Smart Woman: Good News for Women Suffering from Morning Sickness
By: Maxine Ridling
Updated: February 27, 2013
More than half of all pregnant women deal with morning sickness. For some, it gets so bad that medication is necessary. Now there's new research on a popular drug used to treat the condition.
Some women have a hard time dealing with morning sickness. New research in the New England Journal of Medicine is reassuring many women who need to take the drug Ondansetron, also called Zofran. A study of more than 600,000 women in Denmark finds no link between taking the drug during pregnancy and an increased risk of stillbirth, preterm birth, birth defects or having a small baby.
The drug is usually prescribed to help ease nausea and vomiting for cancer patients, but doctors also recommend it for pregnant women when necessary.
"There is a role for it, I don't think it should always be the first line of therapy, it should be the last," says Dr. Abdulla Al-Khan. He advises his patients to first try to change their diet, supplement with Vitamin B-6 and even try antihistamines.
Some women have a hard time dealing with morning sickness. New research in the New England Journal of Medicine is reassuring many women who need to take the drug Ondansetron, also called Zofran. A study of more than 600,000 women in Denmark finds no link between taking the drug during pregnancy and an increased risk of stillbirth, preterm birth, birth defects or having a small baby.
The drug is usually prescribed to help ease nausea and vomiting for cancer patients, but doctors also recommend it for pregnant women when necessary.
"There is a role for it, I don't think it should always be the first line of therapy, it should be the last," says Dr. Abdulla Al-Khan. He advises his patients to first try to change their diet, supplement with Vitamin B-6 and even try antihistamines.
