My Nine Months of Extreme Nausea
(Excerpted)
-Doctors view extreme nausea during pregnancy as a "hysterical illness." The attitude I was met with was that there must be something wrong with me mentally since I continually threw up, says Sarah Cecilie.
[b]Early in her pregnancy, Sarah Cecilie was admitted to the hospital for Hyperemesis Gravidarum, or extreme nausea. She needed IV nutrition, and was given an anti-nausea medication intravenously.
She wanted to know what type of medicine she was getting, and was told that it was against nausea. She checked the brand online, and found out that it was an anti-psychotic which also had an anti-nausea effect.
[b]She was incensed, and did not calm down when informed that doctors view it as non-dramatic to give this sort of medicine to pregnant women. She doesn't like the thought that her unborn child was exposed to it.I think it's important that doctors inform me of what type of medicine they are giving me. Before they give me an anti-psychotic, I'd prefer that they discuss this with me.
Through a support group online, she heard about a medication that is purely an anti-emetic. It is very pricey, but worth the cost. She has now gained back the 10kg she lost at the worst of the illness. She is still nauseous, but feels she got her life back.Why is it that women have always been viewed as hysterical when suffering from hyperemesis? This is old-fashioned thinking.
I hope that the medical establishment shows greater respect for women with hyperemesis in the future.
At this point in the article a doctor is quoted as saying that certain anti-psychotics are no big deal during pregnancy, and discusses hormone levels that affect pregnancy and nausea, and then goes into this:
If one is tired and stressed and has worries during pregnancy, this can increase the nausea that is already there. With some, the nausea is purely physiological, with others the psychological also plays a role. [/b][/b]The article goes on to discuss what hyperemesis is, nothing too exciting there.
HER is mentioned in the article, and there's a link to this site.
_________________________
I said a lot more to the interviewer, but this is what she ended up printing. It's okay, and at least gets the word out about HG, this site and Zofran (which it doesn't name). I also talked about the confrontation I had with my doctor in the hospital about their attitudes, which he freely admitted to (hysterical, emotionally based illness, etc.). He said I didn't fit the mold, and gave me Zofran.
Sarah
. The magazine didn't take "sides" which I thought was groosly unfair to you. I understand why, but still...... Hurrah for you. Norwgians Drs know so little about Hg and are so terribly misinformed. My heart goes out to all those poor women who believe that there is something mentally wrong witht them. This must make the burden of Hg twice as heavy!
