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Which is Worse — Heartburn or Morning Sickness?

dearcrissy dearcrissy |

pregnancy heartburn photo

Is morning sickness or heartburn worse in pregnancy?

My pregnancy symptoms start early.

At only 5-weeks-pregnant, I began feeling both waves of nausea and hints of heartburn — pregnancy symptoms that seemed to be in a never-ending duel to ruin my life.

By week 8, I was vomiting daily, and sleeping nearly upright due to heartburn so severe it literally brought tears to my eyes.

So, which pregnancy symptom is worse, morning sickness or heartburn? Keep reading, and cast your vote in the poll below!

I have coped with hyperemesis gravidarum through both of my pregnancies. During my first pregnancy, the severe “morning sickness” stopped at week 17, and this time, it stubbornly lingered until I was about 28 weeks pregnant.

I truly felt as if it would never end.

For some reason, I also have a problem with severe stomach acid and heartburn during pregnancy. This mix of extreme nausea, and pure acid on the stomach leads to vomiting that is horrifically painful.

While taking prescription medication during pregnancy isn’t ideal, I had to take Zofran for my nausea (which, unfortunately, didn’t really help), and Prevacid for my heartburn.

I am beyond thankful to finally be out of the woods with the nausea at this point, but sadly, the medication seems to have stopped preventing my heartburn. I have once again, been up all night suffering with the crushing chest, neck, and back pain that comes with severe heartburn.

It’s very hard not to feel depressed and hopeless when you are so sick, for so long. I even feel some resentment toward women who have not had to suffer with morning sickness or severe heartburn during pregnancy. I know that it is ridiculous to feel this way, but honestly, I am horribly jealous, and sad in knowing that I will never know what it’s like to have an easy pregnancy.

That said, I also know that many women have issues that are far, far worse than mine.

Did you experience morning sickness and heartburn when you were pregnant? Which symptom do you think is worse?

 

 

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18 thoughts on “Which is Worse — Heartburn or Morning Sickness?

  1. Kitten says:

    Oh, sweetie. I feel this! People always tell you it is going to get better by week x too and when that week passes and you are still attempting to not throw up, you want to cry. People admonish me for saying I hate pregnancy, but I do and you know why!

    In week 12, I couldn’t drink anything after seven at night because anything besides a citrus based drink caused my nausea to come out in full force while citrus based drinks would cause my heartburn to flare to the point of pain.

    I’m at week 22 and the nausea has mostly subsided and the heartburn is weakened but eating still leaves me miserable for hours and a simple clearing of the throat can lead me to gag for an hour. Sigh.

  2. Nadia says:

    I had mild morning sickness and super bad heartburn and I can honestly say that morning sickness is the worst by far. It isn’t just being sick in the morning, it’s being sick and nauseous throughout the entire day.
    http://www.fitandpreggers.com

  3. victoria lewis says:

    i think they are equally bad, i had a ulcer during my pregancy so it was nonstop burning and nonstop morning sickness till i was 8 months pregant.

  4. snakecharmer says:

    I had terrible heartburn the first time around and only really mild morning sickness this second time around (haven’t gotten to the heartburn part yet) and I can say that the morning sickness was worse. At least with the heartburn you could still be up and about and take some antacids for it, but no such luck with nausea!

  5. Jackie says:

    I had horrible morning sickness. Only once was it paired up with heartburn – it burned my mouth, nose & throat like crazy! Sorry it was so bad for you!

  6. Thismamascoop.com says:

    I would have to say the heartburn. The morning sickness eventually went away somewhere around 12 weeks but the heartburn has only gotten progressively worse I’m 31 weeks pregnant. The one perk is whenever I feel it I just make myself a glass of chocolate milk :)

  7. KaliLove says:

    I had hyperemesis gravidarum too and did the Zofran as well. Thankfully it worked well enough that I could work and keep my job. I hated the “morning sickness” I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t drink anything I couldn’t move I just wanted to curl up in a ball and disappear. I found the HER organization (http://www.helpher.org/) I finally found a doctor who didn’t dismiss my symptoms or tell me just to suck it up and quit being a pansy.

    I got the heart burn later after the sever morning sickness, so nice of them to take turns. With the heart burn I could do the grocery shopping again, I could go out with my friends again and I wasn’t a vomit zombie. Morning sickness is by far the worst.

  8. Stacie says:

    I didn’t throw up until I was in labor, but I was constantly nauseated for maybe 18 weeks. It was hard to concentrate, hard to ride in a car (with my boss! in winter! before I told him I was pregnant!), hard to do much other than sit and stare.

    I did have some stand-alone reflux the last month or so, but I would take that over the “morning” sickness any day.

  9. Kecia says:

    For me, morning sickness was much worse! I was sick every morning from 6 weeks until 16 weeks, and some days the nausea lasted until after lunch. I never really had much heartburn though…just a few times toward the end of my pregnancy.

  10. Buki says:

    Morning sickness is worse because plus the suffering, I could not monitor my nutrient intake leading to all sorts of issues. Heartburn is horrible but…

  11. Jen says:

    I can’t vote because I also had both so extremely bad that I ended up hospitalized, twice.

    I too am sort of angry with women who get it easy. I am/was/will be allowed only one pregnancy and it sucked so bad i didn’t enjoy any of it.

  12. Michelle says:

    I had severe morning sickness with my first pregnancy but it was before they declared Zofran safe during pregnancy I had to suffer through it, and while I did get heartburn with that pregnancy it wasn’t too severe. Now I am pregnant with twins, and had really bad morning sickness, but thankfully zofran helped, but now I have heartburn that has such bad acid reflux I got sick in my sleep a few times before I finally started taking prevacid. Since severe heartburn/acid reflux also causes me to get sick, I think it’s worse than just morning sickness!

  13. amy says:

    I feel sorry for all you ladies out there. I really enjoyed morning sickness as a massage therapist. Having to leave in the middle of a massage and returning to finish with a client. Ugh…..! All the way up to 23 weeks.

  14. Stefanie says:

    Amy, I have been there too. So embarassing.

    I’ve had heartburn daily since week 7. I had “morning” sickness from weeks 7-14. I missed two days of work, 3 volunteer shifts and lost 13 pounds.

    As much as I miss sleep, being able to bend over to do chores and hate heartburn; morning sickness is worse.

  15. adrianna says:

    Theyre both horrible but the heartburn is the worst because it gets so bad it causes nausea!

  16. Mama Wrench says:

    Heartburn for me, this pregnancy I’ve had wicked bad GERD that’s resulted in acid coming up my throat, making me retch and (if there’s anything in my stomach at all, even just water) throw up, even though I’ve never had “morning sickness” as such. I hate it and just wish it would stop…

  17. millie says:

    i didn’t really have horrible morning sickness but the heartburn has been horrible it set in around week 24 (28 weeks now) i have been hospitalized once for dehydration due to throwing up stomach acid the worst is waking up throwing up stomach acid in your bed i try too sleep propped up but it dose not work and we don’t have a recliner for me to sleep in doc gave me zofran and pepcid to take but i find it only takes the edge off

  18. Sarah says:

    I have HG and am 8 weeks pregnant. I just want it to be over. :( It hurts so badly 24/7.

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