Vitamin B6 to treat morning sickness

[toomanydinosaurs]

I've been suffering all day nausea for over a week now and I'm already going out of my mind. I don't vomit that much but I think the nausea is keeping me from drinking and eating properly. I feel very weak and I'm not able to look after my son properly. I don't think I can afford to feel like this for weeks on end as I did the first time. I've done a little research online about the use of B6 to treat morning sickness and it looks promising. My question is do I need to get a GP to prescribe this or can I just buy it from a shop? Also, curious to find out if anyone is taking this and if it's working to keep the nausea at bay. Thanks in advance!

It worked for me, although I found out about it by accident. Noticed that the days I managed to force myself to eat marmite on toast for breakfast I felt much better than on days when I had something else or nothing at all. Apparently marmite is rich in vit B6, but I suppose this would only work if you like Marmite.

I ate B6 rich foods - eggs, marmite and brown rice. If I had brown rice for dinner with very little protein (but protein at breakfast/lunch), I'd feel much better the next day.

I took it, It seemed to help, but not a cure. I just bought mine in a shop.
GP likely to tell you you can't have it at all, ime.
You may need to undertake independent research online re quantities (I think I had about 50mcg?), but use your head, it is (like anything) dangerous in excess quantities.

Thanks everyone for your input. I wish I could eat the foods you mention Iggly, but the thought of all foods makes me heave. I have done a little research it seems that 75mg per day in 25mg doses is the recommended dose.
Why won't GPs prescribe this if it's considered relatively safe in the recommended doses?

Not eating will make things worse, well it did me. I used to have crackers by the bed and as soon as I woke up, I'd eat a couple then wait for the sick feeling to pass. I'd basically eat little and often as an empty stomach would make me feel dreadful. I'd carry a Tupperware box around with nuts and small bits of cheese to nibble too. I also ate 5 small meals a day (egg at home, mid morning, later lunch, mid afternoon, early evening then dinner). apples were a godsend for snacking too.
Another breakfast was a tiny bowl of natural yoghurt and hazelnuts, to see me through until the midmorning snack of maccy d egg muffin

I agree with Iggly, sadly not eating does make it worse, even though I know the thought of food can be utterly repulsive. I randomly had a conversation about morning sickness with my osteopath who is interested in nutritional therapy and he'd read that drops in blood sugar can have a real (and not good) effect on morning sickness. The moment he said that I realised that even when I was starting to get better after months of sickness, my danger time was always about 4pm, which is just when I would normally fancy a snack anyway.

I've been taking B6 along with antiemetics and it feels as though it is making a difference; when I ran out I didn't buy any more, but within a week or so I started to feel more nauseous again. I honestly don't care whether it is purely psychosomatic - if it seems to work, that's fine by me!

I do try to eat but even when I do I feel like I'm going to vomit. My nausea is constant and unrelenting. It just doesn't stop. I do the crackers by the bed thing, but the sick feeling doesn't shift afterwards. Last week it was still bearable and eating small and frequent meals did seem to help a little but since Thursday it's all cranked up a notch. Bella, how bad was your sickness to be prescribed antiemetics? And do you know how safe they're meant to be? I don't want to jeopardise this pregnancy but I'm worried I can't carry on like this.

I'd go and see your GP as soon as you can, sounds like it's heading towards hyperemesis, even if you're not throwing up. The sooner you start antiemetics the better the outcome, and it can take a while to find the best combination of meds that will work for you. Check out the hyperemesis support thread on here too, they're fab and have loads of info to help you cope. Good luck and i hope you feel better soon!

Thanks Grohlsgirl. I've got an appointment tomorrow so I'm hoping they will be sympathetic. Fingers crossed.

I feel like you dinosaurs and I too have a toddler. I feel like a rubbish mum ATM:( anyway just wanted to say thanks for starting this thread I am going to look into buying some b6 now.

Marmite has been my saviour so far!! Marmite on toast, marmite crisps, marmite drinks, marmite ricecakes, etc :)

I can't stomach marmite myself. I've just ordered some b6 from health span.co.uk (on iPod so can't link) they do free delivery and are VAT exempt (until next year when the jersey vat loop hole is closing...)!

I hope everything goes well at the GPs, toomanydinosaurs. My sickness spent a week creeping up from 2-3 times a day to an all-time high of 10 times (and I was losing almost a lb a day in weight too) and which point I gave in and went to the GP. I've been on various antiemetics - cyclizine, stemetil - since about 8w and I am now 32w and refuse to give them up, the nausea is still there! I have cut down from 3 to 2 a day though. But I feel they are safe and I am happy taking them.

If you get to read this before you go the GP and they seem like they might be unsympathic, start crying - uncontrollable sobbing has worked for me every time!

Hi everyone. Back from the doctors and they've prescribed stemetil. I also have a scan tomorrow as they want to rule out molar pregnancy which sometimes can produce extreme morning sickness. I'm very worried though doc has assured me it's rare. I had a miscarriage in july so if this pregnancy ends in molar I know it's over for me. I can't go through this again.
Please keep your fingers x for me.

Bananas and Avocados are rich in B6 too if you can stomach those?

Hope tomorrow goes well dinosaurs. Will be thinking of you:)

Everything crossed for you, dinosaur, please let us know how it goes. If its any consolation at all, it's not exactly rare to get completely sideswiped by hideous sickness for no other reason than your body just really, really dislikes being pregnant...

Hi, I'm back from my scan and thankfully everything is ok. There was even a little heartbeat! I'm so happy . The sickness is still there though not as bad as yesterday so not sure if it's due to the stemetil. Last night was really bad. I had an ice lollie for dinner and threw it back up again! So I only managed a few sips of water after that.
Thanks for keeping everything crossed for me and I wish everyone the best of luck and hope the nausea & vomiting settles down for us sickies!
[Muslimah] let me know how you get on with the B6 and if it works for you. I'm thinking of taking that as well as the antiemetics.

Congrats, dinosaur, that's great news! Hope the stemetil starts to work for you.

great news! :) very happy for you. i googled molar pregnancy yesterday and it sounds very traumatic. very glad everything's fine for you. will let you know about the b6, atm im waiting for the post every day in anticipation!! my sickness has improved slightly too. im actually vomiting more often than before now (everyday now) BUT its not as extremely painful on the way up as before, it comes up much more easily (sorry tmi). ive got a cold now and i think thats what making me vomit more as ive definitely noticed i vomit more the more tired i am. here's hoping the b6 comes soon...

Hiw have you been dinosaurs? I hope the meds are helping you.

Just thought I'd report back. I've been taking the b6 for one week now and it's really helping. It's had exactly the effect that it's clinically supposed to- my all day nausea has reduced significantly but my actual vomiting is unaffected, that's still happening. But the relief from the nausea has been wonderful! I jut hope it keeps working as my sickness has evolved so much so far every time I think I've found a remedy it stops working!!

Jut so you know, I'm taking 50mg a day, plus there is already 10mg in thenpregnacare I take daily.

Hi Muslimah. So glad to hear that the B6 is helping your nausea. I've been up and down since I started the meds. I've tried 3 different ones and so far I think the Phenergan is the best for me. None of them actually work on the nausea though which is a bummer. I'm going to get some B6 today and fingers crossed it will work for me too!! Hope you keep feeling better each day! Good luck with everything!
x

sorry to hear its taken a while to get the right medication dinosaurs, but glad to hear that it sounds like you've found one now :) i hope you can get the nausea under control too, as thats horrible, thats what you feel most of the time....