When expecting a baby, it is important to be mindful of any changes in your health and your body. If you experience any vomiting, it is essential to take note of the color of the vomit and any other accompanying symptoms. The purpose of this blog post is to discuss the significance of throwing up green bile while pregnant and provide guidance on the steps to take if this occurs.
Vomiting is a common symptom of pregnancy, however when the vomit is green it may be indicative of a more serious medical condition that requires prompt attention and evaluation. Green bile can be caused by numerous conditions, some of which can be serious and require medical intervention. In this blog post, we will discuss the potential causes of green bile vomiting during pregnancy and the steps to take if it occurs.
It is important to note that throwing up green bile during pregnancy is not necessarily a cause for alarm. As with any symptom experienced during pregnancy, it is best to consult a
If you have green or yellow vomit, you may be bringing up bile. The liver produces this fluid, which is kept in your gallbladder.
Typically, vomiting is an uncomfortable but not dangerous aspect of illness. The stomach contents or how long you’ve been vomiting may affect the colors and textures you see in the vomit color chart.
Typically, clear vomit only appears after you have already severally puked, effectively emptying your stomach of all of its food.
If you notice significant amounts of blood in your vomit, call a doctor or seek immediate medical attention. Keep in mind that blood can range in color from red to brown to black.
The same factors (described in more detail in the preceding section) that cause bloody vomiting also cause black vomit. To get a diagnosis, you should visit a doctor as soon as possible.
What does the color of my vomit mean?
Different shades of vomit mean different things. Understanding the meaning of each color can significantly impact the type of care you receive. The most typical vomit colors are listed below, along with information about each one.
Bile, also referred to as green or yellow vomit, is created by the liver and kept in the gallbladder. When someone is experiencing bile reflux or is vomiting on an empty stomach, bile will often come out.
Typically, the first few hours of vomiting are orange in color. Food that hasn’t yet passed through the digestive system causes orange vomit. Unless vomiting persists for a long time, it is typically not alarming enough to see a doctor.
Vomiting blood may come from your mouth, throat, or teeth, but this is not cause for concern. You should call your doctor right away if you have a lot of vomit that is bright red in color or looks like coffee grounds. This could result from a variety of factors, including but not limited to:
Intense stomach bloating, severe vomiting, and severe abdominal pain can all result from severe constipation. Because of bowel backup, digestion is nearly impossible. The presence of brown vomit that smells like feces will indicate this issue. Get in touch with your doctor right away to find a cure for this issue!
How is this different from morning sickness?
Although HG is common, many women are unaware of it until they have a personal experience with it. Extreme nausea and vomiting, rapid weight loss, electrolyte imbalance, dehydration, dizziness, and excessive salivation are all possible symptoms. Some women may begin to vomit blood or bile, in which case they may need intravenous fluids and medication.
Some of the women I have met while conducting research on HG have violent vomiting episodes that have caused their ribs to break, their esophagus to tear, their eardrums to rupture, their fingernails to fall off, and in rare instances, they have experienced brain damage from malnutrition.
Small, frequent meals and saltine crackers, which are typically advised for morning sickness sufferers, cannot control HG. HG can also last for much longer than morning sickness.
Contrary to popular belief, the mother can still provide for the baby’s needs even if she is unable to consume food, liquids, or vitamins.
In addition to those exposed to HG, studies of human offspring born during famine and population studies of neural tube defects now demonstrate a link between early pregnancy malnutrition and long-term health effects on the exposed fetus.
Children exposed to HG in utero have a three-fold increased risk of neurodevelopmental delay. Research shows early symptoms of HG were linked to delay, which suggests early vitamin and nutrient deficiencies may be at play.
For women with HG there is a four-fold increased risk of adverse outcomes, such as preterm birth, and a 3.6-fold increased lifetime risk of emotional disorders, such as depression and anxiety.
The effects of HG can last long after birth. In one survey we found a significant increased risk of chronic postpartum symptoms in women with HG including reflux, anxiety, depression, insomnia, fatigue and muscle pain, and 18 percent experienced the full criteria of post-traumatic stress symptoms.
And HG can also lead to Wernicke’s Encephalopathy (WE), a severe neurological condition caused by a deficiency in thiamin (vitamin B1). Over a dozen cases were published in the medical literature between 2012-2014, and recently maternal deaths caused by complications from HG including Wernicke’s Encephalopathy have been documented in the U.S., England and Africa.
In a survey of over 800 women with HG, more than one in seven women with HG decided to terminate the pregnancy, primarily because they had no hope for relief from the condition.
It is difficult to find accurate information on the medications that can safely and effectively treat HG. This is partly attributable to the thalidomide catastrophe of the 1950s, when pregnant women with HG were given the medication to relieve their nausea, but their offspring were born with limb deformities. This made it challenging to develop and test medications on expectant women.
So what do the limited available data say? A study I conducted with colleagues found that antihistamine use to treat HG has been linked to preterm birth. We also found that Ondansetron (Zofran) is effective in treating HG symptoms for more than 50 percent of the women in our studies. We have also found that potentially serious side effects in women taking the drug, such as intestinal obstructions, are rare. In recent research, we found no evidence to support a link between ondansetron and birth defects.
We do, however, know that HG patients who are losing weight during pregnancy and are unable to tolerate food or vitamins for longer than a week need to be treated with thiamin in addition to fluids in order to prevent the rare but treatable progression to WE and maternal or fetal death.
Instead of trying a medication whose safety is unknown, caregivers, family members, and patients themselves may favor termination of a desired pregnancy. Therefore, receiving treatment for HG can be a challenging experience for women.
We might be able to determine which medicines are secure and efficient in treating HG if there was a central, national database that recorded cases of HG, treatments and medications, and their efficacy, as well as maternal and child outcomes. Patient and provider confidence in using treatments while pregnant would increase as a result. Additionally, it would lessen the possibility of malpractice or class action lawsuits, which deter drug companies and physicians from testing and prescribing new treatments.