Almost as irritating as the
condition itself was other people’s
“helpful” advice. Cathy says, “People
would tell me that it was mind over
matter, and that I shouldn’t think
about it. Or that I should try ginger
– I had tried everything, but nothing
helped. It got to the stage where I
didn’t want to get out of bed in the
morning, as I couldn’t face another
day of being sick and retching all day,
and I was exhausted, as I was pretty
much starving.”
Extreme sensitivity to smells,
known as “hyperolfaction”, is another
symptom of hyperemesis gravidarum.
Most smells made Cathy nauseous.
“It was hard to have a shower, as
I couldn’t stand the smell of the
toiletries and water in the bathroom,
and I couldn’t brush my teeth for
a week, as it made me so sick,” she
says. “My sense of smell was so over-
sensitive that I couldn’t drink water
out of a glass, as the smell put me off
– I had to just try to keep taking small
sips from a bottle of water so I couldn’t
smell it so much. I was surviving
on a few sips of water a day. It was
miserable.”
Medical help
When women are struggling to keep
any food or drink down, medical
help is essential, as dehydration and
electrolyte imbalances need to be
redressed. The main treatment for
hyperemesis is rehydration through
a drip. Tackling the nausea is more
difficult as, although many anti-
sickness medications exist, many are
not licensed for use during pregnancy.
Cathy discussed her constant
sickness with her doctor when she was
six weeks’ pregnant, but he presumed
it was the usual nausea and vomiting
of pregnancy, and tried to reassure
her that her babies would make sure
they got all the nutrition they needed
from her, even if she was left feeling
weak and tired. However, a week later,
Cathy saw her doctor again. This
time, she had lost weight. The doctor
ran some tests and found ketones in
her urine – an indicator that her body
was starting to operate in starvation
mode. She was also deficient in
vitamin B. These three factors
indicated that she needed treatment
for hyperemesis.
Cathy was given an injection
of an anti-nausea drug (which the
doctor said she could have only once
during her pregnancy), given vitamin
B supplements, and put on a drip
to rehydrate her. She ended up in
hospital on the drip for four nights.
“I did start to feel a bit better while
I was on the drip – I even felt a bit
hungry,” Cathy says. “One thing
that I found very hard was that one
of the nurses told me that when I left
hospital I would have to try to eat for
the sake of my babies. That was why
I was there! Because I
couldn’t
eat, not
because I didn’t
want
to eat. It was
very thoughtless.”
Coming to terms
As soon as Cathy got home, the
constant sickness started again. She
struggled on, sipping water from a
bottle, sucking on “Preggie Pops” (an
Australian brand of anti-nausea lolly)
and trying her hardest to keep even
the tiniest amounts of food down.
At 18 weeks, the symptoms subsided
a little, although she felt nauseous
right up until the day she gave birth,
and could never eat later than 4pm
throughout her whole pregnancy, as
it made her feel so sick. When her
twins, Oliver and Lucy, were born,
Cathy could finally get back to eating
normally. She had put on just five
pounds during her pregnancy.
As Cathy had suffered with
hyperemesis in her first pregnancy,
and her mother had also had it (there
is thought to be some inherited link)
Cathy knew that her chances of
experiencing it with this pregnancy
were high. She says, “Yes, hyperemesis
was horrendous, and I dreaded going
through it for a second time, but I
wanted more children so much that
I knew I had to get through it. It was
hard physically, but it was also hard
mentally – I worried especially that I
couldn’t keep my folic acid down, and
that the babies might be harmed by
that. But in the end everything was
fine. Although it was an awful nine
months, it was worth it.”
When women are struggling to
keep any food or drink down,
medical help is essential, as
dehydration and electrolyte
imbalances need to be redressed.
November 2013
59
