A mum has spoken about the trauma of her pregnancy, as she vomited 40 times a day while suffering from the same illness as Kate Middleton.
Jessica Craner said her pregnancy became a "torturous" experience as she endured an almost 24-hour illness which left her feeling like she had been "poisoned".
The first-time mum, from Huddersfield, had started suffering from intense nausea and vomiting at about six weeks pregnant with daughter Anna, lasting until she was 20 weeks.
Jessica had been suffering from Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) - a condition at the extreme end of the pregnancy sickness spectrum, affecting about 3% of people with pregnancy sickness
Kate Middleton suffered with the illness, and Jessica said left her feeling constantly dizzy and weak, adding it was like a "sickness bug that never goes", reports ExaminerLive.
Jessica said: "The mental trauma of feeling so shocking has no escape and will stay with me forever. I was on four different meds, and nothing really seemed to work. I felt desperate."
"From 6 weeks to 20 weeks I had constant, 24-hour intense nausea and vomiting up to 40 times a day. I felt dizzy and weak. It was like a sickness bug never goes. It felt torturous but public perception was quite dismissive, which makes you feel much worse and ‘weak’. It wasn’t until I gave birth that the vomiting stopped.
"When I contacted Pregnancy Sickness Support (PSS), i then felt listened to and was given immediate support and in touch with a peer supporter who was amazing. The difference she made to my pregnancy; I will always be grateful to her."
Pregnancy Sickness Support provides several services to alleviate the suffering of those experiencing HG including (but not limited to) our helplines, training health care professionals, facilitating new research and providing peer support. The peer support service matches a HG sufferer with a volunteer who has lived through and understands the condition.
They provide emotional support to ensure that the sufferer does not feel alone during their HG battle. Having used this service herself, Jessica now offers her time as a volunteer. She said: "I am now a peer supporter and the women I supported over the years are so grateful. It means the world to them like it did for me. To help keep Pregnancy Sickness Support running to support the women and babies is paramount. It is lifesaving."
The cost of supporting one person experiencing HG throughout their pregnancy is £150. Jessica is aiming to raise £600 to support four HG sufferers of the future, in their time of need.
The Huddersfield mum will be running over 80 miles in 40 days in a bid to raise awareness and fundraise.
The 40-Day challenge is Pregnancy Sickness Supports annual fundraiser which starts on April 6 and finishes on May 15, on International HG Awareness Day.
The 40 days represent the 40 weeks of pregnancy, for some sufferers that can be 40 weeks of relentless sickness. The challenge is designed to raise awareness of this little-known condition whilst raising vital funds for our PSS.
Faye Jepson, Fundraising coordinator, Pregnancy Sickness Support, said: "We are a small charity that receives no government funding, meaning we rely on fundraising from people who have experienced HG.
"We don’t charge sufferers for the intensive support that we provide and as HG is such an underappreciated condition it can be hard to find the money to keep our work going. Jessica’s fundraising will help us to provide support for people who are affected by this life-changing condition, during pregnancy and beyond."
