I need you to imagine this... You are pregnant (oh, just do it 🙄). You have been nauseous and puking for 3 days straight. You go to the emergency room, where they give you 3 different kinds of medication, none of which work for you. You call your family doctor the following morning, explaining your situation and begging for an emergency appointment, only to have the receptionist inform you "there's no spots available" and "you'll just have to wait until Tuesday," which is still 4 days away.
For the next 4 days, you're expected to be nauseous all day, puking every 30 minutes, unable to eat, drink, or sleep, zero relief, WHILE PREGNANT -- and you're just expected to deal with it. And uhhhhh I dunno, don't die?
Obviously, I couldn't accept that as my reality. My husband and I began to look for other options on our own. And, praise be to God, He gave us the answers we were searching for 🙏
I had recently gone to get bloodwork done, specifically in regards to my thyroid. After 3 long years, my suspicions were finally confirmed: my thyroid levels are extremely low, indicating hyperthyroid. The "only way" to solve this issue is either with medication, or removal of the thyroid.
(The normal TSH levels are 0.4 - 4. As you can see, mine are at 0.05, indicating extremely low)
And, despite my doctor knowing about my low levels, he still told me to suffer.
Thyroid is linked to gut health, so my husband and I immediately turned to medicinal weed. We made cannabis-infused butter with a quarter of weed. I take about one teaspoon and I am nausea-free for 4 hours. I've been able to eat and sleep again. As of today, after 3 days of detoxing, the only times I experience nausea is with new foods, or (unfortunately) having a bowel movement.
(Image created using an AI art generator on NightCafe)
And while I'm incredibly grateful to be in the position that I'm in (I knew about the benefits of weed during my first pregnancy), I recognize that most women are not. There are women who have had to terminate very wanted pregnancies, simply because they could not find the help, the relief, that they needed.
And then to have my doctor simply wave me off, to have me fend for myself...
Needless to say, I will be looking for a new family doctor after my appointment -- if I cannot rely on my doctor during a MEDICAL EMERGENCY during PREGNANCY, then what's the point? It's really given me some time to dwell on it; perhaps it is my calling to help other mothers and babies going through the same situation as me. In the meantime, I'm going to share this knowledge with my hyperemesis gravidarum community ✊️
