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Safe anti-nausea drug

An anti-nausea drug for pregnant women is available, and it won't harm your foetus.

By Gene Emery

Pic: iStockphoto.com

Article originally in Reuters

An anti-nausea drug that is widely used but little tested for safety in pregnant women does no obvious harm to the foetus, an Israeli study of thousands of users concluded on Wednesday.

Investigators found no increase in death or malformations among the babies of women given metoclopramide during the first trimester of the pregnancy.

It is widely used in Israel and some European countries. In the United States and Canada it is only given to counteract the most severe cases of morning sickness.

Up to 80 percent of pregnant women have at least one episode of nausea and vomiting during their first three months of pregnancy.

Using data from Israel's largest health maintenance organization, a team led by Ilan Matok of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev compared the outcomes of 3,458 women who took metoclopramide and 78,245 who did not.

"Until now, the assumption that the use of metoclopramide in pregnancy is not associated with congenital malformations has been based on studies with small samples, totaling 800 pregnancies," the researchers wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine.

They found that the drug produced no change in the risk of giving birth to a low-weight baby or to a child with a low Apgar score, a widely used measure of the health of a child immediately after birth.

The drug is made by a variety of companies, including Salix Pharmaceuticals and Baxter International Inc.

More than 2 million Americans use metoclopramide for various stomach upsets but long-term use has been linked to tardive dyskinesia, which causes repetitive movements of the limbs, lip smacking, grimacing, tongue protrusion and rapid eye movements and blinking.

Note: Parent24 has done some research and according to Sumarie from the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa,this drug is not yet available in South Africa.

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Ayaros

7/16/2009 4:06 PM

@ Rivonia try almonds. raw almonds. i found it worked wonders when i was pregnant. i was on hormone tablets as i had a miscarriage previously, so the nausea was really severe. but amonds were my saving grace.

Rivonia

7/16/2009 9:44 AM

I used Vomifen it die not work then i got Legalon and that did not work and i even took 3 ATERAX A DAY AND THAT STILL DID NOT WORK. I AM NOW 4 MONTHS AND I'M TAKING EMEX SYRUP AND EVEN THAT IS NOT WORKING. THE nausea IS DRIVNG ME INSANE. AND NOTHING SEEMS TO WORK I CAN NOT EVEN SWALLOW MY SPIT AND FEEL LIKE I'M ABOUT TO GO MAD BECAUSE NOBODY SEEMS TO UNDERSTAND THAT I FEEL ILL ALL THE TIME. HOPE HELP FOR MORNING SICKNESS COMES SOON

bev

7/15/2009 5:29 PM

I had severe morning sickness (hyperemisis gravidarum), it did not work for me, it actually made me very very anxious. Zofran worked.

bev

7/15/2009 5:27 PM

If this is Maxolon I was prescribed it for morning sickness and my daughter is now 3 1/2 years old. So it is available and is already used for treatment.

Robi

7/15/2009 12:37 PM

Seeing as it's in South Africa, has anybody used this drug? Has it had any negative effects? Does it work?

dj

7/15/2009 12:17 PM

Metoclopramide has been available in South Africa for ages. It is marketed under the trade name Maxolon, as well as several other generic equivalents. All of these are CONTRA-INDICATED in pregnancy.