Pregnancy and herbs part 3. morning sickness, nausea, vomiting how herbs can help

Pregnancy part 3. Morning Sickness

No women are same, so for each case we always need take under consideration lifestyle, diet, stress, constitution, health imbalances and many other factors before we can create formula right to the one, we actually see. However, there is quite few points where we can always look in, as well as few herbs which will address most of them.

Two herbs which we will pick at most cases will be double G, Ginger and Gentian.

But before we get in to key players we have exclude or include few other options:

Hyperemesis gravidarum

It is a pregnancy complication that is characterized by severe nausea, vomiting, weight loss, and possibly dehydration. Feeling faint may also occur. It is considered more severe than morning sickness. Different women have different reasons to get hyperemesis gravidarum and for that reasons consultation with herbalist may be necessary to arrange right treatment.

 

Low blood Sugar.

Many women who suffer from morning sickness find themselves in a vicious cycle. As their blood sugar go down, they feel worst and as they fell worst, less they eat, and blood sugar go future down.  Answer here is to adopt habit of eating proteins evening time (even night-time if they can’t sleep), also as snacks. Cheese, nuts, seeds, meat etc. all those food helps to stabilise blood sugar, and it could be said if women meet her need for proteins during pregnancy better their blood level will be.

 

Hormonal changes.

Increase in both oestrogen and progesterone in pregnancy is just massive, literally taking dozens of contraceptive pills each day would reach it equivalence. As well as many physical changes this rapid hormonal change is slowing down digestive system which for some women equals nausea. Gentian and Ginger may help here, but also gentle and safe liver tonic like Dandelion root would be appreciated here. One of the jobs of liver is regulating the hormones. Dandelion will help to moderate the rapidly changing levels of hormones

Undiagnosed food intolerances.

In case of history asthma or eczema we may look for some food intolerances which has not been problematic in past, but during pregnancy women become more sensitive to that food.

 

Tension and Stress.

Stress makes everything worse and, of course feeling nauseous or repeated vomiting is extremely stressful in itself!

So, if women is overly worried or tense, either about pregnancy or whatever else we can of course help using relaxing, uplifting herbs safe for her and pregnancy.

 

So, as we excluded everything from above or found some and already progressing treatment, but nausea is still in action we jump to double G.

 

Ginger

Few words about safety. You will find in many publications that Ginger is not safe for pregnancy. It is because in Chinese tradition Ginger is used for stimulating menstruation, please be aware to achieve that effect it must be 80 times higher dose then we use to treat nausea.

Facts about Ginger and pregnancy

- it has never been associated with adverse events

- a huge number of women find it helps them in pregnancy so it has been very widely used without any harm done and lastly

- the reason for the caution comes from a level of use that would equate to simply massive ginger consumption, far, far more than we ever use in medicine or in food.

One of clinical studies, a double-blind trial for women with hyperemesis, Ginger root powder at a dose of 250mg taken 4 times per day brought significant reduction in both the severity of the nausea and the number of attacks of vomiting in nearly 80% of the women studied.

Other study, rather extreme 36 students has been given to choose 2 same looking capsules, one contain 100mg Dramamine (a potent drug used for motion sickness) other was containing 1g of Ginger powder another was placebo, 30 minutes after taking one of these three options students has been blindfolded and asked to sit on computerised chair rotated them until they felt sick and stopped the chair (or until 6 minutes had passed, whichever came first). None of those who took the placebo lasted long but those who took the Ginger lasted 57% longer than those who had the Dramamine and over half of the Ginger group made it to the full 6 minutes!

 

Ginger drops for nausea and vomiting, not only pregnancy but will work also great for other sickness (locomotive etc.)

70% Ginger root tincture

20% Mentha piperita tincture

10% Liquorice tincture

 

Now what is important here dosage a way of application. This is recipe we learn studying herbalism from great masters of Western Herbalism, it was successful used thousands time.

This method of taking Ginger is quite intensive, but definitely it won’t do any harm to you and if you are experiencing such terrible symptoms as dizziness, abdominal migraine or nausea, then the result will be entirely worth the trouble.

Take somewhere between 10-14 drops of the Ginger formula, use spoon or directly to your mouth. If you are just too sensitive you may dilute, but best effect is when not diluted. Hold the Ginger drops in your mouth and mix with saliva for few seconds, then swallow.

After a few moments, the initial intensity of the heat from the Ginger will move from the front of the mouth to the back and then it will start to move down into the throat and into the chest. At this point take another, smaller dose, around 6-8 drops. This 2nd dose will of course still be spicy, but it should be quite a lot easier to tolerate than the first dose. Again, hold the drops in your mouth few seconds, mix  with saliva and swallow.

What happens next is very interesting, the first 'wave' of Ginger is still moving down through the oesophagus and sending a second 'wave' of Ginger has the immediate effect of strengthening the action of the first dose. At this point we can usually already see a beginning of a response to the potent action of the Ginger and the person will begin to feel some warmth developing in their stomach and a series of steps then take place between the gut and brain to relieve some unpleasant symptoms very quickly indeed.

Two doses are enough for some people but, especially if the condition has become chronic or is particularly bad, recommendation has been made to take third dose of the Ginger drops after the first one has reached the stomach. Interesting thing is, as spicy as Ginger is, once a person experiences the Ginger treatment which has been rapidly relieving their symptoms then they rarely have much hesitation to use it again.

 

Ginger infusion, this is another great way to utilise Ginger healing power.

Use ¼-½ teaspoon of powder or 2 teaspoon grated fresh Ginger (actually you can use as much as you like of fresh Ginger it, but 2 is minimum) add teaspoon of honey (optional, but highly recommended) pour cup of boiling water, step under cover for at least 5 minutes. You can add also lemon juice. Drink it as it warm for best effect.

 

 

Gentian

Gentian may not be well tolerated by pregnant women but there is no reason to think it would do any harm to the woman or her baby. It is certainly safe in breast-feeding and may even help the production of healthy milk. If needed, small children and the elderly should use Gentian with confidence because, even if it is hard for them to take, it may do them great good.

The main point about safety with Gentian to know is that more is not better with this herb! Taking too much will quickly cause an adverse reaction, typically something like nausea, or a headache, or an upset bowel.

Gentian was given in a clinical study to 205 patients in a dosage that was equivalent to 600mg of the root per day. Rapid relief of symptoms such as abdominal pain, nausea, heartburn, flatulence, constipation, appetite loss and vomiting was achieved.

 

Gentian combines perfectly with Ginger to nurse even the most weakened digestive systems back to health. Nausea and vomiting are leading to disgust for food for many women during pregnancy, so this combination will be very effective.

 

Gentian-Ginger drops

Gentian tincture 2 parts

Ginger tincture 1 part

For example, Gentian 66ml and Ginger 33ml

Dosage for this formula, depending on a person's size and sensitivity, will be between 6-12 drops before food. If we want to get a very strong action of the herb, especially when starting treatment, recommendation will be to take half the dose, like 3- 6 drops, feel the 'action' in the mouth as described shortly, then take the second part of the dose a half minute or so later, i.e. another 3-6 drops.

When to take is also very important for this formula, 3-5 minutes before food is perfect, but everywhere between 30min and 5min will work to but effect will be smaller.

For very sensitive people at beginning it can be taken diluted with water, but best effect will be always without diluting, usually after few times you get used to taste and dilution won’t be necessary.

The only person who can truly answer how long to use Gentian for is the person taking the treatment. This is a herb that begins working the first time you take it and, for many people, once the 'fire' of digestion starts working properly, it will keep going by itself and we can stop blowing on it before we eat. The only way to know for sure is to stop the treatment and see if anything worsens. If after stopping, the appetite decreases, or tiredness, inflammation, sugar cravings or indigestion increase, the body is sending the clear message 'I still need more, keep going!' It is a crude method, but we do this with a great many remedies because it's honest and it works.

Even when it is no longer needed, once a person has felt its benefit and is in no doubt to its efficacy, most would like to have some Gentian formula at home for any rough patches that may come. The tinctures do not go off and the tiny doses required make it a most economic treatment if it ever needs to be repeated.

 

Other herbs we can safety use for morning sickness during pregnancy include Peppermint, Black Horehound herb, Wild Jam root, Black Haw root, Iceland moss, Raspberry leaf, Meadowsweet and Milk thistle.

 

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