Managing nausea in the first trimester of pregnancy |Zyla Health
Pregnancy and childbirth is life-changing experience in every woman’s life. Your whole body undergoes a lot of changes, in order to make space and nurture the new precious life that is being formed.
Pregnancy also comes with a whole host of information being thrown at you about these changes. There is the advice your doctor gives you, the well-meaning advice of family and friends and of course, the internet searches that turn up a million results.
We hope to address one such change that most women experience in the first trimester — nausea and vomiting.
It is easy to feel overwhelmed and confused, with all of the information available so we have worked to make it easy for you to focus on the important aspects of what to understand and how to better manage this condition…
What exactly is nausea?
Nausea refers to the uneasiness that you feel, that often accompanies the urge to vomit. However, nausea doesn’t always lead to vomiting.
Nausea and vomiting are often termed “morning sickness”. But the catch here is that these symptoms do not necessarily happen in the morning and can hit you at any time of the day or night!
The exact cause of morning sickness is unknown but there are a few mechanisms that are thought to be the cause of this symptom:
- An increase in the levels of estrogen and progesterone could be the cause of morning sickness. Progesterone is the hormone that is responsible for relaxing the muscles of the uterus and can also relax the muscles of the digestive tract, making it more prone to nausea and vomiting.
- Human chorionic gonadotropin or hCG is the hormone produced by the placenta that could also cause morning sickness, by increasing the levels of estrogen.
- Evolutionary protection: It is also believed that morning sickness could provide protection to the baby against any ingested toxins.
Did you know?
Some degree of nausea with or without vomiting occurs in up to 90% of pregnancies. In a prospective study including almost 800 women, 57% reported nausea and 27% reported both nausea and vomiting by eight weeks of pregnancy!
Factors that can increase your chances of experiencing nausea
All this being said, not all women experience nausea. Every woman’s pregnancy is unique. Some only experience moments of nausea, some women have this round the clock and a few others, in frequent intervals.
Here are a few of the many factors that can increase your chances to experience nausea:
- Sensitive stomach: If you are someone who experiences motion sickness, you could be more prone to morning sickness. In such cases, your brain might be more sensitive to signals from your digestive tract and the increased levels of progesterone and estrogen.
- A family history of morning sickness: Some research suggests that family history could play a role in morning sickness.
- First pregnancy: Your body could be less prepared for the surge of hormones and therefore it can be more prone to morning sickness.
- Stress: Emotional stress can trigger your digestive tract.
- Twin pregnancy: Women with twin pregnancies have higher levels of hCG which can increase their morning sickness.
Did you know?
The severe form of morning sickness is called hyperemesis gravidarum.
What can you do to reduce your nausea at home?
While there is no complete miracle cure for this quite predictable symptom, we do have a few remedies that can help you with managing this effectively:
- Destressing — Some women find taking a walk, doing prenatal yoga or even meditation quite relaxing. Consult your doctor on the exercises that you can do during this time.
- One activity at a time — Make sure that you take your time while doing chores. Pushing yourself to do things quickly and then resting, will only worsen nausea.
- Eating at regular intervals — Not eating for long intervals can increase nausea. Try having multiple small meals throughout the day.
- Vitamin B6 — This vitamin has been shown to reduce nausea in women. Before starting out on any supplement do consult your doctor. Some natural sources include chickpeas, potatoes and other starchy vegetables.
- Prenatal vitamins — Do talk to your doctor about taking your other prenatal vitamins at bedtime. Iron, in most of these supplements, can increase nausea.
- Avoiding certain foods — Any spicy or sweet, fatty or even oily foods make you feel nauseous so avoid these. Try to avoid having a drink while eating. Also, keep your diet healthy with protein-rich food.
- Staying away from strong smells — Now this can be your favourite lotion or perfume or even favourite ghar ka khana. Furthermore, some detergents and cleaning agents tend to have strong pungent odours. Steer clear of them!
- Aromatherapy — Some smells like that of lemon, orange and mint leaves can help manage nausea better. Try to dab some of these oils on a light cloth and you can use them from time to time.
Home remedies that help in reducing morning sickness
It’s also possible to manage your nausea with a few minor adjustments in your diet. Here are some foods that help manage nausea:
- Fresh ginger — Most women have found ginger to help with nausea either in the form of ginger tea, fresh ginger ale or even simply chewing fresh ginger.
- Amla- Our most common wonder fruit — amla. It has been known to reduce nausea in pregnancy. This has been tested and proven in Ayurveda.
- Easy to digest — Eating simple and easy to digest meals like rice dal, oats, khichdi and many bland foods helps in reducing nausea.
- Fruits and veggies — Try having fruits and vegetables that are high in water content like watermelons, etc
- Citrus food — Like smelling citrus helps, many women find sucking on a lemon or eating an orange can relieve nausea.
- Quick snacks — Always have a go-to stash of healthy snacks like dry fruits, nuts, puffed rice, makhanas etc.
- Fluids — Be it your regular intake of 10–12 glasses of water or even your favourite lemonade, make sure not to gulp it down but take in little sips from time to time.
- Cold foods — Try including options such as yoghurt, chilled fruits and salads. Hot foods sometimes have a chance of making your nausea worse
- Peppermint — Many women have stood by peppermint tea to be their magic potion to manage nausea. Some like even chewing the leaves or having them like candies.
This list can be quite tiring because of the fact that the remedies that work for every expecting mother can be different.
Experiment with what works for you, but always make sure to have a quick word with your treating doctor before you try out anything new.
Though nausea is one of the most common symptoms of pregnancy there are quite a few mothers out there who DO NOT experience this. Well if you fall into that group, you’ve most definitely hit the jackpot.
But remember nausea does not necessarily happen only in the first trimester of pregnancy. There are chances that it might say “Hello” later.
Did you Know?
A randomized clinical trial with 797 pregnant women found that nausea and vomiting in the first trimester were associated with a reduced risk of pregnancy loss.
Important things to keep an eye out for!
While it is normal to experience these symptoms, there are a couple of important things to keep an eye on. In case of any of these symptoms, do contact your consulting doctor right away:
- Some of you might experience weight loss with all this nausea and even vomiting. You should always consult your doctor, in case of weight loss as it may require medical intervention.
- In case you see any change in the colour of your urine i.e. dark coloured urine or if you have had a history of Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), make sure to hydrate yourself well.
- If your body is not able to handle either food or even fluids, do consult your doctor as this can be a severe case of nausea that needs to be monitored.
- Vomiting in regular intervals that you even notice blood in your vomit.
- Pain in your abdomen or pelvic region
If you are a newly expecting mother, nausea can be quite intense as your body has not prepared for such an event and also the increase in the hormones can take you on a roller coaster ride.
It is perfectly normal to feel like you need additional support to help you through this.
There are many support groups out there to guide you through this and you should not hesitate to reach out if you feel the need to.
Your best caregiver can be your mother, an elder sister, a doula or even your husband/partner.
Pregnancy is an unexpected journey of surprises, highs and lows but it is also a truly humbling experience. As you grow your family, make that transition into parenthood an amazing one.
You can also download the Zyla app to enrol yourself for our Ova pentacare pregnancy program. At Zyla, we have doctors, nutritionists, physiotherapists and psychologists providing you personalised care and support during this time.
Stay strong! Stay healthy!
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