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Original poster

To think that 3 in 1000 women suffering from hg

43 replies

tobysmum77 · 08/09/2014 22:33

Sounds lower than the reality? That's what I read in the papers today Confused .

I know several people who had it and were hospitalised. I was personally separately 'diagnosed' by a gp and a mw despite never ending up in hospital. Lots of people have had awful experiences on mn (and much worse than me, happy to accept I had 'just' bad sickness)

Is it something that is minimised or have I just got warped experience?

OP posts:
Doobledootch · 08/09/2014 22:36

Well I don't know anyone in real life who's had it, so that could even it out a bit.

BreadForBrains · 08/09/2014 22:38

I'm always so surprised on here when I see so many people that have suffered. I only know one person who has had it and been hospitalised with it for substantial periods of time with both her pregnancies.
I know MN has tonnes of posters but I'm just always a bit surprised that so many are affected.
I had a few days of feeling ropey with all my 3 but was never sick at all so feel I got off very lightly!

Floralnomad · 08/09/2014 22:40

I had it both times ,although worse with the second ( was hospitalised for fluids several times ) I thought it was fairly common .

Musicaltheatremum · 08/09/2014 22:40

I am a GP and we have a really high birth rate at the moment. I don't see that much to be honest. Must be horrendous. I just felt sick for about 6 weeks but never was sick and could eat fruit with my daughter and crisps with my son. Think it might be higher than 3:1000 depends how it is recorded.

basgetti · 08/09/2014 22:42

I've been in hospital with it recently and the information posters there said 1 in 200. 3 in 1000 sounds a bit low.

zukiecat · 08/09/2014 22:42

I know someone who was hospitalised for almost all of her pregnancy,

Her son is now 21, but she only had the one child, as she couldn't face going through it all again.

Never met anyone else who's had it though.

MrsBungle · 08/09/2014 22:50

I'm very surprised at the amount of people on here who've had it too. I had it. I was off work virtually my whole pregnancy and couldn't go longer than 2 weeks without being back in hospital. My liver started to fail, I had heart problems - caused by the constant dehydration and sickness. The enamel came off my teeth as my mouth was full of bile so much (I couldn't eat anything to be sick). I've never met anyone else (that I know of) who had it apart from one friend whose gp diagnosed her with it.. She was never hospitalised and told me she had actually only been sick a few times but felt very sick. She told me she was so ill she didn't wear mascara for 3 days. I'll never forget that conversation Shock

Hyperemesis is horrendous and I can imagine a lot of people who have it seek out others on the net so maybe mumsnet is a natural point for that.

HotPinkWeaselWearingLederhosen · 08/09/2014 22:53

It's not surprising. Mnet is one of the very few places for support and advice on it. Googling brings you here.

It's not something that can be experimented with in terms of drugs, who would take the risk, and it is a relatively low odds complication.

There is medical help and intervention.

Support is no existent. Apart from parenting forums.

kahori · 08/09/2014 22:54

I had it in both pregnancies and needed hospital stays. I know one other person who had severe sickness but didn't end up in hospital.

I hadn't ever heard of HG until I had it. I kept thinking I should just put up with it, keep going to work and basically toughen up because it was'morning sickness' and everyone gets it.

This unfortunately led me to such levels of dehydration and near starvation that I ended up physically and mentally incapacitated.

itiswhatitiswhatitis · 08/09/2014 22:55

I had it, don't know anyone in real life who has and had never heard of it until I fell pregnant with ds.

I don't know how they get their figures though? Are they just referring to those hospitalised by it? I wasn't hospitalised with ds1 but was with ds2

Hoopalong · 08/09/2014 22:55

I had it for both pregnancies. Only after second birth did i meet two others who had it just as bad. Could not even drink water so told must suck ice cubes but as soon as i each one finished i would have to run to sink. Very draining especially when you have a little one to care for second time round and no family near by.

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 08/09/2014 22:59

Ashamed to say that, many years ago, one of my team had it and I had no understanding of the condition and wasn't hugely supportive. (Women have kids all the time, how hard can it be, etc etc) Sad

wanderingcloud · 08/09/2014 23:00

I know 3 people in real life who had it seriously enough to be hospitalised, only 1 of them had it so seriously that she was hospitalised long term and will not countenance having a second, I know she considered a late stage abortion as she was so hideously unwell. The other two, who also had HG, were never admitted long term and both went on to have second pregnancies fairly quickly after their first. Second time, they both managed their sickness with meds and without hospital admissions. So I think there's always a spectrum with these things, perhaps 3 in a 1000 are the severity of HG as my first friend and 1 in 200 of the severity of my other friends. As it was I had morning sickness with my first that I thought was hideous enough until I had very severe morning sickness with my second that did require an overnight stay on the ward at 26 weeks, hooked up to a drip for rehydration, and then antisickness medication until he was born. I wouldn't have called it HG though it was definitely a whole different ball game to what I thought was bad morning sickness with my first.

eosmum · 08/09/2014 23:01

I had it with 2 pregnancies out of 3, my sister had it both of hers, I was in a 16 bed pre natal ward and 13 of us had it. 3 in 1000 sounds very low.

Aherdofmims · 08/09/2014 23:19

Everyone on mn seems to have had it!

Not me though - just common or garden morning sickness, although I did get ketones if that helps.

Don't know anyone in real life with hg or hospitalised with it either.

bumbumbee · 08/09/2014 23:21

I had it with both pregnancies, was hospitalised a few times In both and got food poisoning during the second pregnancy so that was a fun week hooked up to drips, I don't know anyone in rl who has had it and I didn't know it existed until I had it, I think this is probably the number of hospital admissions.

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 08/09/2014 23:28

I only know one person who had it, she was threatened with hospitalisation but that was mor to make her take proper time off work rather than insisting on trying to go in. Poor thing, she was so ill.

So my sample of one would suggest the rate of around 1:100. God my friends have been popping them out over the last few years!

Actually that's a point - 3 in a 1000 women or 3 in a 1000 pgs?

MrsMook · 08/09/2014 23:36

I suspect SPD is underdiagnosed too. The statistics seem unrealistically low. In my first pregnancy, it was undiagnosed. I went to the GP when I cracked at 34 weeks. I was on the edge of tears of permanent agony and knew I couldn't face simple stuff like going in the supermarket again, but it was brushed off as "pregnancy aches and pains". Second time, I got myself a pair of crutches and life was much more tolerable.

I didn't have HG, just incessant, intense nausea that stopped me eating. I couldn't put my toothbrush in my mouth most days for a couple of months and many days, not even mouthwash. I frequently had to hold my breath and jam my foot down to drive past things like fields of rape seed without dry retching uncontrollably. That was miserable enough. I really don't envy anyone with Hg and wouldn't minimise how draining pregnancy sickness can be at any end of the scale.

FloraPost · 08/09/2014 23:48

I had it twice. The first time round my evil bitch of a midwife told me (at 25 weeks) it was normal. DS1 has no enamel on his teeth because I was so malnourished while pregnant with him. I weighed less at term than when he was conceived and have absolutely no idea how I through without help. 2nd time round I had cyclizine all the way through, in bed by 7pm and all day at weekends, lots of time off work and a few bouts of ketosis. Luckily I have a very understanding employer and lots of supportive family so I did manage to stay at work. I narrowly managed to stay out of hospital by dripping dioralyte inside my cheek with a pipette and attending my GP surgery 3 times daily for monitoring.

Hell on toast.

JaceLancs · 09/09/2014 01:25

I had it with my second pregnancy - led to other problems including kidney failure - I spent 4 and a half months in hospital, would have been longer but wasn't allowed to go to term as was seen as risky

He's now a strapping 21 year old, who's just finished university!

I am assuming some of it must be hormone related as had a full hysterectomy in my late 30s and was sick for months afterwards, even now over 10 years later there are still things I can't eat or drink due to the memories of that horrible time

Jakeyblueblue · 09/09/2014 01:33

I had it with one pregnancy only. First pregnancy I had what I think was pretty severe morning sickness, but second pregnancy was very definitely HG. Could not function at all and had weeks off work. Totally incapacitating and traumatic. Will not be having any more children as a result, couldn't go through it again and was genuinely shocked that Kate was pregnant again so soon after seemingly having HG last time. She's obviously made of tougher stuff than me! Confused

SunshineDaisiesButterMellow · 09/09/2014 06:22

I had it with my first pgwith dd. Was constantly sick from about 6 weeks. And was hospitalized 7 times on a drip as I was so dehydrated. I went from a size 14 at conception to a size 10 at birth.

I did not want to go through it again. But I absolutely hated being an only child and did not want dd to be one so left it till dd was in school to try again as at least if I had hg again dd would be in school and I'd be able to just lie in bed as I'm a sham with fabulous in-laws who live round the corner who would take her to school.
I was lucky second time round I had ds and was not too bad. I was sick every morning till I gave birth but just in the morning when I woke up.

KenDoddsDadsDog · 09/09/2014 06:28

I had it and so did SIL. Wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. I bet Kate doesn't have to sob and beg for a stemetil injection Grin

Bulbasaur · 09/09/2014 06:34

Well, don't forget, this is parenting forum that people come to for support. So naturally there is going to be a disproportionately large number of people with:

  • Fertility issues
  • Pregnancy complications
  • SN children or SN themselves
  • PND
  • Mental health issues
  • Abusive relationships

This doesn't mean there's a large number of people with those, it means that of the people that need support and people in similar situations to come to, they came here. That's all.

But MN isn't an accurate sampling of the typical parenting or pregnancy experience.

Bulbasaur · 09/09/2014 06:36

Whoops, forgot to paste my quote. My post was in response to:

I know MN has tonnes of posters but I'm just always a bit surprised that so many are affected.

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