Acupuncture for Morning Sickness

When Daisy came to our clinic for the first time, she was at her wit’s end. She was 9 weeks pregnant when the bouts of nausea started to hit her. At first, they were tolerable and only triggered by specific smells or tastes, but after 2 weeks the nausea was getting more intense and frequent. By the time she saw me, she was starting to vomit nearly daily.

For many women, first trimester nausea and vomiting become a part of daily pregnancy life.

70-80% of pregnant women experience nausea throughout their first trimester, and 50% have vomiting as well.

When the morning sickness begins to interfere with quality of life, like in the case of Daisy, many women look to different remedies to naturally relieve their morning sickness. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) can be incredibly helpful in alleviating morning sickness and helping to improve a woman’s quality of life throughout her pregnancy. In this post we’ll explore:

1. How early can you start acupuncture in your first trimester for morning sickness
2. How often you should be getting treatments to be gaining full benefits
3. Research on acupuncture for nausea

How Early Can I Start Acupuncture?

The earlier, the better.

You should start acupuncture as soon as you start to experience nausea and vomiting in your pregnancy. Coming in earlier helps us curb the issue rather than waiting for it to compound and become harder to treat.

How Often Should I Be Getting Acupuncture?

In my clinic, I frequently have patients with morning sickness come in twice a week.

Like any medicine, dosing it properly is essential to getting a good result. I see a lot of patients who have switched over from another acupuncturist because they’re not getting the results they need. Most often I find that these patients were only being treated once a week. It simply isn’t enough. A very common adage in Chinese medicine is that chronic issues require more spaced out treatments whereas acute issues require for spaced together treatments. In other words, for something relatively sudden and new for the patient, like morning sickness, you would get a quicker and more efficient result by treating the patient more frequently over a shorter duration of time. For example, if you only had 6 treatments: instead of spreading them out once a week over 6 weeks, you would get a more powerful result if you did them twice a week over the course of 3 weeks.

Is acupuncture safe in the first trimester?

Yes, acupuncture is routinely performed throughout pregnancy and especially during the first trimester. Common reasons for doing acupuncture during the first trimester are fatigue, morning sickness, threatened miscarriages, and mood imbalances.

Types of Morning Sickness

From a Chinese Medicine perspective, there are two types of morning sickness. The first type is rooted in deficiency and the second type is more of an excess problem.

Deficiency of the Digestive Organs (Type 1): This type presents with nausea and vomiting of liquid or undigested food immediately after meals.  Other possible symptoms are a “full” or distending sensation in the chest as well as fatigue. This situation is caused by a weakness of the stomach and as a result, the stomach is unable to properly descend the food like it’s supposed to. Feeling unusually fatigued is another sign that “weakness” is at the root of this issue.

Disharmony between the Liver and Stomach (Type 2): This type presents with vomiting of bitter or sour liquids. The stomach feels bloated, there may be aching around the ribcage, frequently burping or sighing. Emotionally this type often feels blues or angry. This situation resembles a traffic jam on the freeway. In Chinese medicine, long-term stress or anger tends to compromise the function of the liver temporarily. When the liver becomes compromised, one of the organs it tends to lash out at and negatively affect is the stomach. It is for this reason that we see a combination of emotional mood disturbances along with the nausea and vomiting.

Depending on the type of morning sickness, your body may need more of a nourishing and tonifying treatment, or more of a de-stress and unblocking treatment. It all depends on your constitution and the imbalance you present with.

Does acupuncture work for nausea: what does the research say?

Over the years there have been immense amounts of research documenting the effectiveness of acupuncture for nausea and vomiting. It is for this exact reason that most health insurance companies actually cover acupuncture for nausea.

One such study found acupuncture stimulation to be just as effective as ondansetron (a medication to prevent nausea) for post-surgical nausea and vomiting (1).

Another research study looked at hyperemesis gravidarum (severe vomiting) and whether acupuncture in conjunction with conventional treatment could speed up the usual recovery time – the study concluded there was a significantly faster reduction of nausea and vomiting (2).

A final study looked at 593 women who were less than 14 months pregnant and had morning sickness. The women were separated into different groups: acupuncture, sham acupuncture, and no acupuncture. The women who had received acupuncture reported reductions in nausea by the second week of treatment. In the end, the study concluded that acupuncture is an effective treatment for nausea and dry retching in pregnancy (3).  

Morning Sickness Tips and Tricks

1. Stay hydrated: dehydration can worsen your nausea. If water doesn’t work for you, then find another liquid that your body accepts and can keep down. Other ways to stay hydrated are soups and broths
2. Blood Sugar Balance: many women report their nausea getting worse when their blood sugar falls. It’s for this reason you may want to experiment with eating regular small meals throughout the day
3. Avoid greasy, fatty foods: this one is a no brainer. Fatty foods place extra strain on an already compromised digestive system. The extra burden will exacerbate nausea and vomiting most of the time.
4. Avoid spicy foods
5. Prenatal Vitamins: talk with your OB if your prenatals are causing your nausea. You may need to switch to a different brand.
6. Vitamin B6: this has been used quite often with good results for nausea. Consult your doctor for the appropriate dosage and whether it would be right for you.
7. Ginger for morning sickness: ginger has long been used as an anti-nausea herb in Chinese medicine. Fresh ginger tea or ginger candies can be incredibly helpful for some women.
8. If you’re unable to keep food or drinks down at all and you’re starting to lose weight, it’s imperative that you contact your doctor.

References

1. Gan TJ, Jiao KR, Zenn M, Georgiade G. A randomized controlled comparison of electro-acupoint stimulation or ondansetron versus placebo for the prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting. Anesth Analg. 2004;99(4):1070-1075.
2. Carlsson C, Axemo P, Bodin A, et al. Manual acupuncture reduces hyperemesis gravidum; a placebo-controlled, randomized single-blind, crossover study. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2000;20(4):273-279.
3. Smith C, Crowther C, Beilby J. Acupuncture to treat neasea and vomiting in early pregnancy: a randomized trail. Birth.2002Mar:29 (1):1-9