[hippiemom]

I have seen Unisom, the OTC sleeping pill, recommended pretty freely around here for morning sickness by OB's and midwives alike. Anyone ever run into problems with this? The women I know who have used it claim it really helps, and are willing to put up with the drowsiness in exchange for keeping food down. A few of them took it at night to help them feel less queasy in the morning.<br><br>
My instinct tells me to look into this further before I ever recommend it.

 

[Belle]

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<div>Originally Posted by <strong>hippiemom</strong></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">I have seen Unisom, the OTC sleeping pill, recommended pretty freely around here for morning sickness by OB's and midwives alike. Anyone ever run into problems with this? The women I know who have used it claim it really helps, and are willing to put up with the drowsiness in exchange for keeping food down. A few of them took it at night to help them feel less queasy in the morning.<br><br>
My instinct tells me to look into this further before I ever recommend it.</div>
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My OB recommended it to me. I took it before I went to sleep at night and it just made me sleepy. I didn't notice any improvement to my nausea, in the morning or otherwise. I couldn't take it during the day, when I was nauseous anyway.

 

[Earth Angel]

I have a friend that mentioned taking unisom for her Morning Sickness. I was kinda confused. Seems like there would be ingredients in there that wouldn't be OK for pregnancy?????<br><br>
Too bad more people can't feel comfortable getting rid of morning sickness with marijuana due to its legal status <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad"> .

 

[loveslabor]

Unisom and vitamin B6 are often recommended. I had HORRIBLE morning sickness and I had no problem choosing between being a little drowsy and throwing up all day. =)<br><br>
I would try taking it at night first and see if that changes your feelings in the morning. Then try taking a partial dose sometime during the day and see how it affects your alertness.

 

[hippiemom]

Loveslabor, this is how it was used by the women I know. They tried just using it at night, but 3 of them ended up using it 1/2 dose during the day as well. One woman used full dose continually. They all found it to be very helpful.<br>
I agree that it seems heavy and I am wary of any of the recommended morning sickness treatments that involve drug use, but I also believe that must be weighed against the risk of not getting enough nutrition, getting dehydrated, etc. One friend of mine was thinner in her first trimester of pregnancy than I have ever seen her otherwise... not good.

 

[loveslabor]

Yep...I hear ya there. I lost 12 pounds in my first trimester. The only thing that ended up working for me was Zofran. I HATED to think that I was putting drugs into my body but There were weeks on end that I couldn't eat or drink. I was vomitting 8-12 times a day. I had to quite my job and could barely get out of bed. And then that made me feel guilty, like I was hurting my baby, so I caved in and took the drugs.<br><br>
The baby turned out just fine and I'm gload I did take the meds until I was feeling better.

 

[Cookie5765]

In Canada a unisom/B6 combo is marketed as Diclectin. My midwife has told me that it is very safe and there are no known effects on the baby and that "anti-nausea" medications are studied very thuroughly because of the tragedy that happened with thalidomide. In the states unisom/B6 was marketed as Bendectin but has never been reapproved after some people complained that they felt that taking it during pregnancy had cause learning disabilities in their children however Canadian studies found this concerned to be unfounded.<br><br>
I did take Diclectin with my pregnancy as I could hold nothing at all down and that was more worrisome then taking the medication. I took it right up to 25 weeks and I have a beautiful healthy baby to show for it right now. I am not an advocate of using any drugs during pregnancy but in the case where the Mum cannot eat/drink then I think it is warranted.

 

[hippiemom]

Again, I agree. I saw one poor mom end up hospitalized for dehydration b/c she really didn't know what to do except just tough it through and try to eat here and there when she could. Unisom turned it around and she was able to eat well for the rest of her pregnancy and deliver a healthy babe. Glad to hear there are no glaring health issues with it.

 

[mamaroni]

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<div>Originally Posted by <strong>Earth Angel</strong></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">Too bad more people can't feel comfortable getting rid of morning sickness with marijuana due to its legal status <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad"> .</div>
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OP, I don't have any knowledge about the unisom, never heard of it, but wanted to <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/yeahthat.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="yeah that">: to earth angel's post. MJ is well-known as an excellent anti-nausea medicine.

 

[Carolinamidwife]

ITA Earth Angel.<br><br>
And Cookie is exactly right. Unisom has been studied so thoroughly it is considered one of the safest drugs for pregnant women to take.<br><br>
I had RANCID m/s with dd. Vomiting 5-10 times a day. 1 Unisom before bed cut down the next day's nausea by about 50%, which was better than nothing. I am super sensitive to anything that may make you drowsey so even 1/2 was too much for me to take during the day. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad">

 

[arimama]

i also did the unisom/b6 combo for morning, afternoon and evening sickness<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"><br>
i took half a pill and it didnt make me terribly drowsy.

 

[Rebecca]

I had horrid m/s with both my pregnancies. The first preg I was hospitalized twice for dehydration and needed an IV. I was prescribed first Composine, then Phenergan (suppositories) and finally Zofran. They helped a bit and made me very drowsy (esp Phenergan which is prescribed most often as a tranquilizer), but didn't really get rid of the debilitating nausea that plagued me.<br><br>
Second pregnancy I was on top of the HG and looked into Unisom/B6. Diphenhydramine HCL 25mg, an antihistamine is the main ingredient, not Benedryl. It can be found less expensively in the allergy med section.<br>
I took half a tablet at night (so 12 mg), another in the morning and sometimes another half in the afternoon during the height of the MS. I weaned to just one half pill at night which staved off the nausea and vomiting for most of the next day. I was dead dog tired and remember very little of that time and am thankful my first child was fairly easy and napped well. It did get rid of my nausea so I was able to function somewhat, when I wasn't sleeping. In canada there is a pill with diphenhydramine hcl and b6 marketed as a morning sickness pill. I forget the brand name. In USA it's illegal to sell a drug to be used in pregnancy as it's unethical to go through the testing on pregnant women/fetuses (if I'm remembering correctly).<br><br>
Both boys are 'normal', whatever that means and I'd do it again though I'm not anticipating any more pregnancies.

 

[luckymama]

i just found this thread, and i wanted to respond, because on the advice of my midwife, i just started taking 50mg b6 in the morning and unisom at night. it has helped me get from completely immobilized and losing weight to being able to run an errand or two and eat. with my toddler running rampant, that bit of help makes a world of difference.<br><br>
my midwife was very specific, though, to make sure that you get unisom in the red package, containing doxylamine succinate, NOT the unisom sleep gels or other unisom products that contain diphenhydramine (like benadryl). it was actually not easy to find the red package unisom.<br><br>
anyway, i hope you find the answers you seek. the unisom at night definitely makes the mornings more bearable. i put off taking them for over a week, but i just couldn't take it anymore. good luck to you!