Severe Morning Sickness

Hyperemesis Program

About 80 percent of pregnant women experience some nausea during the first trimester of pregnancy. Between three to five women in 1,000 develop such severe nausea and vomiting that weight loss and dehydration can jeopardize their health and the health of the baby. Each year, about 20,000 women are hospitalized for this condition, known as hyperemesis gravidarum (severe morning sickness).

Safe and Effective Treatment for Hypermesis Gravidarum

Years of research at the MemorialCare Center for Women at Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach and Long Beach Memorial Medical Center have produced an effective treatment for hyperemesis gravidarum. Most women feel better within hours of receiving the therapy, stop vomiting after one day and are back home from the hospital after the two days.

The treatment, designed by Dr. Michael Nageotte, perinatologist and medical director of the MemorialCare Center for Women, and pharmacist Gerald Briggs, BPharm consists of infusions of the drugs Droperidol and Diphenhydramine. According to published data from the Center for Women, the Droperidol combination is significantly more effective than any one of a number of regimens that have been tried in the past.