Letter to LOCAL news--urging them to tie in w/ Dr Phil Show

The HER foundation contributed letters from our forums members for a show that featured Hyperemesis as a topic. The show aired in April of 2007.

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Letter to LOCAL news--urging them to tie in w/ Dr Phil Show

Postby mammaclare » Mar 09, 2007 12:47 am

Dear Anne Marie-

My name is Clare Bowers and I am a resident of Carmel. I am also the mother of two gorgeous boys--one is 3.5 yrs and the other is 12 weeks old. They will be my only two children, despite my husband and I having planned a third. This is because for me to get these two children into the world, we have to endure months of a horrific pregnancy disease called Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG).

You may have heard the term hyperemesis before, but I wouldn't be surprised if you hadn't. It is the most extreme form of "morning sickness" and happens in only 1-2% of pregnancies, making it very rare. However, despite it's relative obscurity in terms of public attention, hyperemesis is actually one of the single largest pregnancy complication in terms of cost. From the Hyperemesis Education and Research (HER) Foundation website (www.hyperemesis.org):

Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) is a severe form of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy. It is generally described as unrelenting, excessive pregnancy-related nausea and/or vomiting that prevents adequate intake of food and fluids. If severe and/or inadequately treated, it is typically associated with:

loss of greater than 5% of pre-pregnancy body weight (usually over 10%)
dehydration and production of ketones
nutritional deficiencies
metabolic imbalances
difficulty with daily activities
HG usually extends beyond the first trimester and may resolve by 21 weeks; however, it can last the entire pregnancy in less than half of these women. Complications of vomiting (e.g. gastric ulcers, esophageal bleeding, malnutrition, etc.) may also contribute to and worsen ongoing nausea. The list of potential complications due to repeated vomiting or severe nausea is extensive, all of which may worsen symptoms. Common complications from nausea and vomiting include debilitating fatigue, gastric irritation, ketosis, and malnutrition.

Recent, conservative estimations suggest HG costs nearly $200 million annually just for inpatient hospitalization. Considering many women are treated outside the hospital to save costs, the actual cost is likely many times greater. Beyond financial impact, many family relationships dissolve and future family plans are almost always limited. Women often lose their employment because of HG, and women are frequently undertreated and left feeling stigmatized by a disease erroneously presumed to be psychological.


On March 1st, the Dr. Phil Show taped a show dedicated to HG and its consequences. Many of the HER members were able to be at the taping and represent the millions of mothers through history who have suffered from HG. The show will air in the next few weeks, and will be the first national attention to HG in mainstream media. Dr. Phil had on his panel several experts and survivors, and one of the HER members actually gave a video diary of a "week in the life" of an HG mother.

I know that often you will take a part of some NBC show airing that day and expand upon the topic in a Health Beat segment of your own. I'd like to ask that you do just that with Hyperemesis Gravidarum, and use your segment as an avenue to further educate Hoosiers about HG and its impact, and how suffering mothers can get the right medical care.

I have been a part of the HER Foundation since my first pregnancy in 2003. During that time, many women have worked tirelessly to raise awareness and encourage aggressive and appropriate treatment of the illness, and to encourage funding for research into cause and treatment of this devastating disease. Additionally, the foundation provides an extensive online support network to help women and their families get through an HG pregnancy and pick up the pieces of their lives afterwards.

All too often, women are under-diagnosed and under-treated for HG. If WTHR, can give just one terrifed and sick woman or family member the proper information on HG and what can be done, then you will have potentially saved two lives--that of a mother and an unborn child. If the saving of lives isn't reason enough for a Health Beat segment, then I don't know what is.

I am including my personal contact information, and will also attach my personal letter written for the Dr. Phil show at the request of the producers. I urge you to read my letter, look over the information on the www.hyperemesis.org website and please give serious consideration to your own follow-up piece on the evening and night news programs the day that the Dr. Phil show airs nationally.

Thank you for considering this story. It is a story of heartache and pain and months of illness, but also a story of the blessing that still exists at the end of the long road--despite the hours spent lying on the bathroom floor by the toilet, the hours spent watching IV fluids drip into your arm, the hours spent trying to garner the energy and courage to simply take a shower, the days spent worrying that you will lose your job and therefore your income, the many pills or injections taken daily for months...all to simply keep yourself and your baby alive.

But at the end, there is that gorgeous little baby...a little tiny life that suddenly made the last 1,500 vomit sessions all worth it. That little life, and the life of its terrified and sick mother, are why I am asking you to give HG attention in the coming weeks.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I am happy to share my own story if it can help another family, but would be equally or more happy just for the illness itself to get some strong local news coverage. I also know a couple of other local mothers that I have met through HER, some of whom have stories far worse than my own.

Sincerely,

Clare Bowers
Mother of Two and Hyperemesis Gravidarum Survivor
HER Foundation Member
[/b]
Clare
Mommy to Rory Benjamin 8-28-03
And Kieran Alexander 12-15-06
HG Babies-Week 5 to The Bitter End!
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