07-02-2010, 05:10 AM
wowzer wrote: This article is inflammatory and not well written...I have never known an OB or ED physician to call patients with hyperemesis 'pukers' or stated that it was psychological. Hyperemesis is not a rare diagnosis...only the very severe cases like these are rare. I think there's a dearth of drug research because doing therapy on pregnant women is fraught with liability and disasters...recall thalidomide.
Yes, it's poorly written. It conflates morning sickness and hyperemesis, which is no help. It calls it a "rare condition" and then quotes an expert as saying it's "not that uncommon."
My wife is an OB and she's never heard HG patients called "pukers," but she has heard plenty of doctors say it's all psychological. Shoot, she was fired by her medical group for having HG. It wasn't a big surprise. While she was sick, her boss -- the chairman of the OB department -- said to her, "I wish I had hyperemesis so I could lie in bed and read books all day."
Zofran, reglan, and the like can be very effective. Unfortunately, they're not always covered by insurance plans. For example, because Zofran is typically used right before and after a chemotherapy session, many insurance companies won't approve its continuous use. And there are insurance companies that have refused to cover treatments for hyperemesis after the first trimester because that's when the nausea is supposed to end.