A mum has told how she dropped four stones and almost died from severe morning sickness.
Sarah Titmus suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) in both of her pregnancies, experiencing horrific constant vomiting and nausea.
During her pregnancies the mum-of-two was unable to keep down a glass of water, could not eat, was hospitalised twice suffering from life-threatening malnutrition and her weight dropped to dangerous levels after she lost four stones.
At one stage Sarah's her blood potassium levels had dropped so low that a doctor warned she might not wake up in the morning unless she was rushed to intensive care.
Luckily, Sarah, from Coventry, West Midlands, recovered and gave birth to two healthy baby girls, Lihanna-Marrie, now five, and six-month-old Layla-Mya.
The condition affects around 1 in 100 women, but not much is known about it. Famously, the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, suffered from syndrome.
Now Sarah is sharing her experience in an effort to encourage other women to come forward and take part in a groundbreaking University of Plymouth study exploring the nutritional intake and wellbeing of women experiencing severe pregnancy sickness.
Sarah said: "I lost four stones in weight and was told I was close to death. It was like having a 24-hour sickness bug for nine months.
"Fortunately both my daughters appear to be healthy and developing normally, but it's a worry that the severe symptoms I suffered could have lifelong impacts for them and there isn't enough knowledge about that."
The research, which will be run with the help national charity Pregnancy Sickness Support, is looking for women who are less than 11 weeks pregnant and also hopes to gain insights into pregnancy outcomes.
Sarah added: "The truth is, so many people - health professionals included - don't understand HG. My poor partner was acting as mum and dad to our eldest when I was pregnant with my second, as I was bedbound.
"It can put huge pressure on all the family. We need to know more about the long term impacts of the condition, so this research is vital."
The NOURISH (Nutritional Online survey for pregnancy Induced Sickness and Hyperemesis) study, is aimed at identifying if, and to what extent, women's outcomes differ from counterparts experiencing mild to no symptoms - and provide vital evidence on the impact of the condition.
Research to date suggests that malnutrition in pregnancy can have immediate and long term effects for the baby but the degree of malnutrition in women with HG has never actually been studied.
As well as looking for women in the first trimester who have HG, the study needs to recruit those in the first trimester with mild to no symptoms.
One of the researchers begin the study, Dr Kate Maslin, senior research fellow in Maternal and Child Health at the University of Plymouth, said: "There so few studies out there that show who might be affected by HG and how it affects mother and baby.
"We need women with and without the condition to take part and help us provide more evidence on a condition that is so often misunderstood.
"We are especially interested to know more about eating habits as we know that women with severe sickness often struggle to keep down any food or fluids."
Participants will be asked to keep a food diary on a phone app and take part in online questionnaires.
Caitlin Dean, chair of Pregnancy Sickness Support, added: "Around one per cent of people experience HG in pregnancy and, if someone has had it once, they're much more likely to get it in a second pregnancy.
"Sarah's experience is sadly not the only one - we deal with calls every day from women trying to live through it. It really is the most debilitating condition at a time that should be happy and exciting.
"For anyone who's in the early stages of pregnancy, please get involved - do it for the mums of the future to ensure they have as much evidence-based support as possible."
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