HG Survivor T-shirt available from HER Foundation.Hyperemesis Gravidarum or HG
I promised myself after the birth of my last child in July 2007, that I would write about this problem and do my part to make others aware. HG is a pregnancy disease marked by rapid weight loss, malnutrition and dehydration due to unrelenting nausea and/or vomiting. It can have adverse consequences for newborns.It was only by the grace of God that I survived HG or that I was able to continue working fulltime through all three of my pregnancies.
My pregnancy with my first daughter, Juliette, was difficult. I had severe nausea for five months, but it was only a hint of the difficulties I would endure in my pregnancies with Sullivan and Bridgette.
Her Foundation
Before I go any further, I want to note that there is a foundation, the HER Foundation, which is dedicated to the education and research of mothers who suffer from HG and those who care for them. You can find out more at http://www.hyperemesis.org. I give to this organization, because I hope one day they will find a cure. I hope my daughters or future daughter-in-law will never have to go through what I went through.
Regarding my experience, many people were unsympathetic. The temptation for friends and even some family members was to dismiss my symptoms and misery and explain it away as my own weakness or inability to tolerate the discomforts of pregnancy. I only wish this were true.
“I can’t go through this again,” I told him. “I can’t keep my job and take care of my other children and all my other responsibilities if I am going to be sick like this. There has got to be something, somebody can do for me!”I had tried everything imaginable. One prescription, which I can’t recall the name of now, worked to some degree. The sea bands seemed to help a little. Resting helped a lot, but it was not really an option for me. CRACKERS DID NOT HELP and every time someone suggested I use them as a remedy, I wanted to poke their eyes out. Dr. Dosser took me very seriously. He did not dismiss my complaints like at least one other obstetricians had. He didn’t relegate me to “Big Baby” status. In fact, he took me very seriously and he treated me for HG.
He started by prescribing me an anti-nausea drug, Zofran, they often give chemotherapy patients. It cost me $85, but the cost to my insurance was over $700. I was convinced this magic pill was going to be the answer to all my problems. I was so excited to try it and believed it would work and deliver me from a problem that was completely debilitating me.
Thus, imagine my complete spiral downward when it was a colossal failure. It did nothing to stop my nausea. The pharmacist at Walgreen’s is still mopping up puddles of my tears that I cried over the phone when I called and told her it wasn’t working. “I’ve never heard of it not working in pregnant patients,” she said. I was so incredibly disappointed.
I went back to Dr. Dosser and told him the drug didn’t work. He was very understanding, and not entirely surprised. Thus, began a new approach to treatment. Every few days – I think I was allowed to go twice a week – I went to the Emergency Room to receive fluids. The routine became very familiar to me and I became familiar to the ER nurses and doctors. I’d show up after finishing a day of work and promptly pee in a cup. (Sometimes, I’d actually call and ask them if it was a good time to come to the ER.) They’d run a urinalysis and subsequently determine I was dehydrated (no matter how much water I drank, I was dehydrated). At that point, they started an IV and gave me fluids – two or three bags each time as best I can recall. The bags had some medicine in it, but I can’t remember now what it was. (Nothing too fancy.) I can’t fully describe the relief getting fluid intravenously provided. I immediately improved each time, but within a day or so, the improvement waned as I became dehydrated again and again.
Here’s me six months pregnant.
Thus, another treatment was begun. Dr. Lipe, an ER Physician at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City – another doctor who was completely devoted to treating me for HG – started me on what he called a “new cocktail” that had helped some women suffering from HG. This cocktail was Pepcid AC, Reglan and Vitamin B-6. Reglan, which is commonly used to treat heartburn from gastric reflux, helped push food through my digestive system. This pretty cheap prescription helped me so much.
Nothing completely delivered me from the pain and discomfort caused by HG. Fortunately, between months five and six, the nausea ceased, but for some pregnant women, HG lasts the entire pregnancy. For anyone out suffering from severe nausea accompanied by weight loss, you are NOT alone and you are NOT a weenie. Anyone who makes you feel that way needs to go to the HER Web site and read up on this disease. (I lost 20 pounds during the first two trimesters of my last two pregnancies, followed, of course, by enormous weight gain in the last trimesters.)
During the difficult days of my last two pregnancies, I sang myself to sleep every night with hymns I remembered from my childhood. It was a deeply spiritual time for me. I reached out to the Hand of God every night in bed, and prayed for His mercy. So many nights, I rested in Him. It is the only way I was able to get up and go to work every day for nine long months – three different times.
Pregnant women are incredibly vulnerable creatures. If you know one, whether or not she is suffering from HG, remember to pray for her. Some women breeze through pregnancy. My friend Amy said to me once, “I loved being pregnant. I never felt better.” How absolutely wonderful for her! I loved hearing that and knowing not all pregnancies are as terrible or burdensome as mine were.
FINAL NOTE ABOUT FMLA
Another thing I want to mention is about FMLA – the Family Medical Leave Act. I was so concerned about using up all my FMLA with my own sickness, too many days I went to work when I could have benefitted from rest. I wanted to “save” as much of my FMLA (12 weeks by law) for the “qualifying event” as possible. What I did not know was that my at-risk and very-difficult pregnancy was one qualifying event, making the birth of my daughter another. Thus, I could have qualified for 12 weeks of FMLA for my pregnancy and another 12 weeks for the birth/caring for my newborn. I so desperately needed those 12 weeks to take care of myself. I put my pregnancy at higher risk than I had to – pushing to go to work every day and keep up all appearances. I smiled 10,000 smiles I didn’t want to smile because I didn’t want anyone to think I couldn’t do my job. Certainly, more needs to be done to support pregnant women in the workplace.]
ONE MORE THING: The above picture of Juliette and me was the first day I had felt OK in over 16 weeks. My nausea was clearly subsiding, and we took J. to the park to fly a kite. I was six months pregnant in this photo, but I had lost so much weight, you couldn’t even tell.
@REALRELLIM – Thanks for sharing your story. OMG. I started to get that nauseous feeling in my stomach reading it. I never really thought about it before, but I struggled with PTSD before my third pregnancy – knowing we were going to have another baby and that I’d face this nightmare again. Your story is among one of the most severe I’ve heard. Ahh, the midwife. Yes, just eat a few crackers. )@($#*()%#*)@!!! I really think because intravaneous fluids helped me so much, that there needs to be more research into why pregnant woman become so dehydrated. I drank water all the time, but I could not stay hydrated. When I’d go to the ER for fluids, I was OK for a least a day with very little nausea. Even now, these are difficult memories for me to revisit. Pregnancy was so hard. I wish it has been a happier time. I love my children so much!! Thanks for sharing.
Yeah, HG stinks. I had it with both kids and I threw up multiple times daily for the entirety of both pregnancies, despite meds (phenergen for #1 and zofran for #2). It was worse the second time too. Both times I’d started throwing up just after 3 weeks (yes, before I had a positive pregnancy test). The second time I ended up in the ER for rehydration before I even hit the 5-week mark. I ended up down to 90 lbs despite trying every medication and other remedy. I did acupuncture weekly, zofran daily, and B6 and unisom, but still couldn’t stop losing weight first tri. I was so hungry I’d dream about food, and so weak that I spent a fair amount of dozing those first few weeks. Things improved after 1st tri (as in, I threw up 3-5X/day rather than 6-8), but that was a truly awful. And then I developed GD on top of that. My favorite comment may have been when the midwife asked, “can’t you eat a little more food?” Well yes, but I can’t make it stay down….
A friend of mine had it even worse and ended up on a Zofran pump. She said life was improved a great deal by the pump, and I think her HG went away around 20 weeks. She also said her third pregnancy was better than the previous two, though I think she still ended up on the pump for a couple of weeks. It sounds promising, but seeing as no one seemed to think I’d lost enough weight to qualify (apparently I needed to be 88 lbs before I would have been medically underweight), I don’t have any experience with it.
Ironically, the HG the second time around left me with a bit of PTSD. Every time one of the kids comes down with a stomach bug, I’m immediately nauseous and completely freaked out that I’m going to get it. (Unfortunately, I usually do, and usually worse than everyone else. Lucky me.) And I can’t handle the rides at the carnival anymore either, not even the ones for toddlers.
If you’re reading this and in the middle of it, take it day by day. It’s really awful, but it will end. Just do what you can do to get through each day for now, and know that it will end.
Thank you for sharing your story. I suffered through an hg pregnancy last year, but was blessed with a wonderful little one who has made me realize that it was all worthwhile. I just started a blog about hg to help encourage women in the middle of the struggle. It’s so sad that there’s no cure yet, but I have hope!
@ANONYMOUS – This continues to be a post that gets traffic despite how long ago it was that I wrote it. I am so sorry you are having to go through this debilitating nightmare. I pray that it will pass soon. But, this is a call to embrace the one who knows you best – to turn not to man, but to God in your hour of need. I know this. Nobody understood what I went through – how devastating it was. But, God understands and He WILL comfort you. As for the baby, I was so very sick with all three of mine, but it was the worst with my last, I think. She is my treasure. Yours will be, too.
I read all this stories and I really look up to every last one of u strong women, my days are the same I am 13 weeks and still don’t have the energy to get up and take care of my family plus this is my second child my son I had a wonderful pregnancy with him. In the beginning I told everyone this baby didn’t like me at all and my child father do not show me any pitty and it hurts my feels more than anything for me to explain how bad I am feeling each and everyday I am lost with this sickness Thanks for the understanding
Brandi, I am so very sorry to hear about this. I know how terrible this illness can be. I can only be grateful for it now for the clear understanding that it gave me about God’s love for me. Truly, there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Only God or someone who has gone through this truly understands how awful it can be. There were days I didn’t think I could go on. I pray that soon your baby will be in your arms safe and sound, and the memory of this difficult time will hold purpose in helping others who walk through this horrible fire. Rest assured, you are in my prayers. I hope you write again soon. I would get in touch with Dr. Mark Lipe. He helped me so very much. One of my goals for 2012 is to write an inspirational book for women with hyperemesis. I pray daily that God helps me find the time b/c I know it’s so needed. I’m sending love and prayers for a restful evening your way. xoxo
I just want to tell you what an encouragement your above testimony has been to me. I am still suffering at 31 weeks. I have lost a total of 28 lbs and have only gained 1 at my last appointment. I too live in the OKC area. My first OB dropped me because I complained too much and my insurance tried to tell them how to treat my HG. I was left finding a new OB at 28 weeks with a mind blowing diagnosis of gestational diabetes.
Dear ANONYMOUS on 11.11.11
This continues to be the oldest post on this site that still draws commetns. I published it in 2008!!
I do understand what you are going through. I have wanted to write about HG for a larger audience, but to be honest, it was so unbelievably traumatic, it’s been hard to open it all up again. Your comment inspires me to try and write about it and bring awareness to this devastating illness. People truly do NOT understand. But, hey have some saltines. Gahhhh!!! Bless you!!
I had 3 hyperemesis pregnancies and was fed TPN through a PICC Line for between 6-8 months each pregnancy. I am considering a 4th and final pregnancy but I know what will happen, and I dread the absolute misery and suffering of HG. My three boys are 11,9 and 7 so I had to wait all these years to try to forget my HG trauma. It is so debilitating and NOBODY understands. I did have kind doctors (overall) but the well-meaning comments from people trying to get me to have ginger ale, water, etc. when I couldn’t even swallow my own saliva, became annoying. I pray they figure out what causes HG so it is a problem of the past.
I am currently 16 wks pregnant and suffering from HG. I cannot even imagine what it took for you to work during such an incredible time. I have been at home for 3 months and still feel that it is unbearable. For the moms out there who have HG, look into the Zofran pump. It did not help me during the acute period, but I believe that it is keeping me healthier for now. I turned to blogs to find out when the nausea completely went out for most women. I want to not feel nauseous for a day!!!
Also wanted to let you know that you can sign up for the study being conducted by the HER foundation. We need to get answers.
Thanks!
I was like you. Lost 18 pounds before I ever put on an oz. Weighed 8 pounds more when I went to the hospital than I did before getting pregnant. I worked full-time and the “10,000 smiles” comment was a complete deja vous for me. No one knew what I was going through. My DH vowed “never again” at the time…I was so miserable. Yet, like you, I had another. And I hoped it would be different. It was. I had a few extra side-effects to contend with in addition (eg: a rare treat called “Hyper-Ptyalism”…it was abysmal, and gall bladder attack, and sciatica, etc.)
I’ve heard of so many women who were miserable the first 2 times, but their third pregnancy was a breeze. I’m hoping that someday I have another, and that if I do, I’m thusly blessed. But even if pregnancy showed me it’s worst again, I’d be grateful for the chance to have another.
You’re a great writer. This was terrific information about a condition that was little understood and acknowledged just 12 years ago when I had my first.
I’ve noticed you commenting on a lot of the blogs I stalk. Fun to read more about you!
♥
Blue