Word: treatment
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...despite the pervasiveness of pregnancy-related nausea, there is still no easy treatment, since most expecting mothers and their doctors aren't keen on exposing a still developing fetus to medications. Now, researchers from Israel and Canada report in the New England Journal of Medicine that a commonly prescribed heartburn drug, which also has anti-nausea properties, may be used in pregnant women without causing harm to babies. (See safety issues about taking pills during pregnancy...
Until now, there have been only about half a dozen studies looking at metoclopramide as a treatment for morning sickness. Even taken together, these studies include only about 500 babies. Because of the paucity of data, most doctors have prescribed the drug for nausea infrequently and only as a last resort - for instance, in cases where nausea and vomiting are so severe that a woman cannot function. Most mothers-to-be in the U.S. are given antihistamines instead, which help calm queasiness with few lasting effects on the fetus; the only downside for moms is side effects like drowsiness. (Read...
...group was able to study six times as many babies exposed to metoclopramide as had ever been studied before, giving the results considerable weight. "I do think the FDA should look at it as a treatment for morning sickness," says Koren...
...before that can happen, he warns, more studies need to be done on how well metoclopramide actually controls nausea. At the moment, the drug, which calms digestive activity by slowing the contraction of intestinal muscles, is approved by the FDA only for the treatment of heartburn and other intestinal disorders. The drug's mechanism is believed to combat nausea by relieving the spasms that prompt queasiness. "What happens when people vomit or feel nauseous is that everything is stopped up," says Koren. "Metoclopramide helps move things forward and does not cause sedation like antihistamines...
Only additional studies can determine whether metoclopramide or an antihistamine is the better treatment for the nausea that accompanies hormonal changes in pregnancy. The new study should help those future studies along, since it now appears that exposing babies to metoclopramide does not put them at increased risk of developmental abnormalities. "These findings may change practice and help people to be less hesitant to use the drug," says Niebyl...