This is a post I’ve been meaning to write for a while, but I had to get out of the trenches before I felt safe enough to document it and ask about it.
With all 3 pregnancies, I’ve never really got to the point of puking when I felt sick, save a couple times that I think were more likely attributed to mild food poisoning. Now, please know how VERY grateful I am that that came to pass. I hate puking more than just about anything in this world. I will fight it with every ounce of will power I have in me.
Hate. It.
But with each pregnancy, the worst part for me has been the food aversions, and they seem to increase in intensity and the length of time they stick around each time I get pregnant. I’m not talking about being averse to most foods, and having to live off of toast and water for a day or two. I’m talking not being able to stomach the sight, let alone the taste, of ANYTHING, not even water sometimes.
This was the worst for me around weeks 10 and 11, though I still fight with it off and on now. The week of Christmas, I think I could have fit all the food I managed to get into my stomach on one dinner plate. I had to choke down water in small sips.
There was a point when I thought, “Do I have to go to the hospital for this?”
People were misinterpreting my being so sick with my having hyperemesis gravidarum– a condition that results from severe vomiting, leading to dehydration (what Kate Middleton has/had). I felt awful when they would assume that. “Surely I must be overreacting to this if people think I have it that bad,” I thought. Because I never puked.
Though, I can’t say I wouldn’t have, had I given my body something to throw up?
Related: Water On The Rocks, A Pica Lust Story
I searched and searched online for warning signs of “extreme” food aversions, but all I found were the typical anecdotal tales of being repulsed by certain foods, and having to eat nothing but mac & cheese for a week. Nothing really talked about any dangers of the worst version of it.
The good news is obviously this came to an end (at least the extreme version of it), and the baby and I are fine. I’m certainly not implying that what I dealt with was on the same, dangerous level as hyperemesis gravidarum, but I do think it was a pretty intense, awful thing to deal with.
I guess I’m just wondering if any of you went through something similar? How sick did you get? What did you do to cope?
Let’s make this a place for a discussion about this, and hopefully others struggling with it will be more successful in a Google search for insight in the future than I was.
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203 comments
I, too, fight throwing up with every fiber of my being. I also thought that anti-nausea meds were supposed to only be used by people who were actively throwing up all over the place (because I, too, always felt like I was THIS.CLOSE to vomiting, but I never actually did. I sometimes thought if I COULD throw up, perhaps I might feel a bit better? But alas, I’ll never know!) At 8 weeks I started taking Unisom and B6, and somewhere between weeks 10 and 12 I think I started Zofran. Somewhere in the middle of my pregnancy I was able to stop the Unisom and B6 (which was nice, because my toddler was napping less, and that Unisom makes you SLEEPY!) but I was on the Zofran up until the day I delivered 🙁 The Zofran helped IMMENSELY, and while I was still very picky about which foods did and did not seem like they’d make me throw up, I was definitely able to eat more than popsicles. I honestly don’t know how women end up forgetting these awful pregnancy stories in order to have more kids! 😉
I’m so glad to read I’m not alone! I started to think there was something wrong with me! I’m at the end of week 16 and since week 6 I’ve had nausea and could barely eat anything but started vomiting by the end of the first trimester and still do about once a week or so it usually is worst at night. I am too on nausea meds but sometimes it makes my stomach even worse and end up vomiting. I have food aversion to basically anything, meats, fish, chicken is the worst but mainly I just don’t feel like eating pretty much anything, the only thing I can always drink is milk, I can go through a litre of milk in 2 days. I’m at a beach resort now and the buffet is so hard to even look at, I try to eat what I can and force myself to eat at every meal. The problem is that if I don’t eat I get so nauseous and terrible stomach ache and gag until I vomit only acid. I never feel hungry only nauseous that’s when I’m know I need to eat something. The thought of opening my fridge makes me sick, let alone cooking anything. I too can eat something one day and later thinking of it makes me sick. This is my first pregnancy and never thought it would this miserable, I just hope it will not last the entire 40 weeks! Thanks for sharing!
I am in week 16 and I have the same thing going on! I don’t want to eat at all but if I don’t eat I become nauseous and get a terrible headache! The hardest part is figuring out what to eat that doesn’t sound disgusting and sometimes it brings me to tears because I’m so tired of trying to find something to eat. Did you end up getting any relief? It’s pretty miserable.
Hi Lauren are you feeling any better now? I am currently going through the same nothing looks good. Just thinking of food and what I should eat makes me very nauseous. I am currently on week 11 was really hoping week 12 would be the end of the food aversion.
I have exactly what you described and your the first case besides myself I’ve found. Sometimes it takes me all day to drink a cup of water. I gag and have intense food aversions and I’ve gone from 120 to 106 lbs, I feel so alone.
I am so late to this thread but this is exactly how I feel! Literally I have a fridge full of food and cupboards too but nothing looks remotely appealing. Slot repulses me and the rest doesn’t even resonate as something I’d want inside me, it’s like I have no desire to eat and no appetite. I may as well be being forced to choose from sheets of toilet paper or perhaps some tulip petals for the way I’m feeling about food. Worst of it is is that I am usually such a food so this is such a foreign thing to be so disinterested in food. So I am constantly between headaches and nauseau and extreme fatigue and dizziness and feeling uncomfortbley bloated and forcing down food. I really don’t understand it ? but it’s comforting to know that others have suffered from similar bizarre general all round food aversion.
Hey Ashleigh
This is me too I cried for an hour to my husband yesterday because I just want to give my baby the nutrition it needs and so fearful I’m not eating healthy enough. However its toast, yogurt, granola bars most days. I can sometimes stomach a full meal but when I do its always like chick fila or craving things unhealthy for me and even getting have way through that is rough. I love food and this is such a strange relationship and I lost 7 pounds and just want the best for this baby. It’s nice to know that I’m not alone but it is EXHAUSTING to figure out what to eat.
I need someone to tell me this has changed after a certain time… week 7.4 and it it truly horrible! Nothing. And I mean nooothing is appealing. Everything without exception sounds disgusting. The ‘good’ thing is I don’t throw up (yet anyway). But I feel like **** and I am wondering if this goes away or ay least improve! How can I properly feed me and my baby if I can’t even open the fridge! Even if I order food, by the time it gets here, I dont want it anymore!
Diana, I am 13.5 weeks and unfortunately it is still going on for me. I thought I would let you know however that I’ve had a lot of luck with chocolate Boost shakes. The idea repulsed me but I got used to them, and feel a lot better knowing that I am at least putting some vitamins/protein/calories in me. My doctor told me it was ok if it’s all I can tolerate for now. I hope you find relief soon!
I am currently just 6 weeks pregnant and have extreme food aversion as well. My stomach is so bloated, and I feel dizzy, nauseous and tired most of the time. This is my first pregnancy and my extreme food aversion is scaring the hell out of me. Even food I used to love looks super unappetising to me now. I have to take time off work as I can’t stand for prolong periods without feeling faint. Read online that all these will go away by the second trimester. Fingers ?
Hi, I’m also so late to this lol. I’m 9 weeks and hate all foods and I can’t think of any food that doesn’t make me gag. I’m losing weight and feel weaker every day. My boyfriend doesn’t really understand it because he just keeps telling me to try and eat something healthy but it’s so so hard. I used to eat everything and had such a big appetite. I’m going to appreciate my appetite soooooo much when it comes back! Can’t wait to enjoy food again. Stay strong mama’s ??
I am so happy I saw your comment, I am the same exact way. I am 14 weeks and 3 days with my first pregnancy. Almost all food makes me want to throw up. The only thing that is consistently sounding good is milk! Milk, of all things! Why is that? I might crave something one minute and by the time my husband comes home with it, I don’t want it anymore. Nothing sounds good to me and makes me gag – meat, fish, chicken, pasta, pizza, tacos, bread; all things I used to eat. I live off snack foods like granola bars, crackers, chips, some candy, and sometimes rice. I have maybe had a real meal about 7 times since week 6? I miss wanting food, I miss it sounding good, I wish I could at least be able to tolerate food without gagging. I am at my breaking point of tears with trying to figure out what to eat. I used to throw up once a day but it is slowly getting better with being every few days at random times, there is no schedule. I am looking for any and all help with figuring this out because I am really struggling and am sick of feeling sick all the time. I cannot help but feel that the lack on nutrients I am getting for myself and for the baby is effecting the way I feel but my body doesn’t want the nutrients I need. HELP!
How are you doing now, Sarah?
I’m in the same boat as you and everyone else on here. I’m around 9 weeks, have been suffering since week 4. My brain is making it impossible for me to eat or drink ANYTHING. I cannot stand the sight, thought, or taste of anything except mandarin oranges and cherries (though, that might change). If it wasn’t for this ravenous hunger pain that makes me vomit stomach acid, I would just not eat. I have to force myself to drink water, Gatorade, juice, smoothies, basically anything. It’s horrible. Juice, actually any beverage, gives me a horrible aftertaste. So to get myself to even drink is difficult. Even talking about it on here, I feel like I’m gonna have go throw up.
Why isn’t there a cure for this??? I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. ?
I am currently in week 8 (or 1 day until week 8), and in the last 10 days, I have lost 6 pounds. Everything food related is causing extreme nausea. And if I eat, it comes back up within 10 minutes. I don’t want to look at food, smell food, or eat food, period. I even walked up and down every single food isle at Walmart today, looking at every item on the shelves, trying to find something even remotely appetizing to me, but alas, after 4 hours of thoroughly picking through walmart with a fine toothed comb, I just got more nausea from trying to find something I thought I could stomach… I am worried if it keeps going the way that it is, I am going to end up in the hospital.. I work at subway, and it REALLY sucks right now, because fresh baked bread is the worst smell in the world to me. For the first couple hours of my shift I am back and forth between the line and the bathroom puking until the smell settles down because I have been around it long enough. I actually went to the hospital the other day because my throat was hurting really freaking bad (I know, seems like a weird reason to go to the hospital, but I catch strep throt at least once a year, most of the time twice though, so I don’t play about severe throat pain… I did have strep again.) I told them I was pregnant and most likely dehydrated, and they didn’t even check to see if I was. No blood drawn, no urine sample, no fluids given, just sent home with some antibiotics for my strep, that I can’t keep down because I have to eat with them, which, as ya know, isn’t going too well. My best friend is also pregnant, with hyperemesis gravidarum, and I will say, with her symptoms being the same as most of ours, I would say if you were given that diagnosis, it probably was correct, but actually throwing up, kinda requires food ?. I still manage to throw up at least 10 times daily, and that is if I am fighting HARD to hold it back, but I am a champ at throwing up some stomach acid. I did it throughout every contraction with my firstborn, even after they made me fast for 2 days because it was an induction (I didn’t have to fast for the induction, I was made to not eat until after the baby was born, incase I needed an emergency cesarean, as my son was HUGE) 10 pounds 2 oz to be exact, considering I had the same condition with him as I do with this one until the last month of pregnancy, I have no idea how he got so big. I didn’t need that cesarean, so I was pissed I wasn’t allowed to eat when I finally felt like I could. My middle pregnancy was a breeze. Had I not gotten a positive pregnancy test, felt baby move, or started getting that pregnancy belly, I wouldn’t have even known I was pregnant, because there were NO SYMPTOMS with him. None. God why couldn’t I have that again lol.
Anyway, all this to say, I feel for all of yall who are going through this with me, I know its rough. Hang in there guys. The ends justify the means. And within months, you will remember how bad it was, you will remember how bad you felt, buy you can’t actually imagine that feeling anymore. Until you go through it again if you’re unlucky. Its our brain and bodie’s magical way of tricking us into doing it all again. Stay safe and dtay hydrated guys. You all have got this.
Reading all of these comments makes me feel a little more sane because its word for word how i feel. I feel so disgusted by everything, its like i feel its all rotten and just smells horrific. I can’t stomach anything and i get extremely dizzy and moody. I’m going to try protein shakes since most of the ladies have said they’ve been able to stomach it and it helps get necessary nutrients.
Hi,
I am currently suffering with the same problem at 14.3 weeks. I have a terrible food aversion. There is not one food item that I enjoy.
I strongly dislike all fish and meat, pastry,bread, ice cream. I also cannot, under any circumstance consume drinks or juice.
I vomit once weekly, with the exception of this week where I vomited the twice. I just hate this as it makes me feel weak, triggers my sinuses and makes me lose my voice.
I hate even the sight of food but have to try to force some food for survival. Red kidney bean soup has been the most I can tolerate. However, it makes me feel bloated and filled with gas.
I am just hoping that this phase will pass soon as I feel like I am suffering.
On another note, my sense of smell is extremely strong and every scent makes me sick. Any suggestions on scent free Deodorant?
I am sooo happy others are experiencing the same thing as I am. This is the first time I’ve been pregnant (6 weeks) and I didn’t know it would be this miserable! I can’t eat anything, be around others eating anything or especially, smell most foods without feeling very nauseous! It’s so difficult and frustrating because not eating only makes the nausea worse for me but I just can’t! Sometimes, I vomit and feel better sickness wise, but the food aversions just don’t go away. The only thing I can eat is Campbell’s chicken noodle and I know it’s sooo bad for me and the baby! I was thinking I was an odd ball because, until finding this, I only saw articles about how food aversions are only for some foods and not all during pregnancy! I was scared something was wrong…
Hi Mary, I am also experiencing this at 14 weeks and have been dealing with it since week 6 or 7. I am so glad to have found this page and seeing other ladies talking about this because I have felt so terribly alone. I have lost 28lbs since this started because I have an aversion to EVERYTHING. All smells, all foods. I can’t even eat crackers. I feel like I have just been playing Russian roulette with foods and then when I find one I can sort of tolerate, after a while it starts making me sick too. This last week I’ve noticed a change, instead of puking all throughout the day, I always puke when I first wake up. (Unless I smell something bad or taste something yeah makes me gag, then I most definitely throw up regardless). I have been taking the dissolvable Zofran, which I have thrown up sometimes right after taking it. Sometimes it helps curb the worst of the debilitating nausea, and other times it doesn’t help much at all. I eat freeze pops a lot, which I know is not considered food. And I’ve been able to sometimes eat grapes. Yesterday I found out I can kind of tolerate French toast sticks but I can’t stand the smell of them cooking so that’s an issue. I used to be able to eat cottage cheese but that started making me sick. I can also eat slices of American cheese. But. It’s not enough. It’s so crazy how limited information there is on this. I can’t even leave my house or go up & down my stairs much because I’m so weak I pass out. I have to sit on a stool to shower and even then that wipes all my energy for the day. I’m only 25. This is my first pregnancy, I miscarried 3 times before early on. But, everything smells rotten or like really putrid/foul just plain disgusting. I have to hold something over my nose when I go to the bathroom because I can’t even stand the smell of my own urine. But it doesn’t smell like urine to me anyway. Nothing actually smells the way it should. Not even my shampoo or mowed grass. I can’t rely on my sense of smell at all. I have called my Drs so many times and they just tell me to keep trying different things. I’ve been off work for a couple months now. I can’t do anything. I’m stuck in bed a lot and am extremely fatigued so I sleep a lot too. I am able to keep down water most of the time. But I throw up bile a lot since I can’t each much of anything. I wish something could help. I’m so scared for my baby.
This is me now at 7weeks. The mere thought of food (any kind of food) churns my tummy! But i know I have to eat for the baby/ies. I almost feel like crying. Online advise says don’t let yourself get hungry as it will worsen nausea, but the thought of eating makes me nauseous. I also feel spicy foods make help me not puke but they say its not wise to eat spicy foods. I just hope it stops soon.
Are you feeling any better now chichi? I am also at 7 weeks and the first 3-4 weeks i was hungry all the time and super thirsty but now the sight and smell of almost everything makes me dry heave. Im so tired and almost always nauseus. I cant stand the smell of cooked food. Sucking on frozen lemon slices helps with the nausea idk if it would help for you too. This is my second pregnancy and so much worse than the first time. Luckily I found this page i was starting to think i was losing it! Or was really sick.
I can’t tell if reading all these comments makes me feel better or worse! I’m 9 weeks 2 days and I just got over a horrible dehydration spell, and lost 6lbs in 2.5 weeks. The only things I can bear to choke down are Gatorade, smoothies, and yogurt. All smells make my stomach turn and I have severe aversion to all foods. My poor husband is so worried that he’s working half days from home just to make sure I drink & take my meds (B6, Zofran, unisom, and phenergan). Seems hopeless over here and I sincerely hope it won’t be like this for 9 months 🙁
Reading these stories has helped me feel seem and no longer alone. I experienced this for 18 weeks during my first pregnancy and am now 9 weeks into my second and the all-too-familiar extreme aversions are back in full force (and have been since week 5). I spoke with a friend today who experienced Hypermesis for the entirety of her pregnancy and she said that my symptoms were exactly the same as what she experienced (less, of course, the vomiting). I wish more study and understanding of this condition would be undertaken as it’s obvious from this thread many women are suffering. Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences.
I’m In my 11th week of pregnancy my first child and so far I haven’t been nauseous at all except maybe a little the first two weeks. All of a sudden nothing sounds good it’s all I can do to chew and swallow my food when I do try to eat. Your post made feel a little better because I couldn’t find anything online that didn’t say at this point things should be getting better. Thank you
All these comments are so close to home, I’m at week 18 and the food aversions are only getting worse. If I eat the wrong thing I get really sick, lethargic / exhausted and get a super migraine. I stick to oat based smoothies, blueberries, yoghurt and almond milk and that’s okay. Açai bowls with oats and fruit are good, milk, veg and crackers. Anything else, and I’m ruined for the rest of the day. The nausea comes when hungry, not hunger pains. Works okay for me. Oats are good for bloat.
SHAZ,
I’m so sorry to hear this. I’m almost 12 weeks and can barely eat anything and throw up occasionally. Some days 3x a day. Have you gotten any better in the past month and a half?
I am right there with you guys, but I am 21 weeks. One day i can eat something and then the next day it makes me sick. Today i was craving uncle bucks and when i took two bites of it I threw up. It was the 1st meal I had all day. I worry about my baby and wonder if I will ever get my appetite back. I am a chef and I miss good foods. I often wonder is this in my head, but the thought of meat makes me gag and eventually vomit. I have lost 20 lbs while pregnant.
I could have cried when I read this – it was so normalizing and I feel so defeated. I am soooo hungry it’s definitely what increases my nausea but I have an aversion to almost all food and it all smells bad and tastes bad even water . It honestly just makes me want to cry all the time. I feel guilty because I’m not throwing up so I know I have it lucky but honestly i am miserable from the hunger and aversions, it’s like torture and it’s so hard to convey why I’m having such a hard time being pregnant !!! Thank u for talking about this I’m only 8 weeks and I just want to give up !
Are you feeling any better by now. This is me except I am throwing up. Not everyday but about 8x in this month.
This comment section is so reassuring to me.. I have been googling everywhere trying to find out what I am experiencing. All I could find was hyperemisis G which I don’t have because I am not vomiting .. BUT I can’t even handle the thought of any food, or smell of food. It started at week 5.. I am only 7 weeks but I haven’t been able to get off the couch in 8 days because I am so nauseous and the the thought of seeing or smelling food averts me from getting up at all. Even the thought of water makes me want to puke… I have lost 5 pounds in 2 weeks and it is stressing me out to the max. But I have no appetite and I just have nausea/food aversion all day. Everyone around me thinks I am exaggerating and it is literally unbearable!! I am praying this is over soon , I am so sick of being repulsed by food and feeling so unwell 🙁
I want to cry reading this because this is me right now. I’m so hungry but can’t eat or keep anything down. I’ve been mostly just nauseous and I threw up once. I honestly think I would feel better if I just threw up instead. It’s made me so miserable and borderline depressed to the point where I also want to give up. Really hope this passes soon. I’m only at 7 weeks
I hear you. This is me right now. I’m only 9 weeks today and haven’t been able to open the fridge for at least 3 weeks let alone even think about what’s in there. I am living off plain bread which I eat miserably and the last two days don’t want to drink anything either so forcing water on myself. I have moments of feeling hungry and thinking what could I eat but nothing appeals. Really hoping it passes soon!
Hey Heather I’m right there with you girl! This is my first pregnancy and I have food aversions to EVERYTHING. I’ve asked my doctor and they tell me its normal and it will go away I just want it to go away now mine started around 6 and a half weeks im now 8 and half weeks. And I just want to give up, I lay in bed all day long because I don’t even want to try and eat because I’ve tried everything even stuff I crave it doesn’t taste good. I drink the ensure everyday to make sure I’m getting vitamins and protein in my body. They don’t taste the best but hey they are small bottles just chug baby girl! That has helped a little bit. Its just hard because one day something is good the next its not.
I did a google search because I am having such strong aversions to EVERYTHING. Seriously, I’m in the middle of week 9 and the mere thought of drinking anything makes me feel sick to my stomach. I’m really struggling to find something I can drink.
I’ve got food aversions too, I usually love pasta and salad and things like that, now I’m struggling. But the part that’s getting to me – fluids. I can sometimes manage milkshakes (bit of the powdered stuff with milk) but I’m off everything else pretty much completely. My usual go to – Diet Pepsi – I’ve not had for weeks because it now tastes vile and sets me off.
Please tell me this gets better. Please.
Hi Laura.
Hope you are doing well now .
I am 10 weeks pregnant and too have extreme food aversions.
Let me just tell you how you can be able to fill up your stomach and feel comfortable.
I would suggest you to have whatever you like , take smaller meals whenever you are hungry.
I like to have milk (only in the morning), fruits like apples bananas oranges(my favourite) , dry fruits, sandwiches, wheat bread , and foods that do look liquid-like. But please do not keep your stomach empty(You will feel nauseous all the more). You can also try lemon juice with some sugar,salt and black pepper any time during the day. This will help you get rid of nausea.
Please let me know if that helps
I’m wondering if this is me. I had a frozen embryo transfer and since 2 days after it, I have to force myself to eat anything. I haven’t thrown up, but everything I love to eat just smells awful and makes me gag. I usually end my meals in tears and with a mild panic attack. It’s only been 4 days, and I’ve still got another week before I find out if I am pregnant or not so this seems very early for food aversions. It feels like it’s all in my head because I haven’t thrown up yet, but it really has impacted things the last few days. I get hungry, but nothing goes down well.
With my first pregnancy I too suffered from food versions, I only weighed 118 before becoming pregnant and I lost over 20lbs before I was well into my second trimester and able to eat without being completely turned off. I never threw up anything just couldn’t stand the thought of of food in any sense. I see this post is a bit dated now. But my son who I suffered the food aversions with is the biggest picky eater. I was wondering if anyone else has this same experience. I have had another baby after him and I didn’t go thru the same thing with food and he literally loves all food.
What a relief that people are going through the same. My partner keeps busy telling me to try to be sick but it’s not that. I’m 7 weeks pregnant and lost my smell two years ago after having covid. Three weeks ago my smell came back with a vengeance but EVERYTHING smells AWFUL. I don’t like any food. I’m so hungry. I’m literally starving and I’m craving foods but when I try them they taste rotten and I mean everything. I’ve lost 7lbs in a week and I don’t know how I can cope as long as some as you ladies have. I don’t know what to do
The same thing is going on with me.. I had covid back in May, I got my smell and taste back in July. Everything was fine until I was 6 weeks pregnant. I am now 8 weeks and can not eat anything! Everything actually smells like crap!…. I don’t know what to do. I don’t think I am getting enough proteins or nutrients.
Thanks for posting this! I really struggle with all foods being disgusting. I am having triplets and really need to gain weight for them but hate eating at all. I do try eat every 3 hours but I have to force it. I don’t think people understand. Food is so gross, I feel sick from not eating but the idea of eating anything is also sickening. I make a protein smoothie so I don’t have to eat but even that is forced.
I’m 21 weeks and have been really struggling with this! It brings me to tears too. My biggest turn offs are onion, garlic and oil, anything containing them even in the slightest amount tastes and smells absolutely foul, and they are in everything!!! It has stretched to toast, meat replacements, some vegetables, condiments, sauces, tinned tomatoes etc. Luckily dairy is my hero. I don’t eat meat and the smell of that seems to be awful too. I’m left with a very limited diet and that’s if I even feel like eating those items. I feel it will last for the whole pregnancy. My appetite is improving on the ‘safer’ foods which has stopped me loosing weight as quick but onion, garlic and anything cooked in oil still smells like rancid rotten bin juice! It is definitely a horrible experience. If you’re going through it just eat what you can and in different variations to try to build your appetite! X
I know this post is a little older but I am extremely happy that I found women that fee as I do. I feel so alone with this sometimes I just want to cry. I am currently 14 weeks 2 days and have horrible food aversions. It is hard to know what to eat on a daily basis. One minute I start eating something and it seems okay but a couple bites into it and I start feeing sick to my stomach and just want to stop eating. Sometimes after one bite I can’t continue. Before just by the smell I was nauseas and could not eat but now it is after I taste the foods. It feels like my tastebuds are on hyper mode. I can taste everything and certain ingredients in the food make me turn it away. I hope this gets better. I tried Zofran and I dont fond it helps me. Instead it causes constipation and makes me really sleepy.
With my 1st I had.major food aversion to nearly all but crab sushi for the first two semesters. Then it went away I went crazy on fruit afterwards. With my 2nd right now, I am 22 weeks. My food aversion to all food started a two ish days ago. But Iv already been put on b6 and unisom since week 15. It has helped a ton but now my naseuea has reached a new level. I hate vomiting more than pain at a level 10. And Iv gotten to be a pro at not letting myself vomit no matter what, cuz I hate it so… But here I am again. Just wanted to let you all know that it does eventually end. For my 1st, I’d say it went away by my third trimester for sure. So here’s hoping I follow that pattern again
Not overall aversion, but specific foods yes. With my second pregnancy, first was ectopic, it was pb for the entire pregnancy and almost a year after after. Literally the smell would make me gag. My third pregnancy it was scrambled eggs, he is five months old and just thinking/typing about it is making my mouth water like I am going to vomit.
I didn’t puke while pregnant but I had some horrible aversions that were so bad I couldn’t even think about it or I’d feel as if I were going to puke. The first was Subway. I couldn’t even DRIVE BY the Subway by my house without needing to pull over and like, stop myself mid-cold-puke-sweats and just psych myself out of not throwing up. The rest of my pregnancy I was like that with mexican food and garlic. Commercials with Mexican food? I’d have to turn away/turn off sound or I’d be in the bathroom just willing myself not to puke. Like you I’m one of those people who will avoid puking at all costs.
When I was pregnant with my second child, I couldn’t eat anything without feeling sick all the way into (maybe through?) the 2nd trimester. Nothing sounded good & when I would take a bite of something, I would feel nauseous though I would never actually throw up. It sucked! I hated it. It ruined my life for that period of time. The worst part was that my husband and I went to Boston during that time and I couldn’t even enjoy the awesome seafood that they have there! Or the hot dogs and ballpark food at Fenway! I still look back at that trip with yearning for crab cakes and clam chowdah…I don’t think that I ever found a rememdy for it and my nothing was wrong according to my doctor. It just eventually got better. Just keep on truckin : ).
I spent all 40 weeks throwing up but not because of food. However, with my first I could not stand the smell of eggs, my husband and I worked different shifts and what’s the first thing he made himself every morning when he got home from work? Omelets. Gag but with my 2nd pregnancy I ate eggs all the time. My only real aversion both times was to meat and I’m not a big meat eater anyway so it wasn’t a big deal.
Ugh, I am sorry you had to go through it. I hate puking more than anything. I had HG with both pregnancies, this one worse than the first. Strong will won’t do (nor zofran, really) and even if you have eaten nothing, you still vomit acid. Funny enough, I never had a strong food aversions. It just didn’t matter what I ate. I was fine getting it in, but it would always come out, so I would basically eat depending on what it tasted like coming back. Toast – OK. Pasta with not much on it – OK. Anything with tomato sauce or vegetables – horrible. The one fact you do not want to know but I will share anyways – when you barf broccoli, the little florets get caught between your teeth. I don’t plan to eat broccoli till birth, just in case. (I am past the vomiting phase, or so I hope, the nausea will probably last until the end, like with my first). I think one thing I can relate to is the water aversion. I am pretty sure I am dehydrated most of the time – I can’t do water and hate soda and juices are nasty to vomit…usually a lot of crushed ice and some lemon in the water makes it somewhat bearable. I am really glad to hear that you got past it! Pregnancy is so HARD! Plus everything tastes funny. Even foods that look appealing end up tasting strange. Not sure what mother nature had in mind with this kind of crap…
With me it was worse weeks 6-8 and I just wasn’t hungry at all. I could make a meal, serve it, but then the idea of eating it made me feel like I was going to puke.
Ugh! This is currently me right now right when i hit 6 weeks i cant eat anything like the smells or even just cutting into the food makes me nauseous!
I had severe food aversions as well. Mine was mostly meat and anything I thought about actually having to chew and swallow. My gag reflex was awful. I would sometimes get through a meal and then throw it up because I thought about the physical act of having to eat it. I never had an aversion to water, but it did give me heartburn, along with most other things.
YES.
With my first pregnancy, it was chicken. Any kind of chicken sent me almost passing out to the floor from the nausea. I still cannot stand the smell or sight of boiled chicken. FOUR YEARS LATER.
With Harrison, it was Mexican food. The thought of it had me swallowing chunks.
I’m like you – I was just nauseated the ENTIRE time. I can count on one hand how many times I actually puked but I think it was just sheer willpower because I loathe vomiting with every bone in my body. I would lay on the couch & breathe heavily & wish to die with tears rolling down my cheeks, but refusing to puke. (that being said, I’m like that with every illness. I’ve only had one vomiting illness my entire life & that was when I was 9. I’m just not a puker.)
In hindsight, I think I would have felt better if I’d just given in & vommed for 13 weeks instead of swallowing it back down.
With both of my pregnancies I had food aversions, but the second was worse in the beginning. I hate to puke and try to avoid it at all costs too, so that made it worse. If my husband made eggs, I would have to leave the house so I didn’t smell them. Don’t even get me started on chicken. I can still feel the gag reflex. I also had problems with too much iron from my prenatals, so I felt like my stomach was burning acid all day. I basically laid around willing myself not to puke and trying to sleep away the gross feeling while trying to sip water and chew on ginger tabs, gingersnaps or saltines for 6 weeks. At work and taking care of a 2-year-old. He watched a lot of movies then 🙂 Not fun. Then it magically diappeared when I hit about 11-12 weeks.
I did not have FOOD aversions while pregnant, but I did spend maybe 3-4 weeks with a severe aversion to water. I drank only fruit juice, sweet tea, and Sprite and was seriously worried that I would become dehydrated.
Glad that’s over for you! Enjoy the rest of your pregnancy!
I am 15 weeks myself. My first 11-12 weeks were simliar to yours, I only puked one time, but had some major boughts of the “sweaty upper lip- hyperventialting,-just keep breathing or you will puke any second” moments. I felt bad complainnig because I wasn’t puking and thought I should just be thankful for that. I did have some major food aversions too. I hated the smell of bread, and the thought of eating it was like someone offering to make me a cockroach sandwich: like oh gawd, no way was that getting close to me. I threw away a whole package of pita bread I had just bought because I felt like I could smell it from across the room. I had a moment before entering my son’s school for a parent teacher meeting where I had the “will power” moment in the parking lot after smelling their cafeteria breakfast. I was rocking in my car out front, praying that I didn’t puke in the parking lot or worse once in the meeting and fully smelling the cafeteria. I felt like you said..like I “willed” it.My doctor finally prescirbed an anti nausea Rx, even though I wasn’t puking, so maybe that would help others in need. Just because you aren’t puking, tell your doctor, and they can still give you something to make that horrible feeling go away. Mine prescribed Zofrain (sp?). I was able to be much more comfortable and eat more once I took it. I also changed my pre natal vitamin to a chewable.
Ugh. with my first pregnancy I simply could not stomach the thought of any food. I had morning sickness for 18 weeks, but extreme aversion for probably 3-4 weeks? I’d throw up after brushing my teeth but for the rest of the day I was in puke purgatory. The in between is a miserable, horrible place to be. There were foods that I’d manage to eat here and there and a day later the mere thought of those foods would make me want to lay on a cold tile floor. Of course my doctor was never concerned (nothing concerns him unless the baby is falling out), but I did get some anti nausea meds so I could enjoy a couple of special events, and boy did it work! So glad to have those days behind me. Hope you’re feeling better now!
Im 16 weeks and still battle mild food aversion. However 1st tri was rough. I could barely eat anything and wanted nothing. I did vomit at least once a week but that only lasted about 3 weeks and at that point i was eating a tad more. My worst battle even now is water. I hate it. The thought of it could make me gag and i have to force myself to drink it and usually use crystal light to manage to get more fluid down. Anyone else hate water?
Emilie, it helps me to have it REALLY SUPER cold with LOTS of ice. Even like a water slushy- water poured over crushed ice from Sonic. I seem to still be averse to hot or lukewarm drinks (one of the many reasons I can’t do coffee). I find I can get liquids down better if I keep them in my insulated thermos on ice.
Yes. All food all the time, and I am 17 weeks and losing weight. (!) I didn’t have this level of repulsion with my last pregnancy, either. My kicker is that if I don’t eat, I puke, but if I do eat, I can barely get it down (I can manage a few bites here and there). I don’t think it will end until I give birth, though. It’s kind of miserable! I really miss food and wanting food. (I did go through a phase of wanting tomatoes only, but that ended a few days after it started, and I can usually eat ice cream pretty reliably so something is going in…) good luck. I’m glad it’s over for you. 🙂
With both pregnancies I had morning sickness, more like all day nausea. Smells made me more sick than actual eating. Leftover pizza in the fridge hit me like a ton of bricks… All I wanted at that point was mac & cheese or buttered toast or string cheese – none of which helps the constipation, but I won’t even get into that… With my second, I immediately got a prescription for Zofran and it helped tons, but thinking about foods, even ones I normally loved, didn’t sound good. Then one day everything sounded so yummy!
With both my pregnancies I went through a phase where even the thought of Italian pasta sauce and meatballs was enough to make me vomit/feel like vomiting. I was a daily puker with my first pregnancy up to around 16 weeks. No vomit at all with my second. But both pregnancies had intense cravings of things it was safe to eat. Hot sauce on everything, for one. With my son I had unhealthy cravings: french fries, pasta with ketchup on it, brownies. With my daughter I could not get enough of steamed spinach, fresh pineapple, baked potatoes, and hard boiled eggs with Tabasco sauce on them. I hate the beginning of pregnancies. I can deal with all the rest of it: including the medicated labors. Just-not-the-beginning. ugh, makes me never want a third. I think, ‘well what season would I like to feel like total shit and not enjoy the beautiful outdoors?’
UN medicated labors. LOL
I’ve had six kids, and I’d say with 2 of them I had maybe 3 weeks of feeling seedy or kind of hung over. Honestly, I don’t know how women do it. If I was sick the way some of you describe…..I think I would have an only child.
And here I was wondering how you did it. LOL! Seriously though, I’m glad we agreed on only 3 because I am DONE after this. DONE.
I lucked out with my pregnancy and never got aversions so bad that I thought I was going to throw up (and I thanked my lucky stars every day for this.)
I couldn’t stand the smell of chicken cooking during month 3 though. Sometimes I’d have to leave the apartment when my hubby would make dinner.
Oh the nausea! From weeks 7 to 12 I was miserable with both pregnancies but waaaaay worse with my second. I lost 10 lbs (the one “benefit”, being skinnier than I’d been since high school) and pretty much the only thing I could tolerate was Ensure, which I consumed only so my baby was getting something from me!
With my first pregnancy, I was the girl who wanted to eat, but coudn’t keep anything down. I lost a lot of weight in my first trimester in my first pregnancy. I tried to go without meds, but when you end up laying on the bathroom floor at work because you literally can’t get up without puking, you give in to the meds. I remember taking them the first time and about a half hour later, sitting in my living room crying out of pure relief. It was the first time in weeks that I didn’t feel sick.
With this pregnancy (I’m about 5 days ahead of you) I haven’t been nearly as sick. However, the nausea has been bad, and there have been a few aversions. But the weird thing is that the aversions change day to day. One day I can’t stand the sight or smell of bacon, the next I’m fine to eat it. It’s weird. I wish there were better explinations of this stage…the ever changing aversions and nausea make it so hard sometimes! Here’s to feeling better in the 2nd trimester!
Looking back on it, I had the same thing Kate did, I just didn’t know there was a name for it. But I literally had it the whole nine months & lived on zofran & a couple IV’s thrown in. If I even thought of Mexican food I would have to run to the bathroom, which is really hard when your SO is Mexican lol. The smell of people re-heating seafood at work would make run to the bathroom as well, but I’m thinking it would do that normally lol. Glad you’re feeling better!
I am 9 weeks into my first pregnancy and the food aversions are so discouraging. I love to cook, and usually spend my entire weekend in the kitchen. Now, any type of meat makes me dry heave. Nothing sounds good–except grapefruit and pizza! If I have gained weight in this pregnancy it is due to carb consumption–not baby growth. Thank you for writing on this, it is so nice to know others have had this experience.
I was nauseous (and I guess food averse?) for my whole pregnancy, but only puked once at about 7 weeks, and then at 14 weeks I didn’t keep anything down for about 36 hours and they put me on anti-nausea drugs that FINALLY took enough of the nausea away that I could eat and function. I was the same as you Jill – couldn’t eat really anything but bread and french fries, couldn’t even LOOK at animal protein most days, only drank water in tiny sips, or a bit of juice or sweet tea. When my friends asked what it felt like, I told them it was like the moment before you puke from drinking too much, all day, every day. Evidently, it’s unusual for things to get worse after the first tri like mine did, so I’m glad you’re mostly past it!
I had HG with all 3 pregnancies, the worst was with my 2 daughters, actually throwing up every. single. day. It was the worst, and I agree with the above poster, it’s all about how bad it will be on the way up. Melted cheese, not good, I thought I would choke. I did find that the more protein and fat I had the better it was, so my initial plan of crackers and juice was the worst, milk was much better.
As far as aversions, I couldn’t take the smell, look, or taste of poultry, pepper, some oils, and truffles. After pregnancy everything went away except that I still can’t stand pepper or truffle. Even now, then smell of truffle oil from across a restaurant makes me want to throw up.
I never felt like eating through my entire pregnancy. Nothing ever sounded good. Except turtles chocolates. Luckily, I didn’t actually get sick so I was able to make myself eat. It was not fun to never want to eat!
Food aversions, yes nothing sounds good, even the thought of food would make me sick. I am to that point. I have been for several weeks and have been terribly worried the baby isn’t getting what he/she needs. The doctor assured me it is. I did get diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum. I thought I was beginning to get in the clear until last night when it started again, and not even water would stay down. So every hour last night I would take a sip of water and then roll back over praying it stays down. You aren’t alone, and I hope you’re feeling better. I keep counting down the days hoping that one morning I just wake up and I’m “cured.”
The older I got, with each pregnancy, the worse it got. I once say my purse on my lap to clean it out, and hurled right into it. :(. I ended up having to go to the ER for fluids and anti nausea meds (they let IV in- went back for same 2 days later). It can seriously affect your health and baby’s health. 🙁
Poor thing 🙁 My only aversions have been to very specific things; ketchup, onion, and Earls cheese puffs this time around. There have been times of extreme nausea where the thought of food had me run to the bathroom. I’ve been very lucky this time around!
Sounds a lot like what I had with both my pregnancies. With my first, I lived on steak and milk and pretty much nothing else. I felt like throwing up constantly but only actually threw up about once a week. With my second, same thing, but I lived on pizza and peanut butter and honey sandwiches and only actually threw up once or twice. I couldn’t do anything with food and other random things would make me more sick (like heat, kissing my husband, washing dishes). I could barely function. It’s awful to the point that we don’t think we’re going to have any more kids because it’s just too hard on the family to have me pregnant.
I recently talked with a friend who gets hyperemeisis gravidum and with her 3rd pregnancy, they got it “under control” so that she wasn’t throwing up. She said it was just as miserable, though, because she felt sick all the time and could still barely eat food–she described it exactly like what I experienced with both my pregnancies. After that, I felt a bit justified with being as miserable as I was and having my fear of pregnancy now.
I had hypermesis with my current pregnancy combined with extreme food aversions. I had to go in to the ER, toddler in tow, to be rehydrated with IV fluids because what little went in (I was down to small sips of room temperature water only at one point) came violently back up. I went completely vegetarian, what little I could stomach, from weeks 9-24ish. It. Was. Terrible. The smell of water boiling made me dry heave. I still can’t handle a lot of foods or smells (35w4d!), but it’s better than it was. Eat what you can, when you can. Hydrate. Try to get a good prenatal vitamin that you can take twice a day that separates the iron supplement into the evening pill. And try not to throttle people who tell you twenty times a day “it’s all worth it in the end right?” (Answer: Yes. But shut up.)
I had very similar symptoms with both pregnancies. I was extremely nauseous and fatigued until about 5 months in. I had to quit my jobs both times. I’m also very adverse to puking and luckily didn’t really have that problem. Maybe the will to not puke was really strong in both of us.
Oh man, I cannot imagine feeling averse to most foods. One was bad enough. My only food aversion in two pregnancies with the chicken aversion I had through most of my first. I couldn’t stand the sight, smell, or THOUGHT of chicken. Frozen, canned, cooked… didn’t matter. My husband tried to hide chicken in enchiladas once and after I finished gagging (I, too, will myself to not vomit because it is the worst thing ever) I told him no jury with mothers on it would convict me if I killed him for doing that. 😛 I hope this doesn’t last your entire pregnancy!
Yes! I had the same. exact. thing. and it’s because of feeling like this that I won’t have any more children. I can’t go through that again. Like you said, worse with each pregnancy and peaked around 10, 11, 12 weeks. I also couldn’t stand the sight of food and forget about the smell of it. And I, just like you, will do ANYTHING not to throw up so I never did. I just always felt like I was going to.
With both of my pregnancies I lost 15 lbs in the first trimester but my doctors never seemed worried about it. Although, I often fantasized that they would so that they would give me something, anything to make me feel better.
I had an aversion to ALL food. When I was pregnant with my second child, my first child was two and even pouring him a bowl of Cheerios was brutal. One thing I found was if I got a pintos and cheese from Taco Bell (bad, I know) I could eat a good portion of that, although it would typically take me about three hours to finish it. During the second and third trimesters I could choke down food for the most part but I still had aversions to certain things. Especially meat.
The only “good” thing about feeling this way is I was always below my pre-pregnacy weight once I gave birth and even though I was exsausted and emotional, as most new moms are, I really cherished the feeling of feeling good. I assume it might be similar to that high and appreciation for life people who have survived some kind of horrible illness or tradgedy feel.
I had HG with food aversions. It started at 5 weeks and continued until delivery. I averaged vomitting 10x to 15x per day/night. It is terrible and something that people do not understand unless they have felt it. I was hospitalized 4 times, and ended up taking Thorazine (oral) for nausea with a Zofran pump (a needle in my abdomen pumping constant medication). And, can I just say that if you have never felt this way… Please, please never ever tell a pregnant woman to eat a cracker! I came very close to clocking so many people, including ER docs!. I think I would have if I could have held my head up! Whether you throw up or not, the feeling is terrible. My advice… close your eyes and pray that it goes fast!
I’m at 24 weeks with #2 and THIS was my first trimester. I didn’t throw up either, but the thought of ANY food some days made me feel sick all day. I lived on french fries and tater tots for an entire week once bc it was the only thing that sounded tolerable. I gagged if I smelled coffee (and I LOVE coffee!) Anything hot sounded disgusting and even cold things sounded horrible sometimes. One day I was all about Italian ice, the next day, I wanted to throw them all away. I feel for you. I’ve declared “I am NEVER doing this again” re: pregnancy bc I still can’t shake the memory of how sick I felt. Glad you’re feeling better. You are not alone 🙂
I, too, fight throwing up until I practically aspirate it! And was nauseous every single day for two pregnancies so far (tell me again why I’m letting my husband slowly talk me in to another baby! Can I ask for a surrogate just cuz I don’t feel good?) I found that I could generally eat something if I just didn’t think about it – hard to do, I know. But I’d ask my husband to just make dinner – don’t talk to me about it – just get calories on our plates please. Then I would just force myself to mindlessly shovel stuff into my mouth – without looking at it – while playing a game or listening to my 3-year-old talk incessantly. Yes, usually it came up despite my best efforts. But once-in-awhile I’d get a few bites to stay down as long as I succeeded in never thinking about food. (My husband still thinks I’m nuts, but at least he supports my crazy!) And I never could get prenatal vitamins to stay down, but if I swallowed whole Flintstone’s vitamins, I could usually will those to stay down – better than nothing!
Oh, thank you for this post- it helps to know I’m not alone. I’m 8 1/2 weeks and broke down crying to my husband Monday because I just want to eat a well-rounded meal without feeling lousy. Nausea, food aversions, smell aversions, you name it. I’ve given up on packing lunches for work, because whatever sounds good at 8 a.m. sounds like torture by lunch. Instead, I’ve stocked my file cabinet with easy mac, crackers, cereal, applesauce, etc., and I eat whatever is least offensive to me at the given moment. Last night, I found “Preggie Pops” — organic losenges for nausea– at the store. I’ll let you know if they help!
Did the preggo pop work?
I just saw this post, and can totally identify. I’m 14 weeks pregnant, and it doesn’t matter what the food is, it might as well be turd on a plate. There is NOTHING that EVER sounds appetizing. Just looking at food makes me want to crawl under a dark rock for several months. I thought my body was supposed to be so smart and crave what it needs. I am currently living off of Jolly Ranchers and La Croix soda water. I think the bubbles really help settle my stomach. I have gained 3 lbs total, and I have absolutely no idea how. This is my second pregnancy and I had some food aversion last time, but nothing like this. I’m pregnant, and I want to eat 2-3 slices of pizza and get to not feel bad about it damnit!
I’m 11 weeks and I have severe food aversion. I can’t eat anything…I cant drink anything…everything looks horrible. I haven’t eaten in about a week…and haven’t drank anything in that same amount of time. I am so frustrated…I’m so tired…I talked to my doctor today and they offered no relief. My partner is the same, he doesn’t understand. I’m just at my breaking point. And let’s not talk about the horrible taste in my mouth constantly. If I knew pregnancy was going to be this horrible, I would have chosen differently. I’m sorry, but I am so frustrated with all of this. I’m tired of hearing, “oh it will get better” or “just think about the end result”…whatever.
I completely agree with Tamar. I’m eight weeks pregnant and have been this way for the past month. This is the MOST crucial thing I have ever experienced. I dont feel pregnant. I feel like I have the stomach virus 24/7. I get so frustrated with this I just cry sometimes! I feel like throwing up will make me feel better and sometimes I can, but when I can’t is it okay to make myself throw up? I just feel like it would make me feel better. This is interfering with my work life and my everyday schedules. All I want to do is lay in bed and throw up all day. Please help. I feel helpless. My doctors prescribed me zofran which isn’t worth a dime, and my partner just doesn’t understand how awful I feel all the time. Someone please tell me how to get over this. Dont get me wrong, I am so happy to create a little one but this is no where near exciting or a great experience. Its making me miserable and I really just wish I could enjoy creating this little baby, but its getting the best of me.
Thank you for writing this post. I have had a food aversion to everything then I have a random craving about once a day and I can only eat that food for like thirty min and then it goes back on the aversion list. I just sit around waiting for something to sound good and feeling terrible all the while. Like you said I just hear about specific aversions on all the other websites. It’s nice to know that I’m not alone in feeling nauseous at every smell. It took me two hours to eat an omelet the other day because nothing ended up sounding good and I felt I needed to eat something. It was the worst two hours so far. haha. I never thought eating would be hard.
I can just cry reading these. To know I am not alone is so comforting to me. One of my biggest fears is throwing up and I too will do everything in my power to not do it! I am just about 11 weeks pregnant and am having the worst food aversion. I had it bad with my first but not this bad. I am miserable and just trying to find something to eat to keep me going through my days. I really hope it doesnt last too much longer!
This is my second pregnancy and I am having extreme food aversions as well. I had never felt like this with my first. I literally can not even think about making dinner for my family, just thinking about the different foods to put together for dinner makes me nauseous. This morning, I tried to eat a banana, took one bite and could not eat any more. I am seven weeks and am hoping that this will pass in the coming few weeks! It is comforting to hear others experiencing the same kind of thing, so thank you all for your input!
Oh yes, extreme food aversions and lots of throwing up and nausea. I wish I knew what my body wanted to eat. I’m so hungry but even saltines and water sometimes can’t stay down. And I wish I wanted to eat but every kind of food sounds disgusting. And my poor husband is so confused with how I’m feeling because I wasn’t like this pre-pregnancy.
Any good suggestions, ladies, for foods to eat while experiencing food aversions to everything and all day morning sickness on top of that??? I’m miserable for any suggestions!!!
Just stumbled across this. I am barely eating. I am 8the weeks now and have lost 10lbs in the last week and a half. I can barely eat. I can’t look at the food. I can’t smell it. I cannot even think about what is in my fridge. I made SO freeze all meat with the exception of breakfast sausage which seems to be the only thing I can manage to eat for dinner. Then I feel miserable afterward. I constantly feel like I am going to pass out. Sigh, few more weeks.
This is really freaking me out. I’m only at two months, extremely food averse and on the verge of throwing up, and I’m down 10lbs. I can tell I’m dehydrated even though I’m able to drink water, might be that it’s winter stealing all the moisture from me… anyway, seeing all these posts about how it could continue past 12wks is disturbing, and the number of posts makes me so irritated that I didn’t know this might happen!! I’m glad people are sharing their experience, I’m just unhappy that I’m in this scary situation and no one warned me it’s such a common part of pregnancy. I have an anxiety/panic disorder, and it’s really ramped up when I can’t eat properly, so this is a double-whammy for me, having to fight my anxiety feelings and feeling so fainty, fragile and depressed. I haven’t been able to take my prenatals, despite purchasing a brand known for being gentle (Rainbowlite). Here and there I get a little bit of food in, but it doesn’t change the constant nausea or the frequent feelings of needing to eat again, which trigger more nausea. Hiccups and reflux are also at play, it’s just a nightmare. I’m not doing well at all with any meat, I’m surviving on resers frozen bean and cheese burritos (one at a time) and the occasional bowl of oatmeal. Smells are killing me, and thoughts of gross things, the sight of anything gross, it doesn’t have to be food, just gags me. As a stylist, I have been able to work here and there, but I definitely notice my work quality is suffering because of the light-headedness, not being able to make good conversation, and needing to sit down a lot. I think I can handle about one color client before honestly needing to go home and lay-down. I just keep thinking :” I am never doing this again. One child is enough for me.” I have been offered Zofran by a recently pregnant friend, but have heard that if you’re sensitive to medication (I am, magnesium makes me sleepy!) it will knock you out, and that it’s most commonly prescribed to terminally ill people. Needless to say I find that scary so I haven’t tried it.
I’m a barber so I get you sister! I told a lot of my clients early because the flu season is upon us and I saw their reaction to my facial expressions and brain in space, and I would rather they know instead of thinking I’m sick. I have been lucky with my anxiety, it’s a family disorder that I have struggled with pretty heavily for the last 4 years especially, but I just focus on the idea that I have one job and it’s to take care of myself because it means taking care of the little bean in me. It for some reason puts things in perspective for me. I also found that taking my prenatal at night when I was exhausted and about to pass out worked for me. I slept through any gross feelings I would have had I think? Anyways, hang in there and you aren’t alone! Maybe schedule a little extra time for each client right now? I have done that too, just takes the weight off of hurrying for the next one and when I have stayed on my normal cutting time I get a little sit break! <3
I am having extreme aversions and am in my 17th week. I noticed most commentors are in their first trimester or somewhere before 13 weeks with these aversions! When will this stop?
Just found this and so thankful I’m not the only one. I’m coming up on 11 weeks and I think I’m driving everyone I know completely insane because I hate almost ALL food! Or, I could be okay with a food one minute, and completely despise it the next. Even safe foods like toast and crackers make me want to run…I haven’t puked much so it’s not necessarily morning sickness, and pre-pregnancy there were only three foods I couldn’t tolerate, I was Miss Appetite! I feel like a completely different person…and a big baby at that because the less I eat the worse I feel!
Thank you for this! The only meal I can stomach (both literally and figuratively) is breakfast. And I often throw up before I eat and sometimes again afterwards. The thought of lunch or dinner just absolutely repulses me. Finding something to feed my family each night is a huge struggle because I don’t want anything! And when I do eat, I have terrible heartburn. I’m nauseous almost all the time, and throwing up late at night as well as in the morning. Also waking in the night just to feel nauseous. This is week 10… I’m hoping it gets better soon, I typically like food, and I wanted more babies too!
So thankful to find this post. I’m experiencing the same thing. I’m in week 14 and I’ve had extreme food aversion since about week 8. I absolutely cannot go to the grocery store. So much food, the sight and smell, is completely overwhelming. I am like you and have never puked once this pregnancy but if I ever got close, it was during the few attempts at the grocery store. Eggs and one flavor of a protein bar is mostly what I eat lately. The foods I can stand change from day to day. I’ve only gained 2 lbs thus far. I do feel it’s getting a bit better but it’s a real struggle. People assume since I’m not puking I have it easy. No way! I wish.
Thanks for this post! I’m 11 weeks right now and the aversions are so terrible. I don’t have aversions to everything (I didn’t know there were women out there with aversions to water! That’s terrible!!) but the list is so long there isn’t a whole lot that I can eat. Still, I know I’m lucky; the only times I’ve vomited is when I fail to control a violent gag reaction. I’m actually really concerned that the aversions won’t go away once baby comes. I feel like maybe they’re morphing into psychological aversions. I used to love food. LOVE it. Now I really can’t conceive of liking the smell of food ever again. Anybody out there still have aversions (residual aversions?) once the baby’s born?
This is exactly what I’m dealing with! I’m coming up on 12 weeks and I do vomit (not a lot but when I have tried anything with flavor or that “sticks to your gut”, oatmeal etc), but it’s that I try to think of anything that is appetizing and nothing at all even sounds appealing. I’ve discovered avacados are okay once I start eating/force myself to eat them and they are more or less flavorless, but even crackers, unsalted plain crackers, leave a taste in my mouth that just grosses me out. Everything. Smells make it even more difficult. My doctor weighed me and since my six week mark I have lost 10 lbs. She said that weightloss in the first trimester is relatively common, but everything needs to be focused on gaining 1 lb a week after that to be on schedule. She advised that I go to the grocery store hungry and just go at it.
I love food. I am not a thin girl, I’m on the thick side and I eat! So this whole process has been a sensation of kind of losing myself, I used to go out after work and eat and maybe have a drink with coworkers or friends, it’s not even a desirable situation for me at this point. Crossing my fingers that the next two weeks things get better. : /
I am at the begining of week nine and my food aversion is beyond horrible. I force myself to drink water and most the time I am forcing myself to eat something…ANYTHING! It is so hard because besides being repulsed by most foods, I just have an over full feeling all the time. I am overweight and typically love to cook and even more to eat. Not only that, to add stress to the matter my DH and I are fighing about it all the time. He wants me to cook all our family meals and I have a hard time even being In the same room as food. I literally feel ill just thinking about food. Thanks for making me feel a little bit more normal.
This is me right now, and I’m on week 10. I’m starving at this moment, but everything I think about is making my stomach turn. I just tried eating a bowl of noodles, and I puked after the first few bites. Nothing’s working, and it’s gotten to the point now where I don’t care about what’s not safe to eat during pregnancy because now I’m just searching for ANY food to eat at all.
The serious aversions I’m having at this time is chicken and pizza, but everything else is stuff that I’m not too keen on eating either.
Please know how GRATEFUL I am for this post. Over a year after you wrote it I have come across it and finally feel some sort of [mental] relief for the first time. And not in a “misery loves company” sort of way, just happy to see that this is… survivable? Your descriptions are my experience to a T, even down to the water aversions. I have no solutions to share, but I just wanted to say thank you and hang in there to all of the moms-to-be who have stumbled across this in the same desperate google search as I have.
I m right now close to 9 weeks and I am already having nausea all round the clock and throw up like 3 times everyday. All I could keep down is Ensure nutrition drink and some ginger.
I can’t stand the smell of ANY food and I ve been starving. The only smartest move at the moment seems to be ensure. My doc prescribed me anti nausea pills but I do not take them just to monitor the most important symptom in the pregnancy.
Last time I got pregnant it ended up in a miscarriage at 10 weeks with fading symptoms and I am just monitoring the symptoms this time to see how well I progress.
I hope things worked out, and you are still going strong!! 🙂
I am 13 weeks pregnant and I am dealing with this. I have lost 10lbs. I don’t get any cravings at all, only food aversion. I force myself to drink water. And if I force myself to eat food I will puke it. I can only eat one time a day & it must be a small meal. I’m concerned I will lose more weight. Hopefully this stage passes quickly!!
I’m 16 weeks pregnant with my 3rd little one and I have never experienced food aversion like this in my life. I am not only repulsed by ANYTHING edible, I have absolutely no hunger pains or physical signs of hunger. I have lost 20 lbs and I’m at my wits end…will this stop? If so, when??
I am currently almost to week 8, it seems so much longer, but every time I type out the week we are on, I think, “geeze it’s still so early.” I am IN the food aversions stage. It has definitely gotten worse the last week or two. I went from only being able to eat comfort food like mac n cheese, cheeseburgers, mashed potatoes, but now I cannot stand the thought of them…just typing them out is making me feel sick. It’s like a constant ‘hung over bad’ feeling, but nothing fixes it, especially not greasy food! ugh. I can stand the thought of fruit, especially watermelon. Today seems to bring more nausea, but it feels like I haven’t eaten at all. I try to drink more water thinking maybe my body is thirsty and not hungry, but sometimes the water just makes it worse. I am headed to the store, but am afraid when I get there nothing will even sound good and I will have wasted a trip. I will definitely buy watermelon though. 🙂 I had to start searching for others like this, bc it’s not necessarily the “morning sickness”, I’ve been pretty good with out nausea I think, unless I don’t eat, which I can’t often bc the food grosses me out, and then I feel sick. It’s like a double edged sword. A friend of mine suggested cheese and mustard sandwiches. AT first I thought, GROSS. Then I opened the fridge, saw my bagels, and thought, “toasted with cheddar cheese and mustard.” It was awesome. Anyway, thank you for writing this, I thought I was going crazy.
When I was pregnant the first time, I LOVED baked sweet potatoes with butter and worcestershire sauce. Everyone around me thought it was so gross, but it was heaven back then! You eat what you gotta eat. I hope you feel better soon!
I am pregnant with my third baby, I am high risk with hypertension. I got used to eating rare meats with my second pregnancy, and now I can’t stand the taste or smell. Not even a nibble. It all taste like too fleshy. Now that I am in my third trimester, even the processed meats and foods are tasting bad. cheese taste spoiled, lunch meat taste rotten, and food altogether just has a bad taste and makes me feel nauseous after eating it. I never got morning sickness throughout this pregnancy and I am worried about it. I don’t want to eat yet my appetite is still strong. What do I do? any thoughts on whats going on. Like you said i look it up and it brings up sites like pregnant food aversions, but what happens when the food aversions are more serious of an issue?
I wish I had advice for you! After my last 2 pregnancies, when the food aversions were progressively worse, my taste for food is just generally messed up now. I know that is not what you want to hear. Just eat what you can when you can.
This is my 3rd pregnancy and I’ve had aversion to food with each pregnancy all worse then the last. I am 19 weeks today and most meets are out! Beef is somewhat ok and fish but I won’t eat a lot of it. All of my babies in utero wanted fruit. First strawberries and second and now third blueberries. All 3 I could not drink milk or eat much dairy at all. Other foods were simply unapeeling. When it comes to making dinner I start sweating bullets. I know I don’t have the energy for it but my stomach just turns and turns. Like you I do not bring anything up unless I’m extremely I’ll which some could say is good but sometimes after the hrs of feeling so awful I wish I could. At almost half way through this pregnancy now I thought this would have eased up but nope. I’ve managed to gain 2.5lbs. That’s it. Dr isn’t worked so I won’t either but I sure miss being able to enjoy food
I’m having some aversions at 19 weeks with my 3rd. I’m thankful, that it’s not as bad as what I read below (holy beans ladies you’ve got it rough!)… Mostly it’s feeling full halfway into a meal and nauseous immediately afterward if I try to push it. I have discovered if my protein is low, it makes me feel worse. So ladies,if you’re finding those little white lines in your nails it could be the nausea is from protein deficiency. Sometimes low blood sugar and being dehydrated is also a cause. … When I was pregnant with #2, I would make an insanely thick protein shake (4-5 scoops, so it would be 1-2x the proteinI needed in a day) and I would leave it on the desk, take a sip, walk away, come back an hour later. If you only finish half of it, you’re still getting enough to keep you from feeling super weak, fatigued and nauseous… It’s just not really enough to gain weight on.
I am 17 weeks and up until now I have had pretty bad ‘all day sickness’ but now I am just not interested in food everything tastes the same! I fear I’m not eating enough nutritious food for my baby! I even had to get chewable vitamins! I have always loved food but now I can’t stand it!
I am on 11 weeks now and I really didn’t have any food aversion except I get sick of almost any smell that is stinky — and garlic will make me sick!
In my 6 -8 weeks were horrible..I was nauseaus and puking everything I eat for almost a week.. I usually puke 3-5 times a day..I dont stop puking until my stomach is empty of anything..it was horrible that sometimes I choked cuz I ran out of breath, and your toes and fingers are curling up because you have enough…and the irony is I want to eat…foods are constantly playing in my mind..making me so hungry but I can’t accept anything except water… thanks God I am over with it but still have the repulsive act against garlic..it makes me want to puke straight away..I used to love it but.now…it makes me sick..
It’s horrible, I just want to be normal again..can eat, walk outside and can cook again so that I can enjoy eating what I like again..
I am 12 weeks and 4 days and since week 11 I can’t stand the smell of food let alone I can’t eat anything especially if I drink milk I just vomit right away I am just afraid that I don’t gain the enough weight for my baby I hope this is temporary and I get to eat normally again
I’m currently in my 26th week and I’m still suffering from severe food aversions. I quit using Facebook because the food pics people posted made me sick. I can’t eat protein at all. No eggs, beans, meat, etc without my stomach turning. My doctor put me on probiotics. She thinks my intestinal flora may be out of whack. It hasn’t made a noticeable difference yet. I’m also on zofran and promethazine for the nausea. Only the promethazine seems to help although it makes me tired. B6 and unisom did nothing for the nausea. It has been a miserable 26 weeks and I told my husband not to expect any more kids from me.
Food aversions make me puke! the smell of chinese food esp when its got hoisin sauce…eewk! I could only eat oatmeal, and dried fruits…i supplement with Ensure milk just to make sure that i get atleast some nutrients that im sure i would not throw up… im planning to drink gatorade to make up for loss fluids.
Omg me too! This pregnancy I have horrible food aversions. One minute I’ll want a certain food and by the time I cook it, I’ll totally want to puke just because. I know I had aversions with my first and this is my third but they were never this bad. 🙁
I’m only 5 weeks and4 days and I have had the worst aversions to everything edible I can’t even get water down because it comes right back up and I try to swallow food similar to taking cough syrup, like it gets to the back of my mouth and instantly comes back out, if someone finds a way to get over that seriously let me know lol
So sorry you’re feeling that way!
I’m so happy you write this post. I’m 7 weeks pregnant with my second and I’m nauseous all day every day, but with no vomitting, and I can’t stand even the thought of any food. All I can do is slowly nibble crackers and sip water, or sip on the occasional coke. It’s the only thing that even somewhat settles mt stomach for a little bit. My first pregnancy was a breeze, I didn’t experience anything at all like this!
I am 12 weeks now,and started hating food since week 7.couldnt eat anything that’s cooked.The smell makes me sick.I only live with,bread,certain fruits and milk right now..Just a thought of a food in my head makes me sick and even seeing pictures and food commercials on TV triggers my morning sickness.I have to wear mask at work everyday,especially lunch time,that’s the time I will start smelling onions,garlic.It makes me cry sometimes.Can’t wait to be able to eat good food again for my baby.Hope this will end soon..
I had extreme food aversion the first month with my first Son. Now I’m pregnant again, I think about 2 months, and it is the worst I’ve ever had so far. I can’t eat anything! I don’t like water either. I have extreme nausea but no puking! My stomach feels weird all day every day. I only feel better when I’m laying flat on my back which is weird. I wish there was something we could do to help Ourselves eat and drink.
Feel so much better knowing im not the only one going through this my fiance says im just being picky and should eat what’s at the house but most days I cant fathom eating anything at all.
The most frustrating thing for me is feeling RAVENOUSLY hungry, and at the same time completely repulsed by food in general. Occasionally there will a SINGLE food that my body will accept, but even WATER gags me! And I swear my taste buds don’t work right either. I remember how bacon used to taste, dang it! Is this the case for anyone else???
I’ve been having the same problems. I ALWAYS have this nasty, empty feeling in my stomach, but I can’t stand the thought of any food. Being concerned about the nutrients I’m getting to the baby, I bought a pack of chocolate Boost meal replacement drinks. They have vanilla too. I was able to drink it, and they have been a lifesaver. I try to limit myself to one in the morning. It helps me gain enough strength, and get rid of that nasty feeling in my stomach long enough to scavenge something I can eat at my house. Then I try to eat small, frequent snacks throughout the day so I don’t get too far gone and weak. It also helps to drink one before grocery shopping, so I don’t feel as sick at the store and end up leaving there with nothing. I still struggle, but the Boost drinks have helped tremendously. Good luck everyone.
I wish I was only dealing with food aversions…smell…sight…touch…sometimes just thought…it all makes me puke. My food aversions are so bad I cant manage to enter the kitchen without throwing up. My super canine powered sense of smell hates the smell of my own body but also doesnt agree with showering because the smell of unscented soap and shampoo I bought makes me puke. When my older kids or husband hug me, I am blessed with wave after wave of nausea which leads to…you got it…puking. I had to buy bottled water (I am so against bottled water you dont even understand the environmental guilt I am enduring at this moment) because the look of water in a glass makes me puke…but guess what…the smell of the water bottle also makes me puke. I feel for all of you.
I never got sick to the point of throwing up when I was pregnant with my son, but I have gotten that sick this time around twice. I’m 15 weeks and 3 days with baby #2. I hope this calms down. I *never get sick like this…ever! Also, every day, I seem to watch different things to eat. I can’t seem to stick with one food very long because the next day, the thought of it would make me nauseated. This pregnancy is definitely different from my first. Gatorade and I are good friends right now and soup….yess… I love soup right now.
Thank you for making nee feel normal! 9 weeks now, but since 7 I feel repulsed just thinking about what to eat. I have been eating terribly just to get something down. Luckily I haven’t vomited, HATE IT too, but I also hate the terrible diet I have right now!
Glad to read this. I have been struggling with nausea and vomiting… along with VERY strong food aversions, especially to meat. Thinking about meat makes me want to throw up! I feel bad for my husband but the only thing I can handle is bread, pasta, cereal, and some fruits. My poor hubby has been eating cereal/mac and cheese with me every day. I guess there is no answer we just have to listen to our bodies. 🙁
BANANAS!!! Before I was pregnant, bananas were my go to for quick breakfast or just a quick snack! Now everything down to how they feel on my teeth when I bite into them makes me gag 🙁 why?! I LOVE my bananas!!! Also Coffee, is actually how I knew I was pregnant. I’m not the biggest coffee drinker to begin with, but I make a cup every morning when I get to work and drink on it to get through the day…At about 3ish weeks (right before I got a pos. pg test) I found myself making it, but not being able to drink it…and choking it down as I was falling asleep at my desk! Yayyyyyy babies!!!!
I am 5 weeks starting 6th weeks and YES I have exactly the same problem as you described I ended up on this page gooogling the symptoms hoping I’m not crazy because nobody believes me. 🙁 IT’S EVERYTHING even water and to force myself to eat is like I’m a toddler again fighting my mother im law to not shove food down my throat or force me to eat all the time. I am afraid to eat to avoid the gagging and stomach knots and it all starts when I’m even thinking of a certain type of food. Good luck to both of us.
I have also an exttreme nausea and vomitting during my 7 weeks to 13 weeks. I came to the point that i had been confined to the hospital due to mild dehydration. Whenever I eat food, I vomit. I had thought that I am dying that time. And I always pray everyday not feel this way. I became so weak, tired, and feeling of having an severe ulcer. I have no headaches or mood swings or smell sensitivity but I have stomach pain and leg cramps. Now that I am 14 weeks I am started to feel nauseous to certain food. Don’t know why, why is it I have smell aversion only at 14 weeks. I had search all over to the internet and found no solution to my problem, even I try home remedies, or even I took my medicine for vomiting. Still I have no control over that. This is my first pregnancy, and I have diagnosed PCOS back in 2003. I have very irregular menstruation and became pregnant not knowing I was already at 8 weeks.
[…] My first trimesters are always 12-16 weeks of my hate/hate relationship with food. I am incredibly fortunate in that I don’t puke. I also just don’t eat. […]
I wish I could say it gets better but it really has not for me. I’m 28 weeks now and I haven’t cooked a meal in 6 months. I cant. I cant even go in the kitchen. I cant deal with the smells and my gag reflex goes into overdrive. My husband will cook and bring it to me in bed or at my desk (if I wasn’t so miserable, it would be great!). I’ve always been a really picky eater so maybe that has something to do with it. But with this pregnancy, it has gotten so much worse. Its like I’ve reverted back to three years old when all I was willing to eat were potatoes, spaghetti noodles (sans sauce) and bagels. That’s about it. I can do fresh fruit and sometimes some sliced veggies. But honestly, that is what I have lived off of for the past 6 months. That of course comes with its own set of issues because I have a lot of heartburn and gas issues and if I don’t eat every two hours, my throat starts burning and I start feeling really sick but I cant come up with anything to snack on that doesn’t make sick. My best bet so far has been a bowl of dry corn pops. But you can only eat so many bowls a day.
Yes!!!! 2nd pregnancy. I have thrown up a couple times (9 weeks right now) and also a lot of gagging or throwing up but nothing is coming out. Water is gross. Everything (unless I crave something) is gross. The only thing I can enjoy right now is white rice and a little soy sauce on it. Oh Steak is the only thing that taste good too but every day is a struggle to fugure out what to eat. It’s extremely frustrating and awful bc you are starving but its hard to eat. I suffered the same thing with my first pregnancy too!
I am going through this right now. I am at week 11 and I can’t handle looking at any food. Specially cooking. It keeps getting worse. I don’t get sick either just constant nausea at the site and/or thought of food. I thought I was crazy at first. Glad to know I’m not alone. I pray it stops soon. I am so hungry haha.
I’ve had food aversion for about 2 weeks now. It first started off with me making faces at the mentioning of food and then gagging at the mentioning of food. I couldn’t even stand talking about it, seeing it, smelling it or eating it. Meat was an instant no no. Herbs are out of questions. No soups, anything oily, etc. I am living off ensure, water, fruits and maybe salad on my lucky days. For some reason I could do all you can eat sushi. I think because there’s next to no odor to what I ate. I feel bad about it because my husband doesn’t know what to do about this and think I’m not getting enough nutrients. You really have to have experience it to understand. I would consider myself as having extreme food aversion. It’s miserable. I’m learning to find the balance of eating what I can in small bites and frequently so that I can get over the morning sickness which appears to worsen on an empty stomach. Between food aversion and the constant morning sickness, this has got to be the lowest point of pregnancy.
Yes. 100% yes.
Did it ever get better for you?
I stumbled upon this post this morning when I was searching the internet for some relief from my EXTREME food aversions. I know this is old but figured I would contribute.
I read the comments of the other women, and I can already tell they dont seem to have the same aversions you and I suffer from. I am 7 weeks into my second pregnancy, and while I have managed to get the nausea under control most days with my zofran, the aversions are still there. It is EXTREME. It was exactly the same with my first pregnancy. Morning, noon, night and middle of the night, i am literally gagging at the thought of food. I have a HORRIBLE taste in my mouth all day long. Nothing is appealing or appetizing, NOTHING. I gag water down. I have added lemon to it some days and its still awful. I have tried other drinks, orange juice, fruit juice, soda, etc. Nothing helps and i can hardly swallow it.
Food is worse, I am constantly battling what tastes my mouth can stand at any given moment. Even the zofran hardly helps this. Im going back and forth between sweet, sour and mint all day. By the time im ready for bed im so nauseated at the thought of anything I ate earlier that day. This morning I sucked on a sour patch kid just to see if the taste would go away. It did for about 10 minutes. Now its back and im attempting to sip water. I just ate a piece of gum, now the mint flavor is gagging me.
This is the most awful thing ever. I feel like this time around the first trimester is going to last a lifetime. I cannot wait to be done with this and actually eat food. I miss it. I see my boyfriend eating every night and im so jealous and sad. I looked online for little tips to make the first trimester not as gloomy and go faster, but found nothing. 🙁
Aversion to ALL foods and drinks. I was never picky, I’m 6 weeks now and I dread meal time. I used to drink water all day every day now all I can stomach is Ginger Ale. Occasionally I can stomach broth but right now I’m just trying to choke down some rice for lunch, gagging the whole time. ??
This is me to a tee. This is my first pregnancy, I am also extremely sensitive to odors. It doesn’t take much to throw me over the edge nausea-wise. I puke once or twice on most days, maybe four days of the week. I Always feel like I am o. The cusp of it 24/7. At the mere mention of certain foods, I feel like I am going to hurl but don’t. And start hacking. I can be really hungry, but eating or drinking anything is the last thing I want to do. I have to think really hard before I ingest anything because I have to ask myself the question, ” will this make me vomit?”. I hate thinking about food because I make myself sick thinking about certain foods but it is so hard when you’re hungry, nothing sounds good, and you have the nausea and fear that you will puke what little you can stomach. But I am not even puking that much.
Thank you so much for this post, I am currently going through this hell and I don’t think my doctors even understand nor take me seriously. I’m 9 weeks with my first baby and this has been going on since 6 weeks. I’m so very thankful to not have actually thrown up yet but I pretty much have nonstop mild nausea. However my food aversions are so severe I spend all day fighting to just find one thing I can eat or even drink. Just typing the word “food” makes me nauseated. I thankfully can drink water and Gatorade and an occasional nutrition drink but that’s it. I’ve lost 20 pounds in 3.5 weeks. If this continues until 13 weeks I will have lost 30-35 pounds. I worry that a lot of what I’m losing is muscle. My body is eating itself, yet I CANNOT eat without gagging. As I said this is my first baby so I don’t know how it’s supposed to go but this cannot be normal. Of course I am also STARVING so I spend hours every day with hunger pains that hurt/nauseate me.
I had an appointment with my rheumatologist this week and tried to bring it up to her and she just shrugged it off as if it’s normal. Next week is my 10 week OBGYN appt, I hope they take me seriously.
I’m here replying to myself to say that I’m now on my second pregnancy AND HAVING THE SAME HELL AGAIN. I can’t eat anything, can’t be around food and yet I’m starving. Ugggggggg. It’s torture. Oh and last time I did end up losing about 35 pounds as I wasn’t able to eat until about 20 weeks.
I am just shy of 7 weeks, and from the get go a lot of my favourite treats have gone out the window. Any chocolate baked good, nope. Anything super sweet, nope.
Now, sincere aversion is kicking in, and despite not throwing up, half of what I try to eat results in me literally spitting it out. I cannot swallow this food. I have done noodles, plain waffles, tried my favourite grilled cheese. I am not able to take more than a few bites until the threat of vomit has me turning to the garbage. So far, potatoes and salt are my main dish.
With my furthest prior pregnancies, HG was a real problem, and I ended up in the hospital after literal days of not being able to stomach even water. I am a little nervous about the risk of that issue in this current situation. However, I have no living children and am prepared to face anything for the chance to meet my bean :).
I can totally relate! I too have huge aversions to nearly everything and just when I think it’s getting better I’m back to square one. I think it might have something to do with I was really healthy eating before and all my adult life and now my body and hormones have taken over! I can stomach plain pasta, cheese, some biscuits mostly.
Other days I get huge cravings for chocolate and caramel so really enjoy twix bars. I agree there’s not much on aversions, when I looked up about it as I thought is it possible my taste buds can change? I found on google a term – Dysgeusia, or a change in your sense of taste, during pregnancy likely is caused by pregnancy hormones, also causes metallic taste in mouth. That helped me make a bit more sense of it!
This is totally me right now. It’s not about surviving on toast or popsicles or whatever…this is about feeling sick at the thought of ALL FOODS. And once I’ve eaten something, even if it tasted good in the moment, I feel so sick at the thought of eating, looking at, smelling, even thinking about that food ever again. I’m 7 weeks tomorrow and this started at 6 weeks to the day, so it’s only been one week but feels like an eternity. Don’t even get me started on fluids either. I feel like I can’t drink ANYTHING without feeling sick. I have felt so discouraged at the prospect of trying to come up with something brand new to eat or drink every single time I put something in my body for months on end, especially when the list of things I can even tolerate the thought of putting in my mouth is so small. This is really a terrible feeling, worse than the nausea I constantly feel…and I have not thrown up either by the way.
This is the first help I have found at all, I had to get so specific with my search. I am 10 weeks along with my fourth. I had pre-eclampsia with my first, I puked endlessly with my second. I had heartburn for the duration of my third, we just lost our last two and with this one, I have zero cravings. It is the exact opposite. I can’t eat or drink anything, no coffee which I love, no noodles, no PB, no pizza, no crackers with any salt or flavor. Some fruit, some chicken, but not fresh chicken, like only chicken bites, no sandwiches, hardly any fruits or veg. I seriously do not know what to eat. I have been living off pudding, milk, almonds and yogurt. I can not stand eggs or meat or even rice!! I do not know what to do and I am on the verge of puking constantly, I can’t sleep and I am always hungry. Help!!
I’m 12 about to be 13 weeks along and I’m having food aversions while I’m eating food.. I go this sounds so good and take a bite and then I want to puke.. the only thing I can really stomach even eating is ramen in a cup..
So pleased to find this thread and to see that food aversions are normal. I could never in a million years have expected to feel like this during pregnancy. Even wifh Zofran I can only really stomach small bowls of raw oats with cold milk. Just seeing a coffee shop or sushi place in the distance and I am heaving or puking in the street. My poor husband has no idea what to bring home to eat. All my life I have always been adventurous with food and now I can barely stomach plain rice. My mind scours through the isles of the supermarket trying to imagine a single thing that I could eat drawing a blank. I’m starving but at the same time cant stand the smell or sight of food… I have aversions to the fridge, to the sound of rustling shopping bags. All trigger another bout of nausea or vomiting. I hope it ends soon. Why dont more people speak about this issue??
Yes! Trying to go to the supermarket makes me so sad. And sick. ?
This is my 3rd pregnancy. I have two boys and with my first I experienced meat adversions for the first 6 months or so but I could eat fruit and other things…not meat lol. My 2nd was pretty smooth sailing as well. This pregnancy is a whole new ball game. I don’t puke. I just can’t stand the thought of food. Any food it seems is a NO. I think of chewing it and get sick to my stomach which is actually how I have yo decide if I can eat or not eat something…oicture myself actually eating it. It’s so hard to eat. I’ve lost about 20lbs now. I’m 16 weeks pregnant (in two days) I’ve searched the internet and only find stuff about nausea and puking nothing about JUST the all day nausea and weakness I feel. Drinking water is hard. I’m now to a point I can drink black u sweet tea with two sweet n low or a Gatorade but it has to be the blue cherry. People don’t u understand when j tell them what I’m going through. It’s miserable ..i am miserable. I cry sometimes because I can’t Bring myself to eat or find anything my body agrees with. Smells get to me.too. I just hope it subsides soon.
I’m so sorry you are dealing with this Amanda – but you’re not alone! This is my second pregnancy with the same exact experience as you. My first pregnancy I actually lost 50 lbs! I was a bit over weight to begin with but during my pregnancy I was so sick over the thought of eating anything – and I didn’t even get HUNGRY! I also had morning sickness ALL DAY – ALL 38 weeks I was pregnant! Luckily my baby boy was completely healthy at 7lbs 7 Oz. I think it worked in my favor that I had gestational diabetes because it made my baby gain a bit more than he would have due to my severe food aversions.
With this pregnancy (I am currently 14 weeks) it is actually worse – because I feel sick all day and I have the same food aversions (everything) but I’M STARVING! I am so HUNGRY but the thought of putting any food in my mouth makes me throw up. It is insane. An absolute (pardon my French) mind-f$ck!!!!
I’m already down ten pounds since I found out I was pregnant- but the doctors don’t seem concerned again due to the fact that I’m a little heavy.
The only silver lining to this whole situation is that when I got out of the hospital with my first son Alexander I looked AWESOME! Hahaha – I was 145lbs – hadn’t been that since five years before! Since I put the weight back on I’m sort of looking forward to the ONE positive thing – if I’m going to go through this hell – at least I’ll look good after. This time I’ll KEEP it off too!
Good luck – I know it’s hard and sometimes you feel like people just don’t get how sick you are – just try to keep your head up. My doctor prescribed me Bonjesta – which has been a great help – not making me feel 100% but at least able to live my life and take care of my 3-1/2 year old!
Yes! I am hungry too! It is a total mind f&#$*. I go to order food (because cooking is so gosh dang hard) and can’t get past the ordering stage…so I sit here still hungry and still nauseated.
Ok so this is me now. I don’t have specific adversions I literally want to thing to do with food. Thinking looking smelling dealing with it nothing. I’m 14 weeks in and it hasn’t changed or stopped. I force myself to eat but immediately regret it. The nausea is so intense it brings me to tears as I curl into a ball on my floor. My poor 19 month old doesn’t know what to do. I feel like I’m failing as a mom since I can’t prepare him anything to eat and I’m almost always incapacitated by food in general. I don’t know what to do I’m at my wits end with it. I’ve come to terms about not eating during the day so I don’t get as stuck but after dinner (if I can even manage to cook something) all bets are off and I’m completely done for the evening. Ot sucks because my husband is obviously frustrated and isn’t trying to but it’s coming out on our son and I’m terrified that my son will hate his sibling when he or she gets here and I’m worried that he won’t come back from the way my husband is talking to him or the lack of playing I can do with him because of this pregnancy. I’m so upset that this pregnancy is like this, I wanted a lot of children and a huge family but if all my pregnancies are going to be like this I won’t do it again literally ever. I will completely have my reproductive organs removed so it won’t happen again. And that’s honestly the hardest and scariest thought I’ve ever come up with all because of this “morning sickness” that apparently has no end.
How are you doing now, Genevive? Has it changed at all two months down the road?
I’m about 6 weeks pregnant and current I cannot stand the sight of refrigerated food… whenever I look in the fridge, I get nauseous. I cannot cook (although I know how to). I always have order food or have my husband prepared (or he will order) for me. At this rate we will go broke ?. I would rather have instant noodles than reheat anything that’s overnight. I am not like this! I wished I just have food aversion with chicken like my previous pregnancy.
Wow. I feel less alone.
I am in week 8 and struggle finding something to eat- big time. Sometimes I think I’ve found something I can stand, but then I go to eat it a second time and my stomach says no, thank you! So I end up ruling out more and more foods.
I also feel like I could throw up ALL the time but never do. I agree that sometimes it seems like if I could throw up, I’d feel better. And the crazy thing is…eating more often helps but I can’t stand the sight of food! Gah!!
Diddo on cooking- can’t stand to do it anymore. Going broke from getting food from restaurants seems like a real possibility.
I’m so glad I found this. Queasy all day, no barfing to relieve it. TERRIBLE aversions to 90% of foods known to mankind. Anything even remotely sweet makes me gag and so sick. And I love sweets :,(. The problem is, everything tastes sweet: chicken, carrots, the “wrong kind” of bread. Today I have only been able to eat plain oatmeal and sourdough bread from Panera. Everything tastes so like rotten, sickly sweetness and makes me gag. Swishing with unsweetened yellow Listerine helps a bit with the foul taste in my mouth (brushing my teeth makes me heave). I’ve also been able to eat chicken bone broth with some collegen powder mixed in, and I’ve been able to eat salty veggie soups a couple times. Rice cakes help. I had given up gluten/dairy/sugar/soy due to my PCOS, but now I’ve reintroduced gluten bc I’m dying. I’ve lost at least 13lbs this month alone, and I’m worried about this continuing. I’m praying this will subside by week 12…
Ugh, yes me! All food is repulsive. All. Food. Not a rice, not toast, not saltines – nothing. All horrendous. I am 6 and a half weeks right now and honestly don’t know how I will make it through. I’ve lost 10 pounds! All. Food. Repulses me. No vomiting (thank god, I’m terrified of vomiting). I just fight to get anything in my mouth. Trying not to get too dark about it – but pregnancy so far is a horrible experience.
1 will be 15 weeks tomorrow and have suffered HG and severe food aversion to most food since week 6. I was admitted to hospital just before Christmas as I literally couldn’t keep anything down. I have to force myself to eat something as not eating just makes the vomiting worse.
Today I had a craving for noodles which I never eat. I thought I would eat them as I really don’t fancy ANY food. Now the thought of having eaten them makes me want to throw up.
I’m beginning to resign myself that I will continue to feel nauseous throughout my pregnancy. Some days I have been at absolute rock bottom emotionally but I have been lucky with my husband, mum and some very supportive GPs who have prescribed me various medications.
I don’t think people talk about the mental impact enough. Some days I have thought about the fact if I had a miscarriage at least the nausea would go which is such a horrible think to consider. I’ve mentioned this to a few people and they look at me in disgust but unless you have experienced severe nausea and vomiting I don’t think people understand
And if one more person tells me to try ginger biscuits (cookies) I don’t think I could be held responsible for my actions
I agree – people telling you to “just try…” whatever stupid remedy, like you aren’t an adult with Google, is infuriating. I would kill to be able to eat ginger cookies!!! I’m 15 weeks and 3 days now, with no end in sight to the food aversions. I cried the other day bc my husband ate a popsicle in front of me and I just really wanted one. I want to be able to enjoy ANYTHING. I’ve heard of women with hyperemesis becoming suicidal or having unwanted thoughts of terminating the pregnancy due to being so desperate. People just don’t get how much depression this can cause, how hopeless you feel realizing you’re incredibly sick and not even close to halfway through the pregnancy. I just cannot let my OB hospitalize me. Our insurance is ok, but not amazing. I would 100% go in for dehydration, but I can’t pay for them to hook me up to liquid nutrition. I’ve seen a few women say they improved around week 18. What’s 2.5 more weeks of misery at this point? Lol. And while I am earnestly hoping that my taste buds will right themselves, I have to acknowledge that I might not “get better” until I give birth. It sucks. I want to enjoy being pregnant. I get really jealous of what other people are eating, especially pregnant women. I just want to eat a cookie. Here’s hoping it improves!
I’m about to be 9 weeks tomorrow I just went through 3 days of not being able to hold any foods or liquids down. Yesterday I tried drinking sips of different things to see what I could keep down. Absolutely nothing. I threw up 8 times. Today I’m currently able to keep water and Gatorade down and just had a lemon Italian water ice. Hoping this will go away soon. Food still makes me want to throw up tho.
girl, i’m ten weeks today, which puts us at just around the same due date <3 so sorry you're suffering that badly. i count myself lucky that i haven't been actually throwing up, but the nausea is extreme and 24/7. unisom and b6 at night has helped a lot, although not completely. i'm wearing these pressure point bracelets for your wrist that are meant for seasickness, but supposed to help for pregnancy nausea too. haven't noticed much of a difference, but it can't hurt. maybe worth a try? they're about $6 on amazon for a pack of 4.
the food aversion thing is affecting me a lot, emotionally and mentally, which is something i never anticipated. and most liquids are disgusting to me, even water. i just want to be able to enjoy food again. and to eat HEALTHY. it's a never ending vicious cycle, because you need to eat to help the nausea, but the nausea prevents you from eating anything that actually makes your body and brain feel good, so you eat the only crap that you can force down, but that doesn't fuel your body in the way it needs…ugh! as a food lover, it's torturous.
here's to hoping this all passes within a few weeks at the most. fingers crossed for you and me and everyone else here!
Oh gosh I am so glad I found this blog because I have been searching for weeks on why this is happening and never have I felt so alone and frustrated with myself that I have no desire AT ALL for food. I found nothing helpful until I got desperate today and looked up “Extreme Food Aversions” and found my way here. I’m on my 12th week and I’m just praying everyday that it all goes away soon because I’m feeling so miserable!! If anyone wants to connect you can look me up on IG @jouvielifestyle cos I really don’t know who to talk to about this. None of my mummy friends seem to have this issue.
I’m disappointed there hasn’t been more studies on the subject, given so many of us suffer, and by the sounds of it, some of you suffer unimaginably. Very heartbreaking to read these.
I am 17 weeks pregnant. I have had extreme food aversions, nausea and vomiting since 6 weeks. So far, I have lost 15 pounds. My nausea and vomiting aren’t as bad now, but the food aversions are still very extreme. I have been taking Zofran, which helps with the nausea, but it doesn’t help with my appetite. The Zofran, however, causes insane constipation which leads to more nausea. I try so hard to think of something I can eat and end up just sitting here crying in frustration. I had HG with my first two children which went away around 20 weeks, but I never had anything like this. I was telling my husband that if God himself told me that He would give me anything in the world I wanted to eat, I would not be able to think of a single thing. I am worried for my baby, because the only things I can stand to drink (sip) are full of sugar – root beer, orange juice and Gatorade. My doctor doesn’t seem to be concerned. He just tells me to do the best I can. It makes me so sad that I will probably never have another baby because of this. I know that I won’t be able to go through it again.
The food aversions, nausea and committing started at six weeks. I’m now twenty-two weeks and I’m still struggling quite a bit. I basically force feed myself as I don’t want to starve the baby. I have lost a total of fourteen pounds during my pregnancy. I am so relieved I am not alone, it has been super stressful.
Reading these comments was very helpful, thank you all for sharing. I have always had a very sensitive sense of smell, and I think the food aversions and smell aversions started before I even missed my period at week 4! My partner made pulled pork and I had to scrub the kitchen out twice because the smell was making me crazy, so when we got the positive test, he wasn’t the least bit surprised.
It has only been an uphill battle since then with aversion to pretty much everything. I have lost weight and worry about becoming dehydrated. I am almost week 10 now and just had my first cup of plain tea after weeks of nothing but water – could this be a sign of improvement?
Plain bagels with cream cheese, watermelon (but not too much or I get a stomach ache!), crispy minis and a few select fruits have been my diet for about a month now. I am exhausted trying to find foods that are appetizing, drink enough fluids and somehow get enough food in my stomach to keep my prenatal multivitamin down. I have been mouth-breathing for like a month so I don’t have to smell things and feel accomplished if I get half my teeth brushed at a given time, yet, I have only thrown up once!
Here’s hoping it eases up soon, and good luck to you all!
I am dealing with this now. I am 8.5 weeks pregnant and i am brought to tears daily because i cant eat. Im wondering if i should go to the hospital again for dehydration. I almost passed out yesterday. Aversion to everything really sucks.
Hi, my name is Alisha. I’m on my 5th pregnancy. Yeah, as crazy as it sounds…not my plan…but God’s. I suffer from food aversions EVERY SINGLE TIME. I throw up too but not so much. Smells and the thought of most foods make me sick every time. But I’m not so bad now. Finally 25 wks pregnant. I looked up food aversions in pregnancy today because I can’t believe this far into my pregnancy I’m still suffering from this even a little. There’s so much I still won’t dare touch and I just can’t wait till its all over. It’s never went passed 18 or so weeks. Im always very small during my pregnancies but never worry anymore about not gaining the needed weight because I’m just aware that my body knows what it’s doing and that I was made for this and I never stress on the doctors telling me I need to put on more weight because this is my body type not someone elses. Anyway I guess I just needed to vent. I miss food so much. None of my three sisters nor mother suffered from this while pregnant. They always think I’m faking it or over exaggerating so I haven’t shared anything with them during these last two pregnancies. Being pregnant is such a selfess act always but maaan suffering like this is such a HUGE SACRIFICE! THEN AFTER I USUALLY BREASTFEED FOR UP TO A YR! I CANT WAIT TILL ITS ALL OVER! THANKS FOR THE VENTING SPACE!
I am 8 weeks pregnant and i have complete aversion to food. There are no specific timings i may vomit anytime. A severe headache with nausea starts in the evening,prolongs for many hours and then all the food which was forcibly gulped since afternoon comes out. There is more retching and gagging than actual puking. I hope this won’t affect my baby.
OMG I’m crying while reading this because it somehow feels comforting to know I’m not the only one who has/is gone/going through this. This is my second pregnancy and I’ve never felt this way with my first.
Nearly 8 years after you first wrote this, I sit here scrolling through and being dumbfounded that not an ounce more attention has been paid to this in the medical community since then, and extreme food aversion sufferers are still just as left out in the cold as ever. My OB’s only response is always “oh it should go away soon”. Oh really? Does she have a magic wand this time, because she said the same thing at least a month ago and absolutely no aversions have gone away or even improved, and I’ve lost even more weight. Why doesn’t medicine care about pregnant women? “Just deal with it because you should be grateful you’re pregnant, plus this is temporary so stop complaining” is an asinine yet strangely common response to the very real and often extremely debilitating illnesses that befall pregnant women. I’m sick of having no tools to heal this sickness while I’m growing a human, and frustrated that this experience will stop me from wanting to have more children after this.
Oops I was trying to respond to the original article, don’t know how to fix it
It started in week 5 and now I’m in week 10, and I feel like it is getting better YET, I still can only stomach a half a froz3n banana cut into slices (must eat before it starts to defrost and taste), a super small portion of quick oats with almond milk and a teaspoon of real maple syrup, and only recently, I’ve upgraded to plain pasta or – and this is why I think I’m improving, pasta with a tiny bit of olive oil and tomato paste (not sauce, sauce is too acidy). Although some part of me is convinced that the tomato paste is actually a vitamin C craving, but I can’t stomach my C suppliment and it’s not very concemtrated in my prenatal, which most days I can keep down.
I do vomit, but mostly acid, probably because I’m not eating. But the vomiting isn’t half as big a problem as the aversion. I just can’t put the things I need in my mouth. I can’t go near fish, or meat, or eggs, which I normally love. I was going heavy on the milk and eggs in week 4 but that just stopped abruptly. I can’t even eat cheese. Or plain potato. Or plain rice, which I’ve tried to force and it’s come straight back.
I’m just so worried it will go beyond week 14. I’ve tried the Unisom/B6 combo dtug which I puked up most of the time, but even when I kept it down it made me feel more queasy. I wear sea band over my accupuncturists “seeds” that she taped to me for the same reason. I’ve eaten so much ginger that now I xan barely look at it, though it did work for a while. I’ve recently found I can drink hot water with cardamon, but not tea, and I can now add cinimon to my oatmeal, which I wasn’t eating because it was on the forbidden list. I can’t eat large amount of citrus fruit, but for the first few weeks, I could eat a sliche of frozen orange, alas not anymore.
Hunger is a trigger to the aversion, but the actual nausea is worst around onoins and burnt smells. Or thinking about smells. 90 percent of what sets me off is remembering what foods smell like.
Anyway, I wanted to share the 4 things I can eat in case someone thinks they can stomach them. Good luck everyone. They scariest part of this is not being taken serious by people who should know better — especially since it seems like it’s not uncommon.
In the same boat as you Jen – feeling any better? I am in week 12 no improvements in sightseeing ?
This is just like me! Good to hear I am not the only one. I’m 15 weeks and I have not had a real meal since September. I am living on Juice and Fruit Snacks. I have consumed more sugar than I even thought I would in a lifetime because it is the ONLY food group that does not make me want to die. I can’t even use Facebook normally because the pictures of food are so unpleasant. I can’t tolerate meat, dairy, carbs, or basically any cooked food. I also can’t handle anything salty. Even Saltines. If someone else tells me just to eat Saltines I might be rude. 😛
I have only thrown up once, and I’ve tried a few medications but my midwifes are telling me the medications work best for true nausea and don’t do much for food aversion. They didn’t help at all. Has anyone found a medication that worked for food aversion?
Also, when did it start to let up if you have seen the light at the end of the tunnel?
This is so relatable. I keep being prescribed nausea meds which don’t work when the reason for your nausea is an inability to put food in your stomach ?
Hi ladies, I understand this is an old thread. But does anyone know who author is? I’m struggling with major food aversions of everything, except fruit, but some days I don’t even want fruit. Everything is disgusting, I’ve been making myself eat, but not enjoying anything. Help! How many weeks does this last for? I’m only 9 weeks.
Hey Penny,
I’m not the author, but I feel you. I commented below you, but it probably won’t give you much hope. I’m 25 weeks and still have little to no appetite due to being just absolutely disgusted by food.
All I can suggest is that if/when you go to the grocery store, walk around and if it sounds good, BUY IT! You can always return what you change your mind about.
Congratulations on your new little one! Hopefully it gets easier on you! You probably don’t want to hear this, but it gave (and continues to give) me comfort: as long as you feel bad, Baby is growing!
Hey.. i m 20 weeks and on the same boat. I m so frustrated with this .. sometimes i sit and cry that why there is not any solution or medicine for this . Every women goes through this still there is no cure for that?
May be a little late to the party, but I’m 25wks pregnant with my first and can count on one hand the foods I’ve been able to eat for the last 19 weeks.
In order (except for the last two) all I can/could eat:
Macaroni & cheese (weeks 6-10 can no longer eat)
Bagels with cream cheese (weeks 10-14 can no longer eat)
Kroger bacon, egg, & cheese croissant sandwiches “McMuffins” (weeks 14-25 can no longer eat)
Plain toast
Applesauce
Bellavitano cheese cubes (not sliced, people, cause that’s nasty apparently)
Ice cold water with a splash of apple juice/blue powerade/unsweet tea
Promised Land Dairy 2% chocolate milk (literally no other brand)
And when I say that it was/is all I would/will eat, it was/is, quite literally ALL I would/will eat.
Water makes me nauseated.
Water.
I’m slowly starting to get some of my appetite back, but we’ll probably cure Covid at the rate that that is happening. Hahaha!
I’ve been on Unisom & B6 since the 7 week mark, and I’ve lost 15lbs (including the baby weight I’ve gained).
Prenatal vitamins are hit or miss, as I never know if I’ll keep them down. My midwife recently put my on medicine for acid reflux – that I promptly throw up. I’m having to take my blood glucose levels at home because I know I won’t be able to drink the Glucola.
I’m really honestly so grateful that I’m not puking everything up all the time (just occasionally), but I constantly worry about how Baby is getting enough nutrients when I’m CLEARLY not. Getting a bit worried that I won’t find a replacement meal for my newfound distaste for my “McMuffins”. Most days, I go to work super hopeful with the lunch my sweet, sweet hubby made for me, only to take two bites and have to throw the rest away.
I will say that I’ve found that me not seeing, smelling, or knowing about food being prepared helps. I can usually get a few bites in before getting grossed out. We’ve eaten out a LOT since this all kicked in when we normally would eat out once a month or so. It’s been real, y’all!
Thank you for posting this. I am 11 weeks pregnant with baby #4 and I have never experienced anything like this. It usually gets worse as the day progresses and come evening my stomach is so empty and nauseous yet there is not a single thing I want to eat without gagging. It’s caused me so much anxiety to the point I spiralled in a panic attack and took myself into the emergency room as a psychiatric patient. The psychiatrist on staff didn’t believe me as I wasn’t emaciated he said I could not be struggling to eat. I felt so defeated and have thought something is wrong and abnormal with me until I found this forum. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. I’m taking zofran but what my body really wants is food. Yet my brain won’t allow it. The anxiety and depression has been debilitating. I cry all the time because the nausea causes me anxiety and the fact I can’t eat makes the nausea and anxiety worse. It’s a horrible circle. Thank you for letting me know i am not alone.
Reading these comments make me feel better. I’m 7 weeks and 5 days and I’m potentially suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum. I’ve already had to get IV fluids from extreme dehydration and I was so dehydrated that my body started burning off muscle mass and I lost well over 10 pounds. I’m having terrible food aversions, rarely do I enjoy the food I eat. The only way I can get myself to eat is to tell myself it’s for the baby. The food that I can get down will give him/her the nutrients they need while it’s attempting to digest.
The only thing I can seem to keep down consistently are cutie oranges, blue & red powerade, and I’m constantly sucking on mints.
I have severe food aversions too, AND HG. It’s brutal and I feel so often women are not taken seriously enough. It’s so difficult.
So glad I found this post. I just don’t know anyone who has this. I literally can’t stand the thought of most food and drinks are just horrendous. I either just don’t want it, or I drink something and it leaves a horrible taste in my mouth. I know I’m never hydrated enough but I am struggling so much to find anything I can drink. I always loved plain water, but haven’t touched that for a while now.
I then get a random thought that pops into my head of something I really fancy to eat, but you can guarantee I never have it in the house. I feel so much guilt for when I’m drinking worse things than I drank before pregnancy and I’m trying so hard to eat as healthily as I can but it is so hard when you simply don’t want to eat any of that stuff. Salt and vinegar crisps is something I do want and it isn’t exactly healthy.
Like many others on here, meat is something I can’t stand either.
I can relate to this so much. I had a meltdown yesterday when I tried to do grocery shopping with my husband. The smell of the veg section sent me gagging and I had to run out of the supermarket. I felt so defeated and in tears asked my husband to drive me to the nearest McDonald’s because it’s all I can keep down on the evenings. I stuffed the fries in my mouth between sobs. I’m 11 weeks now and on unisom and B6 twice a day with maxalon when I need it in between.
I’m so fed up of gagging every time I even think of opening the fridge.
I know I’ve eaten the wrong thing after a few bites when I’m left with a horrible bitter taste on my mouth. I only seem to be able to eat what I am absolutely craving and that rarely involves a vegetable right now.
I am so glad someone finally mentioned the bitter taste in your mouth after eating something! I am currently 9 weeks and have struggled with extreme food aversion since week 5. I have tried eating plain stuff like rice or saltines, but even that makes me sick afterwards although not to the point of throwing up. I usually try to eat things that I used to like a lot before being pregnant, but even if I convince myself to eat them I always feels sick afterwards. I cannot stand the thought of red meat, can’t stand the smell of seafood, the texture of chicken makes me feel sick, carbs give me heartburn, almost everything leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, I can’t stand handling food and like someone mentioned before I have a hard time even opening the fridge.
Fluids are really hard as well, especially water, anything sweet, amd milk. I can sort of enjoy a smoothie, but I have to drink it while still fully frozen because once it starts melting its too sweet.
Sorry for this long post, but I just had to vent. It’s frustrating to know that you need to eat healthy so your baby can grow and develop properly and yet such a simple things becomes almost impossible when pretty much every food item seems so repulsive for one reason or another.
Hi mommas to be. I am on week 7 and am starting to experience the same thing. I get sick every morning around 7am like clock work and immediately sip on water afterwords. The first and only thing I’m able to eat in the morning is fresh cantaloupe! It’s so light, cold, and watery and has a fresh flavor, it really is a treat because of how easily it goes down. Solid food, hot, cold food all sounds terrible to me.. but when your body needs to eat, you will eat. Hang in there, take small notes, and try sipping on water throughout the day.
Hi ladies. This is my second pregnancy and around week 5 I started having what I guess to be food aversions. For me it’s not just food, it’s any smell in the air in general. It all smells the same to me. Almost like poison. It has the same taste and smell. I thought I was honestly going to have to have an abortion because I couldn’t bare it. Good news if any is, and I hope this can help another momma too, I went on Amazon and purchased swimmers nose plugs. I wear them with every single meal and breathe through my mouth. I may look like a slob eating but if it works, it works. In the meantime I’m 8 weeks pregnant now and it seems to have gotten slightly easier as far as smelling but it hits on and off. As far as eating I’m still up shits creek without a paddle. I’m really going this subsides in my 2nd trimester.
Please send me some positive healing.
Thanks mommas.
Albeit a horrible thing to go through at least I know I’m not alone reading this thread. I too have been suffering tremendously with extreme “morning sickness” but all the time. Vomiting throughout the day and night and no desire to eat or drink anything. Everything tastes bad, even water. I have a terrible metallic taste in my mouth that I can’t shake no matter what I do. It’s hard to remember a time when I felt good. It’s so exhausting sometimes I don’t think I can go on. Going to work every day is an absolute nightmare. I have small trash bags tucked everywhere in case I have to vomit and can’t make it to the bathroom in time. I hide wherever I can obviously not wanting to be seen. It’s the worst. I’m at week 10 now. This started at week 6. I got a little relief from 1/2 tablet of unisom and a vitamin B6 taken at bedtime but not much. They put me on bonjesta last week and it’s making me vomit more and so tired I can’t function. I’m going back to the unisom and B6, makes you tired but I think it works a little bit better. I’m REALLY hoping this stops soon. I’ve lost 10 lbs in just this short time. I just want some relief.
I’m going through this right now! All I can keep down is yogurt maybe a popsicle or two. my prenatals are the worst and I’ve tried many kinds I just can’t keep them down. I’m worried this diet is going to harm my baby :<
Hello ladies!
I am glad to have found this post. I am currently on week 12 of my first pregnancy and so far this food aversion has put me twice on the ER. First I did experience throwing up which caused me a lot of acid reflux and the inability to stomach anything, not even water. The second time, similarly, I got to a point where I was so dehydrated it caused me a migraine, and ended up getting a double dose of morphine in the ER. Since that visit my general doctor has recommended two IV fluids with multivitamins because prenatal pills are like poison to my now delicate stomach, and honestly the IV fluids and vitamins have been a blessing and what made me a person again. Here is what enfuriated me the most, when I brought the concern to my OBGYN she said it was only nausea and, despite I explained I was not even able to stomach water, she just sent me some new medication. I had to go to a clinic to get my dehydration levels tested and it was then when they realized I needed the IV fluids. Reading you all really worries me, if this is something so many woman are suffering, why haven’t doctors figured out something yet and why it is so difficult to get proper treatment for it. These severe aversions can lead to dehydration too and that is dangerous for the baby, and yet no one is checking on this. Is good to have the support of other woman but it would be nice for doctors to start take a look on this issue.
I’ve been looking for some time to see if the food aversions i have been experience is common but i too didn’t find anything. So i’ve been making a list of all the things I am having an aversion to. I’m in my first trimester and the aversions have been strong. Very strong.
So far the FOOD AVERSION list goes:
– Broccoli
– Garlic
– Onion
– ANYTHING with Garlic and Onion (even in powder form) the smell and taste is ‘sickening’! This one is frustrating because most things have these ingredients and I’ve been really struggling to eat out in restaurants, when shopping in the supermarket when looking for recipes to cook meals for lunches and dinners.
– Canned food i.e. beans, sweetcorn, any food that came out of a can
– Jarred food
– Bell peppers
The food items i have been eating a lot of and enjoying includes the following:
– Tuna and cucumber sandwhich/sub
– Salmon
– Baked plain fish i.e. baked sea bream with lemon
– Plain potato chips/fries (salt and vinegar is fine)
– Ready salted crisps (‘chips’ i think they are called in the US)
– Dried tangy fruit leather
– Cheese sandwich
– BabyBel cheese
Foods i no longer desire to eat as often but have no disgust or sickening feeling towards include:
– Caffeine/Tea – i’m a big tea drinker over here in London. I only drink one cup and that’s it for me. Usually i can drink up to 4 cups of tea throughout the day.
– Chicken
– Meat
– Chocolate
I hope the above lists helps anyone out there looking for commonalities to food aversions
Week 22. Still vomiting. Still having aversion to MOST food. Can’t eat anything really without having to stuff tissue up my nose as everything tastes vile. Like it’s off. Can’t drink tap water as thst tastes vile. I’m so fed. I feel like it’s just never ending. My
Poor husband and 5 year old. I feel like I can’t enjoy my pregnant. I don’t feel as connected to this baby but I’m hoping it’s just because I feel so tired, sick snd fed up all the time.
I’m so glad to find people who are describing what I am going through. I’m 6 weeks and I have been nauseous intermittently since before I took a test but this week I got hit hard with food aversions and extreme constant nausea. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat but I feel ravenous all the time. Water is hard on my stomach. I ordered some B6 that will arrive in a few days and I’m hoping it helps. This is my second pregnancy and although my husband says I was pretty bad last time it was nothing like this with the food aversions. I was working a pretty active job in a hospital at the time and now I can’t imagine working even at a desk all day. I barely get through the day with my toddler just meeting her bare minimum needs and waiting for my husband to come home. I’m a dietitian and I am really shocked at how bad this is. I will have more empathy for my nauseous patients in the future. I really hope this gets better by the end of the first trimester but even that seems so far away right now. Thanks for all your words of solidarity here (even if I had to skip over parts that made me nauseous to read).
I’m just about 7 weeks I think and I’m having aversions to almost everything. At a split second something sounds like I can stomach it and I make sure to eat it right away so that at least I am getting some food, but it’s getting worse each day. And then when something does sound “acceptable,” it tends to be unhealthy which in turn is bad for my acid reflux and worsens those symptoms. I can’t win. I’m forcing myself to eat and drink what I can, but it’s definitely not enough. I’m going to start the Unisom and B6 to see if it helps because I’m seriously concerned about my health and even my mental well-being as this is giving me a lot of anxiety.
I thought I was bad until I read the comments Im 8 weeks pregnant I started off with nausea and food aversions.
The smells of most food make me sick especially the smells of onions. The only thing I can eat is Yogurt, green beans, granola bars, bananas, strawberries, and breads. Bagles and cheez its are my go to. Im sick of eating like this and crave all my favorite dishes and restaurants but just cant stomach the taste or smell of anything. I havent thrown up at all and I hope it stays like this throughout first trimester.
Hi Guys- Im 8 weeks and this comment section is lifechanging. this is my first baby. I haven’t been sick once thank god but i am CONSTANTLY in pain from severe hunger, nausea and food aversions to everything besides white bread toast. water and all liquids are now vile, its so so so hard, i genuinely dont know how women do this more than once its unbearable some days and so miserable 🙁
This is my 6th, 8 weeks, for a week now never felt so sick, I hate the sight, smell, and thought of everything I use to eat especially any kind of chewy bread, it has to be crunchy toasty or burnt, I hate sweet round crackers, soft pretzels, pizza, subs, biscuits, donuts, I hate creamy cheese sauces. The only things I crave are crispy salty fries, hashbrowns, cheetos, sour crispy salted green apples, and burnt turkey bacon. Out of no where I now like spicy food, so weird, but they actually help a little. Was going through constant nausea, started walking 20 mins a day, and had someone pray for me I feel a lot better, but still disgusted by any kind of chewy bread.
I am so happy to find this blog post! I’m 7.5 weeks pregnant with my 3rd child and I’m having the WORST food aversions. I definitely had some food aversions with my first 2 pregnancies, but it never really worried me too much because I could stomach enough to get by. Usually I was able to place a napkin on my dinner plate so I didn’t have to *see* the food, but I was able to eat it as long as I didn’t look at it haha. But this 3rd time is so much worse, I literally hate all food. The only thing I’ve been able to stomach is plain corn and Cherry Garcia ice cream – not exactly a wonderful nutrition profile. I’ve started to get dizzy and I feel so weak. I’m also hungry ALL the time, which makes me feel worse and nauseous. I’m in the same boat as you that I hate throwing up so I will go to immense lengths to avoid throwing up. So I pretty much have never thrown up during any of my pregnancies – despite feeling like I’m constantly on the verge of throwing up. And it’s so hard because I don’t feel like I should feel “that” bad because I’m not throwing up. But I feel like I can barely take care of my 1 and 2 year olds and my husband works so hard so I hate to put so much extra work on him. But every time I try to push through and get some housework done, I feel so much more nauseous and feel like I’m about to pass out. I feel trapped and alone and I have no idea what to do. But I am at least a little grateful to see from this comment section that I’m not totally alone. We’ll see if this pregnancy is worse because it’s a girl, my first 2 are boys haha.