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Best of 2025: Don’t call it morning sickness: ‘At times in my pregnancy I wondered if this was death coming for me’

Dec 17, 2025
Dive into the raw account of relentless nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. Discover how dismissive medical responses leave many feeling isolated and ignored. Learn about hyperemesis gravidarum's global prevalence and its tragic historical remedies, from arsenic to electric shock. Hear the chilling implications of thalidomide and how modern research may offer solutions. This heart-wrenching discussion sheds light on ongoing disparities in care and reveals both the torments and triumphs of becoming a mother.
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ANECDOTE

Pregnancy Days Spent Between Vomiting And Tolstoy

  • Abby Stevenson vomited so frequently she read War and Peace between bouts to escape the nausea.
INSIGHT

HG Is A Global, Underrecognized Condition

  • Up to 3% of pregnant women worldwide get hyperemesis gravidarum, with rates higher in some regions like parts of China.
ANECDOTE

Victorian Medicine Took HG Seriously — Brutally

  • Victorian and early 20th-century doctors often treated pernicious vomiting with extreme interventions like Bossy's dilator and rectal alimentation.
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