Is morning sickness universal? And if so how on earth did the human race survive!

[PeelingmyselfofftheCeiling]

The other day as i was contemplating the toilet bowl for the zillionth time I found myself wondering whether women all over the world get MS?

As annoying as it is for me to puke up my pasta, it's not really going to do me or my bump any harm, as i can waddle down to my overstocked fridge and make myself another snack. But if I was living in sub-Saharan Africa and that was the ONLY nutrition I was likely to get all day, would my body hold on to it, or still end up vomiting?

Have there been centuries of Inuit women dry-heaving at the thought of another meal of whale blubber (if so, I really feel for them!)? Do Japanese women retch over a breakfast of pickled things and raw fish? Do Mexican women go off spice?

I read that mango is an Indian cure for MS, so presumably it is prevalent there, because I wondered if it's more a western phenomenon. Anyone know?

True Peeling

Quick count of women I know directly = 7.

Then there's all the friends of workmates, none of whom have come close to my level of sickness (5 times a day for 10 weeks, and still occasionally)

In fact my boss was ever so sympathetic when he heard how ill I was and confided that his wife had been "very bad" with her first two... she felt sick all day for weeks!!! He was shocked to find that I could beat that with my actually being sick for weeks...(not that I'm putting down those feeling sick - I know that's horrible too!)

This is a paragraph about one of the major bits of research on it:

"Drs. Samuel M. Flaxman and Paul W. Sherman in their classic article ?Morning Sickness: A Mechanism for Protecting Mother and Embryo,? explained how nausea and vomiting during the first trimester of pregnancy cause pregnant women to physically expel and subsequently avoid foods that cause harm to mother and infant.7 Approximately two-thirds of women experience nausea or vomiting during early pregnancy. Women who develop morning sickness have less risk of miscarriages and a better chance for survival of their infants. Their research revealed that aversions were greatest to meats, fish, poultry, and eggs. In an analysis of 20 traditional societies in which morning sickness has been observed and seven in which it has never been observed, they found the latter were significantly less likely to have animal products as a dietary staple and significantly more likely to have only plants (primarily corn) as staples. Reducing the intake of toxic chemicals found in high concentrations in animal products would be one of the greatest benefits from morning sickness. "

My mum never got morning sickness with me or my brother. I've always heard that it's hereditary, so I've been most put out my how sick I've been!!!

interesting MainlyMaynie, thanks.

What to Expect When You're Expecting told me that the majority of pg women will not actually vomit even once while pg - which seems to fit with the stat above about 2/3 of women having nausea and/or vomiting.
I had a bit of nausea but didn't vomit.

i wonder that.

I am now 22 weeks and still sick most days & still on sick tablets, cause i cant get off them... if i try i end up really really sick again

I had HG and was in hospital... as i quite simply couldnt keep anything down, and 72hours of nothing at all meant i was very dehydrated....
even on max dose of sick tabs ( which were hard often impossible to keep down too) i was still very very sick, and again made it to 40 hours with NOTHING

I honeslty think if i were a cave lady or in a desert, or away from medical help that i WOULD have died. It was awful and i felt like i was going to die

(my mum was never sick at all wither either of her pregnancies)

an interestingly the thing i have been averse to for the longest is water!

i had a couple of months where every drink made me sick (other 1 specific drink that changed almost daily) but water... ewww .... cant even think about it!

also spaghetti, and breakfast cereal.....

I dont think there is a single food from my normal diet that I havent vomitted while pg though!

I can never square the supposed rarity of HG with the number of people I've known in RL that have had it.

I have been nauseous and occasionally sick with all my pregnancies. It is miserable.

I usually find something i am able to eat or even appeals, it changes with every pregnancy though!

In one pregnancy i also had no idea i was pregnant until 7 weeks or so. i was suspicious as i became sick. Bang on when i normally get sick. So i doubt very much it is a psychosomatic thing.

my sickness was NOT in my mind...

OH at one point even suggested i was being sick because i knew i was pregnant..... Um.... NO i hated it. I could not control it... and tried EVERYTHING & more.... medicine and other alternative rememdies. (Im a great believe in alternative medicines, i BELIEVE they work, and many time they do for me, but not with my HG..... although accuopuncture did help. I believed i would be feeling better imminantly all the time... but it didnt happen

I had NO IDEA that being pregnant could make me so ill.... i know nobody in RL who has been as ill as i have.... i couldnt have thought it would be like this... cause i had no idea it even could be.

I didnt move out of bed for 7 weeks (other than dr / midwife appts) I felt as worse as it is possible to feel, constantly, all the time for 7 weeks.
I was signed off for 10 weeks (& then my job finished so i didnt need to be signed off since) OH had to sleep in other room because him turing over was enough motion to start my vomitting.... i basically had to be completely still all the time to have any chance to not be sick...

It was horrendous and i KNOW it was not in my mind... there was nothing i could do about it... and (as my job was finishing) I was DESPERATE to make it back for my last few weeks / days. Trust me if i could have gone in i would... many days i didnt even get as far as downstairs.... and my 1st trip to a supermarket this year wasnt until March!

I vomitted so much i would give myself nose bleeds, and even made myself bleed down there... not to mention the blood i vomitted daily... if there was anything i could do to be better i did it. I would spend HOURs 'dealing' with being sick.... would be sick... hover near toilet... be brave enough to walk the 4 footsteps back to my bed (away from loo, but i sleep right next to door to en-suite) very often i couldnt get as far as lieing down without doing back to loo to "vomit air"... sometimes id even get to lie down for a few mins... repeat above constantly for hours....
there were times when i was vomiting with such force OH wanted to call an ambulence as he honetly thought i would vomit my insides out or something.

I had NO control over it... and am very worried about ever getting pg again... NO WAY could i care for a baby in that state

As for the food, I think i eat a very very very healthy diet... pretty much every thing cooked from scratch (even bread) all the time, Im not vegetarian anymore, but i used to be, and still eat many meals that are meat free, + I only buy top quality meat. Before being PG i did not eat any junk at all, i was very very hot in reading labels and only eating proper foods, that might be found in my kitchen.... no junk / chemicals / crap, especially once i knew we were going to try for a baby!

22 weeks in and still being sick, though not nearly as bad as in the 1st trimester and i dont feel like death anymore

lots of sympathy Nannyl. It's hellish.
Apparently they used to tell women not only that it was all in the mind, but that it was caused by women's ambivalence about the baby . Bastards.

Did the sybil?! That is bloody awful.

Poor you nanny, it really is the most dreadful thing.

I worry about it before i am preg but you just forget how terrible it is...Mother nature is cruel.

Hasn't stopped me doing it 7 times though...am no where near as bad as some though and am thankful for that.

BART...

I am sorry to announce you that you have now met a french woman suffering for morning sickness...

Lost over a stone in the first 12 weeks...

It wasn't fun at all!