Why do people who experience severe nausea during pregnancy often go untreated?

Why do people who experience severe nausea during pregnancy often go untreated?



CNN
 — 

Mineka Furtch wasn’t bothered by the idea of morning sickness after going through a miscarriage and the roller coaster of fertility medication before she finally became pregnant with her son.

But when the 29-year-old from suburban Atlanta was five weeks pregnant in 2020, she started throwing up and couldn’t stop. Some days she kept down an orange; other days, nothing. Furtch used up her paid time off at work with sick days, eventually having to rely on unpaid medical leave. She remembered her doctor telling her it was just morning sickness and things would get better.

By the time Furtch was 13 weeks pregnant, she had lost more than 20 pounds.

“I fought so hard to have this baby, and I was fighting so hard to keep this baby,” Furtch said. “I was like ‘OK, something is not right here.’”

Now, Furtch’s son is 18 months old, and she is suffering again from severe nausea and vomiting well into the second trimester of a new, unplanned pregnancy.

Mineka Furtch says her previous doctor initially downplayed her symptoms of nausea and vomiting when she was pregnant in 2020. She was eventually diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum, and the severe symptoms associated with the condition have returned now that she is pregnant again. (Shomari Furtch)

The nausea that comes with morning sickness is common in the first trimester of pregnancy, but some women, like Furtch, experience symptoms that linger much longer and require medical attention. However, they often go untreated or undertreated because the condition is misunderstood or downplayed by their doctors or the patients themselves.

Mothers have said they went without care for fear that medicine would hurt their fetus, because they couldn’t afford it, or because their doctor didn’t take them seriously. Left alone, symptoms get more difficult to control, and such delays can become medical emergencies. Extreme cases are called hyperemesis gravidarum and may last throughout a pregnancy, even with treatment.

“For most women, it’s not until they end up in the ER and go, ‘Well, most of my friends haven’t been to an ER,’ they realize this isn’t normal,” said Kimber MacGibbon, executive director of the Her Foundation, which researches and raises awareness of hyperemesis gravidarum.

There are a lot of unknowns around the cause of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy. Research has indicated that genetics plays a role in its severity, and hyperemesis is estimated to occur in up to 3% of pregnancies. But there’s no clear line differentiating morning sickness from hyperemesis or consistent criteria to diagnose the condition, which MacGibbon said results in underestimating its impact.

Wide-ranging estimates suggest at least 60,000 peoplepossibly 300,000 or more — go to a hospital in the U.S. each year with pregnancy-related dehydration or malnourishment. An untold number go to walk-in clinics or don’t seek medical care.

The effects ripple into every aspect of a person’s life and the economy. One study estimated the total annual economic burden of severe morning sickness and hyperemesis in the US in 2012 amounted to more than $1.7 billion in lost work, caregiver time and the cost of treatment.

Research for this article was personal. I’m pregnant, and by the fifth week I was vomiting five to seven times a day. My

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Complementary and Alternative Medicine Market to Experience Substantial Growth of USD 477.29 Billion by 2029, Size, Share, Growth Rate, Demand, Opportunities and Competitive Landscape

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Market to Experience Substantial Growth of USD 477.29 Billion by 2029, Size, Share, Growth Rate, Demand, Opportunities and Competitive Landscape

NEW YORK, Dec. 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Data Bridge Market Research has recently published a Report, titled, “Complementary and Alternative Medicine Market” The report offers an extensive analysis of key growth strategies, drivers, opportunities, key segment, Porter’s Five Forces analysis, and competitive landscape. This Complementary and Alternative Medicine report proves to be a finest and excellent market report as it is generated with the myriad of critical factors. To put marketplace clearly into the focus, most up to date market insights and analysis has been offered via this report. The market data presented in the report helps to recognize different market opportunities present internationally. Complementary and Alternative Medicine report is also useful when launching a new product or expanding the business regionally or globally. Moreover, it considers both qualitative and quantitative techniques of market analysis where focus groups or in-depth interviews and customer survey or analysis of secondary data has been carried out respectively.

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Data Bridge Market Research analyses that the complementary and alternative medicine market was valued at USD 100.04 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach USD 477.29 billion by 2029, registering a CAGR of 21.57% during the forecast period of 2022 to 2029. The market report curated by the Data Bridge Market Research team includes in-depth expert analysis, patient epidemiology, pipeline analysis, pricing analysis, and regulatory framework.

Download Sample Copy of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Market @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-complementary-and-alternative-medicine-market

Market Overview:

Medical products and practices that are not considered a part of traditional or mainstream medical therapy are referred to as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). It combines self-administered items and activities, including homoeopathic remedies, herbal medications, dietary supplements, yoga, chiropractic, acupuncture, and massage therapy. Manipulative and body-based therapies, biofield therapy, and entire medical systems are all included.

In recent years, the complementary and alternative medicine market is anticipated to grow rapidly during the forecast period. Approximately two-thirds of the population in most industrialized and developing nations has reported using alternative or complementary medicine. Several countries are moving toward the legalisation of alternative medicine and therapies that are substantiated by clinical evidence. Complementary and alternative therapies are utilized to treat chronic illnesses, long-term discomfort, and supplementary vitamins and food supplementation in addition to a conventional diet.

Opportunities for Players:

Moreover, the market’s growth is fueled by an increase in the number of research and development activities. This will provide beneficial opportunities for the complementary and alternative medicine market growth. Along with this, rising drug approvals and launches will further propel the market’s growth rate.

The market has grown substantially as a result of new product introductions in response to increased demand for treatments and continual innovation. For instance, Optum had purchased DaVita Medical Group in 2019. This purchase is towards the development of Novel therapies that children may administer and that can assist physicians, health professionals, physical therapists, and chiropractors. Furthermore, nearly two-thirds of the population in most industrialized and developing nations reported utilizing some type of alternative or complementary treatment as

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Doctors Call for Systemic Reform to Improve Black Health Experience

Doctors Call for Systemic Reform to Improve Black Health Experience

This article is part of our series looking at how Black Americans navigate the healthcare system. According to our exclusive survey, one in three Black Americans report having experienced racism while seeking medical care. In a roundtable conversation, our Medical Advisory Board called for better representation among providers to help solve this widespread problem.

Key Takeaways

  • Anti-racism and cultural sensitivity training can minimize disrespect and stigmatization in patient-provider interactions.
  • Black patients may feel more trustful of providers who understand their experiences. Improving representation in the profession can bring more comfort to Black patients seeking care.
  • Combatting racism in health care requires sweeping systemic change in health systems and society at large, Verywell experts say.

Plenty of medical research explores inequitable outcomes for Black Americans navigating the health system, but few probe the reasons why those disparities exist and persist.

According to a Verywell survey, one in three Black Americans have experienced racism while navigating the U.S. healthcare system. Racism damages the Black health experience by influencing the entire health journey.

The survey, consisting of 1,000 White respondents and 1,000 Black respondents, asked about how their healthcare experience drives their decisions to switch providers or make health decisions.

To get at the heart of why racism persists in health care and what can be done to alleviate its harms, Verywell gathered a panel of four members of its Medical Advisory Board representing different medical specialties. In a roundtable conversation led by Verywell’s Chief Medical Advisor Jessica Shepherd, MD, the panelists explained how health disparities play out in their work and their visions for a more equitable health system.

Here’s what they had to say.

Separate Fact from Fiction

A key step in reducing health inequities is to tailor patient communication appropriately.

Each health provider and staff member should undergo anti-bias and cultural humility training, said Latesha Elopre, MD, MSPH, assistant professor of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Patients may experience racism at every step of a medical visit—more than a quarter of Black respondents to the Verywell survey reported experiencing racism while scheduling appointments and checking in.  

“Patients have a reason to not trust healthcare systems, because health care systems have historically been racist and are currently racist,” Elopre said.

When discussing racism broadly, the facts and figures used can skew one’s perception of the reality. For instance, contrary to popular belief, Black Americans go to the doctor as often as White Americans. Three-fourths of respondents said they have seen a health provider in the last year and most get a physical every year, according to the Verywell survey.

Shamard Charles, MD, MPH

[Patients] are trusting you to be their encyclopedia. They are trusting you to be better than Google.

— Shamard Charles, MD, MPH

“The reason why some of these myths continue to persist is because on a systemic level, the physicians and the healthcare providers allow it,” said Shamard Charles, MD, MPH, executive director of public health at St. Francis College in New York. Providers

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