Minor Ailments during Pregnancy and their Remedial Measures Opted by Pregnant Women

Abstract

Pregnancy and childbirth are two major events in a woman’s life. Pregnancy is mostly viewed from physiological perspectives because of many physical changes that occur throughout pregnancy. Due to a lack of knowledge, pregnant women ignore minor ailments of pregnancy and opt for different remedial measures like herbal remedies, exercises, and allopathic medicines. The present study was undertaken to assess the common minor ailments experienced by pregnant women and remedial measures opted to relieve the symptoms by them. A total number of 200 pregnant women visiting antenatal clinics of DMC and Hospital, Ludhiana were selected using a convenience sampling technique. A structured interview tool was used to collect the data. The study result revealed that out of 200 subjects, more than half of the subjects (82%) had nausea and vomiting, backache was present in 55.5% of subjects, and an equal number of subjects had heartburn and leg cramps i.e. 41.5%, followed by other minor ailments i.e. constipation in 32% subjects, and ankle edema in 16.5% subjects. Results related to remedial measures revealed that for nausea and vomiting, 36.98% used fruits, for heartburn, 28.07% of subjects took rest with head side elevated. Regarding constipation, one-third of subjects (37.03%) adopted a regulation of bowel, for backache, 34.23% of subjects applied hot water bottle. Regarding ankle edema, 36.36% of subjects took maximum rest. The period of gestation was statistically significant with nausea and vomiting (p<0.05), constipation (p<0.05), and ankle edema (p<0.001). Gravida was also statistically associated with nausea and vomiting, the women in the first gravida experience more nausea and vomiting. The study concluded that the maximum number of subjects took allopathic treatment as compared to homeopathic treatment to relieve minor ailments during pregnancy.