Hyperemesis gravidarum - UK online petition

[EsteraEmmerson]

Timing is perfect.

The number of signatures for the Scottish petition has gone up since yesterday's news on www.pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk/news/items/petition-in-scotland

The nationwide petition deserves the same.

Please visit epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/41291 and sign.

Find below its description.

''Hyperemesis Specialist Nurses

Responsible department: Department of Health

Calling on the Parliament to urge the Government to consider placing hyperemesis specialist nurses in hospitals throughout the country to provide medical and emotional support to the thousands of pregnant women suffering from this condition.
Thousands of women are desperate for help and support during and after this illness. The lack of knowledge within the medical profession regarding this condition can lead women to seek termination instead of suffering from this. A specialist doctor, nurse or midwive for every county would be able to provide medical and emotional support by providing the correct information, holding counselling sessions and support groups.
In 2007, The Royal London Hospital set up a day unit for women suffering from hyperemesis. This is the only clinic in the UK available for outpatient care and preventative treatment.''

Signed :)

Signed

Great! Thanks, everyone. The number is going up for sure.

Already signed it. Well done for doing such a fab job and promoting awareness of this horrible illness. Means a lot to a fellow HG sufferer.

@Reebok: good to hear that. Thanks. This is a golden opportunity. I just couldn't let it go past.

Signed

I will be signing

while i agree in principle (currently on my 2nd HG pregnancy, (I had it until i gave birth last time)) and with my first i had it really really bad, I cant see that counselling or support groups would actually help much.... During the bad times i would be too ill to go or get there!
Might be better if people were visited at home?

last pregnancy i spent 2 months bedridden, un able to move in a dark room, For a while OH had to move to the spare room because i couldnt even bear him to move next to me.
During these 2 months i only got out of bed 1) to vomit, i was about 3 footsteps from the loo in my en suite
2) to visit Dr (ref HG) and be admitted to hospital for IV
Many days i didnt even get downstairs.

i think its a valid point that i couldnt have gone to "HG group" at the time i needed it most.

i have come across many fellow HG sufferers, and as far as im aware most of us never seriously considered terminating either.

also, where i live we only have 1 BFing group, a good 20 / 25 min drive from my house, once a week....
Im sure far far more people would need a BFing group than an HG group.... I dont think enough people have the condition to even make a group (where I live, could well be different in cities)... especially when many of the people the group is aimed at may be too ill to even get there at all.

Im absolutely delighted that HG is getting the recognition it needs though. Thats is fantastic

@nannyl; very good point! Couldn't agree more. I was in bed for 10 weeks, with acute abdominal pain on top of everything else. My husband did all the research for me. I for one just wanted the doctors to 'fix' me. I was sure I would die and the thought of my baby's life ending because of my condition tortured me all that time. They couldn't care less.They never mentioned HG. Most of them didn't even know it existed, I think. (Now the whole world does.) I have the feeling that the 2% don't really count for the NHS. We are minority in their statistics.
I support the petition as the only course of action that will make a difference. GP surgeries will then have to include in their protocols. There will be no 'There is nothing wrong with you. Go home, drink a lot and rest.' sort of expert advice.

I must be lucky

every Dr in my surgary as taken my HG seriously and known all about it.

(I think i have seen them all! especially when they have been insisting that i am monitored at least daily, when im borderline hospital...)

Signed - thanks for doing this

Signed. X.

signed. Im glad its getting more recognition, the worst thing someone said to me was "you're pregnant, not sick." I couldnt even hold water down so it was pretty bad! had to be rehydrated in hospital on two occasions with dc1. HG is not fun.

Signed, great initiative!

It's good to hear that some doctors can do their job properly.

On a different note, I have contacted the Pregnancy Sickness Support charity and asked if they are considering supporting the petition. I have been informed that the trustees will talk about it next week. Also, I told them how useful a newsletter or something similar will be to keep people updated. They are setting it up now and they hope it will be up and running in a couple of weeks.

www.pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk/news/

Everybody is doing their own bit, which is the way it should be, I think.

As for us here on Mumsnet, Twitter it, Linkedin it, Facebook it. Print it off and post it in your local children and family centre, parish church, community hall. You name it. Whereever you think there will be lots of people at any point in time. (Don't forget to write the link at the top of the petition if you print it off.)

Signed (although I don't think KM actually has HG but if it helps us preggers ladies who have to work for a living I'm all for it!)

Signed. People just don't realise the sheer misery of HG and how long it can go on for.

Signed, but also agree with nanny. I was also bedridden for 8 weeks, twice and second pg, even if I could have got to a group, I suspect they'd hardly have been a place for a 2 yo..
But regarding support I have joined Pregnancy Sickness Support as a volunteer to provide moral support to HG sufferers. I speak to them on the phone and mostly just sympathise, but I think only a fellow (former) sufferer can do so with credibility.

signed...!

Having had HG twice I can't see that a support group would have helped me unless it was actually a supportive team of knowledgeable doctor and midwife checking my symptoms were nicely under control and issuing prescriptions/ repeat prescriptions.

IMHO opinion support groups would only be necessary for those having to endure untreated HG and the whole point of increasing awareness and support for HG sufferers would be to eliminate/reduce the possibility of this. Counselling shouldn't be necessary in the vast majority of cases if women were taken seriously and treated as speedily and effectively as possible.

Anyone proposing HG sufferers trip along to a regular support group really still don't grasp the awful reality of the condition. A telephone support service - yes, home visits by GP/midwife - yes.

@BikeRunSki & @SpringierSpaniel As said before to Nannyl, couldn't agree more. That is exactly what I would have put in a petition myself, but there was one already out there, very similar in content to the Scottish one, btw.

''Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to consider placing hyperemesis specialist nurses in hospitals throughout Scotland to provide medical and emotional support to the thousands of pregnant women suffering from this condition.'' www.scottish.parliament.uk/gettinginvolved/petitions/PE01400-PE01499/PE01454_PreviousAction.aspx

I was bed-bound for ten weeks. It was with great effort that I could get up and wash (oh, how horrible the shower gel and toothpaste smelt! A nightmare! As we all know.). Could I appear in front of the GP (across the road) all smelly and in my pyjamas?! Maybe I should have. That will have convinced them I was ill and they would referred me without my husband having to twist their arms.

I remember once a GP calling on me late one night only to prescribe Gaviscone. That was a very helpful home visit indeed.

This petition may not be perfect, but it shows our determination. Do you think you can convince NHS to train their GPs any other way? See what the HG sufferer who started the Scottish petition says in the Petition History.

On Monday, I had the same thought. I still do. But to write to NHS and tell them that we were once neglected, ignored, trifled with when we thought we were dying (I would have, for sure, had it not been for my sister - a paediatrician - who insisted I should demand to be referred) needs some strong backing: thousands of signatures and comments like ours etc.

I did once crawl to the docs, unwashed and in PJs. It is only about 50m to the surgery. Whereupon I threw up on the floor and fell asleep. My GP was sympathetic anyway, but I think that was lesson in HG to him.