Nausea and morning sickness during 1st trimester

"Pregnancy is a beautiful journey, but morning sickness is the turbulence that reminds us we're navigating the storm to welcome the calm of a new life."

TOPICS:

1) Morning sickness definition

2) Nausea and vomiting

3) Causes for nausea and vomiting

4) Mild :Controlling it with home remedies

5) Severe: need's hospitalization

6) support from family and partner

Morning sickness definition:

Morning sickness is generally experiencing nausea and vomiting during the early stages of pregnancy usually in the 1st trimesters. The symptoms may occur at any time of the day despite the term morning sickness.

This is consider normal during the pregnancy. It's intensity , duration can widely vary from women to women or even from one pregnancy to pregnancy. Severe and prolonged symptoms may require closer monitoring and follow ups during the pregnancy.

Nausea and vomiting:

Lets see the difference between nausea and vomiting:

Nausea is a sensation of discomfort or unease in the stomach, often accompanied with vomiting. The women may experience sweating, dizziness or increased salivation but never vomits.

Vomiting is also know as emesis in medical term, it is a forceful expulsion of stomach contents through mouth and sometimes through nose. It's a physiological response no need to get panic, stimulated due to irritation or unpleasant smells and gastrointestinal changes occurring during the pregnancy.

In medicine we call "HYPER EMESIS GRAVIDARUM " when excessive vomiting leading to severe weight loss >5% of the body weight, or women in the state of dehydration or women having severe electrolytes imbalances like sodium and potassium which makes the pregnant women to experience fatigue and weakness.

Causes for nausea and vomiting:

The exact causes for nausea and vomiting or morning sickness is not known yet. However, several factors are believed to contribute to these symptoms. We can explore it one by one:

Hormonal changes:

HCG plays an crucial role in the cause. whereas, other hormones like oestrogen also plays an significant role in it.

sensitivity to odors:

Many pregnant women experiences heightened sensitivity to smells, which can trigger the symptoms. Certain odors which are tolerable before the pregnancy, now they experience intolerable to the same odor during the pregnancy. So , the partners or husband or family members must support in cooking and other household chores.

Gastrointestinal changes:

Pregnancy causes some changes in GIT, which decreases the GI motility and relaxation of the smooth muscles in GI system, This changes contributes in triggering nausea and vomiting's in pregnancy.

Stress and Fatigue:

Emotional changes and fatigue can contribute to the severity of the symptoms. Hence adequate rest and stress management may help to alleviate the symptoms.

Multifactorial:

It said to be multifactorial like genetic, previously having any GI issues and others can play a major role in it.

Mild :Controlling it with home remedies:

Mild symptoms doesn't require any medications or hospitalization, which can be managed in home by taking some home remedies , staying well hydrated and by taking proper rest. Some of the natural methods to control the milder symptoms as follows:

Eat small, frequent meals:

It is highly recommended to have small frequent meals than taking a large single meal. This helps to prevent an empty stomach which contributes to nausea.

Avoid triggering foods and odors:

Identify and avoid foods and odors that triggers nausea.

Stay hydrated:

Staying hydrated is a key. Dehydration can worsen nausea, so take a sips of water, clear liquid broth, herbal tea through out the day.

Cold or Room temperature food:

sometimes, hot and warm foods can trigger the symptoms, consider taking food in a normal or slightly cold temperature.

Ginger:

Naturally ginger is having anti emetic or nauseating property, consider taking it as ginger tea, ginger candies etc.

Severe - need's hospitalization:

Some pregnant women can't relieve her symptoms by natural methods and they may have severe symptoms like dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, they must consult their doctors to get adequate treatment for their condition.

Your doctor advice you to admit in a hospital or prescribe medicines according to your symptoms and clinical condition.

support from family and partner:

Dealing with morning sickness can be physically and emotionally challenging, and having a support system can make a significant difference in the overall well being of the mother and the baby.

1) Educate yourself

2) Assist with household chores

3) Provide emotional support

4) Accompany to the appointments

5) Prepare nourishing meals

6) Keep hydration in check

7) Create peaceful environment

8) Celebrate milestones

9) Be flexible and patience