NVP Counselor
Date: 2006-01-24

Question:
I am 8 months pregnant. I have had morning sickness since week 5 and my doctor gave me a drug called Diclectin, it was working until last week, I started to feel very dizzy up to the point that I ended up going to the hospital and the doctor gave me a shot of Graval and told me to stop using the previous drug. I am taking Graval pill plus the Graval ginger pills. I want to know if these drugs are safe and is it possible that I have allergy to the Diclectin pills? Thanks,

Answer:
The fact that you experienced dizziness after taking Diclectin throughout pregnancy with no apparent problems until you were 8 months pregnant, would suggest that the dizziness might have been caused by something else (not even related to NVP and its treatment). Gravol is a similar antihistamine and if your dizziness had been related to the medication, Gravol could have caused a similar side effect.

Regarding safety, Gravol is listed on our treatment algorithm and will not increase the baseline risk of 1% to 3% for birth defect that is present in any pregnancy. Ginger Gravol contains some ginger extract. Based on 2 studies on the safety of ginger, we suggest using 1000 mg per day of pills made of ginger powder, not extract.