The Motherisk Nausea and Vomiting of Pregnancy (NVP) Forum

Motherisk receives questions from around the world about morning sickness symptoms, effects, treatments and ways to cope. Those questions and answers are posted here for anyone to read, provided the reader acknowledges and accepts the proviso and disclaimer below.

Forum > Hyperemesis Gravidarum: Treating HG

Ondansetron for HG

NVP Counsellor
Date: 2007-09-24

Question:
My wife was recently admitted to the hospital for dehydration due to HG. She is currently 9 weeks pregnant. She was treated with iv drip for the dehydration, and was also several anti-nausea meds like Gravol that did not work. She was given a drug called Ondansetron and worked in stopping her severe vomiting. I was told by my local pharmacist that this drug is usually used in treating chemotherapy patients. My question is how safe is drug when taken during pregnancy and are there any studies that link this drug to birth defects?

Answer:
Your pharmacist is correct that this drug is usually prescribed for chemotherapy patients. However, it has been used to treat pregnant women with NVP and there have been no studies that link the use of this drug in pregnancy to an increase risk for birth defects. At Motherisk, we published a study with 186 women who took this drug with no increase risk of any adverse effects on the baby.

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