Morning Sickness - Are You KIDDING???? (Morning Sickness)

Member Name: cacalala1971

Product:	Morning Sickness
Date:	07/12/02 (828 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: thriving fetus

Disadvantages: feel dreadful, interferes with your WHOLE life, etc etc

Ok - Those people who say "pregnancy is NOT an illness" have either A) never been pregnant themselves, B)are MALE or C)have sailed through pregnancy like a dolphin through water.

I am currently in my tenth week of pregnancy and so far have had two hospital admissions due to a severe form of "morning sickness" (I use the word morning very loosely as it has been an almost 24 hour thing with me), called hyperemesis gravidarum.

Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HM). usually occurs from as early as the fourth week of pregnancy up to and including the 13th week (for some women it lasts the entire pregnancy). There has been a great deal of research into this condition, but up until now the powers that be don't really know what the true cause of it is.

The basic theory is that it is caused by high levels of the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) and higher levels than normal of oestrogen.

It is believed that 80% of pregnant women will suffer morning sickness and out of this number 5% will suffer from HG.

HG is usually diagnosed when the woman has vomited so dramatically that she cannot even keep fluids down, thus causing dehydration, ketones in urine, and in some cases a severe change in electrolyte balance within the body. The worst case scenario - Death.

OK, it doesnt make pleasant reading, but the crux of the matter is, it can be a life threatening illness, and it is often misunderstood.

It can interfere with your whole life, I have had the past 5 weeks of work due to this condition, and although at the moment I am tolerating oral fluids, I am having to take anti sickness medication (in the form of a suppository as its difficult to keep anything solid down) to be able to do so.

I don't want sympathy, thats not why im writing this op, the reason is to make more people aware of this condition, and if it helps just one person realise that they are not alone, and t
hat there is help available then I will have done what I set out to achieve.

The upside (allegedly) to HG is that apparantly the high levels of HCG means that the fetus is thriving. Having HG does not deplete the fetus of any vital nutrition, as they feed of the mothers reserves, it just makes you feel dreadful.

Ok now for some tips for women suffering HG (or even a milder form of pregnancy induced nausea and vomiting).

1) Try and eat something bland before you get out of bed on a morning, even a rich tea biscuit if you can tolerate it is better than nothing. Im working on the premise that its better to throw up something than be retching for nothing. If you keep it down think of it as a bonus.

2) Avoid drinking fluids at the same time as eating (was going to say at mealtimes but the chances are if youre suffering Hg you wont remmeber what a meal is!!), try and drink at least half an hour after food so youre not overloading yourself.

3) Little and Often as they say. small bites to eat whenever you can tolerate it.

4) They say ginger is a good anti sickness remedy, but I personally have not found this useful at all.

5) Try and avoid strong odours wherever possible. I found that even my partners aftershave would make me retch, so at the moment he's having to go 'au natuelle'.

6) Drink flat coke or other high sugar drinks - this will give you calories (however empty those calories are they are energy) - obviously not big gulps - just sip little and often.

7) Probably the most important bit of advice I can give you. If all else fails and youre not able to kep anything down SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION. You are not being a wimp, but simply looking out for yourself and your unborn child. I found the hospital staff to be very understanding, I had IV fluids and anti sickness medication and I felt almost like a new person once I'd had the treatment.

8) It does g
et better. Im hoping that this ends for me soon and I can continue with my pregnancy feeling happy and fulfilled, after all what is more wonderful than having a long awaited cherished child in your arms.

I hope this piece has been helpful to you, even just one person finding out that they are not alone and that there are other sufferers out there is sometimes a help.

If anyone is suffering from the same thing and wants to have a chat my email address is on my profile, feel free to drop me a line.

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