My journey through Hyperemesis Gravidarum 

Hyperemesis Gravidarum is a serious complication of pregnancy. It is NOT morning sickness, its similarity with morning sickness ends when then sufferer can’t eat or drink, can’t move for retching, gets dehydrated and starts losing weight.

Whilst pregnancy itself is not an illness and the vast majority of pregnancies are normal and healthy, there are in fact a number of very serious illnesses that can be caused by pregnancy, many of which were commonly fatal in the past and occasionally still are now. Hyperemesis Gravidarum is one of those. In addition to the extreme nausea and vomiting there are a range of other symptoms which characterise HG. These include but are not limited to:

– Extreme fatigue and lethargy (this can be a symptom of hypoglycemia which happens when you are dehydrated – and throwing up all the time).

– Extremely heightened sense of smell which is also warped so nice smells can smell awful.

– Excessive saliva, which not only increases dehydration but is unpleasant and embarrassing.

– Headaches

– Depression, from the severe ongoing symptoms, the isolation, concern over work and also a physical side effect of calcium deficiency as mentioned above.

HG is relentless… the nausea, which can feel like you’ve been poisoned, goes on and on and on, every minute of the day and night. Once the pregnancy hormone ‘relaxin’ kicks in many women will find they wee when they throw up adding to the humiliation and the need to stay within the house. And then there is the emotional distress of having missed out on the pregnancy they were expecting, looking forward to, excited about.

My experience:

To think I only found out I was pregnant 2 weeks ago. Even though it was a shock, after a while I began to feel excited. The feeling that our family is growing. Going from a family of four to a family of five. So I been taking extra care of myself with taking the vitamins, drinking loads and eating right. But unfortunately over a week ago I started to feel really unwell.

Nausea – every smell turned my stomach. Every taste of food made me gag and feel sick. Water was just unbearable to drink. Any drink the after taste felt disgusting. Couldn’t cook or even go in the fridge without gagging.

Sickness – sickness seemed to be after fluid or meals or even on a empty stomach.

Urine – eventually not going to the toilet in 24 hours became a problem as I was so dehydrated.

Severe leg pain – even though I suffer with chronic pain syndrome. The leg pain has been unbearable because of the dehydration which is caused by loss of salts and potassium in my body.

Headaches – mild to severe headaches on times.

Excessive saliva – so much saliva with an horrible taste in my mouth is foul.

Depression – have to admit with how much I tried to stay positive I have been feeling down,  as can’t eat, can’t stand basically can’t do anything without feeling or being sick.

Dizziness/feeling faint – extreme dizziness. Literally can’t stand without feeling faint or dizzy.

When I had my 2 previous pregnancies I never suffered with this, I had the typical morning sickness but felt ok. With Cameron I was still going to work like normal. This time round I can’t even stand on my own 2 legs without feeling dizzy or feeling the need to vomit.

But doing a bit of research and speaking to the nurses in the hospital, apparently every pregnancy is different and higher hormone levels could predict a girl.

Well, it looks like I will just have to wait and see. Are girls the worst in pregnancy… who knows? It will be interesting to find out. I would love to have a surprise at the birth and not find out the sex beforehand. But you know what the suspense is really killing me so I will be asking if it’s a boy or a girl.