So I haven't posted in a long time. I intended to regularly track my pregnancy through this blog -- but that didn't happen. Now I'm going to go back and fill in the details of my pregnancy. Currently I am 31 weeks ... just 9 weeks to go.
When I was at 8 weeks I was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum (excessive nausea and vomitting). Around week 6-7 I started feeling some morning sickness which quickly progressed into severe nausea and then frequent vommitting. By the time I went to the doctor during week 8 I was throwing up 12 times a day and was dehydrated. I had ketones in my urine and had lost 5 pounds in a week.
Prior to going to the dr. I had tried all the suggestions for morning sickness -- I ate crackers before getting out of bed, I drank ginger ale, I ate crackers before getting out of bed, I tried sea bands, I tried vitamin b6 -- none of it helped.
My doctor prescribed zofran which is used for chemotherapy patients and it has been a miracle. Although I was still having some nausea the vomitting became only once a day which was manageable.
Hyperemesis (HG) has been extremely hard. I had a lot of sensitivity to food and smells and for a while even with the zofran could eat very few foods.
My HG did get somewhat better during the second half of the second trimester -- however now that I am in my third trimester it has returned.
My mother never told me until after I was pregnant that she too had a problem with nausea and vomitting when she was pregnant with me. In fact she was on nausea medicine throughout her whole pregnancy.
There is little research on what causes HG -- however it is thought to have a genetic component. I also wonder if being bipolar contributes to the likelihood of getting HG.
There is a great organization I found called the HER Foundation (Hyperemesis Education & Research). Visit there website at http://www.helpher.org/
Oprah had a special on HG that was really enlightening as well it aired a few months ago.
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3 comments:
Hi Rachael, after 17 years of being misdiagnosed as suffering from depression, I have been diagnosed as bipolar 2. Your blog has been such a blessing and comfort to me in the last two weeks since I've discovered I'm bipolar! I wanted to let you know that I too suffered devastating hyperemesis from week 6 - 12. I continued to vomit through the second trimester, and then had an aggravation of nausea and vomiting again in the 3rd trimester. I think you've hit on a truth with there being a link between bipolar and hyperemesis! Thank you for being so AWESOME :)
Great site. A lot of useful information here. I’m sending it to some friends!
Do you people have a facebook fan page? I looked for one on twitter but could not discover one, I would really like to become a fan!
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