MORNING SICKNESS DURING PREGNANCY

Pregnancy is a special period in a woman’s life when she is nurturing a new life in her body. However, often this period is filled with backaches, vomiting,  nausea and other morning sickness symptoms. Almost 50 to 90 percent of women suffer from morning sickness during pregnancy. There are actually only a fortunate few who sail through this period without experiencing any of these symptoms.

What is Morning Sickness???

The term “morning sickness” is often considered to be a misnomer as most women suffer from its symptoms whole day. Vomiting and nausea are considered to be a ritual for those suffering from morning sickness. However, the good news is that you are not alone in this suffering and there are some ways to overcome these symptoms.

Cause Of Morning Sickness

Although the exact causes are hugely unknown, some of the commonly associated causes of the morning sickness can be stated as follows:

·         Vomiting and nausea is most commonly found when there is a short interval of time between different pregnancies.

·         There has also been found a link between genetic susceptibility and severity of morning sickness for the expecting mother.

·         Conditions in which there are high pregnancy hormone levels, there is a greater incidence of vomiting and nausea than those with a lower pregnancy hormone level. 

·         Excess stomach acids may be a result of an increase in the progesterone hormone.

·         The main cause of morning sickness is the increase in HCG or Human Chorionic Gonadonopin. This keeps on increasing till the 12^th week after which the symptoms start decreasing in direct relation to the HCG.

Since morning sickness can be caused at any point of the day, it can prove to be dampener for a pregnant woman. 

Tips To Overcome Morning Sickness

There is no specific treatment that is effective on all women. However, though almost every woman suffers from morning sickness during pregnancy, there are some remedial measures that can be taken to overcome these symptoms. These can be illustrated as follows:

·         Avoid all kinds of fatty and fried foods that trigger these symptoms.

·         Keep your body hydrated by regularly drinking fluids throughout the day.

·         It makes the body feel better if you eat 4-5 small meals throughout the day instead of eating heavier meals three times a day.

·         Ginger has been a part of treating morning symptoms since time immemorial. An expectant mother can take ginger ale or some ginger tablets to her feel better.

·         Eating and chewing a peppermint candy helps in beating the vomiting feeling.

·         Having a relaxing environment around you would help in assuaging these troublesome symptoms to a large extent such as smelling a peppermint essential oil, listening to a soothing music, and others.

·         Use acupressure wrist- bands that can be bought from any medical store to further alleviate any discomfort caused due to these symptoms.

Also, there are some drugs that are prescribed to expecting mothers suffering from severe morning sickness during pregnancy by their physicians. These are antiemetic drugs such as Zofran and Reglan, phenothiazines such as promethazine, anti- histamines, and even steroids in some cases.

Thus, If you just relax and keep your focus on what lies at the other side of pregnancy for you, that is your little bundle of joy, you will be able to cope these symptoms easily. The above given tips would further help in taking the edge off the discomfort caused by all the vomiting and nausea you have to suffer. After all, morning sickness during pregnancy is extremely common and mostly indicative of a healthy pregnancy.

Summary

Morning sickness during pregnancy is experienced by almost all expecting mothers and could be kept at bay by following just some precautionary measures.