share your HG stories

Elizabeth - posted on 12/31/2011

Im in approx. week 5 of my 3rd pregnancy and i have been told by a friend that I may have moderate HG even though the doctors told me to just " suck it up" .
I had really bad morning sickness with my first bub, I lived in the bathroom for 10 weeks every smell set me off. The overproduction of salivia drove me mad and everyone told me it was disgusting and all in my head. I lost 14 kgs in my first trimester. I only went to Emergency once thankfully, but was a waste of time they just said that I had to eat smaller meals - to that I asked whats smaller than nothing? They treated me like a hypochondriac it was so humiliating :( Thankfully the sickness eased off after that, my heart goes out to all of you who had it alot worse.
This time round I cant shake the nausous feeling that occurs 24/7, and eating well thats a bit mute considering i throw most of it back up. The overproduction of saliva is contibuting to my nausea. Does anyone have any ideas on different foods to try to help settle my stomach? Ive tried vegemite, plain crackers, dry ginger ale, peppermint tea and noodles. Im so grateful for any advice.

Helen - posted on 08/20/2010

I suffered from HG in my 1st pregnancy when i was 18.It more or less started as soon as i found out i was pregnant,at first i thought it was just bad morning sickness but i continued to be sick morning,noon and night, rapidly increasing to at one point i was being sick every 20 minutes.In my 3 months of pregnancy i managed to keep down 1 banana, even sucking on ice cubes would make me be sick.I was hospitalised several times and put on an IV to hydrate me and get rid of the keotones in my wee;as soon as this was achieved i would be sent back home and the cycle would keep repeating itself.I tried several anti-sickness drugs and various herbal remedies but nothing seemed to calm the sickness down.In my 3rd month of HG i was down to 4st,unable to walk unaided and exhausted;I decided to have a termination which was the hardest decision i have ever made but i just couldn't cope anymore.It wasn't until i researched my symptons that i came across HG,no doctors or nurses had ever mentioned this condition to me but i think if they had and i had been given the oppurtunity to see how many mothers this happens to and who survive to have healthy children my decision to terminate may have been different.
Now 23 i have just found out i am pregnant again. I feel extremely anxious and scared that this will happen again and would be very grateful for any tips or advice with things that others have found helpful during their pregnancy with HG.

Amy - posted on 08/14/2010

I am 26 weeks pregnant with my first child and have been sick since two weeks, thinking it was caused by my infrequent migraines. At six weeks, I ended up in the ER from abdomen pain caused by a cyst. At ten weeks, my doctor prescribed three different medications, such as Zofran, and nothing alleviated the symptoms. I called the on-call doctor after leaving work one morning and she explained to me about hyperemesis. I had already started to lose weight and spent all my time on the couch when I wasn't attempting to work. I couldnt eat or drink, even though I tried every day, my body just kept refusing. I was immediately taken off prenatals and put on kids flinstones. I was taken off those and put on gummy vitamins, which I still don't keep down. My husband has been extremely supportive and keeps telling me to stop apologizing for being so sick, he's just sorry I am going thru this and wishes he could do it for me. No one in my family has been this sick from pregnancy and so they are as unhappy for me as I am. My in-laws lIve 1/2 a mile from me and many times I have barged into their house because I couldn't make it home. My father-in-law has even driven me home when I could barely move. I am the first of my friends to have a child, although we are all in our late twenties and so they haven't been thru this yet. I have refused hospitalization and keep floating between just being ok enough for my doc to leave me be and being so sick I am missing work more frequently. I am exhausted and feel beaten down. I've tried to keep my head up, but I keep telling my husband I don't know how to keep doing this. I have had extremely low blood pressure and frequent dizzy spells. I am also now getting acid indegestion that is increasing the nausea and throwing up. I know I am not as ill as others out there and my heart goes out you. I have missed work and am protected from losing my job by state and federal laws. I work with all men in a sales job and my boss is being as understanding as he possibly can, but none of them have children or have been directly affected by pregnancy. I am entirely grateful for the support I have all around, I am just so mentally, physically, and emotionally strapped. I have tried every home remedy possible and every type of medication. I suffer from migraines and stomach illnesses that I'm sure have been a factor in my sickness. I laugh because people tell me how great I look for being six months pregnant and I politely smile and say thank you, all the while thinking "if only you knew." I have been dick around the click from day one and it alleviated for one week, then came back full force. I am currently on my couch missing another day of work wondering like all of you "what can i do?" I know come November when my babygirl is here, it will all be worth it. I keep joking telling people this baby is going to know what she put her mother thru. I feel like a bad mom because I haven't been able to thoroughly enjoy my pregnancy. I know there are others who feel the same, and that gives me some comfort. 14 to 16 more weeks and I'll meet my little girl, and that will make it all worth while.

Carla - posted on 08/07/2010

i was 21 when i fell pregnant at about 4 weeks i started to get mild sickness which slowly got worse by the time i was 6 weeks preg i had gone 5 days without food or drink i even tried sucking on ice cubes just to get some sort of liquids but of course i vomited that up to, before i managed to convince myself that i wasnt being a hypercondriac and that this wasnt normal morning sickness i went to the hospital a day after my 23rd bday had to pee in the cup which they could tell straight away that i was very dehydrated (coz of the orange pee) thay gave me a IV drip and injected anti sickness meds and tould me straight away that i had HG and that i would prob get it every time i got pregnant they gave me the liquid a/s meds 4 a couple of days and then gave me cyclizine it did work but it makes u very spaced out and gave me blured vission after a couple of days of taken it.. they gave me a scan to make sure the baby was ok and she was. this happened twice in my pregnancie i had to take about 4 months off work b4 i felt well enough to go bk the sickness hadnt gone totally but it was alot less. i to had a couple of occasions of vomiting blood which is very scary but most of HG is and i also remeber spitting all the time, my partner was fantastic apart from 1 day while i was on my 4th day of not being able to hold any food down he hadnt eaten 4 about an hour and he turned to me and said you dont understand how hungry i am right now i hated him 4 it at the time but we laugh about it now lol but the only thing he would complain about was my spit bowls all around the home.. the sickness would come and go and i had to take my meds everyday untill my daughter was born. as soon as brooke-marie was born the HG went totally.. all the way through my pregnancie i was saying never again i dont want any more children but as soon as i held her i knew i wouldnt let it stop me i survived it once i can do it again, i see it as my first trial as a mum putting her b4 myself its hard but what part of being a mum isnt we just get a taste of that early lol.good luck to all of you going through it just keep ur chin up its well worth it in the end believe me.. xxx .



i was 10 stone when i fell preg and by the end i was 8 stone..

Jelena - posted on 11/23/2009

I first started getting sick during my third week of pregnancy. At first, the nausea was mild, but constant, which was very tiring. I didn't think much of it, putting it down to a more intense form of morning sickness that would go away in a couple months. I soon got a cocktail of typical HG symptoms: frequent vomitting (a sip of water would make me sick), constant nausea, lack of appetite (was turned off food in general, except for, oddly enough, nachos dipped in very spicy guacamole, which I lived on until I couldn't even look at them again), I couldn't drink plain water...peppermint was a big nono, I had to buy strawberry flavoured kids' toothpaste to brush my teeth! I lost 15 pounds by the end of my second month (March 2007). First stay in the hospital on March 26th (my best friend's Bday), when I vomitted blood and bile, which burned my oesophagus. I remember feeling very VERY scared. My husband thought I was making myself vomit since the noise was deafening...

The hospital gave me IV fluids, and vitamins through injections. I was feeling better fast and was released three days later, but was back in 8 days as the symptoms returned as soon as I got home. Drs thought it was psychological, so I saw a counselor every day during my subsequent two-week stay and until the end of my pregnancy. It didn't help with HG, but I did find the sessions helped me deal with other issues. lol

The nausea subsided in my fifth month, but I still had a strong gag reflex, couldn't drink plain water and eat lots of food types, got very severe acid reflex which would make me vomit at least once every two days AND nights; I even vomitted during labour which was a release as everyting miraculously went away as soon as my son was born.

My mom had HG during both her pregnancies up until labour, so I consider myself a mild case. I kept telling myself while I was pregnant that I would never have another baby, but I feel differently now, and I keep hoping my second pregnancy will be less "intense".

I really hope HG starts getting taken seriously, which is not currently the case and that HG moms get the support and care they deserve!

Best of luck to those of you going through it. The tunnel is nine months long and it WILL end, even though it may not feel like it while you're in it.

Shannon - posted on 09/05/2009

Hi All,
I suffered from severe Hyperemesis Gravium, I was hospitalized for 32 weeks in total. This was my first pregnancy and to say I was scared out of my mind is a understatement. To all who are currently going through the most challenging time of their lives, all I can say is I understand what you are going through and if you need any support or have any questions I may be able to help you with I am here!!! I was medicated from Week 1 and was on IV drips for the entire 40 weeks!! But after all the "blur" of my pregnancy we delivery by emergency c section a beautiful baby girl Ashleigh Rose on 4/6/08 and she was worth every vomit!!!! Take Care All xxxx

Kirstin - posted on 07/17/2009

Well, I've had 6 HG pregnancies. With all of them my HG lasted between weeks 5 - 20.

The first one was the worst due to the fact that I was in a small country town and they didn't really know how to treat it. I spent the 14 weeks I had it in and out of hospital, one of those weeks I was sedated to stop me vomiting. Through the first three pregnancies this was the normal treatment for me with the medications Phenergan, Stemetil and Maxalon none of which worked to control the nausea, as well as the normal "eat crackers" routine.

With baby number 4 I had done some of my own research and had a fight with a gynacologist about me taking Zofran, which I won, and that managed to keep me home and hydrated enough to function for a few hours a day.

With baby number 6 the Zofran didn't work as well and I went off to hospital 3 times, which is better than the first baby.

The first half of all of my pregnancies have been horrible, with varying degree of HG each pregnancy. My fourth pregnancy the HG was milder than any of the others.... but my 6th one was on par with the first, so for me it hasn't gotten better each time.

I have learnt that once you know what works, as far as treatment, for you, then you need to insist on that treatment as some doctors don't take this condition as seriously as it can be.



While my HG is considered mild, I still have the physical and psychological scars that come with this. My wisdom teeth are only "half" teeth as the other half has fallen away due to all the erosion of the vomiting...my dentist was rubbing his hands together with glee at how much money he will make to fix my teeth..lol....and I still would like to have more children.

Elizabeth - posted on 01/11/2009

thanks for the words of encouragement leah! i've been looking into domestic adoption, but i still feel like i want to try and be pregnant again. i may live to regret that statements, but i guess we'll see.



i still have the over-salivation problem. it never really went away. i have bad acid reflux now too. i think i'm just more sensitive to that kind of stuff now although i have serious jedi mind tricks to avoid vomitting IF i can help it - which many people don't understand (not that there's many people that know about my jedi mind tricks...) but 7 months of HG will fine tune your brain's ability to meditate, relax and take it minute by minute.

Leah - posted on 01/07/2009

I remember my husband having to pick things up from fast food places and trying to eat it next to me. He always said that he wanted to be with me, but it didn't help. I remember how heightened my sense of smell was. Also my over-salivation. I felt like a dog. I remember waking up in the morning with all that extra saliva and having to spit it out and then I would just throw up again. I slowly learned that if I spit it out into a tissue, I could handle it. I remember my muscles going away. I was in color guard in high school and built a ton of muscle in my legs, arms and torso. Of course, it was all gone within the first trimester. As for more children, we've thought about it for a while and I think we've come to the conclusion that they're worth it. I've survived it once. We know what it is. We just have to make sure that out friends, family, employers and doctors are on board. If not, there are plenty of children that need loving homes. You could also look into surrogate mothers. I know it isn't what we all had in mind, but its there. As long as there is a way to do it, don't give up on your dreams.

Elizabeth - posted on 01/06/2009

so descriptive Heather and Leah! it made me remember my pregnancy in fond and not-so-fond ways. i can't look at raspberry sherbet or orange soda without thinking of my HG. i remember days when i was on bedrest during my third month and my husband was out of town for business (of course!) so thankfully my mom literally quit her job to come up and take care of me. she would give me a very small homemade blueberry muffin and encourage me to eat the muffin-top over the course of the entire day. i could never finish it. we had a big, plastic bowl that i used b/c it was too hard to go to the bathroom. i used to think it was so pretty, orange and pink hibiscus flowers. i used to make fun of my husband sooo bad b/c he would come home from work occasionally with his own dinner on the nights i told him i couldn't eat anything and he was on his own - with a juicy McRib sandwich from McDonald's and then proceed to eat it in bed next to me!! Was he crazy!?! Thank god I can laugh now. I also distinctly remember he had waffles w/ syrup one morning and didn't totally rinse the plate and put it in the dishwasher so there was slight syrup residue on the plate in the sink. when i woke up and went into the kitchen to get a drink i immediately smelled it and lost it! man - my sense of smell with superhero-ish. i had to test my urine every day for ketosis and weigh myself. i lost 20 lbs and it took the rest of the pregnancy to gain it back (although i delivered 7 wks early). i don't know what i would have done without my husband and my mom taking care of me. i was so sick. i don't know how i'm going to go through that again with a small child if we decide to get pregnant again - which is the latest cause of concern for me recently. i definately want more children, but i'm just not good at being pregnant. the c-section was NOTHING compared to the pregnancy. i would deliver a baby every day for 9 months before choosing to go through that again. am i crazy for even considering it!?

Heather - posted on 01/06/2009

Ohh, I remember the brown pee.  ANd needing to be helped to the bathroom.  My feet and legs burned the whole way there because I wasn't able to use them.  I know what you mean about this making you pro-choice.  I always have been, but I always was *personally* against it.  Now I know that even I can think of a reason to terminate.

I know how you feel about being too exhausted to breastfeed.  I did anyway because it's something I feel strongly about...but I hated those first few weeks.  I still had occasional waves of nausea and I honestly just wanted my body to myself for awhile.  Of course, I wasn't nearly as sick with my son as I was with my miscarriage.

I call what I had with him "moderate hyperemesis."  Almost an oxymoron, huh?

Leah - posted on 01/06/2009

I had Hyperemesis with my daughter. I remember finding out we were pregnant on Christmas Eve. And then a week later I started having morning sickness. I remember crying so much because I couldn't keep anything down, and then the crying made me sick as well. I started seeing our family doctor and she said that she could treat me through the whole pregnancy. I thought this was great since I knew her well and trusted her judgement. However, she really didn't seem very concerned that I was clearly getting dehydrated. I was stranded in bed by about the 2nd week of January. I was under constant care of my mom, my dad, and my husband. Every time I needed to get up to go to the bathroom I would get sick. Then when I got in the bathroom, I would sit on the toilet and then have to lean to the side and throw up in the bathtub. After I would use the bathroom, I would throw up after I got back to bed. We always had to keep more than one bucket next to me because while my husband would be cleaning out the first one, the sound of it would make me throw up again. My mother, who did not suffer from HG, said that I was throwing up more than I should have been and suggested to my husband that I should go to the emergency room.
After being in the ER for about 8 hours getting loaded with IVs and pills, I started to feel a lot better. I was prescribed zofran and told to eat crackers in the morning before I got up. HA! Well, if my stomach would have accepted the crackers, I might have been able to keep the pills down. I quickly slipped back into the way I was before going to the ER, only worse. By now it was about late January and my mother-in-law-, who also did not suffer from HG, suggested that I go and see her OB/GYN. I agreed and made a call to her practice, which is luckily in a hospital. She wouldn't see me until my next scheduled appointment, which was Feb. 10. I remember the day because it was the day after my birthday. I remember my birthday very vividly. It was probably the worst day of my entire pregnancy. My parents came over to give me a present. I can remember rolling over on my side to open my present and I only had enough strength to touch the gift. I asked my husband to open it for me. By asked I mean I looked at him. I was so sick by this point that I couldn't even talk. The next day we had our appointment with the new doctor. We got up to the waiting room and I had to lay down on a row of chairs. I wasn't able to sign in or talk to anyone. When I was called back, I got on the scale and my mother almost screamed. I lost over 30 pounds. I peed in the little cup and saw that my urine was a deep orange, almost brown. When the nurse saw this, she called for a wheelchair and my doctor admitted me into the hospital for three days. My time in the hospital is sort of a blur. I can remember doctors and nurses coming in and checking my IV, getting ultrasounds, and having to record what I drank and how many times I went to the bathroom. I was then prescribed a smaller dose of zofran that would dissolve under my tongue. This tasted like a mix between peppermint and bleu cheese, which would make me throw up again. I refused to have a pump unless it was absolutely necessary, so I prayed and was able to swallow the regular zofran with gatorade.
While I was in the hospital 2 things happened. My husband lost his job, and my in-laws said they didn't think that my condition was as bad as it was. They thought it was in my head and that if they came to see me, it would encourage me to stay sick. Well, I started to feel much better after those three days, but now we had no insurance and no money coming into our house. I prayed again and my husband found a job at our old high school. It turns out our former band director heard from his wife who worked at the hospital I was staying at that my husband lost his job. He took it upon himself to find him a job with great benefits. I went home and had to start sleeping on the couch on the main floor because our bedroom just reminded me of being so sick. Throughout the rest of the pregnancy I remained nauseous and threw up occasionally. The labor and delivery were a breeze compared to how sick I was. I think the epidural helped out a lot.
I try to think of my experience as a blessing. I know what I am capable of. Most of my family and friends look up to me. My husband loves his new job and wants to go back to school to become a teacher. My daughter will never know what I went through for her. I've asked my family refrain from telling her when she gets older unless she has the same condition. I think of myself as a very religious person, but I am much more liberal as a result of my experience. I'm pro-choice. My baby wears cloth diapers. We're trying to live a green life. My husband knows how to cook and clean because I couldn't do any of it. I was so exhausted after HG that I was unable to breastfeed. My husband and other family can experience the joy of feeding our daughter and give me a break at the same time. Although my pregnancy and birthing experience wasn't exactly what I had in mind, it has made me a stronger person. Hopefully we'll be able to have more children soon. We know what we're up against and can take more precautions next time around.

Heather - posted on 12/31/2008

I had hyperemesis with my son. By 9 weeks, I was stuck on the couch drinking straight lime juice and eating shock tarts. I was never hospitalized and only needed to have IV re-hydration twice. I lost 20 lb and didn't gain anything until 27 weeks. I thought for sure that I would never be that sick again. I had a miscarriage and a chemical pregnancy then got pregnant again. By 6 weeks, I was throwing up and could only eat mashed potatoes and bean burritos. By 7 weeks, I was in the ER for the first time. I was given an IV and some phenergan. My doctor was no longer practicing and I could not get another doctor to see me until 10 weeks. I was under the care of a midwife (direct entry) who could not prescribe medicine. The wonderful woman tried all kinds of natural and homeopathic remedies since I couldn't get into a doctor. They didn't work. I use mostly natural remedies and rarely take even a tylenol, but hyperemesis is life or death. Anyway, at 8 weeks, I started vomiting blood because the lining in my stomach and esophagus were wearing away. This time, I was given zofran and told to eat some freaking crackers. Each time I was in the ER, I was given an ultrasound and the baby was fine. I got to hear the heartbeat. At 10 weeks, I went up to Ohio State University Medical Center and I was treated so much better. Since it's a big city, they see more of this. In the ER, the baby was still measuring 8 weeks and had only a faint heart beat. I was admitted and given potassium (ouch), fluids and HG bags (zofran, reglan & phenergan). I started feeling so much better. Turns out it was a combination of the meds and the fact that my hcg was slowly going down. At 10 weeks 6 days, the doctor told me that my hcg was going down and we did an ultrasound to make sure. The baby's heart had stopped. We all agreed that it would be best for my health to do a D & C so that I would no longer be sick.

I truly believe that my baby's heart stopped because I could not get proper medical care in my city. I feel guilty for not going up to Columbus sooner because maybe I'd still be pregnant. This was in August and I still cannot drink plain water. Beeping still makes me sick because it reminds me of my IV alarm. I can't stand to sit still for long because I'm afraid my muscles will start to atrophy.

I struggle with something else, too. I have only told a couple close friends and my counselor (needed to help get over my loss) about this. After talking in depth with my mom and my partner, I decided to have an abortion. I was very close to death (within 2 days according to OSU ER doc) at this point and we didn't think that anyone could help me. We decided to try one more place and while they did help me, I lost the baby anyway. Now, I'm pro-choice, but to have to plan to terminate a very wanted pregnancy to save your life and to make sure your son has a mother, that is a very hard thing to do. It's something someone should never have to decide. I have so much bitterness toward the medical community in my city. Counseling has helped me heal quite a bit, but I still have many scars.