Unisom: Safe for Morning Sickness?
I am early in my second pregnancy and am very concerned about morning sickness. During my first pregnancy, I vomited twice a day every day for the full nine months . I have heard wonderful things about Unisom. Is this safe if I end up with never-ending morning sickness again?
Question:Peg Plumbo CNM
Peg Plumbo has been a certified nurse-midwife (CNM) since 1976. She has assisted at over 1,000 births and currently teaches in the... Read more
The type of nausea you experienced with your first pregnancy is unlikely to recur with the second although I can understand your concern.
Unisom (doxylamine) is one of the ingredients in Bendectin, which was removed from the market in 1983 amidst speculation that it was implicated in birth defects. The text Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation by Briggs states:
"The evidence indicating that doxylamine-pyridoxine (Bendectin) is safe in pregnancy is impressive. A number of large studies have discovered no relationship between the drug and birth weight, length, head circumference, gestational age, congenital malformations or other adverse fetal outcomes. Although literature supports the relative safety of this product, when compared to the normal background of malformations, it is not possible to state that it was completely without risk to the fetus."
When a drug is marketed for use in pregnancy, and actually when pregnancy is an indication for use of a drug, researchers must deal with many coincidental birth complications, so it is difficult to rule these out as drug induced.
I would wait to see if you are affected with this type of nausea again so you can make a better risk-benefit determination.
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