Drugs, ginger and acupuncture 'best for morning sickness'

"Hundreds of thousands of pregnant women with morning sickness should be given drugs to ease their symptoms," the Daily Mirror reports. The recommendation comes from a set of new guidelines that also say ginger and acupuncture can play a useful role in treating nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, better known as morning sickness. Health professionals prefer to call it nausea and vomiting in pregnancy as it can occur at any time, not just in the morning. The new guidelines (PDF, 545kb) were produced by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, a UK professional body of clinicians that seeks to improve healthcare for women. Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy is very common in early pregnancy, affecting the majority of women in their first trimester. It's unpleasant, but doesn't place the pregnancy at any increased risk and usually clears up by weeks 16 to 20 of pregnancy. Hyperemesis gravidarum The guidelines also discuss hyperemesis gravidarum, where women experience excessive nausea and vomiting. They might be sick many times a day – some women report being sick up to 50 times a day – and be unable to keep food or drink down. This is far less common than nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, affecting around 1 in every 100 women. The Duchess of Cambridge, née Kate Middleton, reportedly suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum during her first pregnancy. What are the main recommendations? The main recommendations of t...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medication Pregnancy/child QA articles Source Type: news