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Doctors must stop 'brushing off' women with severe morning sickness and saying it's 'normal' when it can be life-threatening, says world-leading genetics professor
Pregnant women battling severe morning sickness are being 'brushed off' by doctors and told their symptoms are 'normal and harmless' — when they can be life-threatening, a top expert has warned.
Up to three per cent of women suffer from hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), a debilitating form of sickness during pregnancy.
It was famously suffered by the Princess of Wales and the life-threatening condition can cause sickness dozens of times a day with some women ending up being hospitalised with severe dehydration.
Geneticist Marlena Fejzo, from the University of Southern California, suffered from HG when she was pregnant and now wants to dispel morning sickness myths.
She said pregnant women with this condition are essentially 'starving', due to the fact they are unable to eat or keep food down.
The Princess of Wales, pictured with her first child Prince George, was hospitalised due to hyperemesis gravidarum during her pregnancies
Pregnant women with the condition are essentially 'starving', due to the fact they are unable to eat or keep food down.
Comedian Amy Schumer, 42, and Coronation Street actress Helen Flanagan, 33, also suffered severe morning sickness during their pregnancies.
An increasing number of studies show that this can have serious long and short-term consequences for both mother and child.
A quarter of women with HG have suicidal thoughts due to the debilitating symptoms while 18 per cent meet the full criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder.
However they are often dismissed by their medical teams and families.
In an opinion article, published in the journal Cell Press, she wrote: ‘Nausea and vomiting affect most pregnant women.
‘At the severe end of the clinical spectrum, HG can be life-threatening. The condition is fraught with misconceptions that have slowed progress and left women untreated.
‘It is perplexing that the emphasis on appropriate nutrition in pregnancies for overall health of mother and baby has been historically overlooked in the case of HG.
‘Patients are often released from hospital weighing less than when they were admitted. The condition is associated with significant undernutrition, and patients generally cannot tolerate prenatal supplements.’
She added that recent large studies reveal that exposure to HG has been linked to a child having a higher risk of abnormal brain growth, neurodevelopmental delay, autism spectrum disorder, childhood cancer and respiratory disorders.
‘A lot of people are brushed off and told, “Oh that’s normal, it’s okay”,’ she said.
‘HG can be life threatening and is associated with adverse outcomes that need to be taken seriously.’
A recent study, carried out by Dr Fejzo and colleagues, found that the hormone responsible for this severe morning sickness is one called GDF15, dispelling another myth that suggested a different hormone was to blame.
Individuals who suffer from HG can have genetic variants that causes them to have lower levels of GDF15 prior to pregnancy, making them extra sensitive when they become pregnant and are suddenly exposed to high levels.
This finding is important as preliminary research suggests it might be safe to manipulate this hormone during or even prior to pregnancy, Dr Fejzo said.
‘If we can increase levels of GDF15 before someone becomes pregnant, that might desensitize them, similar to how we try to desensitize people to allergens who have severe allergies,’ she said.
‘And during pregnancy, we may be able to minimize or get rid of symptoms by blocking GDF15 or its receptors in the brain stem.’
The final myth she aims to dispel is that only humans experience morning sickness, as these symptoms have been observed throughout the animal kingdom – from monkeys, dogs and cats, to chickens, vipers and octopuses.
‘I always think it’s interesting that the recommendation for cats is that if they’re unable to eat for a day, you should contact your veterinarian, but we don't have that recommendation out there for women with HG,’ she said.
‘If you call your doctor’s office and say you haven’t eaten for a day, they'll say, “that’s normal” and won't do anything. There’s more proactive care for cats than humans.’
She believes that pregnancy-induced nausea likely evolved to prevent dangerous foraging trips.
‘This condition likely evolved because it was probably beneficial to avoid going out searching for food during pregnancy,’ she added.
‘That may still be true for animals, but people don’t need this anymore, so let’s end the suffering once and for all if we can.’