So, it would seem the whole world knows about hyperemesis gravidarum now it is a royal problem too. Earlier this month Kate Middleton was forced to cancel her visit to Malta, her first solo royal tour, because, due to her second pregnancy, she is again suffering from the condition. For those of you who haven’t been briefed yet: no, it is not just “morning sickness” and no, “drinking flat coke or eating a ginger biscuit” won’t make it stop.
Quite frankly, the comparison of hyperemesis to morning sickness is like breaking your arm in several places and then being told you’ve just knocked your funny bone. Hopefully, this increased media attention will help the poor expectant mums, who like me, were wiped out by the condition.
Most sufferers face a barrage of people who cock their head, give a sympathetic look and ask: “So is it morning sickness?” I’m not sure that anyone in their right mind who was suffering from severe vomiting up to 50 times a day would react well to that question and I’m sure its not one that the Duchess of Cambridge is forced to answer.
The truth of the matter is that hyperemisis is a horrendous, gruelling, protracted condition that leaves the people who suffer from it in a horrid state. It is not just for a few days either, most people experience it for 15 weeks during their pregnancy, others even longer. This severe form of nausea (not morning sickness) affects around 0.3 to 1.5 per cent of pregnancies. It makes it almost impossible to work and can start at three weeks in. So you often have to inform people, i.e. your boss, far earlier than you’d hoped because its impossible to conceal.
I have struggled with it twice in the past three years. The first time I got the news I was pregnant I spent two days on a high, planning the future, crafting a pregnancy diary and watching my husband mass buying vitamins. Then the day of doom set in. I didn’t know what had happened. I went from feeling sick one evening to crying on my hands and knees 48 hours later, having constantly vomited for 14 hours.
After a week of getting progressively worse, not feeling able to leave my bed - let alone the house - I dragged myself to the GP. Although she was sympathetic, after warning me about the dangers of anti-sickness medication on my unborn child, she advised me to go down the homeopathic route. But after a week of the same I returned, begging for medication. This is the decision many expectant mothers have to make and it comes heavily laden with guilt. Do you take something that could have side effects on the baby? (In this day and age even eating a prawn is frowned upon) Or do you try and cope and still potentially put the baby at risk - because you are not consuming the amount of nutrients or fluid the baby needs? I chose to take the tablets and it meant I could finally cope. Yes I felt guilty, but it worked.
Eight months ago I fell pregnant again and at three weeks the sickness set in. I had hoped this pregnancy would be easier but at least I knew what to expect - a small mercy. This time, the medical attitude had changed and doctors seemed far more sympathetic. I’m sure this isn’t totally because of Kate Middleton, but she certainly heightened awareness of the condition.
After two weeks of being so dehydrated that I suffered blackouts, my GP diagnosed my hyperemesis and admitted me to hospital. When you have not been able to eat or drink for so long the body starts shutting down - hence the blackouts - and the only solution is fluids and intravenous anti-sickness drugs. The sheer relief after a few hours is like nothing else. A few days later I was ready to go home, strong anti-sickness tablets in hand, which I took for 17 weeks. Finally I could get through the week, not merely counting down the hours in the day until I could sleep.
The condition is debilitating and yet I, and the other sufferers I’ve spoken to, have found responses from medical professionals mixed. One nurse suggested I should have tried a ginger biscuit instead of being admitted to hospital. So we all applauded when Doctor Jennifer Ashton appeared on TV and told the world: “This is morning sickness like a hurricane is a little bit of rain.”
