Hyperemesis Gravidarum (Morning Sickness x 100)
Tara Carpenter, NC, PES.
Nutrition Consultant supporting people of all ages with therapeutic nutrition to heal.
Originally published on February 24, 2017.
Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) is a rare, serious condition affecting 0.5–2.0% of pregnant women. Broken down this complicated hard-to-say word simply means hyper=over-excessive/severe, emesis=vomiting, gravidarum=pregnancy; Hyperemesis Gravidarum = severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy.
If you have not experienced HG, consider yourself lucky. I had this 3 times. When people ask how that felt, I say “having HG is like having morning sickness multiplied by 100”. I could not drink more than a teaspoon of water at a time. I would wait three or more days to visualize and accept any food in my mouth.
Without going to the Emergency Room for hydration and nutrition I would curl up on the bathroom floor to be near a toilet. No food could be cooked in our home for the duration of my sickness because of the smell and t.v. made me feel as though I was on a ship in the ocean. If I craved a lobster roll I could eat three. The one food I could near always eat was hot chicken soup; I would feel somewhat strong for even two days straight, yet had to be freshly made (not frozen or canned) with lemon. That is how picky my body was. I had never experienced anything so difficult to endure and my heart goes out to any woman in the midst of this horrible feeling.
Minutes after the birth of my youngest son; whom I had HG for a total of 40 weeks.
Hyperemesis gravidarum is NOT morning sickness. Nor is it normal, mild, temporary vomiting some moms have in early pregnancy. If you have HG, you are in bed, on floor, over toilet, anywhere other than head up and eyes open. If you have HG you do not read, drive, or move.
More than a teaspoon of water makes you throw up, lifting your head and opening your eyes is a momentous occasion that takes much pre-thought and effort. You are in a place with a long way ahead to getting to where you are going, seeing only speck of light at end of a long tunnel.
If you know someone with HG, help them. They need it. Consider them an invalid. Do not downplay their feelings – they feel awful and don’t need added pressure to buck up and act normal. Left untreated, HG can cause anemia, severe malnutrition, dehydration, hypoglycemia, serious complications like fluid/electrolyte imbalances. Depression is often a secondary complication of HG. Death of baby and sometimes mother is also common when the woman does not seek help.
You are not alone.
If you have HG, you are not alone no matter how alone you feel. You can do this. You have what it takes but you need help. All you can get. Ask for it. Pay for this if you can. I know you might feel like you are 10 feet under (or you’d like to be) but this shall pass. In my state of Vermont we have a group called Good Beginnings which offers care for pregnant and new mothers. Ask church leaders. Be your own advocate. Don’t suffer alone.
For now, do all you can to find food to eat and keep down. Go to ER as much as you are allowed for hydration treatments, seek support from Facebook forums, get an “HG buddy”, try everything you have not tried.
Rick Simpson Oil
When I was pregnant, marijuana was taboo, let alone sold at recreational dispensaries. Now I hear how it helps HG women feel better enough to eat and drink. Research Rick Simpson Oil (RSO). Keep seeking. Here is video I made on RSO. Whilst this prenatal condition is not cancer in and of itself, many women -including myself- sign a release form to take a horse pill of a medication meant for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy in order to stay hydrated and nourished. Had I known of RSO, I would have taken that as the side effects of the drug I took was NOT designed for a fetus and my son has suffered all his life with both seizures and tics.
When you can’t
If you can’t keep being pregnant know many of women in your boots have made the same decision. This is an important decision of the hardest kind. Having been in HG shoes, I understand. Find your goal. Set your eyes on that child and keep in the ring is what I did because that was my goal.
Support
After experiencing hyperemesis gravidarum three times, I have lived and learned it inside and out and devote myself to helping others with this awful condition. Sometimes I do this by writing; sometimes by phone or email support. One time I helped a woman in Vermont by dropping food and peppermint tea and helping her in various ways. There is a death kind of quiet in the home with a mom suffering HG. Please share this post because there is not enough help for women with HG.
If you know a woman in the throes of severe morning sickness – please help her. By doing so, you can stop a condition which, left to itself, can require hospitalization. Dehydration and becoming malnourished can occur after only 1-2 days of persistent vomiting. Watch for this and notify doctor. There can be underlying physical causes for severe vomiting during pregnancy. Please do not believe her vomiting is psychically based.
What I Ate With Severe Morning Sickness
References
Bland, J. S., Costarella, L., Jones, D. S., Lerman, R. H., Levin, B., Liska, D., & Schmidt, M. (2004). Clinical Nutrition: A Functional Approach (2nd ed., pp.163-164). Gig Harbor, WA: Institute for Functional Medicine.
Campbell-McBride, N. MD. (2011). Gut and Psychology Syndrome. Soham, Cambridge; Medinform Publishing.
Davis, A. (1981). Let’s Have Healthy Children
Morell-Fallon, S. and Cowan, T. MD. (2013). The Nourishing Traditions Book of Baby & Child Care. Washington DC: New Trends Publishing, Inc.
Murray, M. N.D. (2005). Healing Foods. New York, NY.: Atria Books.
Rothenberg, A. MD. Homeopathic Remedies During Labor & Delivery: Lecture 9 Notes
Shaw, W. (2013). The Morning Sickness Handbook.
Sister Zeus (1998). Wild Yam: An Herbal Contraceptive. Retrieved at https://www.sisterzeus.com/wildyam.htm
Wikipedia (2014). Retrieved at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperemesis_gravidarum
MommyPotamous (2012). The REAL Cause of Morning Sickness. Retrieved at https://www.mommypotamus.com/the-real-cause-of-morning-sickness/
