Interesting Article About Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG)

[lizzywednesday]

OK, so it's in Slate, so it's kind of placed as a "fluff" piece, but it was a fairly interesting read. And it's pretty short:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/06/10/i_took_benedryl_to_help_my_severe_morning_sickness _a_new_study_on_hyperemesis.html

What I found enlightening was learning there is a research nonprofit with message boards.

I know we have a few mamas here who do suffer from HG, so maybe the links in this article will be helpful in dealing with the ignorance you encounter while explaining your condition to folks around you.

[megs4413]

I've been on those boards since I was pregnant with DD. They were so helpful in my first pregnancy when i didn't have any idea what i was dealing with or what my options were. I was very active there for years and did lots of volunteering to support local moms, but I got burnt out after awhile and haven't been there in ages. They do some really awesome, important work there at HER.

[bostonsmama]

The way the article made it sound, perhaps the Obstetrics community needs to rethink the class of drug that Benadryl is in and whether it should be so commonly prescribed. Plus, Megs, weren't you saying that the type of Unisom that "should" be prescribed isn't the one with the active ingredient of Benadryl (diphenylhydramine), rather the other one (Doxcilimine Succinate). So why are they saying that new studies have revealed worse outcomes for babies treated w/ Benadryl and B6 vs. Zofran?

This is what I find strange about the article.

[georgiegirl]

I didn't have HG, but I was so severely nauseous (no vomiting) I hardly ate anything the first few weeks of my pregnancy and lost 5 lbs, The combo of unison/B6 and zofran was a lifesaver for me.

[megs4413]

The way the article made it sound, perhaps the Obstetrics community needs to rethink the class of drug that Benadryl is in and whether it should be so commonly prescribed. Plus, Megs, weren't you saying that the type of Unisom that "should" be prescribed isn't the one with the active ingredient of Benadryl (diphenylhydramine), rather the other one (Doxcilimine Succinate). So why are they saying that new studies have revealed worse outcomes for babies treated w/ Benadryl and B6 vs. Zofran?

This is what I find strange about the article.

Yes, you want the other unisom, not the benadryl one. Though, some people do use benadryl instead. I *think* that the adverse outcomes in cases where benadryl was used but not zofran, might actually be due to the zofran controlling the HG better. The same outcomes that were listed are the outcomes of un- or under-treated HG. Either the author of the article didn't understand that or didn't communicate it effectively. I don't think benadryl in and of itself is what is causing those adverse outcomes...I think the point was that the "heavier duty" presciprtion med was actually providing better outcomes, but not because benadryl is an unsafe drug, because zofran is better for treating HG. KWIM?

I'm still down 35lbs here at about midway through this pregnancy. I'm still on zofran. I was on zofran until delivery with both of my other kids.

[hellokitty]

Hmm, interesting. I had hyperemesis with each of my pregnancies, but with each pregnancy the HG was worse than the one before, so by #3, I was nauseous, before my hpt would even ring up positive! It was crazy, but I just knew I was pregnant, since I felt so sick. My first pregnancy was the one where I was advised to use unisom and that was the one where I had preterm labor at 25 wks of gestation. Luckily, they were able to stop it, but I had unexplained bleeding throughout that entire pregnancy and my obs just finally concluded that I had was sensitive down there and just prone to bleeding more easily? My other two pregnancies, I mostly depended on zofran, but the zofran gave me such bad constipation (when pregnant and NOT on zofran, constipation is NOT an issue for me, so it was def a s/e of the zofran), I was not able to fully take the amt to help my n/v as much as it could have, so the zofran basically served to keep me floating in limbo. Still nauseous, BUT only vomiting 2-3 times a day vs much more than it could have been. Still not great, but it kept me out of the hospital, yet I was pretty miserable just hovering in a constant state of n/v.

[BabyBearsMom]

I really appreciated the last line of the article. So much of women's health is "we just don't know why it happens" and I can't help but think that if men were dealing with this, the research funding would be unending.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

thank you for posting.

loved the last line:
I swear, if men got pregnant, we’d have a solution by now.

WORD. People who have not experienced debilitating "morning sickness" (i hate that term bc it's such a misnomer, but whatever) just have no idea and it's always dismissed as something that's just a "part of life." Sadly I think that is the reason that not more research has gone into it.

[lizzywednesday]

I think that, for a lot of women's health issues, no matter how serious, we are still fighting the stigma of the old "hysteria" diagnoses of prior centuries with the attitude "oh, the poor weak little woman can't handle X" or "oh, sweetie, it's all in your head."

It's terribly frustrating.

I did not have HG; I just had fairly bad morning sickness - mine was manageable with seltzer (drank CASES of the stuff) and ended once I crossed the threshold into my 2nd trimester.

The degree to which it sucked was exacerbated by the facts that (a) it was VERY hot outside that year; (b) my car's A/C died; (c) I ended up with a rental that REEKED of smoke; and (d) vomit is my kryptonite.