Morning Sickness

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Morning Sickness

• What Causes It, and What Is Its Purpose?

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First Things First

• Complete Misnomer
• Morning Sickness does not just occur in the
  morning
• The term sickness implies pathology
• If pathogens are to blame, why do healthy women
  get sick?

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Correct Naming

• There are several correct names for this...
• Pregnancy Sickness
• Emesis Gravidarum (Hyperemesis Gravidarum)
• Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy (NVP)

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Fun Facts

• Earliest documented account of vomiting during
  pregnancy sickness dates from near 2000 B.C.
• Approximately 66 - 90 of pregnant women
  experience NVP in some form.
• Less than 1 of pregnant women get extreme
  morning sickness

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The Thalidomide Tragedy

• A sedative drug
• Effective in quelling NVP
• Found to cause peripheral neuritis
• Found to cause horrible birth defects

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What is the Embryo Protection Hypothesis?

• Follows Margie Profets Thoery
• States that women who experience NVP should have
  positive pregnancy outcomes when compared to
  those who do not experience NVP.

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Vomiting May Serve a Purpose

• Nausea may provide protection for the embryo when
  important organ structures are at their most
  sensitive.

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Proportion of Women With NVP During Waking and
Sleeping Hours
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Proportion of Pregnancies that Experienced
Miscarriages or Fetal Deaths
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Aversion of Pregnant Women Vs. Non-Pregnant Women
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Different Types of Food Aversion Characteristic
to Pregnant Women
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Why Aversions to Certain Food?

• Certain foods contain chemicals and substances
  which have mutagenic properties which could harm
  the fetus.

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Could Pathology be to Blame?

• A group of researchers found that a certain type
  of bacteria has infected 89 of women with NVP
• Only 8 without NVP have been found with this
  bacteria.

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Conclusion

• NVP must serve some sort of useful function, most
  likely protecting the embryo and developing
  fetus, by causing the mother to expel any foods
  that may have mutagenic or teratogenic chemicals
  or substances. However, the evidence against the
  above statement is growing as quickly as the
  evidence for it.

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