When Ashley Lowe found out she was pregnant for the first time, she was over the moon. But she was soon blindsided by just how difficult her pregnancy became. What started as morning sickness “very quickly escalated to all-day, all-night nausea”, she says. She couldn’t stomach the plainest of food. Even the idea of drinking water made her feel ill.
Lowe was working as a journalist at the time. She tried to persevere but at 19 weeks’ gestation her nausea had become so severe she was dehydrated, losing weight and felt unable to function. This left her no choice but to walk away from her beloved job. She spent most of the remainder of her pregnancy lying in bed. “If I could crawl down the hallway to the couch, that was a good day,” she says.
Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) can affect one in 100 pregnant women, according to NSW Health.Credit: Stocksy
While Lowe, 36, was constantly nauseated, she didn’t vomit. As a result, she didn’t think she had hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), a condition NSW Health describes as “severe” nausea and vomiting which lasts for “more than a few days” and leaves women struggling to eat or drink enough. Despite not vomiting, Lowe’s obstetrician told her she had the condition.
Obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Raelia Lew from Women’s Health Melbourne says that “as a general rule, the term [HG] is reserved for women who are unable to keep food down and suffer intractable vomiting in pregnancy with serious consequences”.
However, she says there are no strict criteria for the disorder, adding it can present with a spectrum of symptoms.
According to NSW Health, about one in 100 pregnant women will experience HG, but it notes that the proportion may be higher. Most women experience symptoms of HG only in the first trimester of pregnancy, says Lew, “but some suffer all the way to giving birth”.
The condition is described as “severe” nausea and vomiting which lasts for “more than a few days” and leaves women struggling to eat or drink enough.
HG occurs, Lew says, because the pregnancy hormone beta-hCG, produced early on by the implanting pregnancy, and later by the developing placenta, can trigger the emetic centre of the brain in susceptible women, leading to extreme bouts of nausea with or without vomiting.
If you’ve had HG previously, Lew says you’re more likely to experience it again. Knowing that made Lowe cautious about trying for a much-wanted second baby. When she did, she was devastated her symptoms were even worse the second time around. “It was just so debilitating,” Lowe says.
If you can’t keep much food down during the early stages of pregnancy, Lew says not to worry too much. Keeping fluids up, on the other hand, is critical. Eating smaller meals more often and sucking on ice cubes can alleviate nausea. Consuming ginger, undergoing acupuncture and taking vitamin B6 supplements may also help.
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If, despite these measures, you’re still struggling, Lew says some prescription medications may also offer relief and advises seeing your doctor.
Lowe tried every pregnancy-safe anti-nausea medication and tip under the sun, to little avail. Unable to keep fluids down in her second pregnancy, she had to be hospitalised several times for rehydration.
Lowe’s son Ziggy is now 3½ and her daughter Billie is 10 months. Lowe says she’d go through her symptoms “100 times over” to have her children. But, she adds, just because it’s worth it in the end, it doesn’t make living with such excruciating symptoms any easier.
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