Suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum in pregnancy

Hey guys, it's been a while! I've had a lot on the past few months and most of you will already know that I am 13 weeks pregnant.

I told a friend that I would write a little on a condition that I've had since I was around 6 weeks pregnant, called Hyperemesis Gravidarum. It only happens in around 5% of pregnancies (according to the wise old internet) and most people won't have heard of it.

Unless I was to say, "The thing that Kate Middleton had in her pregnancy." Then you get a look of complete recognition.

Anyway, since it has played a big part in my life for what feels like forever, I wanted to write about it.

Hyperemesis is basically really severe morning sickness that barely allows you time to eat and drink, makes you retch uncontrollably at the smallest smell or even sight, affects every area of your life and can leave you bed-ridden and feeling extremely depressed and hopeless. I will post the NHS definition if you're looking for a more medical explanation but that's pretty much the jist of it.

Here's the link: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/severe-vomiting-in-pregnancy-hyperemesis-gravidarum.aspx

Sufferers of HG will know just how bad the sickness can get and how alone it can make you feel, especially considering the majority of doctors will not treat your sickness until you've ended up puking so much that your body is dehydrated enough to contain keytones in your urine. When that happens, they'll send you to hospital for a cocktail of anti-sickness drugs, vitamins and rehydration stuff until you're feeling better. Once you get home after a few days, they'll then decide you're sick enough to warrant anti-sickness medication until you feel more like yourself.

The problem with the above method is that by the time you're sick enough to count as dehydrated, you've probably already been suffering in silence with the condition for weeks or - God forbid - months and the chances are that you're feeling hopeless and depressed, had to take time off work and are struggling to get through each day. It really is that bad. But don't fret, once you've got the HG diagnosis, they take it very seriously. It is not good for your body to be dehydrated, especially when carrying a little person in your uterus.

My sickness started at six weeks and seemed to happen overnight. I started throwing up in the morning (expected) and sometimes throughout the day (also expected of pregnancy) but by two days later, it was uncontrollable.

Moving my head, standing up, sitting down, smelling certain foods or drink, or even taking too much of a deep breath set off the most painful retching of my life, which if I had nothing in my stomach, would continue until the toilet bowl was covered in bile.

Not only that but even when you're not being sick, your stomach is burning from the acid and it feels like there is someone's fist in your stomach gripping onto it tightly and squeezing until it nearly cripples you. Add that to the constant violent nausea that never goes away, no matter how many home morning sickness remedies you try. Now imagine feeling like this all day and retching/puking 20+ times a day and you've pretty much got what HG feels like. There is nothing that replaces it in your mind because it's so painful that you can't think of anything else.

My partner took me to the emergency doctors at 4am and I was given an anti-sickness injection along with a box of tablets called prochlorperazine to stop the sickness and give me the chance to actually drink some water.

Unfortunately they didn't work and a few days later I went back to the doctors and she gave me some different medication called promethazine, which I take at night. The first few days don't feel completely better but trust me, the ones after that are fantastic!

Fast forward seven weeks and I'm still taking them nightly. I can actually get through the day without puking uncontrollably. They really are lifesaving. The doctor said that, even if they didn't work, there are quite a few options they can try to help, so don't feel down if you haven't found the tablets that suit you yet. You will.

The worst part of having this condition is the loneliness. How can you explain to those around you that you're having something abnormal happen to you when it looks like a perfectly normal pregnancy symptom that is completely harmless? Answer is: You can't really, they have to see it for themselves. I don't think my partner fully believed I wasn't exaggerating until that 4am rush to the emergency doctors, but now he takes my sickness very seriously as well as the tiredness that comes with it. (And bloody hell it does!)

My main advice to anyone suffering this condition is to not do it in silence. Talk to your partner or family and friends, let them know what it feels like and moreso if the depression hits - and trust me, it can hit with vengeance. Speak to your doctor and keep speaking to them until they take your condition seriously and give you the treatment you need.

Lastly, don't give up! I know it can ruin your pregnancy high and it can even make you feel like you don't want to be pregnant at times, but it will get better. You will feel like your old self again, sooner or later, and your baby will totally be worth it. The baby is all I think about when my sickness gets me down and it still does occasionally. Oh well, only six months left, I can't be sick for the whole hog.........can I? XD

Take care,

Nik X