Morning sickness relief tips

[allgirls]

My daughter is having a rough time of it. All day nausea and sometimes throwing up. She asked me for some tips but I didnt' have much of that. I told her crackers in the morning etc. but if any of you have discovered something that helps/gives some relief I'd like to pass it along to her.

Thanks.
Allgirls

[2boyzmama]

--Lemon drops when the urge to vomit is building
--Controlling blood sugar (I would always vomit when my blood sugar was low, without a monitoring device, though, she just needs to ensure to eat some complex carbs WITH protein every 2-3 hours)
--Deep breaths in through the nose, out through the mouth. Seriously, it works.
--Real ginger...she can get ginger and lemon drops from motherhood maternity (and probably a bunch of other places, that's just the most recent place I saw them) Real ginger ale or ginger tea will work, too.
--Keep simple snacks on her night stand and eat them overnight (helps with keeping the blood sugar up over night, too)
--And sometimes...I would jsut give in and throw up. A hot shower in the morning would always make me throw up (and hey, easier clean up if you puke in the shower!) so for a while I was taking cool showers to AVOID throwing up, but then I started taking hot showers just so I would throw up sooner and get it over with!

I was never able to eat any "real" food until after noon-2pm. Before that I'd just do bites of peanut butter toast, lemon drops, slice of apple with yogurt, pretzels, etc. Ugh...just typing this is reminding me how much I HATE being pregnant!!!!!! LOL!

Oh, and I forgot B6. And with my first pregnancy I did finally break down and take a prescription for phenergan becuase I couldn't function at work anymore and had been hospitalized for IV fluids 3 times...ugh!

[allgirls]

Can I send her your entire post?

Lemon drops? You mean candy that are lemon flavoured? I'll get her some.

I think I'll get her a morning sickness care package next time I'm in town! Thanks!

[2boyzmama]

certainly send her the post!!

tell her also to take note of when she takes her prenatals...they make some people more sick.

the b6 is a biggy... i'm nak'ing right now, so it's hard to type...google b6 and morning sickness and you'll find info.

[allgirls]

I'm going to get her some B6, some ginger ale and some real ginger, some lemon drops and some soda crackers and drop them off at her house. She just paid her rent and money is tight right now.

Thanks...I sent her the post.

[citizenfong]

Oh, yes, for sure B6, but LOTS of it. Most people try it but in amounts too small to make a difference. Up to 200 mg/day. Also in doses of 25 mg combined with have a caplet of Unisom (caplet, not liquicap...different medicine).

Does she have bad morning sickness, or do you think she has hyperemesis?

--Sleep. She MUST get enough sleep. It won't make it go away, but not enough sleep has a direct affect on how she'll feel the next day.

--Hydration. These are the two biggies. Again, staying hydrated won't make her feel better, per se. But getting dehydrated *at* *all* will provoke worse nausea/vomiting, and then you've got a nasty cycle set up.

Water is a poor choice. It is very hard on the tummy. In a past pregnancy, I regularly threw up water. She needs to drink ANYTHING else that she can stomach. Even if it's regular old nasty Coke. She MUST stay hydrated to have a chance to feel human.

Tell her not to wait for what we think of as dehydration. You can get dehydrated very quickly when pg. Tell her to think "hydrated" rather then "avoiding dehydration". Have a drink at all times. Fill a pitcher of something and set it beside the sofa where you are lying. That kind of thing.

I like half juice/half ginger ale. Then at least it's not straight up soda. She can mix up pregnancy herbs, make an infusion, and mix that with half a can of concentrated juice and water, to make it 2 quarts. Lemonade is commonly more easy to drink.

--Try everything. Most people go down the list of tips and try one thing...it only works a little, or for a short amount of time, so they discard it. That's the wrong approach. If it works AT ALL, keep doing it, and add the next thing that works a little bit. There *is* a cummulative effect.

--Eat whatever she is able. Eat to *survive*. There is plenty of time to worry about better nutrition later. I know there are people who soooo firmly disagree with this. So far, all of them that I've met have never had serious m/s. Eating chocolate pop tarts, if that's what you can eat, is a sight better then ending up in the hospital and getting a feeding tube installed.

--Brush her teeth with water only for now, if she needs to. She can live without toothpaste for a few months of her life. Tell her to try brushing her tongue after she eats to get the taste of the food out of her mouth. With bad m/s or hyperemesis, it can linger and make you feel worse. Sometimes gum works when you are out.

I may think of some more. If so I'll post back later. Yes, you may share this post if you think it will be helpful.

GL

[HollyBearsMom]

Have her try gin-gin candies too. They are pure giner candies that you can suck on or add to hot water to make sweet ginger tea. These were my lifesavers!!!

You can find them at whole foods, trader joes, most health food stores or order online.

http://www.gingerpeople.com/order_gingins.html

[robbins611]

*eat what her body asks for and only until barely satisfied
*eat very frequently and before getting out of bed
*crystalized ginger is great to suck on when real queazy
*peppermint or lemon essential oil to stiff during the waves
*acupressure bands you can buy at the drugstore for motion sickness
*distraction such as happy movies and fresh air...most women feel better when distracted by good company
*homeopathic remedy specific to her symptoms:
http://www.herbalremediesinfo.com/he...gsickness.html and arrow down to descriptions

I hope she's feeling better soon. For my really bad morning sickness I had a lot of success with acupuncture...I was desperate and it worked really well in addition to the other ideas

[allgirls]

Great suggestions..she bought lemon drops and lemon tea and it's helping!

I think she just has regular old morning sickness at this point...like I had with her 18 years ago...karma? lol.

[Doulatron]

I've started with acupunture (one sesssion on Friday) with a practitioner who specialises in pregnancy. It worked great for about seven hours and then the effect faded. However, they said that often ppl have to come two or three times in a row at first to get lasting effect. After that you can go back for "touch-ups" as needed.

Yesterday (Saturday) I was feeling so crappy that I looked up homeopathic remedies for morning sickness and found that I fit the pulsatilla profile really well, so I went and got some of that. WOW! What a difference. I feel like a new woman.

I also got some vitamin B6 to top up the measly 4mg in my prenatals and chromium, which my holistic pharmacist recommended as a really good supplement for control of blood sugar (wacky blood sugar makes nausea worse).

So there you go. I self-prescribed with the homeopathy using an online guide but I am also going to see a homeopath sometime this week. If I got that kind of benefit from going by the seat of my pants, I reason, how much more will I get from someone who can actually assess my whole condition?

I should add that I am also making sure to get tons of sleep, eating small and frequent meals and wearing seabands most of the day. Like someone else in this thread said, throw EVERYTHING you have at it, all at once. It makes so much difference to not feel nauseated.

[lisa_nc]

She can slice some ginger and steep it in hot water to drink.

[SageKitty]

Aimée – Thanks for posting the link to the online homeopathy guide. It was very informative.

[wendytthomas]

I did sea bands for nausea with my first. They worked really well. They didn't stop me from vomiting, but they did away with the three hours of nausea leading up to it.

Wendy

[Nicole_ac]

Based on my personal experience - tell her to try taking her prenatal tablets with food, not just a drink.

[citizenfong]

Originally Posted by SageKitty

Aimée – Thanks for posting the link to the online homeopathy guide. It was very informative.

Ditto that! I've always just heard nux vomica for m/s, and that profile doesn't fit me at all!

Now I have two possibilities to help me! Thanks.

[prettymom]

I've heard great things about acupuncture too, though I have never tried it myself.

A few months ago my teenage brother was having some chronic ankle/foot pain that an acupuncture was able to fix for him. The practitioner said she had great success with pregnant women. So when I start feeling sick (I did with DD) I'm going to go try it out.

[MMx3]

I've never been a throw-upper but I have a three-month 24/7 long sour stomach with on and off nausea.
Eating pickles helps me,
ginger ale, crackers, avoiding triggering smells
and always keeping something in my stomach.
I also take my prenatals at night before bed, that way instead of having awful tasting mouth and stomach all day, I only get it when I wake up at night!

[AFishStX]

I've had good success with dissolving 1/2 tsp Ginger powder in hot water & adding honey to taste. I like to keep a batch in my hot mug & sip it all day.

[Doulatron]

Glad the homeopathic reference has been helpful. I will update on how it goes with my second acupunture appt today and with the homeopath when I get an appt. Where will the money come from??? I can only hope that manifestation will bring it on. lol

My mantra for the coming days:
"I am a money maaaaaagnet,
Money loooooves me,
Money is sexuallllllly attracted to meeeeeee"

[Doulatron]

Acupuncture update:
Felt worse on the table (more nauseated and a headache she was trying to treat got a bit worse). After the treatment the headache went away and the nausea returned to how it was before the treatment. This morning I feel just a bit nauseated, and that is about normal for me these days. I have another appt on Thursday; I hope it is better.