To be really mad because a woman just told me morning sickness is psychological?

[Lishylooloo]

I'm 4 months pregnant with my second and just over months of awful morning sickness - well all day long sickness in my case. It was the same with DD1 - sick all the time, chronic fatigue etc.

I just met a woman who has three kids and said morning sickness is psychological - of course she didn't suffer from it at all and with her first didn't even know she was pregnant until three months. She told me if I didn't know I was pregnant I wouldn't have felt sick. Her doctor apparently agreed with her. Yeah right! I obviously subconsciously want to have what feels like motion sickness 24 hours and day and throw up etc. It's such a blast!

I didn't say anything to her but now I am just mad as hell. I'm a positive thinker and definitely not a hypochondriac! Where does this woman get off saying it's psychological? Does she really think that woman who suffer from morning sickness are mentally weak or what?

[LouMacca]

OMG

When carrying my twins my morning, afternoon and night sickness was definitely NOT psychological! Silly woman!

Oh and YANBU.

[AliGrylls]

Superbean,

I hated it when people said "it is not as if you are ill". The problem is that during pregnancy you can feel bloody shit and on top of that you can't take any drugs to make you feel better which means you are actually worse off than a sick person.

In saying that I did find the best remedy for morning sickness was sleep / rest and lots of it. Nothing else really worked (unless I was hungry).

[MilaMae]

OMG I was bed ridden for 3 solid months whilst carrying the dtwins, I was continuously vomiting blood and bile and could barely crawl to the loo. I could eat practically nothing.It was NOT a mind over matter thing, it was all consuming and no wearing sea bands and nibbling ginger biscuits(helpful hints from non sufferers) didn't help.

Thankfully my doctor was very supportive.

What a cow!!!!

[KERALA1]

I remember reading that a study that proved morning sickness was totally cross cultural - suffered by women in the Peruvian jungle and New York businesswomen. Obviously all in the grip of the same psychological confusion then...

One theory is that it is to protect the baby by making you avoid foods that might harm the foetus. Whatever causes it its miserable you have my sympathies.

Brings back memories of DH's single male friend who told me all symptoms of pregnancy were psychological. Had to hold myself back after suffering 4 months of feeling like death then the final month on crutches with SPD. Grrr

[mathanxiety]

Haha scottishmummy, how funny.

BTW head being a nautical term for toilet made me think, she was right, it was all in the head (all I had ever eaten in my lief sometimes, by the look of it)

[weegiemum]

would also like to nominate becstarlitsea's comment :

"My MIL is actually very kind, she just has a brain full of total shit which she believes to be true"

For like, quote of the century or something.

[mathanxiety]

Oh yes, YANBU. Can I slap her too? I had 4 MCs and never experienced morning sickness during those foreshortened pregnancies. However, puked and felt terrible, totally knackered and in a constant fog all the time for four months straight with all my successful pregnancies. That woman is lucky she managed to carry to term -- my doc mentioned low progesterone levels as a poss cause of the MCs, characterised by lack of morning sickness. Maybe she just isn't sensitive to progesterone, or sensitive in general either. She deserves sincere hatred for letting her fellow women down, with her 'I'm a better woman than all you wusses' attitude, probably boasted to her doctor, the silly twat.

[weegiemum]

I had to pull out of a youth camp I was leading when 3 months pg with dd1 as I was so horribly sick. It was a real 24 hours a day camp thing and with 24 hour sickness I knew I would be a liabilty.

I told the overall leader why I was withdrawing with 2 weeks to go and I just knew she was going (had no kids herself).

2 years later she phoned me and apologised if she had come over all at that point, because she was now pg and so sick she couldn't stand up without throwing up.

Everyone is different. SHe was lucky not to have morning sickness. I bet every other part of her life is perfect too, no?

[Morloth]

Is there anywhere left to throw up on her?

I can't even walk along the street at the moment, every teeny little smell is making me need to barf (I threw up in the gutter today).

Sometimes even sounds are setting me off.

Had none at all with DS, easiest ride ever. This time, not so much...

[MrsSantoslovestheBBC]

also had little/no ms with first pg and 9 months (not hyperemesis, just quite a bit of barfing) with #2. Heartily agree with all other posters that she is talking rubbish. What in heaven's name gets into some people? They pop a couple of kids and suddenly become world-renowned experts on all children .

I am sorry you are having a rough time of it. I spent months on dry crackers and flat ginger ale. The only plus side was that I didn't gain loads of extra weight because I didn't eat like an elephant unlike the first time round. I hope you feel better soon. Weirdly, Gaviscon helped me with the nausea even tho it's for indigestion. Hope you feel better soon

[superbean]

Thank you for making me laugh about morning sickness! I am 10 weeks, it is hideous, all day, and definitely not psychological. A few people have tried to tell me that its not as if I am ill, so must be in my head. Unbelievable! I might try Thunderduck's suggestion...

[funtimewincies]

The next person who told me to eat a ginger biscuit was in danger of getting one shoved where global warming won't be a problem!

[becstarlitsea]

I had horrid MS for the whole 9 months, needed to be on a drip twice because of dehydration, and my MIL said something similar to me. Except she went one further - she said that MS is psychological and it's when the woman isn't maternal enough, and the vomiting is a sign that she's rejecting her baby and that I just needed to 'accept' the baby and the MS would go away. I didn't even speak when she said it I just sat there going .

My MIL is actually very kind, she just has a brain full of total shit which she believes to be true. So she does very kind things, but just says these incredibly tactless things in a 'Did you know...' way. Just ignorance.

Anyway I just dropped into conversation over the next few months the points others have mentioned (higher IQ, lower risk of miscarriage, lower risk of birth defects, link to higher HcG level which shows baby is growing well,) and tried my best not to throttle the silly old bint. I'm glad I succeeded in not throttling her because she's a very useful babysitter. (and also DH would have been a bit sad if I'd killed her, I s'pose).

[Lishylooloo]

Hmc, you are totally right. I wish I had some smart answer ready for the silly cow. I didn't even give her a dirty look! Anyway if someone ever says that again I'm now armed (from this thread) withplenty to say!

fWIW I tried acupuncture at week 12. It seemed to help although the ms was probably going to improve then anyway.

[differentnameforthis]

She is of course, talking out of her arse!

I knew at 5 weeks that I was pregnant after what must have been a birth control failure, because we were trying v hard to prevent it!

I didn't & couldn't have known then that I was pregnant but had horrendous sickness!

[simplesusan]

Morning sickness is not psychological , the woman and her doctor are twats.
Pity you cannot vomit to order all over the pair of them.

[hmc]

You are only feeling mad because you didn't deal with it there and then. I would have said something extremely cutting and bitingly acerbic to misguided ingnoramus - there and then. She would have been speechless and gaping and I would have felt really good . I do recommend this approach. So much healthier than keeping your counsel and bottling it up.

I'm with you on the morning sickness - in the mind, my f**king arse. It was dreadful.

This reminds me of my grandma (never liked her) - she was in back seat of car with me when I was about 7 years old and told me - green around the gills as I was - car sickness is all in the mind. With great satisfaction I threw up all over the rancid old bat 5 minutes later.

[babyicebean]

I had HG with the three of mine and nothing with the one we lost.

The daft mare next door went on and on and on about how she felt 'a bit nauseous' when she woke first thing but it wore off after a ginger biscuit.Bully for her, I showed her the bleeding blisters on my lips,tongue,gum and chin from the stomach acid that I had suceeded in getting rid of totally.She got really p'd off when she had put a stone and a half on after baby was born, I lost 3 stone due to the sickness.That was the last baby I had the previous ones I lost about the same each time.Not a way to loose weight at all.

[policywonk]

duchesse, I thought that was pretty much orthodoxy - that HG is related to high hormone levels, which are better (in terms of a successful pg) than low hormone levels. (Did not know about the TSH though.)

I've always found male GPs to be much more sympathetic on this issue than female GPs.

[wb]

YANBU to be angry but to be honest it made me laugh out loud.

Morning sickness. Psychological? I f-ing wish!

[glucose]

I puked so much for the first 16 wks that I still weigh less than pre pregnancy (dd 4 yo) and I will never not ever get pregnant again.

[releasethehounds]

Jumping back in on this thread. Also ...

if morning sickness is psychological why did I have terrible sickness with my 2 DDs and no sickness whatsoever with my 3 miscarriages. Whilst the sickness was awful, I was quite relieved to get it during pregnancy because it can be a sign that things are working as they should

[duchesse]

Interestingly, I have found scientific articles linking HG to unusually low TSH levels (TSH is the hormone that stimulates the thyroid- the higher the number, the more the pituitary is attempting to stimulate an unresponsive thyroid). Since low thyroid levels are linked in some women to miscarriage and foetal abnormalities, it would make some sense to equate pregnancy sickness with a well-functioning thyroid and hence to a more secure pregnancy. The foetus relies totally on its mother's thyroid for the first 11 to 12 weeks of pregnancy, so low levels (potentially accompanied by lack of sickness) could link that lack of sickness to higher rates of m/c.

Just a thought.

[duchesse]

Interestingly, I have found scientific articles linking HG to unusually low TSH levels (TSH is the hormone that stimulates the thyroid). Since low thyroid levels are linked in some women to miscarriage and foetal abnormalities, it would make some sense to equate pregnancy sickness with a well-functioning thyroid and hence to a more secure pregnancy. The foetus relies totally on its mother's thyroid for the first 11 to 12 weeks of pregnancy, so low levels (potentially accompanied by lack of sickness) could link that lack of sickness to higher rates of m/c.

Just a thought.

[CacklingandBarking]

Throw up on the stupid cow then comment 'looks real to me'!