Horrible GI problems while pregnant — what works?
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Anonymous
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I just started third trimester and I’m really getting tired of my GI problems. Right now the two biggest are horrible gas and heartburn. I am extremely uncomfortable when I lie down and try to sleep, even when I use multiple pillows and wait several hours after eating. I’m already taking the maximum daily dose of gasX. I also have heartburn — taking omeprezole and Pepcid daily helps a lot but I still get flare-ups. It’s at the point where I’m scared to eat because I know I’ll be in pain, and I haven’t gained much weight.
I have raised this with my OB at every appointment but I just get bland advice (like take Pepcid). What has helped you?? |
Anonymous
| I think the truth, like with so many pregnancy ailments, is that they don’t really have anything for you and there’s nothing to do but gut it out. |
Anonymous
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I got an enormous bottle of tums and just ate it all day long. The week after I gave birth my little niece came running over with it saying “don’t worry auntie I have your bottle!” And I was amazed to realize I had not even thought about tums since the baby was born. I really only had that with my first—I think I was carrying very high and even water gave me awful reflux. I did drink a lot of milk and ate a lot of buttered pasta. At some point in the second trimester I remember having drunken noodles with juice and I thought my entire body was gojng to explode with firey lava.
For the gas, I would try to modify my diet as much as possible. It won’t hurt the baby for you to give up things like broccoli and beans and even leafy greens. The fetus will steal the nutrients from you and you can make it up later. It’s more important just to get calories in and to survive these 9 months. |
Anonymous
| Are you taking prenatal vitamins? If so, it may be worth stopping those. |
Anonymous
| Sleep in a recliner. |
Anonymous
I am taking those, what about prenatal vitamins causes GI problems? |
Anonymous
It's mostly the iron in prenatal vitamins that can cause heartburn and constipation. I had to mostly stop (down to 1-2 vitamins a week) because of GI issues. |
Anonymous
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Talk to your doc, I think they can prescribe something. Don’t suffer. Modify your diet as much as possible. Try papaya enzymes, drinking apple cider vinegar, and drinking aloe (none of that worked for me but YMMV - I even drank baking soda in water, blech).
Go easy on the Tums, you can give yourself a kidney stone if you have too many. You have my sympathies, I used to wake vomiting and choking on my own stomach acid that’s how bad my heartburn was. Reading your post made me remember how I couldn’t even drink water without burning. It was awful, just awful. https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/986735.page |
Anonymous
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Are you eating chocolate? Esp at night, it was a killer for me. Stop that and you may see some improvement.
Otherwise, I just carried baggies of Tums. I was defending a deposition one day and eating my Tums. My co counsel reached into my bag for what he thought was a mint and was really surprised!! |
Anonymous
| One of my big regrets of pregnancy was not getting a prescription for my heartburn when it was offered. |
Anonymous
I too carried a baggy of tums with me everywhere. |
Anonymous
| I’m sorry OP. I also ate Tums like candy and for me milk products (usually ice cream) helped with heartburn |
Anonymous
Yep. I permanently damaged my esophagus. |
Anonymous
| Have you tried strictly following a gerd diet for a week or two? |
Anonymous
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Definitely take prilosec or pepcid! Much more effective than tums.
But yeah the cure for this is having your baby. Pregnancy blows and no one has any real solutions for you. I echo poster saying to ditch the prenatals. You don't need them really at this stage and they do cause a lot of stomach issues. I could not tolerate them at all. |