Suffering from morning sickness during pregnancy? Compression stockings may be the answer.

A recent study which evaluated the effect of medical compression stockings (MCS) on the symptoms of morning sickness, such as nausea and vomiting, found that wearing compression stockings between 8 and 16 weeks of pregnancy improved the symptoms, as well as other Quality of Life measures such as dizziness and leg pain*.

Up to 50-80% of all women experience nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy. This can have an extremely detrimental impact on their quality of life, particularly on their ability to work or even their usual daily activities.

There are a number of therapeutic interventions that currently exists, including pharmacological and natural therapies. Understandably, many women are reluctant to take medications during pregnancy. This could be due to questions around the safety and/or efficacy of these treatments.

"Wearing compression stockings in early pregnancy improves not only nausea and vomiting-associated symptoms, but also QoL factors such as dizziness, leg pain and physical/physiological limitations" 2*

The benefits of graduated medical compression stockings in pregnancy has already been well documented. Pregnancy is a risk factor for chronic venous insufficiency due to hormonal (changes in physical properties of the veins), haemodynamic (increased blood volume and decrease in venous flow) and mechanical factors (compression of the inferior vena cava) 3*. In fact, the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) increases 5 fold during pregnancy and is 60 times greater postpartum 4*. Ankle oedema also affects up to 50% of all pregnant women and the first varicose veins appear in 6 out of 10 women during pregnancy 3*.

MCS have proven preventative and therapeutic effects on leg pain, oedema, spider veins, varicose veins, orthostatic circulatory disorders and reduction of the risk of DVT and pulmonary embolism (PE). 3*

This latest study means we can also add the symptoms of morning sickness to the list

*References: 1. A randomized crossover trial on the effect of compression stockings in nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy. Mendoza E, Amsler F.Int J Womens Health. 2017:9 89-99. 2. SIGVARIS Medical brochure "Suffering from morning sickness?" 3. SIGVARIS Medical brochure: "Preventing chronic venous insufficiency. 4. Pomp ER et al. Pregnancy the postpartum period and prothrombic defects: risk of venous thrombosis in the MEGA study. Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis 2008,6:632-7

For more information, contact support@garnetmedical.com.au. Garnet Medical is an authorised distributor of SIGVARIS in NSW/ACT. SIGVARIS is the world leader in the development and production of medical compression garments.