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Morning sickness

Morning sickness, also called nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP), or pregnancy sickness, affects between 50 and 85 percent of all pregnant women. It is also sometimes experienced by women who take birth control pills or hormone replacement therapy. It is not confined to the morning: nausea can occur at any time of the day, though it most commonly occurs soon after waking. It usually starts in the first month of the pregnancy and continues until the 14th to 16th week. There is insufficient evidence to pin down a single (or multiple) cause but the leading theories include:

For 50% of all sufferers, it ends by the 16th week of pregnancy. Studies have shown that women who suffer from morning sickness are less likely to have miscarriages, while other studies have shown that the majority of women who do miscarry had multiple pregnancy symptoms including pregnancy sickness. Some doctors refute the claim that lack of morning sickness indicates an increased risk of miscarriage. They claim the mother's sensitivity to the changes in her body is not a variable that indicates risk of miscarriage.

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Last updated: 05-07-2005 07:00:05
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04