From: dsegelho@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Diane Segelhorst)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: Excessive Morning Sickness--FAQL?
Date: 13 Apr 92 14:24:05 GMT
Reply-To: dsegelho@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Diane Segelhorst)
Organization: Annapolis Detachment, CDNSWC

In misc.kids, Anne Poulson writes:
>amym@oakhill.sps.mot.com (Amy Moseley Rupp) writes:
>
>>I am now in my eighth week of pregnancy and extremely ill; haven't
>>been able to keep much of anything down; doesn't seem to be a pattern
>>to what I can keep down.  I am weak but very hungry.
>
>>I want to avoid hospitalization which has been looming over me
>>(dehydration).  I'd like to manage this problem at home where
>
> for you
>and all the other women who are suffering from bad "morning" (morning, hah)
>sickness, I pass on this advice from my sister Susan, who had morning
>sickness for all nine months and LOST twenty pounds in her pregnancy.
>Susan, by the way, now has a beautiful healthy six-month-old.

For those of you suffering from extended "morning sickness" (well past
the first trimester) there is a medical term for this condition:
hyperemesis (not sure of spelling).  It is a fairly serious complication
of pregnancy.  Not that this will help YOU any, but at least it might
stop some of the thoughtless remarks you are getting about "morning
sickness is all in your mind", etc.

>Susan was also trying to avoid hospitalization.  Several times her
>OB wanted to hospitalize her, but each time Susan talked her out of
>it.  Finally she had the flu, and couldn't keep anything down for a
>day.  Off to the hospital she went for the IV.  And she felt so much
>better, she wished she'd done it before.  Dehydration makes you more
>nauseated.

A very good friend of mine (Kim) suffered from hyperemesis through both of
her pregnancies.  As with Anne's sister Susan, both of the babies were
fine.  There was a SEVERE risk to Kim's health however.  Some of the
things I learned from her concerning this condition follow.  This information
is from her (the patient) and a little subsequent reading I have done,
so as always, check with your OB!

In SOME cases, hyperemesis can be caused by stress. (ie, yes, in a way
it is all in your mind!)  In this case, admission to the hospital MAY
reduce stress by taking control away from you, the patient, and putting
it in the hands of your doctor.  At the same time, in the hospital they
can rehydrate and nourish you and get you physically back in shape to
continue on your own.  If reduction in stress doesn't cure you, the
only effective treatment is REST.

In most cases, however, there is no known cause for hyperemesis.  There
is not necessarily a correlation between hyperemesis in one pregnancy,
and getting it again the next time around.  However, if you get hyperemesis
in a subsequent pregnancy, it will most likely be worse, and in successive
pregnancies even worse.  In my friend Kim's case, she was quite ill
during her first pregnancy, and was hospitalized twice for approximately
one week each time (to treat the dehydration).  During most of that
pregnancy, popsicles were one of her main nutritional sources!  Her
second pregnancy was much worse.  She was hospitalized at about 12 weeks
gestation, and stayed in the hospital for the next 15 weeks!  She was
fed intravenously, because she could not keep even an ice chip in her
mouth without vomiting.  The only reason she was allowed to come home
was because her husband learned how to hook up an IV for hydration,
and she began to be able to keep some liquids and light foods down.
In the hospital, she required a private room.  All the staff were under
doctors orders not to wake her for ANYTHING AT ALL - not to take her
temp, not to change her IV, NOTHING.  The ONLY treatment that had a
hope of improving her condition was rest.  She was also told by her
OB that her chances of getting hyperemesis in a third pregnancy were
high, and that it would be VERY dangerous to her own health.

I hope I haven't scared too many of you that are having trouble with
"morning" sickness.  I just don't want anyone to take it too lightly!
I want to reemphasize that both of Kim's babies were and are fine.
The danger was to her own health, not theirs.

Diane Segelhorst
dsegelho@oasys.dt.navy.mil
Mom to Brad, 20 months, and ???, -7 weeks!
Newsgroups: misc.kids