A junior doctor who endured extreme sickness throughout her pregnancy has spoken out about how the condition is often dismissed by medical professionals. She experienced violent vomiting from the evening of her first positive test until giving birth, forcing her to take more than two months off work.
Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) affects an estimated 2% of pregnant women in the UK, around 14,000 each year, yet many sufferers struggle to receive a diagnosis or adequate support. The condition can lead to eardrum rupture, oesophageal bleeding, severe dehydration, vitamin depletion, and starvation. A 2021 study found a five-fold increased risk of small-for-gestational-age babies in women with HG, a greater impact than maternal use of amphetamines, cannabis, or tobacco.
Dr Marlena Fejzo, a researcher who lost her first pregnancy to HG, described the constant feeling of being on the verge of death. Despite powerful anti-sickness medication, she vomited so forcefully that she needed IV fluids at home, and eventually suffered a miscarriage after 10 weeks bedridden. Her experience prompted her to study the genetic markers of the condition.
Up to one in seven women with hyperemesis resorts to abortion, and more than 50% consider it. The condition recurs in over 75% of future pregnancies, yet remains poorly understood and treated. The author, now a doctor herself, calls for greater recognition and research into this debilitating illness.
