While morning sickness can make you feel like death, it is generally only in rare and serious enduring cases of morning sickness that medication is deemed necessary.

As many of the medications usually used to control nausea are not suitable for pregnant women in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, it’s extremely important that morning sickness sufferers never become tempted to self-medicate. If you feel your particular situation warrants medication to control your morning sickness symptoms, talk to your GP and get advice about the use of medication.

Suitable morning sickness medications include:

• Antihistamines – these are one group of medications that can be prescribed by doctors to combat the symptoms of severe morning sickness, although they often cause drowsiness.
• Maxalon – also known as Reglan, this anti-nausea drug can be prescribed for severe cases of morning sickness. Maxalon can cause drowsiness, diarrhoea, dizziness, headaches and may increase the body’s production of prolactin (the hormone that is involved in breast milk production).
• Zofran – this anti-nausea drug must be prescribed by your doctor. Possible side effects include headaches, flushing, stomach cramps and constipation or diarrhoea.

Over the counter medicines that can help morning sickness symptoms include:

• Vitamin B6 – 25 – 50mg three times daily.
• Ginger – 250mg four times daily.

TIP!

There is evidence that if you have suffered from severe morning sickness in previous pregnancies, there are benefits from taking anti-nausea medication before symptoms appear as a preventative measure. Early treatment of morning sickness can prevent your symptoms from worsening but before you take any medications for morning sickness, it is important to discuss your options thoroughly with your doctor.