was sick all day long. Nothing took the nausea away, but I did find that some things lessened the intensity of that "yucky, I'm about to puke" feeling. First of all, you have to eat something with protein and carbs combined every 2 hours. Don't let your stomach ever empty completely during the day. If you wake in the night hungry, eat something. Peanut butter and crackers or cheese and crackers worked for a while for me. Oatmeal and scrambled eggs was all I ate in my 3rd month. Also, when you aren't feeling terrible, drink something. Lemonade or water worked best for me. Dehydration makes nausea even worse. Try not to eat and drink at the same time. That dilutes your stomach acid making digestion just that much more difficult. The biggest help for nausea is REST! I noticed you are working 2 jobs and have a 16 mo old. You've got to somehow cut down on your activity for a while. Enlist family or friends to help with your son and consider cutting down or quitting one or both jobs.
One thing I would caution you about it getting the B12 shot. I know a lot of people say, "It worked for me!" Please consult with your Dr. or midwife first. Some types of anemias are actually made much worse by large doses of B12. If you are tempted to take any other herb or medicine, PLEASE TELL YOUR DR FIRST. Some things that are "natural" can still harm you and your baby. Try to keep perspective. This won't last forever and all the suffering you do is worth it for a sweet little baby. Best wishes! R., Midwife and SAHM of 2

my docs office had me take emetrol and it really healp me. i couldnt keep any thing down at the begining of the pregnancy not evven water. hopefully this will help

You probably know you have hyperemesis gravidarum. Make sure you have a supportive doctor who takes you seriously, and not one who tells you to go home and eat crackers. Unfortunately most HG mums have HG with every pregnancy, and it's important to get help NOW rather than when it's uncontrollable.

Here is my blog:
http://whiningpuker.blogspot.com/

If you click on "Hyperemesis help" under "Blog Categories," you'll find the research I've done on help for severe morning sickness.

Here is a great resource:
http://www.hyperemesis.org/

I also really recommend Ashli McCall's book "Beyond Morning Sickness: Battling Hyperemesis Gravidarum" as a resource. You and your hubbie can find more information about resources in that book.

For me, the only things I could keep down were liquid energy drinks - Boost, Ensure and Slimfast, also Jello. Every hour on the hour, I would drink 1/3 of one of those. That did help quite a bit.

There are drugs that can help, although it looks like you're not responsive to Zofran (remember, though, that every pregnancy is different - you might want to give it a try).

Other natural things to try:
- Herbs (see my blog)
- Acupuncture
- Chiropractic care

Good luck!!! Let me know if you have any questions!!

I feel your pain! My son is now 8 weeks old, but I was very ill my first trimester and lost 30 pounds (thankfully, I had extra). I eventually tried vitamin b-6 and Unisom and that worked pretty well... IF you have time to just sleep all day. Since I only worked in the afternoons, that worked for me. I also worked hard to avoid certain foods like dairy products in the morning. You may also want to keep some granola bars or crackers by your bed so when you wake in the middle of the night, you can have a little snack. The doctor told me that when you wake up with an empty stomach it makes the naseau worse. Hope you find something that helps!

Hi Ashley, back where i come from in the UK they swear by Ginger. Didn't have morning sickness myself so can't honestly say if it works, but i know it did for many of my friends. They would eat a ginger snap biscuit (don't know if you can get these in the USA) as soon as they woke. You can only try, good luck. x

I don't know if this will work for extreme nausea but I used lemon heads and lemonade. That's what the nurse at my Dr.'s office recommended and it really helped. Congrats and good luck!

Sorry to hear your having such a ruff start. You should try papiaya tablets. They sell them at GNC. It helped me a lot with my first pregnancy. They have some that you chew.
Hope that they help :)
Ginger root can help too.
J.

I feel for you. I have 4 kids and I had morning sickness everytime. Finally the last child my Dr. recomended 1/2 tablet of unisom every night taken before bed. Seriously this is the only time I ever felt relief. I have also heard about eating almonds in between meals. Ask your Dr. or other moms about taking this . Hope this helps

I had the same problem! I had to avoid dairy, sugars, which helped a great deal. I then was supposed to eat every couple of hours, small amounts which are easier to digest and never let my stomach completely empty. It avoids the build up of acids. The reason the tums work as it has calcium which settles the acids in your stomach. I used an organic version which is easier and works faster. I also took B-Complex and a Stomach Soothing Complex (which has natural peppermint)it worked wonders. I worked with a friend who had her own business. I was so impressed, I joined as well. Check out the website: www.shaklee.net/denisefriedl

If you have any questions, I would be more than happy to help.

Best wishes on finding what works for you!

Hi Ashley,
I made home-made ginger tea by soaking slices of ginger root in boiling water (about 1 inch of root, sliced, for a mug - cheap and tasty); Ginger Ale (I think the sugar helped me); and you can buy candied ginger at Whole Foods that you can carry around in your purse.

Big, puke-free hugs!!!
T

I went through 7 pregnancies (started with twins!) and had my share of morning sickness.
WHOLE grains....not white bread and crackers. there's nothing left there and it just clogs up the body. with whole grains....especially wheat that has the wheat germ in it, you get the ENTIRE B COMPLEX.
And avoid sugar. Sugar depletes vitamin B.
You may also want to try protien such as cheddar cheese or mozarella (no american cheese slices...that is processed and won't do you a bit of good)

I heard ginger works. If you like ginger you can buy a jard or even try ginger snaps.

It's good that you are seeking a more natural solution than pharmaceuticals. First suggestion from me would be to lay off the diet coke - forever. It is creating a toxic environment and not giving you or your baby any nutrition. Switch to pure water and see how much better you start to feel. Also, a pinch of salt can help curb nausea and is also excellent if you are at all dehydrated (from not drinking enough water and/or throwing up often). A good book that explains how drinking enough water can "cure" any disease or disorder is called "The Body's Many Cries for Water". I want to be careful about suggesting herbs or anything like that because you are pregnant but I do know of something very helpful and safe for everyone no matter what state or age the body is in. It is a fruit from the Amazon rainforest that contains the most vitamin C of any plant on the planet along with a full profile of B vitamins and amino acids so that it can and will be absorbed and used by the body. Let me know if you are interested in more information it and I will be happy to give you details. Hope you start to feel better soon.

The B-12 shot is AWESOME!!! It really saved my life. Other things that helped is drinking sprite and putting fresh ginger in anything I could tolerate. I also ate alot of rice with spices in it like fresh ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg. It sounds kinda weird but it helped. Also use digestive enzymes with every meal and that makes a difference. I had a rough first and second trimester so if I can answer anymore questions let me know. I did some pretty weird stuff that helped me.

Hi Ashley -

There are many herbal options for morning sickness. You can make a tea in the evening and then sip it in the morning before the morning sickness sets in. Try peppermint, spearmint, anise, fennel, red raspberry leaf, and/or ginger. The herb shop I work at has a nice tea blend for morning sickness as well as crystalized ginger.

I'm not sure what part of town you live in, but if you are around Payson - stop in at Chakra Botanika - 130 E. St. Hwy. 260 - on the NE corner of Hwy. 87 & 260 - Basha's shopping center. If you are not around there, let me know where you are at and I will see if I can find a good herb store in your area.

Good luck,

M. M. Ernsberger
Certified Clinical Herbalist

I was really sick with my last pregnancy, but what really helped me was milk. I had to have a glass of milk first thing and then eat every 2 hours after that. It was a God send and really made it a lot easier. And making sure I took all my vitamins on a FULL stomache helped too. I pray you find something that works for you.

the very first thing you should try is to stop taking any vitamins you may be taking. they can cause it.

Ashley,

It might sound silly but I noticed that if I was cold my nausea decreased. I have no idea why, it's just what worked for me. Also you may want to switch to caffeinee free soda. That can cause a miscarrage. I find the coke tastes the same, but pepsi doesn't.

I hope this helps,
K.

There are many different "natural" things you can try. Ginger tea or powdered ginger root, accupuncture, eating protein (egg) first thing in the AM before getting up and a little each hour while up, homeopathic remedies (consult a homeopathic doctor for these). Hypnosis has helped many women reduce and even eliminate morning sickness. A certified hypnotherapist can help you with this.

J. Streit
Positive Human Dynamics
Nurturing Mom Doula
###-###-####

There were several things that helped me. Peppermint tea, candies etc., ginger ale or anything ginger. I put ginger oil on my wrists which I got from my OBGYN. www.trueharmonywellness.com I also would eat graham crackers instead of saltines especially when I first woke up. I would eat a few and lay in bed for 10 minutes or more before I got right up (which my OB also recommended). I also never took my sea bands off. I also finally in an act of desperation started acupuncture at my OB’s office which can also help. I'm not sure if it did help me or not because by the time I tried it I was almost over my morning sickness. Next time I'm going to try it sooner if I have such bad nausea.

Hi Ashley

Please try chiropractic treatments... Very natural and I have been able to help many patients like yourself... or at least minimize it naturally...

Look forward to hearing from you if interested in getting treated.

Farid R., DC
____@____.com

I was so sick with my last one. If you can tolerate pregnacy tea form the health food store that may help. For me I couldn't get it down, but there is also ginger. That really worked well for me. You can buy ginger root from most grocery stores and just nibble on a little chunk of it for a bout 1/2 an hour. Ginger essential oil on the bottom of your foot is helpful too. I have some of that if you want to try it. Ginger bread cookies, ginger ale are helpful too.
good luck! I feel for you.
N.
www.aromaticbotanicals.com

Chewing gum worked for me to curb the nausea, which in turn helped to stop the vomiting. Nothing else worked for me either, but once I discovered this, my whole world changed. I would eat and immediately pop in a piece of gum. I thought that this might have been a fluke, but I tried it in my second pregnancy and it worked before I even got to the throwing up stage.

Hi Ashley,
Boy do I understand the nausea all to well. I have three boys of my own. They are all now older, but I do remember something that did help with the nausea. I ate toasted bread with a little butter, that helped. Also recently I heard from a friend and also tried it myself when I had an upset stomach. Basically put a teaspoon of baking soda in a one cup juice glass and drink it down fast. It tastes horrible, but it really works. So hopefully this helps. Good luck with your pregnancy.

J. M

I used little ginger candies to suck on, they worked! You can get them at whole/health food stores like trader joes for cheap, and they worked for me. My "morning" sickness, lasted all day and night! Try them, they might help.

Have you tried ginger? Whether it's in a tea, an old fashioned ginger beer (it's nonalcoholic), a capsule or crystalized ginger candy, it's a great anti-nausea food and studies show it helps with morning sickness. I know Life Sculpting in Chandler has great B12 and B complex shots and only $12, www.lifesculpting.biz. Hang in there!

Try Ginger tea. Also Call Sue Disilvestro, she is a gilbert midwife and might have more options on current nausea remedies ###-###-####

Also extreme nausea and constant vomiting here. I refused to take medication. I was just sick and accepted it, but was not happy. I tried every natural remedy known and nothing helped. For my third baby, I tried acupuncture. It was the only thing that ever made a dent in it. It didn't completely cure it, but it gave me the only relief I ever had.

I agree to stop taking your vitamins for now. And diet cokes, too, if you can! I also see you work two jobs and are a mom. What can you do to slow down and rest more? If it's not completely out of the question, that will help you and your baby the most. I know it's so hard to feel so bad. Good luck!

Hello!

I am at 22 weeks and just over this and it was by no means as bad a yours, so I am not sure that this will really help. Anyway, mine got better when I started a) taking a B-complex vitamin with lunch or dinner and b) my prenatal vitamins after dinner/before bed with a glass of milk. Between both, it got better within a day or two.
Up to that point I took the prenatals in the morning and that seemed to set me off.

Good luck with this!
D.

Was it a iv bag in your leg or a pump to distribute the zofran?
I had a zofran pump with my pregnancies. Of course it doesn't make the vomiting stop but it does help control it. Unfortunatly I think you are like me. It is horible. And I have six kids! (I didn't have any miscarriages even with the pump)
So.. a few suggestions..maybe they might help a tiny bit!
First the zofran pump is the most effective thing out there right now. It too goes in your leg and administers medication. I still vomited and lost 30+ lbs with each pregnancy but without it I NEVER kept anything down not even liquids and had to be in the hospital. The pump makes it so you can have moments of not throwing up and sometimes even a day or two. You can also call and get a "demand" dose. It gives you extra medication when you are really sick.
Next~ Coke slurrpies. I hate them but when I was pregnate the Dr recommended them. COke has something in it that settles the stomach. Diet coke didn't work for me. If I was uncontrollable I would get a demand dose then go get a slurpy and sip it a little at a time and this usually helped me get a grip.
Third~ have IV therapy. It sucks cause sometimes they can't get it in because the viens collapse from being too dehydrated but they can get it in and you have it for the weekend. They leave the supplies with you and you change the bags and put heparin to keep the line open. Nurses will show you how. It sucks but you will feel better after one.
You can try to have crackers (not buttery or anything like that just very bland) and a opened can (so it' not carbonated) of coke by your bed. Before you even get up sit up slowly. Take a tiny bite of cracker. wait. if you think you can take another. Slowly slowly try eating a bit and taking a few sips. Don't get up until about 20+ min. Sometimes this helps. Whenever I got up the puking would begin!
I had pregnancy teas, the pops, ginger,b12 and b6 shots, phenergan,compazine, reglan, anzamet and nothing worked for me. I hear reglan and anzamet work for some people so you can try that too.
Good luck. Get lots of help from family and friends.

Hi Ashley!

Fortunately in my 1st trimester, I solely had nausea and no vomiting. However, I am a Naturopathic doctor and personally and professionally have found acupuncture to be helpful. Acupuncture is safe during pregnancy as long as we stay away from the points that are locally found on the belly and contraindicated in pregnancy.

Also, you will actually be looking should be looking into Vitamin B6 shots. B6 is often helpful for nausea. I don't have personal experience with this, but have friends who have done very well with it.

I hope this is helpful!

If you're thinking of B12 shots, you might try the sublingual B12 sold by a local vitamin company called Trivita (in Scottsdale). I am not a rep, I have merely taken the product and really liked it, although I wasn't pregnant at the time. It's a tablet that you place under your tongue and allow to dissolve - much cheaper than the shots!

I was very sick with my little one (now 5 months)and lost 15 pounds the first three months. I talked with a friend who works as a nurse in the delivery. She said that for most cases saltines and gatorade were the best bet. I also loved lime slushes from SOnic (strange I know - but they never came back). Good luck and know that this too will pass in favor of swelling ankles and getting up 10 times in the middle of the ngight to pee (JK).

I applaud your desire to avoid the medicine route, so will offer you a couple of alternatives. A good herbalist would be one avenue. She/he would explore your diet, lifestyle, and recommend any changes needed, besides looking at what herbs would help your body correct itself. Another avenue to try is polarity and/or cranial sacral therapy, both very non-invasive but highly effective in assisting the body to balance itself. If you are in the Phoenix area, I can recommend people in whichever route you wish to explore first. Blessings to you.

Hi Ashley,

I had horrible morning sickness for 18 1/2 weeks when I was pregnant ( I can probably give you the minutes and seconds as well) :) Anyway, nothing helped me. I just had to let it pass. It was miserable, but it finally did pass. The only thing I would do was suck on the preggie pops, smell lemons, use the wrist bands, and try to eat easy to digest foods. Sometimes it helped and sometimes it didn't. I didn't go to any extremes like taking shots or anything because I knew it was completley normal. The only way I would have done anything extreme is if my health and if the baby's health was at risk. In fact my Dr. wasn't worried and just said this is a normal and unpleasant part of pregnancy. Just to keep some humor about the whole thing I started making a list of all the public places I threw up! I even threw up all over Europe!! It was amazing all the places I got sick!! :) Just hang in there and know that this will pass. Pretty soon all of this yuckiness will be a distant memory.

-J.

With my youngest(she is 2) I had really bad nausea. I had it so bad that they thought that I would lose her and I was hospilized. It gradually got to be normal then nothing. They rehydrated me and put me on phenergen (sp?) it's safe for the baby and it helps you out. They also said my potassium was low and since I am allergic to bananas I asked where else I could get it from..potato skins are full of the vitamin. And as an alternative to medicine my doc said try citrus. The smell or even the taste of citrus for some reason helps. I used to light lemon smelling candles,drink lots of orange juice and even the smell of it helped. When it started to come back I put a couple drops of lemon juice in cold water and sip it. It worked for me! Hope that helps!!!

I too had two pregnancies with extreme vomitting. I had IV's with both. The second one I did the B12 shots and loved them. It really did provide with more energy, didn't make the nausea go away completely, but helped a lot.Try the website www.helpher.org, there are lots of suggestions on there from tons of different women in the same situation. Good luck to you, I know it's not fun...