Exams and Tests

• Your healthcare provider may ask for a urine sample to check for ketones, which is a chemical found in dehydration.
  
  
• In severe cases, your healthcare provider may also take blood samples to check your blood sugar, electrolyte (sodium, potassium, chloride, and bicarbonate) levels, liver function, or levels of certain hormones.
  
  
  • These tests may help your doctor decide how dehydrated you are.
    
    
  • They may also help decide if a different condition is causing your nausea and vomiting, such as a urinary tract infection, hepatitis, or gallstones.
    
    
• Depending on how far along you are in your pregnancy, the doctor may also check the baby's health by listening for a heartbeat with a Doppler instrument, or by ultrasonography.
  
  
• Your healthcare provider may diagnose hyperemesis gravidarum only after excluding other serious illnesses. The following are other disorders that may show symptoms similar to hyperemesis gravidarum:
  
  
  • Side effects from too much of a certain drug
    
    
  • Liver and gastrointestinal disorders
    
    
    • Preeclampsia: A toxic condition that develops in late pregnancy and causes a sudden rise in blood pressure, excessive weight gain, fluid build-up, albumin in your urine, severe headache, and visual disturbances.
      
      
    • Peptic ulcer
      
      
    • Gallstones
      
      
    • Gastroenteritis (food poisoning)
      
      
    • Appendicitis
      
      
    • Migraine
      
      
    • Metabolic disorders: Hyperthyroidism, Addison disease, diabetic ketoacidosis