Morning sickness 6-28-11

The first 4 weeks of pregnancy. I thought I had it licked. I couldn't figure what all of the fuss was about being pregnant. Just women wanting sympathy... like making their husbands make a midnight run for hot fudge cake and pickles. But then, the weekend I got back from a conference in Baltimore, it hit me. Yargh! So this is morning sickness.

At my 6 weeks, my RE showed me this article from 2010 New England Journal of Medicine, listing the various treatments for pregnancy nausea. It's actually a summary of an earlier, more thorough Cochrane Review, but the NEJM article is much easier to use. First recommendation was B6 at a certain dose 3 times a day. Threw that up. Second suggestion was ginger. Ooo, disgusting eructations (yep, that's a nasty burp) and threw that up. Third recommendation was Unisom, of all of the crazy things. Did okay with some, but yep I threw many of them up. Plus, it's Unisom. It's a SLEEP medication. Can't exactly take it before I go to work. And it makes me groggy. Talk to the hand! Another suggestion I've read is that you should never let yourself have an empty stomach. So, explain this to me: how do you keep your stomach from getting empty if you're not able to keep anything on your stomach?

So, I was pretty green the next time I went to the RE. I was sipping water, and the nurse said that the doctor didn't want me to have a full bladder. Nope, not an issue here. The ultrasound. I heard Boop's heart beat for the very first time. It really puts things into perspective. It was racing--the ultrasound print out said 178 beats per minute (which is a bit fast). Boop is pretty fantastic and BIG as in my Dad's side of the family. Hopefully, big and healthy! It was a momentary distraction for the constant nausea and the debate about whether and when to run to the bath--speaking of which, I just lost my last Unisom, just as an FYI--room. Afterwards, in the consultation room, the RE wrote "hyperemesis gravidarum" on my clinic chart, which means horrible, horrible morning sickness! He wrote me a script for Zofran. It's one of those unknown drugs as to the impact on pregnancy, but it helps me make it through the day. I'm somewhat functional at work, if not a little agitated from the meds. It is a med used for chemo patients.

I remember telling my primary care MD, "You know, at least this gives me a little bit of empathy for what chemo patients go through." She responded, "But at least they TREAT those people. They don't do anything for pregnant women. That's what really gets me!!" It's true: pharmaceutical companies do not want to touch pregnant women with a 10 foot pole. In Canada, they have a version of Unisom that has a longer, sustained dose with less of the sleepy side-effects, but they won't even put it on the market in the US.

I was a bit disheartened to read more about hyperemesis gravidarum. For most women, morning sickness usually wraps up by 14 wks., for those with HG, it is more like 20 wks, if it resolves at all! Keep your fingers crossed for 14 wks.