Hyperemesis gravidarum is a very severe type of morning sickness which only affects 1 to 2 percent of all pregnant women. Meanwhile, morning sickness affects around 90 percent of pregnant women.
Women who have suffered from Hyperemesis gravidarum while they were pregnant are speaking out, sending their sympathies to Kate Middleton as she suffers through this difficult time.
Kristen Kemp recounts lying on the floor of her bathroom believing she was being engulfed by unseen flame, according to the Huffington Post. Kemp was 7 weeks pregnant with twins, vomiting non-stop and had severe dehydration and hallucinations.
"I wanted to kill myself," says Kemp, a children's novelist, whose doctor hospitalized her after that hallucinatory episode. "My hyperemesis put my whole family -- and me -- through hell. It's a depressing and crazy-making illness."
Dr. Amos Grunebaum, director of obstetrics at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center said Hyperemesis gravidarum can be life-threatening to pregnant women and their fetuses.
"Morning sickness is normal," he said. "Hyperemesis gravidarum is not."
"Women with hyperemesis gravidarum are sick, they're physically sick and they need to be taken care of," Grunebaum said. "They need medication and often they need to get admitted to get hydrated," though some women can be treated at home.
While Kate Middleton was hospitalized for Hyperemesis gravidarum, two Australian radio DJ's played a prank on an unsupecting nurse who answered the phone as the DJ's pretended to be the Queen of England, wanting to find out how Kate was doing. The nurse followed along, patiently answering their questions. Tragically, a day later, the nurse, Jacintha Saldanha was found dead, believed to have been from a suicide although the police have not comfirmed the cause.
