They say it is more prevalent from mid to late pregnancy, but it can certainly happen anytime during pregnancy. I, personally, suffer from it from the very beginning. I always suffer from extreme nausea and vomiting, therefore, I am not taking in as much nutrition. With my last pregnancy, I tried Zofran. Zofran is one of the safe medications I spoke about in a previous post. It is one of the medications used to help with the nausea and vomiting and one of its side effects is constipation.
Why does constipation occur more during pregnancy?
During pregnancy, your growing uterus takes up part of the working space of your digestive system. Hormones also may slow down intestinal movement. Once pregnant, our bodies are designed to slow down the digestive process, so that our bodies can hold on to as much nutrients as possible for the health of our growing baby, thus causing the constipation. The longer our food is in our system, the harder it becomes. In some cases, iron and vitamin supplements may contribute to constipation as well. There are prenatal vitamins that your health care provider can prescribe, that have a gentle stool softener in them. It helps counteract the effects of the iron.
Things you can do that may help:
- Drink at least 8-10 glasses of fluids a day. Fruit juice is a great way to start out your day, if you can.
- Eat fruits, raw vegetables, whole grain cereals and bread daily to make sure you are getting enough fiber in your diet. Prunes, dates, or figs are great for this as well.
- When you feel the urge to go, go! Don't put it off!!!
- Daily exercise is also very helpful to "keep things moving".
- There are also many safe stool softeners out there. Ask your health care provider which one he/she suggests. Stool softeners that act only in the digestive tract, are not irritating or habit forming.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment