With the breaking news that the Duchess of Cambridge is expecting her 3rd child Hyperemesis has once again risen its ugly head. As many of you will know if you’ve read any of my previous blogs (http://wp.me/p7oSDt-2), I suffered sever HG in both my pregnancies and wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
Everywhere you look over recent weeks the media has been discussing the Duchess and her ‘Sever Morning Sickness’, some even successfully identifying it as HG….But along side this has also been countless personal tails, my own included (East Anglian Daily Times), of ‘ordinary’ women and their suffering. 
Although you could never describe HG or anyone suffering it as ‘positive’ I have subsequently seen many discussions over whether the Duchesses experiences are a positive thing and whether statements such as ‘I know how the Duchess feels’ are helpful and this has become something I wanted to talk about too.
Many have argued that the Duchess’s experiences are a far cry from those suffering HG outside of the royal family bubble. Numerous times I’ve read statements such as “how can you compare the experiences of an ‘ordinary’ women with that of a royal?”, “I bet she’s never had to fight for treatment!” and “she gets IVs in the comfort of her own home, not having to force her way in through A&E”. But is this really the case?
Before I sufferer HG I had never heard of it. It took me weeks to get anyone to listen and identify how poorly I really was and even then I often had to explain endlessly what it was (to medical staff as well as friends and family). I didn’t know any of the statistics surrounding it, I didn’t understand fully how it effected you or baby and I definitely wasn’t prepared for it. All I did know was I felt completely alone and like I was dying and desperately wanted it to be over.
In total contrast to this, on the school run today a lady approached me who I’ve never spoke to before. She said that she recognised me from the photo in the newspaper article I was interviewed for and how horrible it was that I had had to experience this thing. She went on to talk about how she had suffered when pregnant and was now able to identify it herself as HG. The fact that I was have a conversation with a complete stranger about HG in the middle of the school yard amazed me! Had the media not been talking about the Duchess would this opportunity have arisen, no! I’m quite confident that without the current attention and spot light the rest of the world would simply continue to move on in its unfounded beliefs that either HG doesn’t exists or it’s just morning sickness and you need to eat a ginger biscuit (word of warning, NEVER mention ginger to a HG sufferer/survivor….it won’t end well for you!). So do I think the Duchesses experiences and suffering is a positive thing…..no! No of course I don’t, I don’t think anyone having to go through HG is a positive thing, how can throwing up countless times till you pass out ever be a positive thing. BUT do I think there are positives from the media coverage of her experiences, yes!
I have always been a strong believer that you can never really appreciate what someone is going through unless you have lived their life too. It’s easy for us to gloss over the Duchesses experiences, after all, she is likely to have a crash team of highly experienced medical staff on hand 24/7. But one thing I do know from my own experiences is that sometimes you can have all the medical assistance in the world and HG is still going to kick your ass. Whether she has IVs in home or not, she is still likely to be experiencing the relentless nausea and sickness. HG is still controlling her life and preventing her from accomplishing everyday task, like taking her son to school on his first day, and she is still just as likely to experience an eye roll or two from judgemental individuals who don’t accept the existence of this condition.
The Duchess has not openly spoken about her experiences and (sadly) has not promoted or worked with the Pregnancy Sickness Support charity (the only charity in the UK working to support women suffering with HG and NVP in pregnancy PSS). But what she has done is given us all a platform from which we could recount our own experiences. She’s allowed us to talk about what it is, how it affects you physically and emotionally as well as the impact it has on the family unit as a whole. She’s given PSS the chance to reach out to countless more women suffering in silence and to educate both the media and the public alike on what this condition really is, and for that reason I personally want to thank her. I’m not saying she is a saint (come on, who is) and I’m not saying there haven’t been occasions when maybe she could have spoken out herself, but then it took me over 2 years before I felt ready to publicly talk about it so I can’t fault her for that really!?!
The Pregnancy Sickness Support charity is a great source of information, advice and support for not only those suffering, but also their families as well as medical professionals
I don’t know what she is or isn’t experiencing or what her level of care and acceptance from others is, but I do know that never before has HG been so widely discussed and in such a public form, and honestly, that can only be a positive thing. If just one person suffering learns of PSS and it’s Support network then that’s a good thing. If just one paper learns to correctly label the condition as HG and not ‘severe morning sickness’ then that’s a win! If just one medical professional has their beliefs challenged and their views on HG changed then that’s a bonus and I want to take all these wins, no matter how small, and celebrate them all!
So while the Duchess suffers in the comfort of her royal abode, lets not compare and belittle her experiences, lets instead embrace HG’s new-found media attention and use this opportunity to educate and challenge those around us!
Life of MummyB 
