Has anyone survived EXTREME sickness in pregnancy

[tryingtobemarypoppins]

I am 12 weeks still sick all day, weight loss now of 1/2 stone, eating is becoming really hard and I'm so weak. I have a really active 20 month old and the two types of tablets I have been given aren't working!

HELP!

[Pinkjenny]

Have a search for the threads on hyperemesis. I am 19 weeks pg now, and still being sick, albeit not all day any more.

Hang in there, it's bloody hard work, I have a 2.3yo also. I do feel quite sorry for myself a lot of the time!

[tryingtobemarypoppins]

Glad not to be alone pinkjenny. Did you have this in your last pregnancy? As this has come as a shock for me to feel like this!

[tutu100]

I had it in both my pregnancies. You will live but you will feel like crap. Don't try to do too much. Don't be too hard on yourself, and make sure you get as much rest as you can. Hard I know with a toddler, but really take advantage when anyone offers to babysit.

After my first pregnancy I vowed never to do it again, but ds1 was worth it so did do it again. Ds2 was worth it aswell, but he is 8 months old and I still can remeber that horrible nausea and the vomiting which went on for the whole pregnancy. I had to have 3 tablets and an injection at one point to stop the vomiting (didn't help the nausea though).

[Pinkjenny]

I only had it until 11 weeks in my last pg, so I was horrified when at that point this time I was still hugging the toilet!

tutu100 - I am resigned to never going through this again

I actually think the nausea is worse than the vomiting! It's just relentless.

[PrammyMammy]

I had terrible sickness during my last pregnancy, until around 25 weeks. Every day, about 20 times per day. I lost weight and had a drip because of dehydration. My doctor told me it was just morning sickness and i was to eat ginger biscuits in the morning, but i was never able to keep them down. I saw another doc one say who gave me tablets that you put behind your bottom lip, and they gave me an injection of the same thing at hospital, it worked great, but i cant remember what they were called.
It is horrible, and i can only imagine how hard it is with a 20 mo. I hope it passes soon.

[tryingtobemarypoppins]

Prammymammy any idea what the drug behind your lip was?

[NorkyButNice]

I swore I was never doing it again after hyperemesis with DS (now 22 months) but we're planning on TTC in a couple of months so you will forget

It is awful though - the only drug that worked for me was Zofran so if that's not one of the ones you are taking then speak to your GP about it. I lost about 1.5 stone before my doctor would prescribe it to me. It didn't get totally rid of the nausea but did enable me to do the 20 minute journey to work so I could throw up there rather than being bed-bound.

And feel free to thump anyone who suggests that ginger biscuits might help

[PrammyMammy]

I can't remember sorry, but it was to stop me throwing up, and it worked lol. You should ask your gp about it. It can be given in an injection form too. I think you put it behind your lip because if swallowed you just bring it back up. They were tiny little things.

[audreyraines]

the pill under the lip is generally buccastem. i tried taking this, but the taste of it dissolving made me vomit before it had properly dissolved, so wasn't much help at all.

it's really really hard, but you do survive (somehow), and you can just hope that maybe it will disappear at some point of the pregnancy, or even if not, that the vomiting and nausea will reduce and food will start to become appealing again, which is what happened for me. i'm 35 weeks and still vomit sometimes, but mostly i can eat normally and have still managed to put on enough weight.

[Firsttimer7259]

A few weeks ago I started to throw up a lot for a day and a half and got concerned about developing HG or just about dehydration and keeping food/water down. I was throwing up water if I drank any. I had been nauseous fro about 4 weeks when the throwing up started in earnest. before that I threw up here and there but not enough to make me worried I was not keeping enough nutrition and fluid in me.

I have a history of stomach problems and felt that if I coulnt amke it stop quickly the situation would escalate.

So I went to GP got a week's prescription of Cyclizine. I took 3 days worth and am now much better, albeit with occassional nausea.

Cycline does not stop nausea just the vomiting. but stopping vomitting gave me a chance for everything to settle down I felt. The tablets are tiny and so easy to take. The effect is cumulative so you dont feel better immediately but need to give it a few days - but they definately worked on me. Studies show some risks but minor and I felt that on balance this was the safer thing to do.

I find it annoying that everyone faffs around with home remedies and just says this is part of pregnancy (and then the extreme cases get hospitalised/drips) when there is medication that could help.

Good luck with finding something that works for you. And for those poor souls who are sick throughout pregnancy I really really sympathise. It was the most dreadful thing.

[Pinkjenny]

If my mother tells me one more time to eat a digestive before I get out of bed, I will not be responsible for my actions.

[tutu100]

I had buccastem when I was pregnant with ds1, and found it worked really well. Didn't seem as effective with ds2, but it did help enough to allow me to keep down some water.

I found theat dehydration made me feel wprse cos after a day on a drip in hospital I felt better in myself (and my head) even though it took a few more days to work out what tablets and injections would stop most of the vomiting.

I did get some relief between 26 and 38 weeks when the nausea got much better. I was still sick a couple of times a day, but could eat and keep down food I fancied.

[katendmom]

Oh dear, yes, I was in the same boat as you're and now somewhat back again . I was very sick all day all night (who the heck calls it "morning sickness"?! I guess it is morning somewhere on the planet all the time!) from about 6 weeks until about 16 weeks... I got much better after that. I am now 30 1/2 weeks and even though the horrible MS is not back, I do feel nauseous a lot again... I think it is this baby pushing up on my stomach. With my DS I was sick for 2! weeks - that's it! So this pg took me by surprise.

Believe it or not what helped me was to munch on baby carrots... ALL DAY LONG! I was afraid I was going to turn yellow. I have NO explanation WHY carrots Also lemons. I would cut them up into thin slices and sprinkle with some sugar. Let them sit a bit and then eat SLOWLY throughout the day? With my DS chewing gum helped a lot but now the thought of it makes me want to vomit!

[tryingtobemarypoppins]

Thanks so much ladies. So far I have tried Cycline and Metoclopramide but they didn't touch the sickness. I called my GP tonight and left a message asking for buccastem after finding out that a GP friend of mine self perscribed it for herself saying it was much better! (shame she didn't tell me this 12 weeks ago!)

Ice lollies help a bit. I ahd nothing like this with my DS. Why would it be this bad this time around??

[Jemli]

I was terribly sick 24/7 for the first 22 weeks and thought it would never end, but it did and after that i hardly knew i was pregnant. There was only one positive thing from the whole sickness, I was the same weight going into hospital to give birth as I was whne I started 9 months previous. Hence after having a healthy 8.5lb baby boy I immediately lost 1 stone from starting weight. Best diet I have ever been on.

Hope you are feeling better soon. Have you tried orange barley water (robinsons) with ice cubes in. That helped me a little.

[beautifulgirls]

Every sympathy for you - had a bad time with DD#2 ended up in hospital on iv etc. Metoclopramide helped me, but I think everyone is different. Hope you can find something that does work for you.

Why has it happened this time? No idea for sure but they say it is more likely with girl babies, but there will be plenty of ladies here who will say otherwise too. I have had 2 girls, sick to differing degrees with both pregnancies. I'm pregnant again and had a "reasonable" level of sickies only in the first 14 weeks this time - dare not predict a girl or boy based on that though! Seems much the same for me as first pregnancy.

Get well soon [hugs]

[crescent]

Just a comment from an 'old grandma'. I had really bad sickness for 5 months with my second child, a boy. Lost 2 stone in weight and spent a lot of time on my hands and knees as standing up made me dizzy and sick. My DD got used to me crawling round and handed things down to me But I still had a 9.5lb baby even though my total weight gain in the pregnancy was under 10lbs.
I'm so old that I remembered all the thalidomide drugs that had been used in the 60s so was too scared to take anything.
Didn't have it in my first pregnancy at all so it was a huge shock and made me feel convinced there was something wrong but it was all fine.
So hope it all works out for you.

[audreyraines]

trying to be - i didn't have any sickness in my first pregnancy with ds. this time has been a nightmare and apparently it's a girl.

i lost weight in the first trimester, but everyone assured me it wasn't a problem for hte baby. at a 34 week scan they estimated the ababy was 'above average', around 65th percentile, so it's strange how that works. ds was born bang on 50th percentile.

[ThreeistheNumber]

I am 10 weeks pregnant today with my 3rd. I think it is worse this time than previous - feel so much weaker and am coping less well with the constant nausea. Managed not to take any drugs with DD1 and 2 but am getting pretty desperate especially with a 4 year old and a 2 year old to look after!! Lasted until 20 weeks with previous pregnancies.
I am vomiting between 1 - 3 times per day, eating cereal and bread only, have lost 5 pounds in a week. The puking doesn't bother me as much as the nausea so can anyone advise whether there are any meds that control the nausea? This buccastem sounds good but I don't want to take anything with a potential risk if it's not going to work!!
And another quick moan, does anyone else find their doctor / midwives completely unsympathetic and rubbish where ms / hg is concerned? It is making me really mad. My GP has already said they won't give me any drugs so will have a fight in my hands.

[audreyraines]

Three, my midwife is useless, I don't think she realised the gravity of what was going on, suggested eating little and often and ginger biscuits etc which made me want to slap her. GP was better and tested for ketones in urine and was happy to prescribe something to help.

[purepurple]

I had vomiting and nausea 24/7 for the first 20+ weeks with both of mine
In the end the doc gave me some tablets for travel sickness which helped but just sent me to sleep
It did not seem to affect my DC as DS was 8lb 6oz and DD was 7lb 13oz
It did mean that i didn't have any pregnancy weight to shift though, back to normal weight straight after delivery
But it was hell, and I can sympathise with what you are going through.
And people's 'helpful' comments don't help either.
I remember a neighbour saying that pregnancy wasn't an illness.
Yes it is, if you can't even keep any food or drink down, you can't walk because you feel dizzy, you can't even turn over in bed because the movement makes you throw up.

[tutu100]

My dr's did point out that the drugs they gave were not tested for use during pregnancy (I don't think any drug is), but that from the evidence available they were deemed to be safe.

With ds1 I delayed taking medication because I was worried about possible risks, but by the time I was admitted to hospital I was so dehydrated I was told that if I couldn't keep some fluids down soon there was a chance of the baby being damaged through my lack of fluids. (I was on the verge of unconciousness at this point so pretty bad). When put like that I felt I had no choice but to take the tablets as any risk from them seemed smaller than the risk of not taking them.

With ds2 I took tablets sooner in an effort to not get in as bad a state, but it didn't really work, I was just more aware of how bad I was feeling and was admitted to hospital sooner. I did find though that I experienced some bad side effects from the tablets, but at the time these were less of a problem than the nausea, once the nausea became tolerable I stopped taking the tablets.

Both my ds's were fine at birth ds1 was 8lb 2ozs and ds2 was 7lb. I got my appetite back straight away and have never enjoyed food so much!

[tutu100]

Also despite being so sick and losing a stone at the beginning of each pregnancy I still managed to gain 3 stone with ds1 and 2 1/2 stone with ds2.

[ThreeistheNumber]

Just been to GP who was amazed I had lasted two other pregnancies without drugs and has put me on cyclizine. I was so shocked that he was so nice that I promptly burst in to tears so feeling somewhat stupid.

Anyone else on cyclizine and for how long? I know I've got another 10 weeks of sickness so reluctant to take it the whole time. Fingers crossed it works.

[ksld]

Took cyclizine and stemetil for 35 weeks for both my pregnancies and both babies good birth weight and fine. Stay on the drugs if they help! Think cyclizine is an incremental effect so taking it now and then won't have same effect as taking it every day.