Nausea (~5x/day vomiting) non-traditional advice

[Anonymous]

Any mental/emotional tips to deal with nausea at 9 weeks? I've tried everything on the typical lists - frequent small meals, bland food, not mixing liquids and solids, etc. and am miserable every night after the 5th or 6th time throwing up. My doctor will not prescribe zofran under 12 weeks, but I am taking unisom and B6 (appears to make no difference). I am starting to dread food/drinking because I know how unpleasant it will be later - any tips to power through are appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Do you eat as soon as you wake up? My sister walked around with tortillas and bananas in her purse. Also barf bags and some ginger water.

I’m so sorry and I hope this ends soon.

[Anonymous]

Drink a green juice

In all seriousness - Why won’t your provider prescribe Zofran? But try snacking on crackers, lollipops, flavored water. It usually gets better after week 12!

[Anonymous]

Are you working in an office? First, do whatever you can to be granted extended leave. You need to rest and stay hydrated and keep your strength.

A few off beat suggestions to try;

Try fresh air and staying cool to cold. When I was ill with morning sickness, I’d have to take cool showers - any increase in my body temperature seemed to make me queasy and dizzy and then the vomiting would start. Open windows (this also helped eliminate any cooking odors) and if you can, get outside for a few minutes.

Try candy canes. I kept these bedside. As soon as I’d wake up, I’d suck on a candy cane. You don’t have to finish it but the taste was well-tolerated and seemed to boost my blood sugar.

Drink your calories. Make protein shakes with your favorite (non dairy) base like almond or oat milk. Add applesauce and or banana and a protein powder. Toss in ice cubes. Add what seems tolerable or whirl the milk with ice cubes. Add honey to ginger tea. Decide if you like it hot, warm or cold and sip. Even kid sized yogurt drinks (Dannon brand) will give you some calories. I could not tolerate seltzer or bubbly drinks but loved ice water and sometimes ginger ale.

Go fragrance free. Every smell made me sick. Time to toss or put away anything scented.

[Anonymous]

Sip regular Coke throughout the day. It’s an old fashioned remedy that really works. It even got me through chemo nausea.

[Anonymous]

I found the b6 made me more sick but unisom by itself was at least a little helpful for me. You can try sea bands. Lots of sleep helped me feel a bit less nauseous. Exercise actually helped too (once I was past the phase where I was in danger of passing out from feeling weak from all the vomiting). Also keep your mind distracted and occupied (whether it’s work or something more fun). People say “it will get better at 12 weeks!!” It probably will, but truthfully, you might continue feeling nauseous and/ or vomiting well into your 2nd or even 3rd trimester. With my first pregnancy, my last vomit was at 36 weeks. There’s really not much you can do. I’m so sorry. I always say if men were pregnant, we’d have amazing anti-nausea pregnancy drugs by now.

[Anonymous]

I am so sorry you are dealing with this. I had "morning sickness" for 3 months with #1 and 9months with #2-4. The only Zofran was the last month of #4. Everyone is different but this is what helped me.
1. Saltines in bed before even sitting up. Then a full glass of ice water as soon as I sat up. Half of the time I still threw up but cold water came up easily and felt better.
2. No crest toothpaste. The way it formed made me vomit every single time.
3. Pretzel sticks. The skinny ones. I ate one or 2 every 5 min. Again with a cold drink.
4. In the first trimester my best chance of food was hash browns. Sometimes after I ate a hasbrown I could keep something else down too.
5. After 3 months I found a safe food. It was different for each pregnancy and makes absolutely no sense. #2 was cold grape cool aid and nutter butters. #3 was the Asian chicken salad at Au bon pan. Before then cilantro gave me a headache, but with this pregnancy it calmed my stomach. #4 was chocolate milkshakes from Potbelly for breakfast. My incredible coworker convinced the Potbelly employee to open the milkshake machine early one day. I had lost 20 pounds at this point and said a milkshake sounded good. I kept it down and the sweet employee made me one every morning for the rest of my pregnancy.

You can do this. It doesn't matter what you eat to get to 12 weeks. Don't worry about if it is healthy or normal. If it sounds at all appetizing try it. Fresh cool air also helped me. Smells were bad. All smells. Open the windows and breath in slowly. And carry freezer ziplock bags. They never leaked on me.

[Anonymous]

See if you can get a prescription for bonjesta. Even though it’s the same ingredients as unisom and b6, I found it much more effective.

None of the home remedies worked for me. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Get a new doctor. Seriously. I don’t know that I could trust someone who was ok with me being so miserable. Vomiting five times a day is on the extreme end, not your generic morning sickness! You do not/should not need to tough this out.

My OB preferred Reglan over Zofran. No clue why. I also took an 1/4 of an unisom (half rendered me nonfunctional) nightly basically until delivery and didn’t bother with B6. Otherwise, cold air, lots of movement (counter intuitive), and simple carbs in small quantities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sip regular Coke throughout the day. It’s an old fashioned remedy that really works. It even got me through chemo nausea.

The best. And from the can or a good fountain! Not the plastic bottle, it’s not the same.

I also loved iced tea with a ton of lemon and a bit of sugar. Something about the acidity of the lemon with the dryness of the tea…can’t explain it but it worked.

[Anonymous]

I would toast my own almonds in the oven and eat a few at a time when I needed any sustenance. I couldn't keep down any actual food.

[Anonymous]

Get a new doctor. That is misogynistic, abusive advice. The risk of heart defects from Zofran do not outweigh your need to function.

I’ve had debilitating nausea diagnosed as hyperemesis gravidarum in pregnancies now. The first one I waited until 9 weeks then took only Diclegis, and I ended up being suicidal, seriously considering abortion, and missing a lot of work. Second pregnancy I went on Bonjesta and Zofran at 6 weeks and coped much better. Don’t let your doctor do this to you.

[Anonymous]

Weird thing that helped me was a glass of milk or ice cream before bed. Prioritizing protein as much as possible. Snacking on nuts helped me so much more than saltines. Getting IV fluids might also help. You could talk to your doctor or go to a med-spa.

I also agree with finding a new doctor. Does the doctor understand how extreme your morning sickness is? Or if that's not possible for some reason, call a telehealth service like midwife RX.

[Anonymous]

For some reason old fashioned chocolate egg creams were the best for me. (Seltzer, half and half, chocolate syrup — the combo of carbonation and dairy was what worked). And jolly rancher green apple hard candies.

I knew someone that just had to get an IV and go on bed rest.

I wonder if there’s any psychological tricks you could use. Like if there’s a a particular time it comes on, if listening to music or watching TV would help. I find that can help with other kids of nausea.

[Anonymous]

Pickled ginger - might find jar in sushi aisle or Asian aisle at grocery store and they sell it on Amazon. helped me a ton. I ate a lot of it