Morning sickness product helps prevent nausea for cancer patients

Italy approves British remedy as safe Natural Remedy

for Morning Sickness

Whenever I have a bout of nausea, caused by cancer drug side effects, I suck a Lillipop (a small tube of frozen fruit juice kept in my freezer).

Now comes news that in the first national trials of its kind, conducted by the AOGOI (Italian Association of Hospital Gynaecologists and Obstetrics),

Lillipops was found to be effective and offered no side effects in 95% of cases of women tested, each of whom was suffering nausea, heartburn, dry mouth, reflux and acidity and/or an inability to take foods and fluids, all symptoms collectively associated with morning sickness.

So OK – when you are pregnant you get morning sickness. But cancer patients can get nausea at any time, and sometimes long after chemo the drugs we are on suddenly decide to remind us they are there.

So we might as well borrow a remedy from a pregnant mum, who came up with Lillipops.

Created by British housewife Denise Soden, Lillipops are a naturally flavoured morning sickness remedy with no artificial colourings or flavourings; they are tart and refreshing, rather than sickly – the last thing you want. No artificial colourings and flavourings are used, and each Lillipops multipack contains 5 delicious flavours: Lemon & Mint, Grapefruit & Tangerine, Ginger, Lime & Vanilla and Camomile & Orange.

I keep some in the fridge for when I want a quick fix, and some in freezer when I want to be childlike and suck up a frozen lolly!

Medical Trials in Italy

The findings of the trials were announced at the Italian Gynaecology Symposium “Contraception and Reproductive Health” held at the end of March 2011 and attended by some 3000 gynaecologists from all over Italy.

As a result, Lillipops are now available in up to the 17,000 pharmacies and clinics across Italy, in addition to its presence in independent pharmacies in the UK and Ireland and across the world.

The trials, which were carried out from October 2010 for a period of 6 months, involved eleven centres spread across the whole of Italy. More than 150 women took part in the trial, all of whom were given Lillipops to take when they felt any onset of morning sickness and its associated symptoms. It was found that the use of these ice pops were highly effective in reducing and managing the condition, and also that the majority of women taking part felt better as soon as they started taking Lillipops. The women enrolled in the study were all between week 8 and 12 of their pregnancy.

Professor Chiantera, AOGOI National Secretary commented, “After the well documented problems regarding drugs shown to have teratogenics, doctors are very careful when prescribing medicines for morning sickness. The availability of a natural remedy without side effects is something new and exciting for all gynaecologists.”

Lillipops were invented in 2009 by Denise, who herself suffered chronic nausea and sickness during her first two pregnancies that saw her treated medically for dehydration. Denise was hospitalised 13 times with her first child and was diagnosed with Hyperemesis Gravidarum. Using ice to help her manage her condition was the inspiration for the brand.

So when I started to throw up constantly as a side effect from cancer drugs, I thought “give them a try”, and found they helped enormously. Ginger, for example, has traditionally been used to ease symptoms of nausea; Camomile for its calming and relaxing properties; citrus fruits such as Orange, Lime and Grapefruit are refreshing and mint is revitalising and calming for the digestion.

NICE

Wouldn’t it be lovely if NICE would acknowledge the Italian trials, and approve Lillipops? We are in the EU, so why not take advantage of another EU country’s medical research – instead of NICE mounting expensive trials of its own. But as Dr. Ian Gibson, the MP who chaired the Parliamentary cancer group once asked in a conference “can anyone tell me what use is NICE?”

Where to find

As well as Italy, Lillipops are now available from Amazon, good independent pharmacies throughout the UK, Ireland, Spain, Australia, US, Canada and Equador.
Lillipops retail at £6.95 for a 20 ice pop multipack of all 5 flavours.

For stockists details or to shop for Lillipops, please visit www.lillipops.com.

NB : this is not a medicinal product.