Kayla Dowdle, with her nearly 2-year-old son Luca Walsh, suffered from severe morning sickness - hyperemesis gravidarum - during her pregnancy that developed into an eating disorder. Photo / Eva de Jong
Kayla Dowdle, with her nearly 2-year-old son Luca Walsh, suffered from severe morning sickness - hyperemesis gravidarum - during her pregnancy that developed into an eating disorder. Photo / Eva de Jong
A Whanganui woman whose severe morning sickness during pregnancy turned into an eating disorder is urging other mums to seek help if they are struggling after giving birth.
For 28-year-old mum Kayla Dowdle a nightmare pregnancy didn’t end with the birth of her healthy baby boy.
Six weeks into her pregnancy in 2022, Dowdle felt painfully nauseous and then began vomiting. It was relentless, with Dowdle vomiting six to 10 times on her worst days.
“I couldn’t even keep water down; nothing would stay down. Even if I didn’t eat, I was still vomiting,” Dowdle said.
After 16 weeks of consistent vomiting, her midwife told her she had a condition called hyperemesis gravidarum, which causes severe vomiting and nausea during pregnancy likely due to a rise in a specific hormone level. It affects less than 3% of women.
“I had never heard of it, I just thought some women got sicker than others in pregnancy,” Dowdle said.
The severe morning sickness left her isolated and unable to leave bed, and without the support of her family she would have struggled to make it through the pregnancy.
“I wouldn’t take him back for the world, if I had to do it again for him I would," Kayla Dowdle says. Photo / Eva de Jong
In the lead-up to giving birth, she was put on medications such as Ondansetron, received an anti-nausea injection into her hip and was taken to hospital on multiple visits to receive fluids.
When Dowdle gave birth to her son he was oxygen-deprived due to the umbilical cord being wrapped around his neck and had to undergo whole body cooling for three days. Dowdle was unable to hold him during this time.
“I wouldn’t wish that sickness upon anybody, it was beyond horrible,” she said.
“But I’m so grateful to have my son. I wouldn’t take him back for the world. If I had to do it again for him I would.”
After giving birth, Dowdle stopped vomiting, which she hoped meant the stressful times had come to an end.
Instead, she found herself dealing with postpartum depression and a complete loss of appetite: “I had a very low mood, was sleeping a lot and not leaving the house.”
“I think being a mum and being busy you kind of don’t put yourself first.
“My meals just started getting smaller and smaller ... and my appetite just slowly started going.
“It’s the weirdest feeling going from eating so much to never being hungry.”
She saw a specialist through the Maternal, Infant, Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Addiction Service (MICAMHAS) but funding for appointments only lasted until her child was 1 year old.
In April this year, Dowdle sought help for an eating disorder through Community Mental Health Serviceand was declined on three occasions.
After a nurse at Dowdle’s GP clinic pushed for her to be seen by the service her referral was accepted.
“If it wasn’t for her, I think I probably would have ended up in hospital with this eating disorder because of how bad it got.”
Whanganui Mental Health & Addiction Services director Louise Allsopp said referrals were assessed based on the information provided and people may be redirected to other more appropriate services or back to their referrer.
“If a person’s referral is not accepted and their condition becomes more serious, we would encourage them to go back to their GP in the first instance and they can update the hospital specialists via a new referral.”
Allsopp said there were specialist eating disorders services in all four regions of New Zealand with recognised referral pathways in place for those seeking help with eating disorders.
New Zealand Eating Disorders Clinic co-director Kellie Lavender said a common misconception about eating disorders was that they were only brought about by a desire to lose weight.
“Anyone at any age can develop an eating disorder, and there’s a lot of physical changes, hormonal changes or weight changes that alter routine or leave some people vulnerable to developing an eating disorder.
“Often during major changes like pregnancy or menopause, these are vulnerable times for women, and so in some cases, disordered eating may develop.”
Dowdle wants other mothers out there to know that seeking help during or after a pregnancy is worthwhile even if it feels impossible in the moment.
“There is always someone who will listen and you just have to keep pushing for that help; I wanted to share my story so other people feel like they can reach out.
One component of an ARFID diagnosis can be having a stressful or traumatic experience such as a vomiting bug, virus or choking incident which leads to food avoidance, she said.
“The anxiety around eating can become so great that the symptoms become a diagnosis of ARFID on their own, but the difference between ARFID and something like anorexia or bulimia is there is no fear of weight gain.”
Dowdle said her sickness during pregnancy and the ongoing struggle it had caused with an eating disorder had made a lasting impact.
“It has robbed me of having another child because I will not go through that again.”
Do you need help? • Get in touch with Eating Disorders Association of New Zealand if you need help finding a private provider in your area by phoning Ph 0800 2 EDANZ or emailing info@ed.org.nz. If you need urgent help, reach out to your GP or local mental health provider. Or if you need to talk to someone else: • Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or 09 5222 999 within Auckland (available 24/7) • Youthline: Call 0800 376 633, free text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz or online chat. • Need to talk? Free call or text 1737 (available 24/7) • Kidsline: 0800 543 754 (available 24/7)
Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.
