Hyperemesis Gravidarum (Morning Sickness X’s 100)
Tara Carpenter, NC., CPES.
Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) is a rare condition affecting 0.5–2.0% of pregnant women. Yes! A weird and hard-to-spell name that I think better called ‘living hell’. The word broken down … “hyper” = over excessive, severe, “emesis” = medical lingo for vomiting and “gravidarum” = pregnancy. Put together, the word means severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy.
If you never had HG then you are lucky! When people ask me to describe this condition, I say think about having morning sickness, then multiply that by 100, even 1,000. Think about feeling nonstop queasy and dizzy for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for weeks if not months on end. With my third pregnancy, I had the condition for 40 weeks.
I wanted to curl up in a ball and die.
Hyperemesis gravidarum is NOT morning sickness; nor is it normal, mild, or temporary vomiting that most pregnant moms have in early pregnancy. If you have HG, you are in bed, on the floor, over the toilet, anywhere then with your head up and eyes open. If you have HG it is impossible to read, drive, or move.
Drinking more than a teaspoon of water makes you yak, lifting your head and opening your eyes is a momentous occasion that takes much pre-thought and effort. You are in a dark hole with little hope of seeing the light at the end of tunnel.
Get help.
If you know someone with HG, help them. They need it. Consider them an invalid and do not downplay their feelings – they feel awful and don’t need the added pressure to buck up and act normal. Left untreated, HG can cause anemia, severe malnutrition, dehydration, hypoglycemia, and serious complications like fluid/electrolyte imbalances. Depression is often a secondary complication of HG.
You are not alone.
If you have HG, you are not alone no matter how alone you may feel. You can do this. You have what it takes. But you need help and all you can get. Ask for it. Pay for it if you can. I know it feels like you are 10 feet under (or that you’d like to be) but this too shall pass. For now, do all you can to find food you will 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” to trade woes with, try everything you have not tried. When I was pregnant, marijuana was taboo. Now I hear how it has helped many HG women feel better enough to eat and drink. Research into Rick Simpson Oil. Keep seeking.
When you can’t
If you find that you can’t keep being pregnant know that many of women in your boots have made the same decision. This is an important decision of the hardest kind. I thought about aborting my 2nd and 3rd baby every single day, multiple times; even of ways to end my own life. I didn’t but I was hair away from aborting. This is your decision and for those of you right now reading this judging these words….if you have not had HG, then this is not your story to jump into.
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; other times by phone or email support. One time I helped a woman who had it here 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 – 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, but don’t think for a minute that her vomiting is psychically based.
What I Ate During Severe Morning Sickness
10 Foods Helped MY Hyperemesis Gravidarum
Now You Are Still: Losing My Baby Girl
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/
