Morning sickness is characterised by nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. It usually occurs during the early months. About 60% of pregnant women suffer from morning sickness at some stage of their pregnancies, and some actually vomit. Morning sickness is most common between weeks 5 and 8 of pregnancy, but can persist to week 16.

Morning sickness gained its name because the most common symptom is a feeling of nausea upon arising. There are no established causes of the illness, although many believe that hunger makes a significant contribution. Metabolic changes resulting from pregnancy have also been suggested as causal factors. In unusual cases pernicious vomiting can develop in pregnancy and should not be confused with the relatively mild symptoms of morning sickness. Although this affects only one woman in 200, it can cause dehydration and weight loss and treatment for it must be sought.

The treatment of morning sickness involves a number of approaches. A cup of tea and a slice of toast eaten in bed before arising is sufficient to allay the symptoms in many women. Peppermint or raspberry tea are also recommended. Raspberry tablets can be substituted if preferred. Most effective of all is ginger, either fresh or in tablet form, but it should not be taken in the last few months of pregnancy as it may cause colic in the unborn child.

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The anxious patient cannot sit still. He fidgets and wriggles about. He cannot settle to the task in hand; he starts one job but feels uncomfortable, leaves it and starts something else. He is less restless when there is something definite that he has to do, so he is more comfortable at work than at home. On weekends, in spite of happy relations with his family, it is common for him to wish for Monday so that he can go back to the fixed routine of work.

Sometimes people feel that they will be better if they take a holiday and have a good rest. Of course, these patients are at their worst in such circumstances because they have lost the ability to relax and take it easy. Other people with anxiety are benefited by such a holiday, but when restlessness is a feature the anxious patient only returns more tense and frustrated than ever.

A forty-seven-year-old foreman wrote for an appointment, and described his restlessness in these terms.

“I have an inability to relax, nervous tension, anxiety complex and constant apprehension, I cannot sit [without a flush of anxiety] in meetings, church, theatre, dentist’s chair, barber’s chair, public transport, or as a passenger in a motor car . . . My flush of nervous tension makes me leave whatever I am attending . . .”

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