Dr Barnie-Adshead first became interested in pregnancy sickness in the 1960's as a GP and did some research trying to find the cause. When Dr Gadsby joined the practice in 1979, he became involved in developing the research. It was clear that the condition was generally under-researched and not fully appreciated & that the natural history of the condition was not well described. Funding was obtained to do a prospective community study, describing the features of pregnancy sickness in 363 women, each of whom delivered a healthy baby. This study was published in 1993 and it has become widely quoted. The work has been described in a number of newspaper articles and Dr Gadsby has spoken on the BBC radio 4 programme "You and Yours" on two occasions and he was "referee" for the BMJ, Breath of Learning article, Treatments for nausea and vomiting Oct 2004.
In 1998, Dr Gadsby was invited to talk about this research at the first International Conference on Nausea & Vomiting in Pregnancy held in Toronto. There he met people from "motherisk" based at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, who run a telephone support line for women experiencing pregnancy sickness symptoms.. He thought it would be wonderful to be able to provide a similar service here in the UK. Since then Dr Barnie-Adshead and Dr Gadsby have been raising funds and as a result, Pregnancy Sickness Support was registered as a Charitable Trust in 2002.
Dr Roger Gadsby (Chairman) is a GP in Nuneaton and also works for three sessions a week as Senior Lecturer in Primary Care at the University of Warwick. He has had an interest in pregnancy sickness symptoms since he joined the same practice as Dr Tony Barnie-Adshead in 1979. Together they have carried out research and published papers and articles on pregnancy sickness symptoms.
Dr Tony Barnie-Adshead is a retired GP in Nuneaton. He has shared research into various aspects of pregnancy sickness since the mid 1960's. His interest started when a lady with severe symptoms said that it had been such a bad experience that she didn't want to contemplate having another pregnancy and didn't medical science know what was causing it? He has spent the last 35 years researching the answer to that question.
Ms Caroline Pratt is the daughter of Dr Tony Barnie-Adshead. She suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum (severe pregnancy sickness) and was lucky to benefit from the knowledge of her father. She says "It is difficult for people who don't suffer to understand how unpleasant it can be. I think that the work of this charity is important as it is providing support and information for sufferers and carers".
Mrs Liz Hammond is a midwife who worked for twelve years in Nuneaton. She has two young children and suffered with pregnancy sickness in both pregnancies.
