Maternity & Midwifery Forum
Midwifery Sector News

Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome during pregnancy, birth and beyond

After the actor and activist Jameela Jamil mentioned her Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome in an Instagram comment in February and was later presented with an award by the Ehlers-Danlos Society for being a patient advocate, a lot of fans were left scratching their heads.

Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) is a relatively unknown condition that affects connective tissue all over the body. Sufferers tend to have unusually stretchy skin, joints that hyper-extend and dislocate very easily and digestive problems, as well as persistent joint pain and fatigue.


Pain relief works on smooth connective tissue, so anaesthetic and pain relief doesn’t work the same way on people with hEDS. When it comes to pregnancy and birth, this can be a serious problem – in this talk, Dr Sally Pezaro explains the risks facing pregnant women with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, including very fast births, long latent stages of labour and more fatigue, pain and dislocation of joints.

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