NAUSEA DURING PREGNANCY

Is it that your taste buds playing a trick on you?

How comes food taste different all of a sudden?

It is not so sudden after all; Congratulations, there may be a cookie in your oven and you recently had a positive pregnancy test or you are just a few weeks in or maybe you are even unsure whether you are pregnant or not though your menstrual periods are a few weeks late.

Nausea of pregnancy or morning sickness as is commonly referred is one of the early symptoms of pregnancy and yes, the nausea can linger on most of the day and night but usually starts in the morning for most women. Probably this is where the term ‘morning sickness’ was coined .

Not all pregnant women experience nausea of pregnancy but to tell you the truth 3 out of 4 pregnant women will experience it. The degree may differ from one woman to another and even from one pregnancy to another

What causes nausea during pregnancy?

No single cause has been established as yet but there are many theories as to the cause which is thought to be multifactorial and complicated. It is believed that it is caused by the pregnancy hormones which are meant to support the pregnancy. Human chorionic gonadotrophin (HSG) hormone is one of the big ones thought to cause nausea during pregnancy. HCG levels rise steadily from around week 8 of pregnancy; right at the onset of the second month of pregnancy . Other hormones include progesterone which also causes decline in gastric motility and relaxes the lower esophageal sphincter and thus food can regurgitate and lead to nausea. Estrogen is not left out either in the possible causes of nausea. Helicobacter pylori infection as well as psychosocial stress are also theorized to result in nausea during pregnancy

What are the risk factors for developing nausea and vomiting during pregnancy?

Genetic predisposition plays a role. If your sister(s) may experience nausea or if your mum had nausea when she was pregnant with you; you are likely to have nausea during pregnancy. Multiple gestation/twin pregnancy, molar pregnancy, super tasters, if you would normally have motion sickness or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)

How can you manage Nausea during pregnancy?

The good news is that nausea reduces as the gestational age of the pregnancy increases. Nausea during pregnancy peaks at around week 8 to week 12 after which its effect begin to wane off and much relief is experienced at week 16 when you are about 4 months pregnant. This means its not all a dull moment. When the symptoms still persist;

Here are some of the behavoural changes that can help reduce nausea during pregnancy

1.  Identify the foods that are palatable or tolerable and eat these; the aim is to try maintain your pre-pregnancy weight and not to increase or even think of eating for two.
2. Space out your meals such that if you initially had three meals in a day space them out to six to eight meals in a day. The idea is to have small but frequent meals so that at no time is our stomach empty or too full. Either of these two extremes worsen nausea during pregnancy are you would not want this to happen to you.
3.  Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Take water to keep hydrated; however, do not take the water immediately after meals to avoid what we have mentioned in number 3 above. Water helps to replenish that which you are losing when spitting saliva or if there is associated vomiting
4. Take some snacks immediately before bedtime if you eat earlier before bed-time and also very early in morning as you wake up before getting out of bed to carry out house duties or work related activities. This is because night time is long and the stomach may end up getting empty during this time. Again, you want to avoid an empty stomach!
5. Eat dry protein-rich non-fatty foods such as biscuits, nuts, crackers, crisps, cereals, dry bread etc. Disclaimer: some women may tolerate sweet foods while others may not; know what you can tolerate (point number 1)
6. Use of ginger has been shown to lessen the effects of nausea. You can add ginger to your tea or cook with foods or even ginger ale can be used. 
7. Lemon can be added to water and this is helpful to some women and enables them drink water that may not have been palatable
8. Brushing your teeth after meals and frequently washing out the mouth to remove food particles is helpful
9. Taking your prenatal vitamins is important for your unborn little human and our advise is that you take these vitamins with your bedtime snack and not in the morning
10. Avoid triggers to the nausea such as strong smells, odours or perfumes
11. Avoid noise or even excess light. The vomiting centre in the brain can be triggered by noise or too much light. Be it noise from the TV sets or radio stations. You can use curtains or blinds that do not allow too much natural light
12. Avoid spicy and fatty foods. These ones can trigger nausea. Foods or ingredients such as onions with a lot of smell may not be your best friend at this time of the year and you can do away with these if they cause you any trouble. Refer back to point number 1.
13. You may talk to your doctor about avoiding iron supplements during this time because some women find these supplements to have a funny taste which may worsen the nausea effects
14. Are there medications that can be used to lessen the nausea effect? Yes, there are. Talk to your doctor about these.

At Nyalife Women’s Health Clinic we give you personalized professional care and want to walk the motherhood journey and take the pregnancy steps with you. Meet our friendly staff who will treat you with respect and dignity in the most convenient way.

We are delighted for you even as you start motherhood with its ups and downs; overall the “Ups” outnumber the “Downs” in many pregnancies. Call us on our dedicated Nyalife Women’s Health Clinic Line: 0746516514 or book with us at www.nyalifewomensclinic.com