Sunday, April 27, 2008

Barf and bisphenol-a

I have solved a mystery.

It's the damn prenatals. It's the damn prenatals that finally turned my nausea into a wretch-fest this morning. I made this beautiful fruit salad. Then I went through the pain of bringing it back again. (TMI)

A friend suggested I go off the vitamins for a day as see if the nausea resolved. I did. I felt great yesterday. No intestinal issues, no nausea. Then this morning, I did a little research that said, "take your prenatals with a meal." So I took then with my lovely fruit and proceeded quickly to feel like hell.

Dr. Google says that the high iron content tends to be the culprit and that a higher B content tends to quell the nausea. I will try one more trick - taking it before bed. But if I wake up barfing - that is it. I'll be talking to my RE for an alternate vitamin.

If anyone has a great remedy for this issue - by all means - share...

____

As a result of all of these eating problems I have been doing a little research. I can not afford to eat organic all of the time. So I discovered this great list that basically tells the the pesticide absorption rate of different fruits and vegetables. This way, you know that it is worth the extra bucks to by organic apples, but no so much for organic avocados. Here is the list if you are interested: http://www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php

I have also been obsessing about the bisphenol-a, or BPA, stories that I have been reading about. This is the chemical used to create shatter-proof plastics, like baby bottles and water jugs. We happen to buy our drinking water. We started doing this because we were concerned about the possibility of lead pipes, though we never got the water checked. Now we find out that the replaceable 5-gallon jugs we buy are made of the bisphenol-a type of plastic.

My main concern is that the articles I have read indicate a fear of risk to pregnant women and infants. There is concern that the chemical has adverse effects on development including early puberty. I mean, I am already trying to buy hormone-free meats but this is crazy.

In the end, the studies are still preliminary. So I am doing my best not to freak out. But I am looking at the bottom of drink bottles before I buying and turning away if they are marked with a #7 of "PC."
Here is the NYtimes article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/health/22well.html?ref=health

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well I have had several friends get sick from prenatal vitamins. The end result at the OB was to take Children's Flinstones Vitamins. So check with your RE but i'm sure they might tell you to try these for a while.

Meg said...

I relate so much to your concern about not freaking out too much. I have a good list of organic stuff to always buy (mainly apples and berries) but if I get stuck at the airport with a regular apple, my sirens do not go off.

In terms of the BPA- I went batshit crazy this winter and change a lot of my plastic habits. Here is what I think is helpful:

Having the plastic jug of water is fine. You will greatly reduce the chemical leaching if you do not microwave the jug or let is heat up in the sun....both of which I doubt you do.You should just get a sample of your water tested.

Buy some stainless water bottles to drink out of. I love Kleen Kanteen.

Don't microwave your leftovers with plastic wrap on the top...big no no.

KatieM said...

What brand of prenates are you using? I have the Once-A-Day Women prenatal packet (that includes a DHA pill) and haven't had any problems with them. My doc told me that if I was having issues with taking the pills I should take them at night (which I already do) and freeze them. This way they will start dissolving further in your intestines to help prevent against the icky nausea s/e.

jenn said...

I have to take mine after a full meal before bed. I've also heard that some doctors will have you take 2 flinstones chewables or something equivalent. As long as you can keep it down it's better than nothing!

Plus theere's many different kinds of Prenatals- I take the huge pink horsepill kind, but my girlfriend had small gel capsules that she swore by. You can always ask for a different kind & see if that helps.


I don't really drink much out of plastic these days anyway, but I would tend to err on the side of caution anyway. I would get a Brita pitcher if only for your ease of mind.

sara said...

Interesting article, thanks for sharing it with us. As far as the prenatals, I find if I take mine at night it helps. Hopefully that'll be the case for you as well. Sorry about the puking...that sucks.

Kristen said...

It's crazy to think that all this time we have been exposed to BPA but until this recent spur in interest over it, it was brushed under the rug. Our lives are consumed by BPA. It is in fillings in our teeth, it lines the metal in our canned foods, and in our plastic food containers. It is scary to know that BPA is found in most baby bottles and sippy cups. There are many new companies coming out with BPA free bottles though. As far as plastic drinking bottles for adults go, Camelbak has always been BPA free and Nalgene and REI are coming out with a BPA-free lines, too. Also, you can identify plastics containing BPA because they are marked with the recycling code #7.

http://www.absorbentprinting.com/blog/category/product-safety/