Those Awful Aversions!

By Claire C. McKiernan

          You wake up one morning and the smell of your favorite hand cream is suddenly revolting. You walk into the kitchen and run out again when you get a whiff of fresh-brewed coffee. You walk back in a few minutes later, hand protectively covering your tummy, and can’t imagine why you are the only one who thinks the eggs being cooked are more sulfurous smelling than the house of Hades. Thinking of going outside for a breath of fresh air? Maybe, as long as the smell of wet earth, mulch, and budding trees doesn’t send you running back to the bathroom.

          Maybe the nausea ends every morning after you’ve been awake for an hour or so. Or maybe, your sense of smell stays in high gear. All. Day. Long. Perfume, coffee, fast food, spicy ethnic foods, seafood, tomatoes, tomato sauce, veggie burgers, garlic, rare beef, ground meat, chicken, sweet foods, and cooking vegetables were all on the list of WBWC patient aversions.

WBWC patient Alisa wrote, “In my first trimester, I couldn't hear or even think the words ‘popcorn,’ ‘macaroni and cheese,’ or ‘steak’ without wanting to hurl. Thankfully that's not happening anymore, as I've had cravings for both popcorn and macaroni and cheese several times in the last month alone!”

Basically, anything that is on the craving list for some women can be on the aversion list for others, and can completely reverse from pregnancy to pregnancy and even within the same pregnancy. Heck, even the smell of your husband/SO can become an aversion (and you craved him at least once, didn’t you?)

          And so goes those awful aversions of pregnancy: the unfortunate flip-side to the fantastic cravings. Each woman and each pregnancy is different. Sometimes there are aversions, sometimes there are cravings, sometimes there are both, and sometimes there are neither. They come and go, or last and last throughout the pregnancy (and possibly beyond).

          Here’s what WBWC patient, Danielle (who also had incredible cravings), experienced:

“When I found out I was pregnant, I was working as a cheese maker at a local goat dairy. I found out I was pregnant while on vacation for Christmas, and a few hours into my first day back in the cheese room I took a break to snack on some cheese and crackers. When I started eating, the cheese tasted as if it had gone bad. It was awful and tasted completely rotten! I threw it away, thinking it had sat too long while I was on vacation. I got a different cheese and it, too, tasted rotten! I threw it away and started inspecting all the cheeses in the walk-in cooler, worried that something had gone wrong. After tasting a few more cheeses, which all seemed bad, I found a co-worker and asked her to sample some. It turns out they were all fine! It was just my first food aversion. I could NOT eat any goat cheese until I was far into my third trimester! But I had to work my entire pregnancy making cheese full time, smelling it all day. Some mornings I would show up for work, walk in, and the smell of cheese would be so overwhelming I would run back outside and vomit! I even had to stop sampling it at the farmer’s markets; the sight of it sitting there on the cutting board would make me sick!”

CAUSES

Aversions, much like cravings, are a result of hormones. Your heightened sense of smell can make things smell fabulous or putrid. However, it is also possible that some of your aversions are protective. After all, perfume is not natural, fresh, clean air, and your body may be over-reacting to the perceived assault on your nose because subconsciously you don’t feel it’s safe to breathe in those chemicals.

It’s not such a bad thing if the aversions keep you away from chemical odors or foods that aren’t really good for you. Unfortunately, when the aversions apply to healthful foods or naturally pleasant odors, especially things you normally love, it is a nuisance, to say the least.

REMEDIES

So, what can be done about aversions? Not much, other than avoidance. There’s also an element of mind over matter. If you can refocus, you may find it helpful to have some pleasant thoughts or appealing odors (either in mind or physically nearby) at the ready for when an aversion is lurking around the corner. This won’t solve the problem, but it may reduce it. Remember: the more you think about it, the worse it gets. The same is true of cravings, of course.

Other than that, remedies are the same as for run-of-the-mill nausea during pregnancy: ginger, ginger candy, peppermints, and mint or ginger tea are helpful for some. They can settle your stomach as well as offer a distraction. Believe it or not, sucking on hard candies can have a calming effect (unless, of course, you are averse to ginger, mint, or anything sweet).

Then again, when an aversion comes on strong, sometimes the thought of putting anything in your mouth is unthinkable.  You might have more luck with aromatherapy, such as putting a drop of peppermint oil or lavender on a tissue or handkerchief (although at least one WBWC patient reported an aversion to peppermint for the full nine months of pregnancy).

Keep in mind that you may be more prone to experiencing an aversion when your tummy is empty. If you can stomach regular, small snacks throughout the day, keep them handy. If you can’t seem to eat anything, day after day, and are feeling overwhelmed, talk to a midwife. She may have a trick up her sleeve that works for you, or at least help alleviate the stress you are feeling.

Be reassured that the aversions will eventually go away, and focus on the cherished end result. As one WBWC patient wrote in response to my aversion request last month:

“I haven't had any cravings the whole time, just nausea and aversions (to sight, smell, and thought of various foods)…I would give more details, but just thinking about food (even foods that I can eat just fine when placed in front of me) makes my stomach turn... oh well. Feel very blessed to have a healthy pregnancy anyway.”

Keep your chin up, a smile on your face, a clothes pin on your nose, and you’ll get through it!