NVP Counselor
Date: 2004-09-10

Question:
I am in my 6th week of pregnancy and I am suffering from NVP. This is my second pregnancy and I suffered with this with my first pregnancy from about 6weeks - 17weeks. I cannot bear the thought of that. My doctor just recently put me on Zofran - 4mg. I was also on Zofran with my first pregnancy. It seems to help enough where I can function, however I am worried about the effects of this drug on my baby. I feel it should be safe since my ob/gyn. prescribed it, but everything I am reading is not to take while pregnant. My first child, Charlie, is a healthy beautiful little boy. So, I know there were no harmful effects on him. Any thoughts??

Answer:
We suggest that women who experienced NVP in earlier pregnancies should start treating the symptoms at their onset. In Canada, the approved treatment is Diclectin (vitamin B6 and doxylamine succinate). It's equivalent in other countries is discussed in previous Questions and Answers in this Forum. Diclectin has been used for over 40 years now and has been determined to be safe in pregnancy.

Other treatments are listed on the Motherisk treatment algorithm posted on this website under Newsletters and Updates, Update Archives, February 2002.

Zofran is one of the newer medications. It has come to our attention in the last 6 years. Motherisk conducted a study (just published now). Motherisk researchers called back 176 women who had been using Zofran and who called our Motherisk NVP Helpline. Out of that group of 176 there were 6 birth defects reported, 3 of which were hypospadia (none severe) - a common anomaly occuring in 1 out of 300 male babies. Six out of 176 falls within the expected baseline risk (1 percent to 3 percent) for birth defects in all pregnancies.