Morning Sickness During Pregnancy

It is estimated that approximately 50-90% of pregnant women experience discomfort from the nausea and vomiting associated with pregnancy. The exact cause of morning sickness is not known, but it seems to be a combination of issues related to your body's chemical  and hormonal changes.

Nausea is one of the most common complaints of pregnancy, affecting on an average of around 70% of pregnant women. It is often referred to as morning sickness, and for some women occurs only in the morning, but it can occur at any time during the day. Some women just feel sick while others actually vomit.

Morning sickness can begin as early as a few days after you have missed your period and, while in most cases it tails off after a few months, it can persist throughout pregnancy. It is always advised to consult your health care provider and, in the case of severe vomiting, you should contact your doctor or local hospital immediately.

The following has been adapted from the websites listed at the bottom of the page.

Morning sickness, also called nausea, vomiting of pregnancy or pregnancy sickness, affects between 50-90% of all pregnant women as well as some women who take birth control pills or hormone replacement therapy. In extreme cases, known as hyperemesis gravidarum, hospitalization may be required to treat the resulting dehydration.

How long will the morning sickness last?

Morning sickness can occur at any time of the day, though it occurs most often upon waking, because blood sugar levels are typically the most depressed after a night without food.  Morning sickness usually starts in the first month of the pregnancy, peaking in  weeks 5-7, and continuing until weeks 14-16.. For about 50% of those pregnant women who experience morning sickness, it ends by the 16th week of pregnancy.Some women suffer intermittent episodes throughout their pregnancy and a few never experience any morning sickness..

Causes of morning sickness

There is insufficient evidence to pin down a cause, but the leading theories for proximate causes include:

*An increase in the circulating level of the hormone estrogen. Estrogen levels may increase by up to a hundredfold during pregnancy.
*Low blood sugar during pregnancy.
*An increase in progesterone relaxes the muscles in the uterus, which prevents early childbirth, but may also relax the stomach and intestines, leading to excess stomach acids.
*An increase in human chorionic gonadotropin.
*An increase in sensitivity to odors, which over stimulates normal nausea triggers.

There are a number things you can do, and not do, to help alleviate your symptoms of morning sickness.

Try the following:

Eat small meals often rather than three large ones
Avoid an empty stomach and do not skip meals
Do not lie down after eating
Drink fluids 1/2 hour before or after a meal, but not with meals
Drink small amounts of fluids during the day to avoid dehydration
Eat soda crackers 15 minutes before getting up in the morning
Eat whatever you feel like eating, whenever you feel you can
Ask someone else to cook for you and open the windows or turn on fans if the odor bothers you
Get plenty of rest and nap during the day
Avoid warm places (feeling hot adds to nausea)
Sniff lemons or ginger, drink lemonade, or eat watermelon
Try ginger, in capsules, tea, ginger ale, ginger beer or ginger snaps
Eat salty potato chips (they have been found to settle stomachs)
Do not cook or eat spicy food
Exercise
Your health care provider may suggest Vitamin B6 taken in combination with the antihistamine doxylamine or he/she may prescribe anti-nausea medications.

You should contact your health care provider:

*If you are experiencing excessive nausea and vomiting that prevents you from keeping any food down
*If vomiting is accompanied by pain or fever
*If nausea and vomiting persists well into the second trimester (after about weeks 13-16)
*Any time you have a question