Friday, May 13, 2011

Morning Sickness and Probiotics

Juliana sent me this entry about morning sickness and probiotics:

Like Manna from Heaven

She writes:

"ok so i found a sort of cure for "all-day-sickness" whilst being prego. yes, get excited! it's called PROBIOTICS. I went from being curled up in the fetal position to walking around and functioning...i am still sick all the time, but i don't want to constantly vomit. everyone, please tell anyone you know who has morning sickness about this, because it is not advertised anywhere! i found a few little spots here and there on the internet talking about it, but nothing big like the ginger craze. anyway, i have never heard any woman say ginger helped their upset stomach. that doesn't mean don't try it--by all means, try anything! i do also have ginger pills but haven't noticed a difference like the probiotics."
(I'm so glad I'm not the only one out there who finds ginger utterly useless!!!)

I found this very exciting! Anyone else know any more on this one?

I have found one other reference to this on helpher.org - here it is. Look down to the last comment:

"Also, have you heard anything about the probiotics helping morning sickness? There are some women who have taken Beeyoutiful brand Tummy Tuneup Originol Blend Probiotics and it has helped or taken away extreme Morning Sickness. Beeyoutiful brand is the same thing as Gr8dopholis in my protocol. Supposudly the women took the capsules EVERY time they ate, 6-8 times a day. Another woman on http://www.welltellme.com forum said she took 4-5 probiotic capsules 4+ times a day and thats what helped her. So thats why I added the specific probiotic blend to my protocol. I read that it seems to help some women, the probiotics, but it has to be MASSIVE amounts. Thats partly why added all the kefir. Kefir has Trillions of CFU's per Millimeter and much more than capsules can ever give you"
 Thoughts, ladies? Worth a try, for sure!

13 comments:

  1. I tried them with no success. I didn't try one of those brands, but I used to take probiotics every day with my other meds anyway, even before I was pregnant. I continued in my early pregnancy and then finally gave them up when I reduced the number of pills overall to help.

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  2. Ack, Jen!! No fair destroying my fantasy of "I've found something that might help!" LOL!!!

    I figure that mega-dosing with probiotics is something that might help some women, and it's definitely worth a try (with no danger of side-effects). I too took probiotics last time, with no noticeable benefit, but I was not mega-dosing like these women were (such as 4 capsules 4-5x/day). I've added it to my protocol, so it's worth a try.... I wish it was easier to figure this beast out!!! :)

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  3. I wonder if it might be that the women with hyperemesis gravidarum helicobactor pylori in their stomach are taking them and they are out-competing the H. pylori? I've read of cases where HG cleared up after treatment with antibiotics which suggests an infection of some sort. Being sick a lot may upset the stomach and gut flora and not being able to keep food down is bound to change the ratio of good and bad bugs you'd think. Maybe that's why it works for some and not others. Thanks for posting. I don't have H. pylori but ruling it out is suggested in the medical protocol on the Help Her website.

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  4. My comment got garbled. Some people have Helictobactor pylori in their stomach, the bug that causes ulcers, and it has a higher incidence in women with hyperemesis gravidarum. I was suggesting the probiotics may have helped those women.

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  5. Yes, I did have passing thoughts along those lines!!! Definitely a good thought for H. pylori women, maybe others for whom gut issues are a factor? (Leaky gut syndrome, food allergies, etc.) Unfortunately, H. Pylori is the only known causative factor (right???), so it's hard to tell. But again, it's worth a try!!! Anything is worth a try!! :)

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  6. I take probiotics now, but there is no way I could have taken them while HGing. I am certain they have a place in prep and preventative treatment, but once you do down the hole, I'm not sure how much they help.

    For the record, I'm a huge fan of New Chapter everything. Both their multivitamin (ONE daily) and their probiotics help me a lot. But I couldn't have taken either with the HG.

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  7. KUKO - You are absolutely right. Almost anything naturopathic in HG land has to be a pre-HG preventative/prep thing, not something that is useful once one is sliding into the hole. I had an ENORMOUS list of anti-emetic herbs that I started taking last time, but once I got good and sick (even though it didn't progress into HG), I had to stop taking everything. No dice.

    Glad to have the New Chapter recommendation - I heard you mention them in an earlier post; I think I'll stick with them!!

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  10. I was sick with morning sickness for two weeks. I also had very bad gas, so for the sake of my family, I started drinking keifer and other fortified juice with probiotics.
    My morning sickness is completely gone! I went from not being able to do anything with all the nausea I had, even lost 2lbs in two weeks to absolutely no nausea.

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    1. Sharon, thank you so much for sharing your story! I am so excited to hear that probiotics worked for you. I have made food-based probiotics a part of my daily regimen - kefir, yogurt, raw sauerkraut, and raw pickles. I'd also like to add a pill-based probiotic when I'm able.

      I have heard some women say that probiotics really helped with pregnancy nausea, and some women say that they helped not at all. This kind of goes back to my growing theory that NVP/HG has multiple causative pathways. For some of us, it's probably purely gut-health based (gut dysbiosis, H. pylori infection, etc.) and I would guess that those are the women who will find probiotics the most helpful. But all of us can use the help from improved gut health, even when it doesn't help with NVP.

      Thank you for dropping by, and I apologize for the long wait time in my reply!

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    1. I apologize for deleting this comment, but it looked like spam. Many apologies if this was a legitimate post. :)

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