Tired of feeling like crap all the time, I've decided to get more assertive than ginger and small meals for my all-day sickness. The next two steps in my arsenal? Vitamin B6 and an antacid.
Thinking back, I remember that we prescribed Vitamin B6 and a drug called Unisom back at Iowa for morning sickness all the time, and I was interested to read this article and this one, which quote the head of OB-GYN at UI in recommending it. The dosage the doctor recommends is 75 mg of Vitamin B6 a day, split into three doses. I was able to get 50, 50-mg tablets for $2.99 at Whole Foods (meaning you could probably get more for less just about anywhere else, but that's where we were), so if I split those tablets I should be able to get over a month's worth of dosages out of it--and by that time, I should be almost 12 weeks, and hopefully feeling better.
Apparently, the effectiveness of the B6 is increased by adding the over-the-counter sleep medication called Unisom (which is an antihistamine, much like Benadryl). The combination used to be available in an over-the-counter morning sickness aid called Bendectine, which faced some lawsuits alleging it caused birth defects. According to doctors at UI and Johns Hopkins quoted in the article above, the lawsuits were overturned, and the drug's ingredients are considered safe to be taken together in early pregnancy, though Bendectine is no longer available as such.
At this point, I think I'm going to start with Vitamin B6 and an antacid, and go from there. I'm not opposed to adding the Unisom if my symptoms don't get better, but when it comes to medications--even over-the-counter ones, especially during pregnancy--I like to start low and slow. As for the antacid--a big part of my symptoms involves heartburn, apparently due to the relaxing effects of the hormone progesterone on my esophageal sphincter. I've suffered with heartburn and various gastritises throughout my life as well, including being diagnosed with a weak esophageal sphincter back in my teens, so I'm not at all surprised that it's resurging right now. I've also been on a variety of courses of daily acid-suppressing medications, including Zantac as a teenager and most recently, Aciphex just before we got married last summer. Based on my past experience, it seems like acid production might again be at the core of my stomach problems--they get progressively worse during the day, I get very nauseated by nighttime, and then I wake up in the morning not at all nauseous, but with a lingering achy soreness in my stomach, probably a result of being exposed to so much acid throughout the day and the night.
So what to do? I could pop Tums like crazy, like a lot of pregnant women do, but I feel like that really more treats the symptoms (neutralizing the acid once the problem develops) rather than the problem (shutting off some of the acid production at the source), and since they're calcium-based, can also lead in extreme cases to an electrolyte imbalance. Since I've had really good luck treating my past stomach problems with acid inhibitors, I think I'm going to give that a try. Ranitidine (Zantac) is the one I have on hand right now, and so I'm going to start with that once or twice a day.
There aren't a ton of studies on acid-suppressing drugs during pregnancy, but there are a few, and they appear to be very safe. As I've said before, I think every pregnant woman needs to educate herself about the choices facing her, and make ones she feels she can live with. These are mine.
Thinking back, I remember that we prescribed Vitamin B6 and a drug called Unisom back at Iowa for morning sickness all the time, and I was interested to read this article and this one, which quote the head of OB-GYN at UI in recommending it. The dosage the doctor recommends is 75 mg of Vitamin B6 a day, split into three doses. I was able to get 50, 50-mg tablets for $2.99 at Whole Foods (meaning you could probably get more for less just about anywhere else, but that's where we were), so if I split those tablets I should be able to get over a month's worth of dosages out of it--and by that time, I should be almost 12 weeks, and hopefully feeling better.
Apparently, the effectiveness of the B6 is increased by adding the over-the-counter sleep medication called Unisom (which is an antihistamine, much like Benadryl). The combination used to be available in an over-the-counter morning sickness aid called Bendectine, which faced some lawsuits alleging it caused birth defects. According to doctors at UI and Johns Hopkins quoted in the article above, the lawsuits were overturned, and the drug's ingredients are considered safe to be taken together in early pregnancy, though Bendectine is no longer available as such.
At this point, I think I'm going to start with Vitamin B6 and an antacid, and go from there. I'm not opposed to adding the Unisom if my symptoms don't get better, but when it comes to medications--even over-the-counter ones, especially during pregnancy--I like to start low and slow. As for the antacid--a big part of my symptoms involves heartburn, apparently due to the relaxing effects of the hormone progesterone on my esophageal sphincter. I've suffered with heartburn and various gastritises throughout my life as well, including being diagnosed with a weak esophageal sphincter back in my teens, so I'm not at all surprised that it's resurging right now. I've also been on a variety of courses of daily acid-suppressing medications, including Zantac as a teenager and most recently, Aciphex just before we got married last summer. Based on my past experience, it seems like acid production might again be at the core of my stomach problems--they get progressively worse during the day, I get very nauseated by nighttime, and then I wake up in the morning not at all nauseous, but with a lingering achy soreness in my stomach, probably a result of being exposed to so much acid throughout the day and the night.
So what to do? I could pop Tums like crazy, like a lot of pregnant women do, but I feel like that really more treats the symptoms (neutralizing the acid once the problem develops) rather than the problem (shutting off some of the acid production at the source), and since they're calcium-based, can also lead in extreme cases to an electrolyte imbalance. Since I've had really good luck treating my past stomach problems with acid inhibitors, I think I'm going to give that a try. Ranitidine (Zantac) is the one I have on hand right now, and so I'm going to start with that once or twice a day.
There aren't a ton of studies on acid-suppressing drugs during pregnancy, but there are a few, and they appear to be very safe. As I've said before, I think every pregnant woman needs to educate herself about the choices facing her, and make ones she feels she can live with. These are mine.
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