Even if you think you tried it all, there’s still a lot you can do to alleviate your symptoms and stay healthy.
Expecting new life is a miracle. For many of us it’s also a big challenge. Most women experience some amount of nausea and vomiting at the beginning of pregnancy. It’s unpleasant, but it’s usually short lived and manageable. And then there’s HG.
If you are lucky enough to have never experienced HG, formally called hyperemesis gravidarum, it can be really hard to understand. But those who live through it can attest that HG is not morning sickness. It’s a debilitating and potentially dangerous genetic condition that causes severe nausea and vomiting in pregnancy that affects a woman’s ability to eat, drink, and function, and requires medical treatment. The misery of HG can best be described as an unending bout of severe food poisoning. It’s really really awful.
I suffered through six HG pregnancies of varying degrees of severity. In my more moderate HG pregnancies, I couldn’t eat normally, cook, work, or take care of my kids properly because of the extreme nausea. My most recent pregnancy was so severe that it came close to life- threatening. I was so sick and weakened from the unbearable nausea and resulting malnutrition that I couldn’t talk, walk unassisted, or see clearly, and I developed debilitating complications that did not resolve after my baby was born.
In my search for healing, I learned that most doctors are unfortunately not educated in effective HG care. As a result, we suffer so much more than we should. My research led me to discover protocols for HG that are largely unknown in our community, and that actually work. Nothing can take it away, but proper treatment for HG can control the vomiting almost completely and lessen the nausea enough to eat and function. HG without vomiting sounds like a dream. But as I started to share these protocols with women and their doctors, I was amazed by how much of what we suffer is preventable. I am passionate about sharing this information so that everyone with HG can have safer and easier pregnancies.
HG ranges from mild to severe and often needs a complex treatment plan. I help women understand the information that’s out there about potential medications, dosages, and combinations that can help them and that they can ask their doctor for. There are some women who feel miserable and don’t even know that what they are going through has a name and can be helped. And then there are others who tell me they tried it all. Both types of women are amazed at what these protocols have to offer them and their doctors, as I was when I discovered them. There is no cure yet for HG, and it will still be hard, but it can be much more manageable.
Some important things to know about HG to discuss with your doctor:
- Current data indicates that it’s better for mother and baby to take medication as early as necessary to control symptoms and eat and drink properly, than to wait. Starting medication early can prevent more severe HG.
- Most women with HG find that they need a combination of a few medications to get symptoms under control.
- Not every OB is the right one for HG. If your doctor is unsympathetic or unwilling to prescribe, look for another doctor who will offer you better care. Come with knowledge of what you need.
- Research shows that taking supplements to strengthen the body can help women have safer pregnancies. There are specific supplements that are important before HG.
- Studies have shown that taking vitamin B1 in the form of Benfotiamine or Thiamine TTFD before and during HG can be crucial to combat the nausea and prevent dangerous complications.
- Don’t worry about what type of food you can tolerate when you are sick. In HG any calorie is a good calorie and every bite is a mitzvah!
My own suffering was largely preventable. I wish I had known then what I know now. I can’t go back, but I can do everything possible to help others get through HG with their health intact.
Thank you!
I found that taking herbal supplement that support liver function for close to two years prior to pregnancy and eating a high protein diet from the moment i discovered i was pregnant really helped alleviate the severity of my hg. There are still very green days but I can function and care for my family.
Herbalist & Alchemist has some great herbal blends for liver support.
Liver support is helpful before HG. NAC is a supplement that naturally cleanses the liver. High protein is amazing if you can, although in my experience that’s one of the hardest things for most women to stomach in early pregnancy.
I have found that alkaline water stays down thus resulting in less dehydration…. dehydration causes nausea to be severe….
Also, a chiropractor to strengthen my liver on a weekly basis has helped the vomiting to lessen.
Vitamin B12 liquid with, iron, and d… also essential
Thanks for bringing up a great point. Drinking fluid with electrolytes is much better than regular water! Other unflavored options are smart water or essentia water. Flavored options are vitamin water or drip drop rehydration powder stick packs, orange or lemon flavored are more popular flavors. If IV fluids are necessary, you can ask for fluids with added electrolytes called lactated ringers, which may help you absorb the fluid better and feel more relief. Vitamins in the IV are so important as well!
Thank you for sharing this! I don’t suffer from HG, but read this article in the hope that one day I can share it with someone who needs ❤️
Thank you! Support and understanding from friends and family is so important for our ability to survive the misery of HG.
Thank you so much for this post!
HG is so often misunderstood, and i am grateful for the awareness that this article brings.
You’re welcome! That’s a big part of why I started Shifrah- to create awareness and then offer guidance and support. Nobody should go through HG alone .
Wow, it’s refreshing to see so much in the last year in support of women going through Hg.
Having gone through 3 HG pregnancies, each getting significantly worse and more life threatening, I honestly struggle to find comfort in this article.
While some comments/ideas of hydration and electrolytes help, I remember the months of being on TPN because I was unable to get any food or drink into my mouth without severe vomiting.
My doctor said I had the worst case of HG that he had come across. I just assumed he didn’t have a huge patient base who had experienced HG. I’m now wondering if I was on the worse side of HG in general.
Going through it has left me to feel that it’s quite impossible to get pregnant again. While I crave a bigger family, I live in fear of being so sick and unavailable to the children I already have, for months on end.
I can’t be alone in thinking; who will care for my kids while my husband works. Who will feed them, bathe them, drive them to school etc. while I am debilitated.
Shira, I so relate to your concerns and your pain. HG is traumatic and miserable for the entire family. However, the experience of endless vomiting that you and so many others suffered is almost always the result of an ineffective treatment plan. Most of us, myself included, did not get the level of care that we needed. Yet it absolutely is possible to have a safer and more manageable HG pregnancy with the protocols that I share. It will still be hard, because we can’t take it away. But it should not be like this. Feel free to reach out, I would be happy to discuss! (Please note that the protocols are not listed in the article, the information above include helpful tips only). I
Although a supplement may be beneficial, it’s only if they stay down…. I was never able to take prenatals, and was scared that I wasn’t giving my babies what they needed to develop properly. Hashem took care of that for me:)
HG can be really scary. What’s amazing is that with the right medication regimen and a lot of Siyata dishmaya, things can stay down much better. There are also IV vitamins when swallowing is very difficult.…. Regardless we do the best we can. HG is really hard!
If you can’t keep anything down, you can at least take a melt in your mouth folate/folic acid.
They sell it on Amazon
There is also the option to get a vitamin gel or cream through a compounding pharmacy. Remember that B1 is so important in HG!
Thank you for this post! I had never heard of HG before my first pregnancy so I was so blindsided. In the end my doctor was able to get me a proper med protocol but it was a lot of trial and error. Also, at first I was just on meds on an “as needed basis” but the problem was that by the time I thought I needed them it was really too late. I found that being on regular meds throughout was a better protocol and only after symptoms were consistently improving was I able to wean off some. Also people should know that sometimes it goes away by 20 weeks and sometimes it lasts the entire pregnancy and every pregnancy is different even in the same mother.
Sounds like you were lucky to have a good doctor! All your points are spot on.
Is it possible to have hg if it’s only for the first month, or is it only if it lasts longer than that?
HG depends on severity of symptoms and not on length of time, and for some women it resolves after the first trimester. Only one month is unusual though, but would depend on many factors.