First trimester nausea is making cooking smells unbearable
I'm prgnant for the first time and currently 8 weeks. I started feeling nauseous around the middle of week 6, but now it has gotton so much worse. The hardest trigger for me is cooking smell. I can't handle oil, meat, old cooking smells, aor anything smoky. I can't cook at all right now, and even when my husband cooks, I have to close all the bedroom doors and wait until the smell is mostly gone before I can eat. If I smell cooking oil or leftover food smell, I immediatley gag. Sometimes it feels like my stomach is coming up into my throat, but i can't actuallly throw up. I get dizzy, weak, and completely lose my appetite.
Right now I'm mostly eating bland things like fruit, vegetables, plain bread, and cereal. I know I probably need more protein, and my husband has been trying so ahrd to make healthy meals for me and the baby, but I just can't handle the smell from meat or fried food. One time the smell from dinner drifted into the bedroom and I threw up everything I had earten.
Takeout has been great either, we ordered food once, but it arrived cold, and after reheating it, the leftover smell made it even worse. I barely ate any of it.
I feel stuck in a bad cycle, not eating well, not sleaping weel, feeling weak, then getting even more nauseous. I'm also worried about cooking fumes and indoor air quality during pregnancy, which makes me even more anxious. Has anyone dealt with this? Did improving kitchen ventilation help? My husband thinks part of the problem might be the week exhaust fan. I really want the house to smell clean and fresh enough that my husband can keep cooking at home without making me feel sick, and so I can eat healthy, more nutritious food for the baby. He really wants to help. He’s been reading up on pregnancy nutrition and even made a daily meal plan for me, but right now the cooking smell is destroying me.