Hyperemesis Gravidarum: Problems That Continue After Birth

The common thought about hyperemesis (severe nausea and vomiting of pregnancy) is that regardless of severity, all problems will vanish (at the latest) at the birth of the baby. Then voila, all systems are go and mama is back to full health .

However, in observing many Facebook conversations among post-hyperemetic mothers, it is easy to see that this is not the case. Complications from hyperemesis can easily continue for months or years after baby's birth, and it seems that it is common for HG mothers to experience various problems for the long-term.

What are the possible post-birth problems following a hyperemetic pregnancy?

Firstly, there is the rare form of hyperemesis that continues full-force after baby's birth. Thankfully, this is extremely rare. I have only heard personally of two cases (one I know personally, one by hearsay). Unfortunately, there is no knowledge of this in the medical literature.

More commonly, post-pregnancy complications involve any of the following:

• Long-term fatigue and exhaustion
• Long-term nutritional deficiencies
• HG injuries such as damaged teeth or Mallory-Weiss tears
• Gut health problems
• Postpartum nausea, which may peak at various times during a woman's cycle (often at ovulation and pre-menses)

(I am not including psychological issues like flashbacks and post-traumatic stress disorder, but those, if anything, are even more common than physical complications.)

With my first pregnancy (my pregnancy with uncontrolled HG), I experienced a lot of long-term fatigue after baby's birth. It was not until baby was something like 15 months old that I finally felt better. HG was the most grueling experience of my life, and it left me spent and exhausted. It took a long time to heal from how badly beat up I felt after that pregnancy. 

But my most pressing problem, with each pregnancy (with either active HG or controlled HG) was postpartum residual nausea. I have dealt now with this problem for many years. 

For me, the nausea was not tied to my cycle or to various times of the month. It was simply ever-present in short waves of seconds (perhaps minutes) that came and went all day, every day. 

At first, right after baby's birth, it was somewhat more severe. I cannot tell you how much money I wasted on pregnancy tests, absolutely sure that the nausea meant I was expecting. I lived in a state of "I must be pregnant" for many, many months. 

The nausea gradually subsided over time, but it took a good 18-24 months for most of it to vanish. And the same postpartum nausea occurred with each subsequent pregnancy (three in all). 

I should perhaps mention that before my HG experience, I had never dealt with nausea in any form (barring stomach bugs, etc.). This was not typical of my pre-pregnancy existence at all.

I took the time to consult several OB's about this issue of postpartum residual nausea. Each time, I got the same answer - complete silence and a distinct "deer in the headlights" look, followed by a how-quickly-can-I-change-the-subject response. Not one of them had anything to say about this condition, nor did any of them even seem to know about its existence. The take-away lesson was, as with many health issues - you're on your own. Modern medical science often can't to help you - so be prepared to research and experiment on your own with post-HG postpartum symptoms. 

Thankfully, by the grace of God, I learned several things that helped me to eliminate postpartum nausea, and I want to end this post by sharing them with you!

Here are the three stages of my journey through dealing with post-HG postpartum nausea:

Step #1: I started the very low carb (VLC) diet while preparing for a subsequent pregnancy. 
Result: The nausea got much, much worse.

This really scared me. I was starting a diet to prevent HG, and it was making my already-present postpartum nausea worse? How could this possibly help?

Thankfully, some internet searches quickly gave me the scoop on what was going on. In my attempts to begin the very low carb diet, I had unintentionally made the diet very low carb AND low-fat. This was a major mistake. Do not attempt a diet that is both low-carb and low-fat. In doing so, I made myself very sick! A VLC diet must also be high-fat to be healthy and successful.

However, having been raised in the eighties and nineties, I had grown up well-brainwashed with the "fat is evil" mindset, and I was still unintentionally cooking that way.

Step #2: I added the high-fat component to the VLC diet. 
Result: Success!

To jettison the habits of 30 years took some real work, and I had to work on cooking high-fat intentionally. This meant lots of avocados, lots of cheese and cream, lots of butter and peanut butter.

Within several hours of adopting the new high-fat component, I felt better! Not only was the over-and-above nausea gone, but about 90% of my postpartum nausea vanished - just like that.

Additionally, I felt great. I am now a huge proponent of the low-carb high-fat diet and have experienced many awesome health benefits from it. If you're still nervous about this, check out this wonderful book - "The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat, and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet." This is the best book on food history that I have had the pleasure to read, and it was a distinct learning experience.

Step #3: Fermented Foods
Result: Complete Success!

However, there was still that tiny, nagging 10% of residual nausea still sticking around. Ugh! However, I was happy with how far I'd come, and I didn't have any more ideas. I was okay with where I was.

Then, about a year ago, something amazing happened. A friend of mine found the answer to her repeat-hyperemesis in an H. pylori treatment protocol. Wow! I was so excited!

The biggest part of my friend's treatment plan was the addition of large amounts of raw, lacto-fermented foods to her diet (almost all of which are completely missing from the standard American diet). These include (among hundreds of possibilities):

• Raw fermented pickles (NOT typical storebought pickles)
• Raw fermented sauerkraut (NOT typical storebought sauerkraut)
• Plain, full-fat yogurt
• Plain, full-fat kefir
• Non-pasteurized kombucha 
• Lacto-fermented vegetables (kimchi, lacto-fermented salsa, etc.)

Almost immediately upon adding lacto-fermented foods to my diet, that last nagging 10% of my postpartum nausea vanished. 

*Large celebration!*

Thus, I had found my answer - not through medication, but by simple dietary changes that had been within my power (but not my knowledge) for years. 

I hope that these steps will help some of you dealing with similar challenges. For those of you with other post-HG symptoms (or other health problems), I encourage you not to give up! Oftentimes the answers really are out there, and oftentimes they can be found through diet and supplements. But you will have to do the hard work of research and experimentation on your own, as most modern doctors simply are not trained that way. 

I would love to hear about your story. Have you suffered from post-HG postpartum complications or symptoms? Have you found anything that helped? Please take a few minutes to let me know!

Much love, dear friends.