Alleviating Morning Sickness: What Worked for Me

Here I am barely pregnant with my second, merely surviving the nausea. I was excited to have that new baby in my arms already, but had what felt like forever to go! 

I have had so, so many conversations with other women who have struggled with pregnancy related nausea in any amount and one thing we all agree on is that it is just overwhelming to deal with. My first pregnancy it was horrible. There were days I just laid in bed and thought I was going to die because I could not keep anything down. There were nights where I crawled (not out of drama, but serious survival! ha) to the kitchen to find, once again, anything that I could possibly get any nutrients from. With my second pregnancy the nausea hit again with a vengeance and I landed in the ER, diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum. Essentially something that most doctors know little about how to help with. Unlike my first pregnancy, I took any meds offered to help in anyway. They worked for about a week, gave me terrible headaches and then I just felt worse off. It was a vicious cycle.

Between both pregnancies I tried nearly every "natural" remedy I could find, or that was offered to me. I went to Naturopaths, Chiropractors, and other alternative doctors to find help. I finally made it a serious matter of prayer, because I was struggling so intensely. And what I was led to really really REALLY helped. I do not assume that it will help every pregnant woman dealing with nausea, but I am sharing in hopes that somewhere along the way it will help other woman. I have previously shared what I did and to my delight have seen other mama's nausea relieved if not removed! As always this advice is not coming from a doctor, I am simply sharing what helped me.

So here is what I used, along with trying to eat as healthy as I could ( which wasn't very healthy because I survived off of corn chips and ramen noodles!).

1. Digestive Enzymes taken after I ate anything. My favorite brands were Multizyme from Standard Process, and Raw Enzymes for Women from Garden of Life. I seriously took these all day. And they changed my life. Previously I would eat and then hours later throw up, and it looked like I had just eaten. Gross, I know. Enzymes really were heaven sent.  I got both at good earth.

2. Diglycerized Liccorice Tablets by Enzymatic Therapy . These took the edge off of all nausea. It is calming to the stomach lining and intestinal tract. I would eat 2 tablets before any food came in my mouth, and occasionally eat one after a meal if I could tell the nausea was coming on.

3. Magnesium and B Vitamin Drink by Pure Essence Labs. I took this at night, just one scoop. After reading Mommypotomus post about morning sickness I gave magnesium a try, and It wasn't an instant fix, but over a few days I noticed a lot of relief. It also was really calming to my stress from the pregnancy.

4. Sea bands, used for sea sick passengers, or travel induced nausea. I wore these 24/7 because they really helped as well. I had tan lines from them, because I nearly never took them off! What sparked my interest was that I had an acupuncturist put little bandaid needles into my wrists to help with nausea. They stayed in for a week and helped, but I could hardly stand the thought of little needles constantly in my wrists, but hey I was desperate!

These lovely little things were in both wrists, eek!

Notice the lavender  sea bands, I even slept with them on!

5. Guided Meditation and prayer practices. Throughout my 9 months of pregnancy I dealt with more than just nausea. Anxiety and Depression were also added to my struggle. (You can read about that here. ) I could not recommend more the audio tracks found at The Birth Year website.  This was the track I used that really helped titled 'Creating Hypno-Anesthesia for Pain Relief'.  Along these same lines, I had just taken an online meditation course from Felice Austin over at Tree of Life Kundalini Yoga just prior to my pregnancy that taught me some amazing meditation techniques and practices that really assisted me in eliminating and lessening the struggles of morning sickness, and the depression and anxiety.

6. This article over at Birthologie that gave me insight into I just might have a sluggish liver, and gallbladder! After giving birth my second time around I began to have gall bladder issues that mimicked my pregnancy nausea.  I wrote about how I avoided getting my gallbladder removed and how I supported it nutritionally and energetically here. I am still on a path of healing and supporting these organs, but I do believe they were overloaded and blocked up during my pregnancy due to extra hormones, which brought on the nausea. This is what my doctor has come to believe as well. Too bad we couldn't of figured this out before the pregnancy! Hopefully next time around, after working to help my liver and gallbladder, It will be much easier from the get go!

7. Sunshine! I would bundle up and go lay out side in the sun in any sunshine I could get. The cold weather triggered my nausea, but I craved the warm sun light.  Just feeling its rays on my skin renewed my spirits just enough to make it through the day.  For some reason cold air made me sick, but  clean, warm, sunlit (not stuffy!) air left me feeling refreshed. Maybe its the case for you?

Here I am SO happy to have gotten a grip on the nausea, enough that I did my hair, smiled for a picture, and left the house! Oh and notice the tan lines from the Sea bands. Gotta love it. 

I sincerely hope the things I discovered helped me can help some mama through her pregnancy journey.  It can be so difficult, when that nausea is unrelenting, especially when in carries on into the second and third trimesters! I know, I've been there! If you are dealing with any level of morning sickness know that it does get better, and that there are many women who have been there and are praying for you. I do not go a day with out praying for women making there way through any struggles with pregnancy.  After my experience, I know there are answers out there to help alleviate and potentially remove pregnancy nausea. May you find the help you need.

Kylie