Pregnancy is a beautiful journey, but for most women, it’s accompanied by the challenging symptoms of morning sickness – nausea, dry retching, and vomiting that can disrupt daily life and potentially even lead to other complications. While traditional medical treatments exist, they are often not effective so more expectant mothers are turning to acupuncture for morning sickness as a safe, natural alternative to relieve these symptoms.
So how does it work and how effective is acupuncture for morning sickness? Let us discuss all of this, starting from the root cause.
What Causes Morning Sickness?
The specific causes of morning sickness are not known, even though 70-80% percent of pregnant women experience it. Many experts believe it results from the surge in pregnancy hormones, particularly human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), which is produced by the placenta after the embryo implants in the uterus. This hormone is crucial for maintaining pregnancy by stimulating progesterone production, but its sudden rise, along with increased levels of estrogen and thyroid hormones, can trigger symptoms like nausea and vomiting.
In addition to hormonal shifts, fluctuations in blood sugar levels may play a role. During pregnancy, hormonal changes impact glucose metabolism, often leading to lower blood sugar, or hypoglycemia. If a pregnant woman goes too long without eating, the drop in glucose can lead to nausea since the body is using additional energy to support the pregnancy.
External factors also likely have an influence on morning sickness. Feeling of stress and exhaustion, and even multiple pregnancies, like twins or triplets, can increase the severity of symptoms. Certain foods and scents, such as those from fatty or spicy foods, caffeine, or strong-tasting vegetables, can worsen the nausea for some women.
On top of that, the exact manifestations of the symptoms vary from woman to woman. For one, although it’s called ‘morning’ sickness, nausea and vomiting can occur at any time of day. Some women may experience only mild nausea, while others face intense, persistent vomiting that can interfere with daily life, and some women can suffer from hyperemesis gravidarum – an extreme manifestation of the symptoms that can result in weight loss, dehydration, tiredness, fainting, and other negative outcomes, potentially requiring hospital treatment.
To treat morning sickness, doctors may recommend dietary and lifestyle changes and prescribe anti-nausea medication or antihistamines and anticholinergics if that doesn’t work. However, there is another solution that has been used for millennia but has only relatively recently gained popularity in the West – acupuncture for morning sickness.
How Acupuncture for Morning Sickness Helps with Nausea, Dry Retching, and Vomiting
One of the benefits of acupuncture for women’s health is that it can relieve symptoms of morning sickness, including nausea, dry retching, and vomiting, by encouraging the body’s natural processes for relaxation and stress relief. One way acupuncture does this is by stimulating the release of endorphins and other hormones that help control the brain’s response to nausea, soothing the areas that trigger vomiting.
Acupuncture for morning sickness also impacts the digestive system, reducing stomach acid levels that often contribute to nausea, heartburn, and bloating. Hormonal changes during pregnancy can slow down digestion, causing acid buildup and discomfort. By helping to ease muscle tension in the stomach and promote faster stomach emptying, acupuncture can lessen these digestive issues.
Additionally, acupuncture promotes relaxation by stimulating the body’s parasympathetic nervous system, which helps counteract stress and balance mood. All of this combined can affect the intensity and frequency of morning sickness symptoms. Plus, acupuncture for morning sickness can be used as both a complementary and primary treatment.
A recent 2024 meta-analysis that analyzed 24 randomized controlled clinical trials, which included 2390 women, found that medication combined with acupuncture for morning sickness is more effective in managing the symptoms than medicine alone. Other studies also found that acupuncture alone can help alleviate the symptoms.
However, as the manifestations of morning sickness are unique to each woman, the acupuncture treatment plan should be tailored to each individual situation. Thus, even though acupuncture for morning sickness can help with the symptoms, you should only see experienced and qualified acupuncturists to get the best outcome. Additionally, you might be curious about the safety.
Is Acupuncture Safe?
It is perfectly valid to ask – is acupuncture safe during pregnancy? The short answer is – yes, acupuncture is safe during pregnancy. One of the most comprehensive systematic reviews regarding the safety of acupuncture during pregnancy that included 105 studies found that 1.3% of patients suffered some adverse effects that could be related to acupuncture, however, even those adverse effects were mostly mild and the most common ones were pain at the needling site, some bleeding, and tiredness.
How Long Do the Treatments Last?
Acupuncture as a healing modality views each person as an individual with unique causes that result in the morning sickness symptoms; as such, the treatments will depend on your unique situation and how you respond to the treatments. Often, the PC6, ST36, or CV12 acupoint are stimulated and one to two weekly sessions during the first trimester are recommended as a starting point but that may change depending on your needs.
Other Alternative Therapies that Can Help with Morning Sickness
In addition to acupuncture, there are other complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) types that can be used to help with morning sickness, including:
- Acupressure: Similar to acupuncture, acupressure uses pressure on specific points to help alleviate nausea. Acupressure targets the same acupoints as acupuncture treatments, however, it does not include needles but manual pressure and may be better suited for people who can’t undergo acupuncture treatments, such as people with a phobia of needles or those with bleeding disorders.
- Moxibustion: Moxibustion and acupuncture are often used in conjunction but moxibustion can also be used on its own. It involves burning dried mugwort near specific acupuncture points to warm and stimulate them. For morning sickness, moxa may be applied near the abdominal or wrist points to increase circulation, reduce nausea, and support overall digestive health. Studies have shown that this gentle heat therapy can be an effective complement to acupuncture or acupressure.
- Herbal Therapy: Various herbs have traditionally been used to soothe nausea and support digestion during pregnancy. Ginger, peppermint, and chamomile are popular choices, as they may provide natural relief from queasiness when consumed as teas or in mild supplement form.
- Aromatherapy: Inhaling essential oils may help alleviate nausea. Specific oils are thought to have a calming effect on the nervous system, reducing the sensation of nausea. One of the main benefits is that adding a few drops to a tissue or using a diffuser can make aromatherapy accessible throughout the day.
However, out of all of these alternative treatments, acupuncture for morning sickness is the most researched and studied treatment, so it is often recommended as the starting point.
An Acupuncture Clinic that Specializes in Acupuncture for Morning Sickness
BH Acuhealth Clinic is a licensed acupuncture clinic in Beverly Hills founded by Mitra Daneshrad. Dr. Mitra is a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine with over 24 years of experience whose areas of expertise include fertility, pregnancy, postpartum support, and menopause support. She specializes in pregnancy acupuncture, which includes providing relief from the symptoms of morning sickness.
You can schedule an appointment so that Dr. Mitra can do a thorough examination and recommend the next steps based on your condition. We provide acupuncture for morning sickness treatments but will also work with other medical care providers, if the situation calls for it. Your well-being is our primary concern and we guarantee you will always be treated with the care and compassion you deserve at our clinic.
