By Jacqueline Darna, Special for USDR
This evolutionary story is one about a mom and anesthetist who invents a natural anti-nausea remedy out of pure necessity, which if available during her time of delivery, may have spared her fertility.
Deliver us from evil
Two years ago a recent anesthesia graduate Jacqueline Darna finds out she’s pregnant with her second child. Did you know that 88% of women suffer from nausea and vomiting during delivery? Modern medicine have pills for everything, but come with the price of dangerous side effects, and they do not always work. It didn’t hit home until Jacqueline was rushed for an emergency caesarean section herself. The nausea and vomiting started as soon as the spinal was placed no sooner than 30 seconds from the time she laid down before the inevitable cut on her abdomen and everything she ate for dinner the night before came right back up. During recovery the pain was unbearable, the nausea was relentless, and the effect of all of the anti-nausea drugs were sedating, but she would still wake up just in time to vomit. How are you supposed to enjoy the birth of your child when all of these terrible side effects were occurring? At that moment, she vowed never to have another child again and scheduled her elective tubal ligation. Out of desperation when the nurse calmly explained that they had given her every antiemetic drug the pharmacy had to offer, she went back to two Eastern medicine practices of applying acupressure to the p6 point of the human wrist and smelling peppermint leaves. The peppermint leaves calm the stomach almost instantly and gave her the relief that she was looking for. When she went home from the hospital Jacqueline was desperate to find an aromatherapy of peppermint oil infused acupressure wristband to help with the nausea, so she scoured the internet. And found that no one had ever created it. During her sleepless nights in between breastfeeding she started writing her provisional patent for what is now known as the No Mo Nausea Band.
The birth of the No Mo Nausea Band
The story from going from a clinician of anesthesia to an entrepreneur/medical inventor was quite humorous. She found a plastics engineer on the internet, and only chose him because he was from Florida like her. Imagine telling a complete stranger to envision if an acupressure band and a bottle of peppermint oil had a baby that’s what she wants her product to look like. Her small list of must haves included “make it, latex-free, waterproof, easy-to-use, one size fits most, comfortable on the wrist, hypoallergenic, and most importantly stylish.” He took her idea from concept to prototype, and was being medically manufactured in less than 6 months.
Picking the perfect peppermint essential oil brought Jacqueline back to when she was a high school chemistry teacher at the tender age of 21. Besides blowing things up, chemistry is about chromatography which Jacqueline had to do to in order to discover which country produced peppermint leaf oil that had the highest concentration of menthol. And the winner was India! Menthol is the active ingredient in peppermint oil with a chemical alcohol group that when smelled helps to instantly calms the stomach.
The last piece to the puzzle was no laughing matter. Finding an elastic substance that was not made with any natural rubber. Did you know when dinosaurs roamed the Earth they lived in the Jurassic Era, and we currently live in the Plastic Era? A very elastic thermoplastic vulcanite (TPV) that is BPA-free is how Jacqueline was able to design the No Mo Nausea Band to fit comfortably allowing a natural give on the wrist while in contact with the warmth of body heat. The band is produced in two different sizes, and actually stretch 3 times their size so you never have to worry about it not fitting over the hand but still applying the accurate amount of comfortable pressure.
From mom to mompreneur
Jacqueline adimitently states “I did not invent acupressure nor aromatherapy. All I did was put two of the most powerful natural anti-nausea solutions into an attractive wristbands for adults and kids too. “ What started her journey as a mompreneur was attending medical conferences, mommy expos, business networking events, and winning a local “shark tank” like award called the start-up scholars award by the Tampa Chamber of Commerce. She sold her first 30,000 products thru word of mouth, which happens to be the best form of marketing. And national exposure on radio networks, iheart radio, American Medicine Today, ABC, NBC, the Today’s Show, and Daytime never hurt especially because they were unpaid spots due to the products likeability.
A Natural Alternative
The time is now for the unity between Eastern and Western medicine. Many Americans search for more inexpensive alternative remedies. Medications only treat the side effect and not the root cause, and usually patients end up taking a secondary medication in order to stop the side effect caused by the first. In fact, in one study, 70% of respondents said that the side effects or risks of nausea medications outweigh the symptoms. It’s easy to understand why, considering the list of common side effects of a popular nausea medications: headache, dry mouth, dizziness, drowsiness, constipation, birth defects, cardiac abnormalities, and more.
The Future for No Mo Nausea
Nausea isn’t the end for her patent pending formula of any essential oil infused acupressure device. Jacqueline is confident that there are multiple applications that can seek benefit from her three in one formulary. Look for No Mo Stress, No Mo Cough & Cold, No Mo Nausea Dog, No Mo Headache, No Mo Migraine No Mo Hot Flashes, and No Mo Pain coming soon. In the future, she hopes to evolve the line of products to help people with managing a variety of symptoms in a natural and affordable way.
Bio behind the band
Jacqueline Darna is happily married mother of two who is a practicing anesthetist, CEO of Darna & Company LLC, and the medical inventor of the No Mo Nausea Band. She is a well-known Tampa native and dog lover who can always be found with a smile on her face.
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