Antihistamines for Morning Sickness

Topic Overview

Certain antihistamines such as dimenhydrinate or doxylamine, taken as your doctor advises, may relieve morning sickness.1 Doxylamine is a nonprescription medicine that is sold as Unisom Night-Time Sleep-Aid Tablets. If one of these antihistamines alone does not relieve your morning sickness, you can try taking it with vitamin B6.2

Vitamin B6 and doxylamine was prescribed as Bendectin in the U.S. until 1983, when it was taken off of the market. It has continued to be available in Canada as Diclectin. In the past Bendectin was thought to cause fetal problems, but this has not been proved.2

Talk to your doctor about the right doxylamine dosage for you.

Note: Do not confuse Unisom Tablets with Unisom SleepGels, which contain a different medicine.

References

Citations

  1. Festin M (2009). Nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy, search date May 2008. BMJ Clinical Evidence. Available online: http://www.clinicalevidence.com.
  2. Kelly TF, Savides TJ. (2009). Gastrointestinal disease in pregnancy. In RK Creasy et al., eds., Creasy and Resnik's Maternal-Fetal Medicine: Principles and Practice, 6th ed., pp. 1041–1057. Philadelphia: Saunders Elsevier.

Credits

By Healthwise Staff
Primary Medical Reviewer Sarah Marshall, MD - Family Medicine
Specialist Medical Reviewer Kirtly Jones, MD - Obstetrics and Gynecology
Last Revised July 23, 2012

Last Revised: July 23, 2012

Author: Healthwise Staff

Medical Review: Sarah Marshall, MD - Family Medicine & Kirtly Jones, MD - Obstetrics and Gynecology

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