A pregnant woman suffered from the same extreme morning sickness that Kate Middleton has experienced.
Sammy Warnes from Leeds, said that she smokes cannabis to ease chronic vomiting.
The 30-year-old woman had a puff or two on a joint with a ‘minimal’ amount of tobacco, she turned to cannabis. The symptoms disappeared at 25 weeks after a strong prescription from her doctors failed to work.
She had to consider abortion from hyperemesis gravidarum while pregnant with her daughter Arabella who is now three years old. Sammy claims that she found a cure for the problem. Her daughter born fit and healthy and when the mother expected her fourth child she experienced the same symptoms and once again ignored expert advice.
Sammy is 15-weeks pregnant and she smokes cannabis a few times a week to alleviate her symptoms. The pregnant mom came across an online forum where she read about severe morning sickness, which included messages from other mothers-to-be using the Class B drug.
Sammy said: ”The thing is, the prescription drugs do more damage. There’s a risk of birth defects, so they’re quite scary to be fair. One of them was making my body do random movements. That stuff panics me. It’s actually saved both me and my baby’s life. This time round has been ten times worse.”
”I’ve had to give my job up because I just couldn’t do anything. With just two puffs I’m able to be a parent to my daughter. I only do it a few times a week. I can do normal things like go to the shops, take her to nursery and just be a mom.”
”Beforehand I was just being sick or waiting around to be sick. I was just knackered. People will say, “Oh she just wants to be a druggie.
But it’s not that at all. But I don’t get high off it. It’s a couple of puffs with a minimum bit of baccy. There needs to be a conversation about this so other women know there’s something out there that can help them.
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”Unless you’ve been through it you don’t really get it. I decided to do my own bit of research,’ Sammy recalled. ‘It was all getting too much. I wanted to see if there were any old-wives tales or old fashioned tips that would help me out. Then I found quite a few forums on women using cannabis to stop their morning sickness.”
”I was so desperate I thought I’d give it a go. I was a bit nervous when I first did it, but I was reassured by all the things I read on the forums. I think anyone would be at first. It was to medicate my body, not to get stoned. I’m not abusing it or trying to get blazed. Some days I have good days and don’t need it.”
”Other days I am throwing my guts up and need a couple of puffs. I got some a few days later and as soon as I took it the symptoms just went away. It wasn’t just a case of me feeling sick the whole time. I couldn’t do anything at all. It was amazing – it helped me get out of bed in the morning.”
”It literally worked straight away. I just couldn’t believe it. I didn’t tell my midwife as to be honest I didn’t want to cause unnecessary stress.”
NHS guidelines say ‘’using cannabis regularly during pregnancy could affect a baby’s brain development and smoke with tobacco increases the risk of the baby being born small or premature.’’
But Sammy claims that her daughter born healthy weighing 6lb 2oz. After being pregnant again, Sammy was expecting her chronic morning sickness wouldn’t return.
Sammy said: ”I was put on the tables again but the same thing happened. The sickness would disappear for about 20 minutes but then I’ll be back to hugging the toilet all day. I’ve had no choice but to take it. It worked so well last time. This time the sickness was ten times worse and I was considering having a termination.”
Despite the taboo surrounding smoking cannabis, Sammy said she has both the support of her friends and family.
She continued: ”I smoke it in my back garden in the mornings. My family are very anti-drugs and when I told them they initially kicked off. But when I told them the full story, they were like, “If it works for you that’s fine. My partner is really supportive. He noticed the difference straight away.”
”My half-siblings are supportive too. They have family members who use it to treat cerebral palsy and cancer. I’ve never told a midwife because I know I’ll get stick. Now I can do a food shop, do the house cleaning and take my little girl to nursery,”
”’When you can’t do that and you have that extreme sickness it’s just awful. The tablets have side effects of birth defects. That is known. My little girl is fit and healthy and is getting along fine at nursery. I’d rather just take a couple of puffs of weed. There are thousands of women doing the same. But there isn’t a conversation about it because they are scared their midwives will grass them up to social services.”
”I want to speak out because there is something out there which can help other women. There’s chat about cannabis being used as medicine for chronic illnesses. I just want to help and tell other women.
NHS guidelines advise if you experience severe symptoms then you need to consult doctor or hospital to seek treatment.
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