To be signed off with pregnancy sickness

[Funkypolar]

I’m in the first trimester of pregnancy. Vomiting around 8 times per day and feeling badly nauseous. I had a phone call with my GP who prescribed Cyclizine to no effect. He’s now said there’s nothing more he can do and has signed me off work. As I’m barely able to get out of bed and fainted in the shower earlier.

I work for a huge public sector organisation. I’m relatively new and haven’t passed my probation yet but I know they can’t discriminate against my pregnancy sickness or count it towards sickness absence. I’ve had no other sick days or performance issues raised.

AIBU to take this time off?

How could you possibly be unreasonable ? You physically can't go to work, the doctor has signed you off, are you saying you are planning to still go?

Hope you feel better soon but I don't really get why you're asking

YANBU
You are not well and it cannot he helped. Congratulations on your pregnancy and I hope you feel better soon.

Go and get iv cyclisine at hospital and ondesetron and a drip

Go to a&e

Your GP is a dick

You need the time off. You can hardly work while being sick 8 times a day and fainting can you?
If it was a different condition causing these symptoms you probably wouldn't even question it.
You may start to feel better in a couple of weeks but just now you're sick and need to stay off.

Travel sickness bands may help with the nausea a bit, worth a try. Also sleep as much as you can.

YANBU. You’re being sick all the time and fainting - you clearly can’t work! You need to take time to rest and look after yourself.

Because I’ve only been there 5 months and I’m pregnant and also signed off. They are unlikely to be pleased with me are they even though on the face of it they are pleasant.

I’ve been mainly WFH, as have most people. I feel daft that I can’t drag myself downstairs to sit in front of my laptop, I don’t know how I would physically get into the office if I had to go in. My friends and family keep saying to drink some ginger ale and my mum told me how she was sick 10 times a day throughout her pregnancy and kept going to work!

It isn’t your fault so stop blaming yourself and comparing yourself to others. It’s not helpful for your Mum to be piping up about how she carried on working, she should be supporting you not criticising you. Everyone is different.
You have to take care of yourself and the baby, if you are feeling faint in the shower you are safest in the house taking things easy. Being sick 8 times a day is no joke. Hopefully this will wear off soon but if it doesn’t it can’t be helped. You just need time.

Sod your work and bugger everyone else that worked apparently being sick x10 times a day. If i was your boss I wouldn't want you 'officially' in work as I cant believe you are delivering a good quality of work whilst feeling that ill. If you weren't pregnant and being sick 8 times a day then of course you wouldn't go in

Your gp is wrong - you need to push back or see another gp as its very old fashioned to give up after one type of medication.
I did my own research and used low dosage of phenergan to tackle nausea and sickness - you can buy over the counter but don't say you are pregnant as its not licensed for pregnancy sickness otc (although its the same as on prescription)

I really feel for you! I had hyperemesis during both my pregnancies. I remember banging my head off the desk one day I was so sick, I had fallen asleep at my desk! I know it's hard keeping yourself hydrated, melon & ice pops worked for me. I had something called stugeron (cinnarizine) prescribed, there are definitely different options he's having you on.

I had terrible hg in my last pregnancy till when I found out till 2 weeks after my sons birth. I was constantly signed of and in and out of hospital on a drip as literally couldn't keep anything down so was very dehyrated . I had to go to a&e to be admitted though as my gp was also a dick
Good luck op try not to let the stress of work make you feel worse

I was signed off sick for several weeks during both my pregnancies. I could barely shower and get dressed some days, let alone drive and go to work. YANBU? AIIRC hyperemesis in pregnancy doesn't 'count' as sick leave on your record either.

Some GPs don't know a great deal about hyperemesis and are reluctant to prescribe anything in pregnancy, I agree with a PP about speaking to someone else. My GP refused to prescribe me anything for my first HG pregnancy despite me sitting in their waiting room with my head in a bucket and telling them that if they couldn't stop the sickness I wanted to end the pregnancy, they said sickness is a normal part of pregnancy. I ended up in hospital the next day with dehydration where they were far more sympathetic and prescribed me a month of anti-emetics, when my GP refused to renew my anti-emetics the hospital renewed it.

If you're fainting then you are dehydrated, you need to call 111 and arrange an appointment at urgent care or, alternatively, call Early Pregancy Assessment and see if they can see you.

You may have hyperemesis and could have high levels of ketones in your urine. You will need IV fluids. Your GP sounds useless.

I started being sick constantly at 6 weeks, took tablets from 9 weeks and things started to settle about 16 weeks. I managed to still go to work but that's because the tablets stopped me being physically sick for the most part. It's bloody awful I've never felt more ill in my life and I just didn't feel pregnant, just very ill. So I sympathise with you massively! Look after yourself, take the time and concentrate on you and baby. The stress of worrying about going to work will make things 10 times harder, it gave me massive anxiety thinking I'd just be feeling so ill and throwing up all day so take the time off and ring back to speak to another GP, there are loads more options to try! Feel better soon and congrats!

I have not read the thread but BOLLOCKS to that! There is heaps heaps more your GP can do. Please call pregnancy sickness support today on 024 7638 2020 www.pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk/

They can support you into talking sense to your GP or getting a new one. They will link you to all the latest NICE guidance on how GPs SHOULD be treating you.

So sorry you have to deal with this. Please call today, the earlier you get proper treatment the more effective it can be

I feel your pain. I am a vice principal in a busy and HG hit me with a vengeance a week before I was supposed to start back. It has been miserable. I feel so guilty as opening up the new school year, especially in these COVID times, is incredibly busy and usually falls on my shoulders.

But HG is no joke, and as the lovely MN ladies reminded me, your health is priority. I have been signed off for 6 weeks. School is managing. My job is still there and I am looking forward to getting back to it. Unlike this pregnancy which I am hating every minute of.

It is what it is. Take the time off and don't worry.

Your GP sounds completely useless. I had HG with my twin pregnancy - it was the worst time of my life. My GP was sympathetic but it wasn’t until I was sent to hospital by my midwife with dehydration and put on a drip that I got given anything that helped. Ondansetron was the only thing that stopped some of the sickness. The GP can’t prescribe it as it’s so expensive 🙄

Please don’t feel guilty about being signed off - there is no way you can work with severe sickness

I'm sorry you're so ill I've just come out of it the other side at 14 weeks.

Cyclizine isn't the only sickness drug safe to use in pregnancy. Prochloperizine, promethazine, odansetron. Ask for one of these to try.

I've been off work for 7 weeks. Lost a stone and was physically way too ill to work. If you need to be off, you need to be off. Fingers crossed it doesn't last too long x

You couldn't possibly perform your work to your usual standard now you're feeling this way, surely?
Your doctor says you can not work.
I was told by my employer that once I was signed off, I couldn't come back till the end of the listed time period, or if i was signed back on by a doctor, as it could cause insurance type issues if something was to go wrong.

@Funkypolar hope you have found a more helpful GP, or convinced the first one to try another treatment.

The feeling of being barely able to get out of bed and feeling dizzy may well be a side effect of the cyclezine. I felt much better once I was off it and taking something that actually reduced my nausea and vomiting, rather than just making me sleepy.

I've attached some info on the range of treatments currently recommended on the NHS, just to give you an idea of your options.

Thank you for the comments. My GP won’t physically see me and the receptionist told me I should contact my midwife. But I don’t have a midwife. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’m presuming that work can’t do anything to me? People keep saying not to worry about work.

Poor you OP. I was in your exact position last year r.e pregnant, with hyperemesis and in a new job and it was hell. Many sympathies.

Have you had your booking appointment yet? Sometimes on your white notes they provide phone numbers for the local midwifery team. If not I'd ring the nearest antenatal clinic and ask if they can help.

My consultant told me last year that if you cannot keep down 500 ml of fluid a day you need to go on and be on a drip- so present at A&E if no-one else listens. Oh, and I'd be complaining about your GP. Had the same experience- I was in there several times trying to get help and no-one listened. It's only when my consultant prescribed ordansetron and cyclizine for the remainder of the pregnancy they actually listened. Even then they tried to block my prescription and I had to get it through the hospital. Wankers.

Someone should be helping you. Pregnancy sickness support might be able to figure out who. Or you could Google for midwife led centres in your area and call them to ask who can help you. Or you could also try and find the number for your local health visitors. But really, it should be your GP. Ask for a second opinion.

YANBU, you cannot work - I threw up far less then you & on a lot of days I couldn't work. Also there's loads to try - cyclizine did nothing for me but promethazine really helped, although it did make me very very tired!

The real problem here is that you even feel like you shouldn’t be off sick. Of course you should. You’re sick regardless of what is causing it. In my experience women are often made to feel like they should just get in with it because it is “just” pregnancy. I had a similar issue after my c section when they sent me home with just paracetamol instead of actually, you know, painkillers that work. I had been sliced through to my insides but they didn’t seem to think that was worthy of anything more than something I can buy off the shelf. A male family member had a hernia operation a few weeks after and was given proper pain relief to take home. Disgusting. I kicked off massively at the time. Women are treated very differently during pregnancy and we are expected to just get on with it. If men gave birth I suspect it would be very different.