When I first discovered I was pregnant, I naively assumed my chronic sickness was just morning sickness that would pass. My GP quickly disabused me of that notion with a diagnosis of Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG), and I learned about Doxylamine Succinate and Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, sold in the UK as Xonvea. It worked wonders for me, so I was shocked to learn that not everyone gets to enjoy this particular miracle of modern pharmacology.

Jasmeen Basi, a mum of three from Southampton, describes her experience with HG as utterly horrific: 'You can't eat anything. I would smell water and I would vomit.' She was offered first-line drugs that barely helped - reducing her vomiting from 10 times a day to six. By her third pregnancy, she'd done her homework and requested Xonvea, but hit a wall of red tape. The GP couldn't prescribe it without consultant approval, so Jasmeen spent days chasing it up. Desperate, she paid for a private GP appointment: 'It was less than four minutes long. And within about two minutes of me finishing that phone call, I had that prescription in my inbox. It was completely life-changing.'

Marianne Eldridge from Pregnancy Sickness Support charity says a survey found the vast majority of women who used Xonvea found it effective - more so than other medications. But Professor of Obstetric Medicine Catherine Nelson-Piercy explains that while Xonvea is the only drug with a specific MHRA label for treating nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, it costs about £28 per packet compared to £3 or £4 for older antihistamines. The national guidelines don't prioritise it, so it's just one of several first-line options.

Access depends on your local Integrated Care Board (ICB) - a postcode lottery, as Eldridge calls it. In Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Xonvea is on the formulary, but with caveats: it's recommended only for women who haven't responded to other antiemetics. Chief Pharmacist Neil Hardy confirms it's not the preferred first-line treatment but can be considered for those who fail other options. The Department of Health and Social Care says decisions are up to the prescribing doctor, and a Single National Formulary is in the works to improve equitable access. For now, some women are still banging their heads against walls - literally, in Jasmeen's case - to get relief.