To ask when the hell I'm going to feel even vaguely 'normal' again (pregnancy)

[Pregnant2022]

9 weeks, sick as a dog, have been for weeks. Have had a complete aversion to food from about 5 weeks with nausea/ vomiting from 6 weeks.

GP has prescribed me Cyclizine but am not convinced it's doing much apart from completely knocking me out.

I can't look at food, I can't smell it, I can't even think of it. On the days I feel a bit more human and feel like I have a bit more of an appetite, I attempt to eat something other than bloody toast or crackers and then regret it as it comes back up.

I'm tired, exhausted, I've lost weight, I literally can't even manage more than the simplest of tasks around the house. I'm avoiding friends and seeing people because 1) I feel so shite and 2) I just can't be bothered trying to pretend I'm not pregnant, I don't know how I'd explain my nausea/ food aversion and exhaustion otherwise.

Sitting here as another wave of nausea has taken hold and I just feel so fed up.

I feel so guilty for moaning as this is very much a wanted baby but it's been 6 weeks now since I've felt normal and I have no idea when this will end. 12 weeks still seems like a lifetime away.

You will stop feeling sick soon I’m sure, sorry to say you’ll never feel normal again though, congratulations

I recognise this SO MUCH. I recently had a stomach bug and that consternation aggressive nausea took me right back to how I felt. I was sick 15-20 times a day but in the end I almost welcomed it because after vomiting, I’d had five minutes respite from the nausea. It is torturous. Mine started to fade at about 15 weeks, more or less gone by 18.

Apparently it can ease when the placenta takes over.

Cyclizine was so entry-level it did fuck all for me, so I went back and asked for something else. I wound up paying for a private prescription of something called Xonvea which changed my life. Amazing stuff.

Constant* not consternation

Have you tried ice cold water?
Also those isotonic sports drinks?
If toast and crackers are ok, what about plain pasta? I think that's pretty much what I survived on.

[Avoid mashed potato (esp from a packet) and popcorn (scratches on the way back up ).]

It lasted the whole way through both my pregnancies I'm afraid, but did ease off at 6 months which allowed me a normal if limited diet (still had to hold my breath when cooking though). For lots of people it stops around 12 weeks though so you never know.

Go back to your gp and get something stronger than cyclizine which does nothing really. Ondasetron allowed me to not vomit constantly so I felt a little stronger mentally and physically although nothing took away the feeling sick or food aversions. Push for the medication you need.

Eat whatever you can. More important is to stay hydrated. I couldn't drink water or anything for several months so survived on pineapple juice from tinned pineapple and sucking the juice from juicy fruits (couldn't eat the flesh of them without vomiting). I ate nothing but pineapple for a month, then greek yoghurt honey and banana for another month. Don't worry if you lose weight, baby will take what it needs from you.

Check out the hyperemesis support thread on mumsnet.

It sucks, really really sucks and no one who hasn't been through it gets it. Mentally it's so so tough. But I have a 2 week old asleep on my chest and can tell you it's worth it. Also food has never tasted better than after 9 months of sickness!!

You can do this, but rest as much as you can and make sure you are looked after.

Get them to try you on stemetil if cyclizine isn’t working. If that doesn’t work, there’s also ondansetron though that comes with a tiny increased chance of cleft lip and palate before 12 weeks - genuinely miniscule but it is increased. Get your urine dipped. Make sure you’re not ketotic.

Congrats - this is shit, but it can hopefully be mitigated.

19-20 weeks for me, then I felt normal again. It’s really really hard and I completely sympathise. Lots of women do feel better after 12/13 weeks and some at 16 weeks, so you may be one of them. It feels never ending but it DOES end and once it does it’s just a bad memory. Do whatever you need to do to get through the days and sleep as much as possible. Ice cold water helped me and travel sickness wrist bands. Some people swear by acupuncture so you could try that?

Also vitamin B6 supplement - you need a high amount, 50-75mg a day. It really reduced the nausea feeling for me. It’s worth a try.

My first i was sick right up till birth, it was hell, I lost weight!

My seccond my sickness stopped at about 13/14 weeks, i still feel sick from time to time (currently 15 weeks) but havent been sick for over a week now and gradualy eating more normal foods other than bland small bites of food

Both pregnancies for me it lasted until I gave birth. I hope it stops sooner for you, second was worse than first as I couldn't rest as much with a toddler to look after.
Go back to your GP and see if you can try something else

Mine started to ease about 12-13 weeks but I would say I didn’t feel ‘normal’ until well into the second trimester. Cyclizine isn’t very good, ask for Ondansetron

Sadly this happens and it might last the whole way through- I had it like this for 39 weeks (and four fucking days!) twice (both of mine were born at the same gestation) and it was what put us off having a planned for third baby.

There are things that can be done beyond cyclizine. The ladies over on the Hyperemesis Support threads on here really know their stuff and advice from them meant that I could ask my GP for what I needed with my eldest (after a couple of stays in hospital) and also meant I was prepared with my second too.

Be kind to yourself, rest, get signed off of work and stay in bed and watch telly. Whilst it feels like it's forever, when you're seven-plus years on or whatever (as I am) you'll be able to laugh about it (mostly) and it goes without saying that it's a small price to pay for your lovely baby at the end of it. Just keep well away fro any bitch who listens to your woe (either during the pregnancy or after it) and then says something like “oh I sail through pregnancy!” and then tells you about how they hiked the Appalachian Trail/were CEO of Apple and launching the new iPad/built an extension single-handed/were Prime Minister and up at the Dispatch Box up to the very last day of their trouble-free pregnancy. Those women are cunts and deserve a slap*.

• Sort of joking

With my son it lasted up until I gave birth. It was the worst time of my entire life.

Sympathies op. I had had this wirh DC1&2. DC1 it went away at literally 12weeks 1 day and DC2 16 weeks. Lost a lot of weight with them both and it was awful so I really sympathise.
I found Cyclizine not much help either, I don't think anything really helped me...sorry.

I hope you feel better soon x

Oh, lollies and skips helped me!

Oh gosh - you poor thing. This sounds dreadful.
No words of advice just really hope it gets better asap.

I was 18 weeks when the vomiting stopped (I was hospitalized twice at 8 and 11 weeks), although it did start to get better from about 15 weeks.
I was taking anti-emetics twice a day until last week (I’m now 22 weeks) and didn’t gain any weight until the last couple of weeks and have been incredibly tired all the way through. Even now I have some food aversions and certain things will make me gag or vomit.
It’s definitely much better though, just don’t be disheartened if it doesn’t happen at the beginning of the second trimester (I was really upset when I got to 14 weeks and didn’t start to feel amazing like everyone said I would!)

Thank you for the replies.

Had to go to bed shortly after posting this in the end last might as I just wanted some respite from the nausea.

I’m praying I’m one of these people who start to feel better after 12 weeks as even another 3 weeks of feeling like this is making my blood run cold.

I’m so bloody hungry, yet if I eat I just vomit. Viscous cycle.

I keep thinking am I just being a baby/ wuss?! You don’t often hear people whinging like me, I think I have just always hated feeling nauseous and vomiting, always had a bit of a fear of it. Having norovirus/ sickness bug has always been hellish for me and now I feel like I’ve had a 6 week long sickness bug

Often people feel better in the second trimester

I'm 14 weeks today and I'm just (fingers crossed) starting to feel a bit more normal. I had my scan last week which reminded me why I feel like this so that really helped. And I've been trying to buy a few pieces of clothing to again remind me what it's all for.

hope you're feeling more like yourself soon.

I feel your suffering. I'm 16 weeks now and only in the last two/three weeks have I finally started to feel human again. I would have week long bouts of nasuea and sickness followed by a goodish week then back to bad stomach aches and nausea again. I couldn't move from the sofa and took so much time off I couldn't afford to pay my rent! I have a vomitting phobia so I did everything in my power to not be sick. I made it to 11 weeks without being sick and then it changed from constant stomach ache to stealth vomitting that I couldn't stop. I tried EVERYTHING! Eating before I got up, ginger capsules, vitamin b6, wrist bands etc nothing worked. In the end I was given prochlorperazine and generic peptac liquid, took one tablet and a slug of disgusting pink slime, did nothing. But thankfully a day or two later I started feeling better anyway.

I have a friend who is a midwife and she said is the nausea acidy? I said no, I've not had acid reflux or anything like that but it got me thinking. My partner had left Rennie's at my apartment. I've never taken them in my life but I thought you know what, it's worth a try. In the middle of a really bad wave of stomach ache and nausea I took one......and I immediately felt relief. I couldn't believe it! Now whenever I feel that stomach ache coming I take one and instantly feel some relief. I've not needed them for a little while now though.

I know telling you it will most likely get better in a few weeks won't help you feel better, I know it feels a million weeks away. But it's normally true. I still can't brush my teeth without gagging, I still need to eat within an hour or two of waking and I still can't face bloody crackers or toast, but life does finally feel worth living again!

Also don't be afraid to push for different nausea meds if yours don't work. I didn't, but if there is a next time, I will be pushing for it immediately. My midwife friend said she would get me ondansetron if I didn't feel better, but I had done by then. I don't know if it would have helped, but it is what she would have given me.