prochlorperazine help

[NaatQ968]

Hi!

I am ten weeks and I have been severely struggling with nausea, I have been gagging constantly, unfortunately I was sick and there was a lot of blood on the floor, seems I had burst my blood vessels and was prescribed prochlorperazine... it says on the leaflet, not to take when pregnant... I'm so confused... has anyone had experience with this medication?

I took it for half of my second pregnancy and the whole of my third pregnancy it's the only thing that let me keep food or drink down, nothing else worked.

AFAIK there are no recommended anti nausea medications for pregnancy, there are just ones which are more ok or less ok. They cover their arses by saying not to take in pregnancy, because of maybe like a handful of times there has been a problem and that women did take the medication and they can totally eliminate the possibility the Medicine might be a factor. It's not like thalidomide, it's a well tested modern drug which is used frequently in pregnant women.

Of course, do your own research. But personally I though the risk physically was greater from being sick all the time, and the risk of malnutrition as well for baby. In an ideal world we would all be medication free, and doctors err on the side of caution always in pregnancy, so if you have been prescribed it you need it. Or if you are really unhappy, an alternative that you are more comfortable with. Nothing is risk free, but this medication worked well for me and I would recommend it to any one. The risks are very low, and the benefits could be really significant.

I think it is more in the third trimester as it can cause you and baby to be drowsy which wouldn't be good if Labour started. I think in these early days it wouldn't cause baby to be drowsy.

Oh yes sorry I forgot I did stop taking it at about 35 weeks. I'm sure it would have been earlier if I hadn't already had a baby overdue so didn't have a history of pre term labour and wasn't a first baby.

I took it when pregnant with my son, for a few weeks then stopped as I didn't find it made a difference to sickness. I was told cyclizine and prochloperazine were first round meds, so the safest options. If they don't work they offer 2nd/ 3rd round meds.

Take a look at this site- it lists all the meds usually given in pregnancy with info on studies done, risk factors etc. www.pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk/get-help/treatments/

All medications say this because they can't be safely tested on pregnant women. But procloperazine has been used extensively in pregnancy and is considered safe (with the caveat above about late pregnancy)

Thank you so much everyone, I triple checked and cleared it with medical professionals and your comments made me feel a lot better