'My Daughter Suffers From Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome—Here's What That Means'

Chandra Wilson, who plays Dr. Miranda Bailey on "Grey’s Anatomy," tells her story.

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Chandra Wilson plays of the role of Dr. Miranda Bailey on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy. When her daughter Sarina McFarlane was struck with a mystery illness seven years ago, she had to do some doctoring of her own to figure out what was wrong—and how to get her daughter help.

When my daughter Sarina was 16, it seemed like she had either food poisoning or a food allergy: She was vomiting and having extreme abdominal pain for about three days. We went to our local ER initially, but despite all of the tests they ran, everything showed up negative. 

The same symptoms showed up again six months later. We thought about what food she might have eaten again, but this time, the symptoms were even stronger, and I took her to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for more extensive testing. They thought perhaps there was a blockage in her stomach, and they recommended an endoscopy procedure. That was the first time I got scared. This was not just confusing, it was serious.

But still, despite her nausea, stomach pains, and vomiting, the endoscopy showed no blockages. 

I knew that my child was in an incredible amount of pain, and we had to figure out what it was. Each test—like gastric emptying tests, or CT scans, or ultrasounds, or MRIs—became more and more overwhelming to think about. But it was my job not to be overwhelmed because I needed to stay calm for her. It was most important to come up with a plan. 

Her pain and vomitting became a monthly occurance, as did our ER visits. I was always keeping track, ready to inform new doctors and new nurses about what did she eat or did not eat, explaining her symptoms over and over again.


She had to check into the hospital each time for dehydration and pain management. Doctors thought about putting her on antidepressants, which didn't make sense to me because we saw no emotional connection to her pain and vomitting. They weren’t stress induced. The attacks would come out of the blue. 

Ten months after her first episode, we finally received the diagnosis of cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) and mitochondrial disease, which affected her energy levels. With mitochondrial disease and CVS, you don’t have to have one to have the other, but there is a strong relationship between the two. Mitochondrial disease is chronic and basically doesn't allow cells to produce enough energy. 

Each one affects Sarina differently. CVS is a disorder that causes various episodes of nausea, vomitting, and exhaustion that come out of nowhere. It's caused by a myriad of things, but mostly, it's still a bit mysterious. A CVS trigger could be the time of day, or your menses, or over-excitement. A big part of treatment is figuring out the triggers and avoiding or managing them. There are some medications you can take prior if you are in a position where you have to do something you know is a trigger, like a long car ride. 

The disorder is often found in children, so things became problematic for Sarina when she became an adult. When you’re at a children’s hospital, you have the benefit of the doubt because the parents are there as an advocate. But with the transition to adulthood, the parents aren’t around anymore. When an adult steps into an ER every month presenting with pain and vomiting, the first thing they look for is drug and alcohol use. If you aren’t in a position to advocate for yourself because of the pain, being able to say, “I’m a cyclic vomiting syndrome sufferer with mitochondrial disease,” they’re going to jump to their own conclusions. It’s very difficult to advocate for yourself while you’re in excruciating pain.


Because of this, I was motivated to direct an episode of Grey’s Anatomy about CVS. Having that diagnosis changed the course of the journey for my daughter. It gave us something to focus on and figure out. Because of the diagnosis, we were able to get in contact with the community of CVS sufferers to get support. 

I’d never made a pitch at Grey’s before, but I wanted to direct an episode on the difficulty of diagnosing CVS. The Grey's team wanted to support us in saying the name of the disease out loud on television so someone could be watching and maybe think: “Oh, my God. That’s my kid. That’s my dad. That’s me.” Many people contacted us to say they went to their doctor as a result of seeing that show, and got the diagnosis, and now they know where to go. 


For sufferers, advocacy is important. If you don’t have a family member or good friend to go with you to the ER to make sure the doctors and nurses are on board in understanding your condition, it's helpful to create a one-page sheet that says who you are, what you have, your insurance, and how you've been treated for these episodes in the past. 

The other step is your own personal medical journey with a health professional to come up with a treatment protocol that works for you. 

This yoga routine will help tame an upset stomach:

Sarina, who's now in college, will go a year or sometimes two years without an episode. But then she might go a year with an episode every month. We keep trying to put our finger on anything that changed during that time. We still haven’t found the rhyme or reason, but we're still looking for one, determined to help her and others suffering from this syndrome. 

To learn more about support for sufferers of cyclic vomiting syndrome, visit www.CVSAOnline.org

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