First, from a pregnancy site:
When Pregnancy Vomiting is Not OK
I found a couple of things in this article that seemed a bit odd; for example, I really doubt if a woman who goes to her OB/midwife vomiting blood will be told, "You probably have an oral infection!" Or rather, if a mother is told that, I think it's probably time to change providers - not just toothpaste brands. In other words, most women know the difference between "I need to brush more often" and "I'm throwing up so much that I'm actually vomiting blood." But anyway, I digress. Any publicity is helpful!
And in much more groundbreaking news, the preliminary findings from the USC HG study are in and (drum roll, please!) there does indeed appear to be a genetic causative factor for HG. Read here:
Severe Morning Sickness Runs in Families
From the article:
"Researchers found that women were more likely to experience a serious form of morning sickness if their mothers or sisters did as well.
"Looking specifically at a very severe form of nausea known as hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), the authors found that women with sisters who had HG were 17 times more likely to also develop HG." (emphasis mine)
So there you have it! Thoughts, anyone?
For myself, I don't know of any other women in my family who had HG. Unfortunately my knowledge of family history is limited, since (due to my parents having had me late in life, and their parents having had them late in life), all of my grandparents were dead before I even hit my teens (most of them before I was born). However, severe morning sickness is something that often lives on in family oral history, and I have heard nothing from either side of my family. My mother had ordinary garden-variety nausea - I'm not sure she even ever threw up. When HG hit me, she was really stumped as to what was going on (we all were, to be frank!). So for me, I don't seem to have a direct and obvious link.
However, I have heard of many other women who said that their HG/NVP ran in their families, and it's nice to know that so that siblings and daughters can be aware and prepared.
No family history here either. My mom had fairly normal pregnancies with all 3 of us -- minor NVP. My youngest sister maybe threw up 10 times here ENTIRE pregnancy with my niece. She's now pregnant again (not sure how far along, could be out of the first trimester already) and hasn't vomited a single time.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad they've never had to experience what I'm going through -- still doing zofran 3 times a day, running it through a PICC that's been in place for 23 weeks -- but it makes it hard at the same time because they don't "get it".
Plant Girl - Wow, I am so sorry to hear that you've been PICC-lined for so long! Here's to your upcoming due date, and the end of all that you've been through - you are truly a trooper! :)
ReplyDelete