Hi Lisa.
Here comes an essay...
Like you, I was presecribed Stemitil by my GP as the first line of defence. When I asked my him if it was safe to take when pg, his response was pretty much that it has been used for decades and although it hasn't had numerous clinical trials done on it for use during pregnancy, it has been used for so long with so few defects noted in relation to abnormalitites that would have occurred anyway or something, it is considered as pretty much safe to use while pg.
Stemitil is a class C drug. There is more info. on what this means and about Stemitil itself on this link:
http://www.hyperemesis.org/mothers/trea ... ations.php
Also, you can look at research carried out on meds on a Canadian website run by an organisation that specifically looks at medicines (among other things) and their safety for mothers and mother-to-be. You can find it at
www.motherisk.org and click on the drugs in pregnancy link. Also, you can look at the info. provided about drugs (incl. Stemitil) on
www.bloomingawful.co.uk.
I also had concerns about taking meds while pg (who doesn't???) , but at the end of the day, My GP pointed out that the risk factors have to be weighed up between the mother's health and the baby's health. I could not take any more vomitting and Stemitil worked for me like a dream for about a week - it didn't stop the vomitting but it got me down to about 3-5 times a day and I was able to eat and drink a little. It pretty much stopped my weight loss too (I lost about 17lbs) which was good as I was not big to begin with and did not need to lose any weight.
If you're still unsure, you can check other meds e.g. Avomine (another med which is prescribed in the UK). I think the US equivalent is Phernergan and many ladies on here seem to have tried this. You could also try Vitamin B6 which is a Category A drug and has been proved to be safe to take during pregnancy. There is an article about Vitamin B6 (and Unisom, which we don't have here in the UK) on the First Tri. forum.
Hth
Natalie