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"As the attack progresses the nausea becomes constant. Nothing will relieve it--I can only describe it as absolute hell and I feel so awful that I honestly want to die. As well as the constant, unrelenting nausea, I am utterly exhausted and all I want to do is sleep."
| Fiona, age 17, England |
"The nausea is controlling, unrelenting and consumes every ounce of strength. I always sensed, real or imagined, that 'everyone' thought I should be able to stop vomiting on my own. But sheer will does not control these attacks, a fact that's hard to articulate--sick or well. I knew my parents were worried, exhausted and even angry at times. I felt very guilty about not being able to stop vomiting and that made me feel even worse. That's a big burden for a child! I can say that it's very important that parents don't doubt their child about CVS and its effects."
| Jennifer, age 27, Illinois |
"When I am having an attack I am in a semi-comatose state, I am not aware of any goings on around me... I sometimes hear mum or dad or Sam saying something where they need an answer and although I am asleep I hear them and my mind knows the answer but it's trapped so I can't tell them."
| Lucy, age 14, England |
"...you wonder when you wake up--is this another bad day? And then I hold my breath each morning until she appears. We are so thankful to learn of other people with CVS. For many years we thought it was just a strange thing with our child--now we know its a 'real disease' with a 'real name'."
| Linda, Idaho |
"I hate this disease!!--not knowing when it will rear it's ugly head and take our daughter away from us, sometimes for as long as 10 days. She is so sick she doesn't speak or even want to be read to. It is so painful to see someone you love suffer so much and not be able to stop it."
| Nancy, Pennsylvania |
"We're up against it here with CVS. As doctors and parents we're struggling together as equals against a common problem. The collaborative model for the doctor-patient-family relationship is critical in the management of this disease."
| D. Fleisher, MD |
"..cyclic vomiting, though not fatal or progressive or productive of permanent organ damage... appears to be one of the most frustrating and elusive of childhood chronic illnesses. Because of the frightening unpredictability of its episodes, the lack of known etiology, and the lack of a clear treatment regimen or prognosis, conditions for maximum family stress are created. Although the disease may ultimately remit, one runs the risk of leaving a child and family permanently psychologically scarred."
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K.Longeway, PhD clinical psychologist |
"The mother of a patient, on account of anxiety and loss of sleep, presents a pathetic figure as the curtain drops on the trying drama. The attending physician is subjected to the embarrassment of his conscious futility in answering the parent's question as to what measures may be taken to prevent the next occurrence."
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P. Smith, MD 1934 medical journal article on CVS |
way constitutes an endorsement of the page by the
CVSA or any affiliation by the author with CVSA.
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