What’s on my mind today? Hyperemesis gravidarum, otherwise known as HG. It is defined as a severe form of morning sickness with constant vomiting and nausea causing a loss of greater than 5% pre-pregnancy weight. A friend of mine is currently going through it. At 13 weeks she’s hoping it ends soon and I hope so, too as I know exactly what it feels like. Been there done that – twice in fact. It’s an absolutely hideous experience rather like being horribly food-poisoned day and night for weeks on end. Regular morning sickness cannot compare and most people just do not understand how awful and debilitating it really is physically, mentally and emotionally.
There are ways to cope. Support from family and friends and someone who has been there can go a long way. I didn’t have that, but I did manage to keep my sense of humour intact the second time around and marvelled at things like how I could eat two things at exactly the same time and only throw up one of them. A sense of humour is important to fight the frustration and depression that can set in. On a physical level, finding a way to stay hydrated is very important. You can survive without food much longer than you can without water. The Her Foundation in the USA actually recommends drinking filtered water if you have HG. Personally, I found that I felt better on the second pregnancy after we got our gravity water filter system and my friend who is currently suffering starting keeping water down after she started sipping all day from a water filter drink bottle (and waking up at night to drink as well which I did also). I didn’t have to on “the drip” at all during the second pregnancy due to this technique and my friend has also not had to go on it again since she started doing this.
So if you have HG, hang in there and try to stay hydrated. And if you know someone who has it, be there for them if you can. They aren’t making it up!
