Quote From: jennifermilamI'm 22, and have a son who is 2 and a daughter who is almost one. I am also 4 months pregnant with Baby # 3 and am suffering with my third pregnancy with hyperemesis. All my cases have been severe, and I have been through literally every medication that they could offer me. In the past, nothing has EVER worked at all, and I suffer 24 hours a day through the ENTIRE pregnancy, but this past time that I was hospitalized, when the next resort was the TPN Implant, we found a batch of medications that were working, and I felt amazing for a few days... until I found out that my insurance would not pay for anymore of two of my medicines. Now over the past couple of weeks, I have steadily declined again and am very frustrated. I can relate to all the women who suffer the most severe of these cases, and hope every day that someone comes up with something that REALLY HELPS. It is 2007 and we cannot stop this? Furthermore, I am so happy this topic was on the show because no one knows about this condition! And when people DO hear about it, they downplay it, they roll their eyes, they tell you to pull up your bootstraps. Something with this condition HAS to change. Thank you Dr. Phil and GENIUS Staff for shining a little light on this overlooked disease. Please devote an entire show to it! We women who suffer from this would gladly share our stories to educate the public on the REALITY of this terrible sickness and reach out to other women who are suffering and not even aware of options they may have for treatment that MIGHT be successful. When you deal with this monster, you soon realize that you would do ANYTHING to get rid of it: go through labor EVERY day for a year, eat live ants, cut off your leg, ANYTHING, if only you could stop the sickness. The lonely and hopeless desperation, fatigue, nausea and frustration are only bolstered by the fact that no one really cares, no one offers to help, no one makes allowances for your limited contributions. It would be like having the worst food poisoning of your life for MONTHS on end, 24 hours a day with NO reprieve, and everyone telling you to get up and wash the dishes or grocery shop or chase after the kids for the millionth time. You feel helpless and no one understands. People become frustrated with YOU instead of assistance and the sympathy you deserve and need. I would not wish hyperemesis on my worst enemy, but if everyone had to experience it for just one week, everything would change. I really hope that this was the "first domino" in a long line of educational and medical resources that will be coming to help us and our families in the future.
Thank you for sharing your story.
It is so sad the way women with HG are often treated by medical professionals who are supposed to be helping them.
You and I, as well as countless other women, have been repeatedly told how much our treatment costs... that something needs to be done... that we need to be taken off of our meds or use cheaper meds that we know do not work for us or do not give us the quality of life that we deserve. This is one of the reasons why women with HG fear death. When you are repeatedly told that your care is costing too much and threatened to have treatment taken away because of it, it is terrifying!
I was also spoken to much in the same manner that you were by a Dr. who is a Colonel in the United States Army. She told me about how my illness was in my head, that she would likely take me off of my meds, that my meds cost too much, and that I was harming my unborn baby by taking the meds. When she saw that I was not going to agree with her, she stopped speaking to me and instead told my husband about how I was harming his unborn child by taking these meds. ... Even though my husband saw the hell I was going through, and was my biggest advocate, he too was worried about our son and thought that she might have a point.
I'm afraid the ignorance of this disease can make it even more difficult for women to get through it.
Allison Quets made headlines around the world when she allegedly kidnapped her 17-month-old twins across the border into Canada this past Christmas. She had given them up for adoption, but did she do so under duress? She now says she suffered from a pregnancy disease called hyperemesis that left her malnourished and sleep deprived to the point of complete exhaustion. See an exclusive interview with Allison from behind bars where she awaits trial on two counts of international parental kidnapping, with a possible sentence of three years behind bars. Then, look inside the life of a woman who is only three-and-a-half months pregnant and so sick with hyperemesis she spends most of her day on the bathroom floor. Plus, find out what all women need to know about hyperemesis: How you get it, how to know you have it, and whether it could kill you or your unborn child. Join the discussion.
