Help...morning sickness + migraines, anyone?

[sjh722]

First of all, hello! You seem like a much more normal bunch of people than the bump.

I am about 6.5 weeks and all-day queasiness kicked in this week. I can't stomach eating much of anything. Dry cheerios, toast, triscuits, boxed mac and cheese, etc have been okay...I did keep an egg down yesterday, even though I gagged while I was cooking it. Same for strawberries. Cheese, salad, and meat have been no-gos.

Here's the main problem: I get migraines and a huge trigger for me is not eating on time and getting overly hungry. The past few nights have ended with me being terribly sick, vomiting, and with a headache. The migraine itself wasn't the worst I've had, (i.e. it would not normally cause vomiting) so I'm not sure if it just set off the queasiness enough to cause vomiting or if throwing up would have happened anyway due to m/s.

I don't want to take Tylenol daily (since it doesn't help much anyway), and short of going to sleep with ice packs on my head, I'm not sure what to do. I'd take the sickness over the headaches any day.

Any other ideas of food that's easier to get down that might at least have some more substance and fat/protein to it?

Thank you!

[gbck]

I stayed on my beta blockers 1/2 way through my pregnancy.
I'd say that the #1 rule for morning sickness, for ME, was to NEVER let my stomach be empty. Eat every 2 hours, hungry or not.

And eat before you get up. Buy packs of PB crackers or something and leave them in your night-stand. If you wake up at night, eat one. When your alarm goes off in the morning, eat some, wait 5 minutes, THEN get up.

(FWIW, vicoden was considered PG safe. I had to use a lot of it...well, I threw up a lot of it too)

[GailGoldie]

don't stress so much about getting in healthy foods right now - just make sure you are eating. For me teddy grahams helped with feeling sick... i have no idea why- i never buy them normally but it was something i need to have next to my bed so when i woke up at 2am feeling sick i could eat them.

as for migraines- i get them normally and had them during pregnancy. Tylenol doesn't do shit for them. talk to your doc- there are a few Rx's that they can give you, but they really aren't great for migraines either b/c they are not vasoconstrictors, which is what you need...

have some caffiene - and some salt - that might help constrict the blood vessels. My OB allowed me to take Advil until week 26... most OBs say no to advil all together bc they are afraid of getting sued- but my OB reads everything and the data showed the danger with it was in the 3rd tri- so he told me i could take it until then... which helped a LOT b/c the other meds did nothing.

to try and avoid migraines i took a excedrine tension headache pill each morning- which is just tylenol + some caffiene... since i don't like coffee- but needed some caffiene.

stay hydrated - that is really important... eat lots of small snacks to avoid being too hungry= migraine.

ice packs were my friend - i had one strapped to my head often when pregnant = sorry.

[everam01]

I don't normally get migraines but I had them while pregnant. One was a "silent migraine" in that my head didn't hurt but I had some vision issues and felt forgetful so I went to the ER. I think I was about 10 weeks at the time.

[satama]

Tylenol and caffiene. Just eat what you can, don't worry if it is junk. You can ask your OB for an Tx for the nausea too. I took progesterone and had all day headaches from that the whole first trimester. I know it sucks. Sorry.

[satama]

Oh and try babels or crackers with peanut butter. I was usually able to tolerate string cheese too. Fruit was my go to food. Definitely eat something before you get out of bed, crackers, dry cereal, Teddy graham's.

[Brie]

Yep, eat what you can and whatever sounds good. The baby is the perfect parasite and will take what it needs from you.

Zofran is a lifesaver.

In first tri, I could eat boxed mac and cheese, cold cereal (particularly Cinnamon Toast Crunch and other junky cereals), McDonald's greasy breakfasts and fries, Ramen noodles, peanut butter and jelly, and smoothies.

Food prep was a big issue for me so we ate a lot more carry-out than normal.

[kangaroo11]

You sound a lot like me! I'm still pretty food adverse at 14 weeks, but I like greasy McD's, salty chips, dried apricots, and soups. I haven't had terrible headaches, but I'll rub the base of my head on two tennis balls to relieve pressure when it starts.

[bunch]

Congrats!

[sjh722]

Jul 18, 2012 13:06:21 GMT -5 @fivedogs said:

Full-fat chocolate milk?

LOL, that's what I am drinking right now.

I went to the grocery store and threw anything that looked palatable into my cart. Chocolate milk, freezer pretzels, regular pretzels, vitamin water, canned soup - basically, a bunch of crap. We'll see if it helps a little bit.

Thanks for all the ideas. I can deal with the nausea better if I can at least eat enough to avoid the constant headache. I haven't been to the doctor yet, but I'll ask about other meds to take for migraines when I go too.

[CloudBee]

I'm having a similar experience. Lack of food/drink gives me killer headaches.

I've been forcing myself to drink constantly. Water, milk (it's heavy and settles well), pomegranate juice, and smoothies.

I'm sucking on sugar free Life Savers. Considering how they have practically no nutitional value, I'm shocked they are helping, but they are. They also don't leave that nasty sugary residue on your teeth because they have no sugar.

[catbus]

Milk shakes worked well for me when I was really nauseated. They're not the most healthful solution, but they have fat, protein, calories, and calcium. I hope you find a solution!

[brit1017]

I made sure that I snacked a lot during the morning sickness phase (with DS went from 4-15 weeks, with DD from 5-20 weeks). Carbs were all I could stomach with DS, but I was fine with more protein with DD. The big this was to literally eat every two hours or so. Most of the time it was just a piece of fruit, but it helped a lot.

Tylenol does almost nothing for me, but drinking regular Coke had enough caffeine that it would take the edge off until I could go home and go to bed. Also, drink a ton of water, it is easy to get dehydrated when you are constantly barfing. When I brought a water bottle to work and made myself drink water all day long (usually 80+oz per day), my migraines got significantly better.