Supplements (especially Vitamin B6) « Back to Group Discussions

[Schneckennudel]

Hi everybody,

I´d like to know if you take any supplements, too.

I´ve just learned that Vitamin B6 works well against sickness. As I´m not sick yet, I expect it because my first pregnancy was so hard for me. And I would like to prepare myself in the best way to handle this sickness (should I get it again).

Does anybody take Vitamin B6 already now? If yes, how much do you take? Yesterday I bought 50mg - tablets... - and does it really work?

And additional to that, do you take any Prenatal Nutrition?

I take "Prenatal One" , Calcium Capsules and Magnesium (Salt #8) - everything from Whole Foods Market.

Is there anything I can do better? Different brand, or different combination?

What do you take? Or did you decide not to take anything?

[MaerynPearl]

I tried B6 with my first and it didn't work. But neither did prescription medication. Nothing worked with him.

All three now of my subsequent pregnancies have been manageable. I'm currently dealing with just nausea with a frequent feeling like "i need to throw up right NOW" but haven't yet. I expect, since figuring out how far along I actually am, I will start that in about 2 weeks. 

[stegenrae]

I take a food-based multivitamin/multimineral several times a day, calcium/magnesium 2x/day, B-complex (B6, but also all the others plus Folic acid) 2x/day, Vit C 2x/day, and 8,000mg salmon oil each day. I know that sounds like a crazy amount of supplements, but I have felt so much better since starting them--some I've been taking for over a year, others I just added before I knew I was pg. I don't feel like I eat very well, so it's worth it to me, you know?

My mw with #2 dabbled in Ayurvedic medicine, and the Ayurvedic recommendation for nausea is to eat as much melon as you can stand. I had terrible nausea with #2, and it was the ONLY thing that worked. (Never tried zofran, but other antiemetics just made my restless legs a thousand times worse!) I had some success with candied ginger chews, too, but the melon was a big help. It certainly helped that my first trimester was at the peak of melon season, though. ;) I also walked around with the wrist band things that had a button-type thing where the pressure point for nausea relief was supposed to be. IDK if they worked; I wasn't willing to take them off, though.

[SamsMuffin]

I take a one a day prenatal - the brand is Rainbow Light.  It doesn't make me sick, so it meets my top requirement.  And it doesn't have anything nasty in it - food based, dye-free, etc.

I've tired just about everything in the last two pregnancies to combat morning sickness.  I recently heard that eating large quantities of beans fights of m/s feelings though.  So I'm going to give it a try.  I'll probably despise eating beans by the end of the pregnancy, but if it works, it works :) 

[XanaduMama]

I've been taking a B100 complex every day for months now, trying to fix my short cycles (really worked, too!). Also take a prenatal multivitamin and cod liver oil daily, and am going to start with a good probiotic too.

I haven't had much nausea yet, but I'm only 4w along.

[MaerynPearl]

Originally Posted by SamsMuffin 

I take a one a day prenatal - the brand is Rainbow Light.  It doesn't make me sick, so it meets my top requirement.  And it doesn't have anything nasty in it - food based, dye-free, etc.

I've tired just about everything in the last two pregnancies to combat morning sickness.  I recently heard that eating large quantities of beans fights of m/s feelings though.  So I'm going to give it a try.  I'll probably despise eating beans by the end of the pregnancy, but if it works, it works :) 

I heard that when I was first pregnant with DD2 but I have to doubt it, I ate a ton of beans last night and all I got was gassy, which made my nausea worse lol

[inkandpaper]

I have 4 different kinds of prenatal vitamins, but I've found my favorite is the New Chapter Perfect Prenatal.  I like that it is food-based and has small pills.  When I already feel like I'm going to vomit, the last thing I need is to shove a horse pill down my throat   So I've ruled out Rainbow Light (both 1 a day & 6 a day) simply because of the size.  Maybe I'll finish those off after the first trimester.  The fourth vitamin I have I think deserves no better than the garbage.  It is a cheap Walmart brand that has more red 40 than it does folic acid... so yeah...

I'm also taking fermented cod liver oil when I remember to.

Should I try a b6 supplement for the nausea?  Morning sickness hit really bad earlier this week (right about when week 6 started) and I feel utterly horrible in the mornings.  

[stegenrae]

B-6 sure wouldn't hurt! I'd give it a couple days for your body to adjust to it, though. 

re: the bean thing--don't they have a lot of b-vitamins naturally? Also, if you're not eating beans regularly already (as in, every other day, at least), your body is going to take a long time to start producing the ideal mix of enzymes to digest them--so yes, you'll be really gassy if you just start eating them out of the blue. Start with less than 1/4c a day, spread throughout the day, for the first couple days, and gradually increase if you want your body to acclimate. (of course, you could be intolerant to certain bean varieties, too--I can eat as much pinto, black, navy, lentil, etc, with no problems, but the second I have chickpeas, I get gassy. which is SAD, because I love me some hummus!)