Where do I fit

[jollyGG]

I had my little girl 5 months ago and I'm still wondering where my experience with nausea fits into the medical world. I didn't have normal morning sickness but I wouldn't say I had hyperemesis. Here is my story.

I got pregnant with my son in 2002. I immediately didn't feel well but figured it would pass. By eight weeks I was miserable. I was nauseated all the time and couldn't force myself to eat. I had tried for 15 months to get pregnant and I was thrilled but sick. I couldn't stand the smells of some foods and just avoided eating altogether. I never mentioned my sickness to my doctor. I thought it was morning sickness. Everyone tells you that it's normal to be nauseated when you are pregnant and so I assumed that everything was okay. At my 16 week check-up my doctor was rather dismayed to see I had lost 10lbs in 4 weeks. She immediately started me on various things to try and help with the nausea. Eventually B6 and Unisom provided enough relief that while I still didn't feel well, I could make myself eat and stopped loosing weight. At 20 weeks I felt wonderful and was able to start eating again, go off medications, and started gaining weight. The thing is I only vomited maybe three times the whole pregnancy. I always felt like I needed to but almost never did. Of course when I did vomit it came with no warning whatsoever as I always felt on the verge of sickness.

Well, every pregnancy is different and so two years later we tried again. I got pregnant right away, but lost the baby.

So we tried again. I once again got pregnant right away and this time it stuck. Once again the nausea started around 8 weeks of pregnancy. I knew what to expect this time and was able to continue eating. I started on the B6 and Unisom right away but it didn't seem to help this time. My doctor proscribed zofran. However, that didn't help either and seemed to give me migraines, so I stopped taking it and returned to the B6 and Unisom. At 11 weeks pregnant I was in the hospital for sever abdominal pain. My family practice doctor did a number of tests and couldn't find anything wrong (gallbladder, thyroid, spleen, ect.). He wanted me to stay in the hospital till I kept some food down. But allowed me to go home after I was able to eat some crackers and told me to follow up with my OB (she didn't see me as I wasn't at the hospital she is affiliated with). Eventually at around the 16 week mark I started feeling a little better but I had to remain on the Unisom and B6 until around 24 weeks pregnant this time. I never did gain any weight at all and lost around 10 lbs. the first trimester. What was very frustrating was that at around 30 weeks of pregnancy I was spilling ketones into my urine so they decided I had gestational diabetes (I still don't think the diagnosis was accurate) despite the fact that I had passed my glucose tolerance test. I believe the ketones were from my lack of weight gain. However I had to work with the diabetes testing center who were constantly monitoring my diet. It was so frustrating being told I couldn't eat what I wanted now that I finally wanted to eat it. This pregnancy, once again, I rarely vomited. I just didn't want to eat and constantly felt I was on the verge of vomiting. I was tired and didn't fell well.

I have decided not to have any more children as I felt like I wasn't a very good mom when I didn't feel well. I don't want to put my son through that again or my daughter through that at all.

But I guess I've still been left with the feeling that my experience doesn't fit anywhere. I didn't vomit much so I don't fit into the hyperemesis experience. However what I had was definitely not morning sickness. Is there anyone out there with a similar experience?

[krdoty]

It's difficult to be in that never-never land. Regardless of which label is more appropriate, what you've experienced is NOT normal.

[PamelaRose]

Welcome! I'm not too far from you across the border, and my husband's an SDSU grad.

Your pregnancies certainly didn't qualify as "fluffy," did they? While you didn't have some of the vomiting and dehydration issues that those diagnosed with HG go through, you certainly speak our language of antiemetics and weight loss and ketones! It is possible to have HG with just nausea and little or no vomiting; I can think of a few HGers I've known over the years who suffered that way. I can also think of a couple who had mysterious abdominal pain during full-out HG; maybe there's some connection between your sickness and that pain. Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy (NVP) is a spectrum, and there's always a gray area where HG may or may not begin. Regardless of whether or not you got or qualified for HG diagnosis, you certainly did not fit down at the "morning sickness" end of the spectrum. We know how it feels to be outside the realm of happy, glowing pregnancy, and we're always happy to include other sickies in our super-cool, super-exclusive group! Connecting with others who've gone through difficult pregnancies helps to make sense of the experience, and I hope we can give you some answers as you heal.

[megs4413]

sounds like HG to me. my doc considers loss of appetite, food aversion, weight loss as all part of the "syndrome" and really doens't use the amount of vomiting to make a diagnosis. I'm sorry for what you went through.

[teddi]

HG isn't always about vomiting. For some women, maybe their brain just doesn't trigger that vomit reaction as easily as others. Still, the aversion to eat is so strong that you CAN"T eat. Doesn't matter to me the # of vomits per day. SOME women have it the other way around, they vomit super easily but maybe the nausea lessens, and they are able to eat.

So...was the NVP (nausea & vomiting.. or nausea and/or vomiting) dysfunctional? As in, working against you to make you nutritionally compromised from where you should be? Sounds like it. So regardless of number of pukes, the effect is the same. It would need to be treated the same.

Abdominal pain can have so many causes. What about your pancreatic enzymes? Were those tested? Liver functions? (i'd presume so). What other tests? Just blood tests or imaging tests (like u/s or others)?

The Diabetes thing ... that sounds stupid to me, them handling you that way. Was your insulin production not normal?? Otherwise, regardless of you PUKING or not, if you are not EATING enough calories you will still pass keytones!

It's really simple- regardless of cause- not enough food & water in = spilling of keytones and weight loss.

[jollyGG]

I was so tired and miserable when I had the abdominal pain and was in the hospital. I don't remember for sure all the tests. They did an ultrasound to check the gallbladder, liver, kidneys, and spleen. It showed a large spleen but the mono and other blood tests as follow up came back clean. I know they checked my thyroid levels. I was supposed to be on a plane for training for work in two days and as I hadn't told work I was even pregnant yet (I was waiting till after the training) I was really anxious to get out of the hospital and to my meeting in Canada. I did make it. Yeah. Try flying when you are super nauseated. I kept the air sickness bag handy and sipped tons of ginger ale. It actually went better than I feared.
My problem with both pregnancies was I couldn't make myself eat. I could always drink and my doctor with the first pregnancy took full advantage of that to get calories into me. So, while my doctor with the second pregnancy was not anywhere near as good about treating the nausea. I knew what to do for myself that time.
But I was extremely frustrated with the gestational diabetes thing. The diabetes center even wanted to put me on medication. I basically met with my doctor and told her I was going to be non-compliant. Once I talked to her we worked out a compromise where I only tested twice a day (rather than the four the diabetes center wanted) and no insulin.
It's nice that everyone is so willing to welcome me to the ranks. Though, sometimes I feel guilty complaining about my pregnancy when many here have it lots worse.

[DebbieS]

Hello! Don't feel guilty complaining about your pregnancies. Sounds like you had more than your fair share of problems. It also sounds like many of your experiences match those diagnosed with HG. True you mightn't be able to swap vomiting stories (and who'd want to!), but the nausea, food revulsion, not eating enough, weight loss, ketones, meds, effect on your life are all things we can relate to. Don't feel like you shouldn't post or offer advice to others here, you have two pregnancies worth of experiences to share with others. Welcome!