u/Used-Somewhere5175

I'm 8w+1 and I've been struggling with bad nausea since week 5. I haven't actually been throwing up, but the nausea has been debilitating. I know weeks 8 to 11 are supposed to be the worst, and I've been dreading it getting more severe.

This week I started to feel desperate and requested Xonvea from an online pharmacy (I'm in the UK and you can't buy Unisom here, only get a prescription for the combined pill with B6) I was prepared to pay the £70 for 20 tablets and I told my husband when he got home. The next day I ended up speaking to my GP and got it for free, and I was so happy to get the prescription and finally have hope. When my husband got home I told him and he started doing research about it.

I understand why he is concerned about the safety of unisom. It is a first generation antihistamine, which are known to significantly increase the risk of dementia in older adults with prolonged use because of the way it interacts with the brain. The idea of giving something like that to a developing baby does sound scary. We both have a background in research - not medical, but we can read and understand the papers that research the safety of these drugs. Even though there are some reassuring papers about their overall safety (don't cause birth defects), there is less conclusive data about less obvious, more long-term effects on cognitive function. There are some good studies, but not enough to reassure my husband.

At the end of the night, he was begging me not to take it and I was crying and insisting I can't carry on with this nausea without help from medicine. I took the first dose and we went to bed, but I promised we'd carry on looking into the research again today.

We haven't told any family or friends we're expecting, but I had to tell some colleagues. I don't have any support or anyone to talk to about this, so I'm just venting here. I do have two friends who had hyperemesis who took Xonvea, but I don't want them to feel judged by my husband or worried they did something to harm their babies if I explain his perspective. Plus my nausea is nothing compared to HG.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? I just need some support 😢

edit: Corrected myself about the dementia risk

I just took my first ever dose of Xonvea (20mg), which is the UK name for diclegis, which is the delayed release version of unison+B6. Ironically I immediately threw it up. I didn't see the tablets, but since I threw up A LOT and saw all my dinner from 3h earlier, I didn't even question if the Xonvea came up, I just assumed it did. Since it's gastro resistant/delayed release, I was also pretty sure it wasn't absorbed in the 3 minutes before I threw it up. So I took the dose again right after. Now I'm scared, especially since it's my first ever dose, that I overdosed and I'm gonna die in my sleep.

Anyone else done this before and can reassure me it's okay?

EDIT: I can confirm I was totally fine. Thanks for the kind replies!