New Hyperemesis Support thread founded by the lovely LucindaE

[grumblinalong]

As the old thread is nearly full here it is time a brand new thread is born. All we need now is a new vomit face emoticon MN towers!

We are a bunch of past, present and future HG sufferers (along with worried spouses, family and friends) who use this thread to support, listen and discuss the dreaded pregnancy illness that is HG (hyperemesis gravidarum).

There are no limits on how much moaning posters can do nor can anyone's symptoms or experiences be tmi.

The old thread has been a great support to many of us and we hope this new thread carries on the great work started by old thread founder and HG guru LucindaE. She still maintains, supports and clucks around the thread daily even though her own experience of HG is thankfully over.

So with no further incoherent rambling from me on with the new thread eh?

Thanks Grumblin! On lives the HG family!

How are you feeling? Has the sinusitis shifted yet? I hope so...one thing at a time to deal with would be nice

Hello :) Just marking my place while eating an apple, my first in weeks

Hi, I am now 30 weeks pregnant but had hyperemisis the entire time, its been horrific, from the obvious sickness non stop all day to the unsypathetic doctors, family etc. I find it shocking the way that you get treated and are just expected to get on with it,and have found this entire pregnancy truamatic as a result, how has the care been elsewhere?

sorry i needed to rant lol

Aisling sorry you've not been getting much help. I was like that the first time round. I didn't manage to get a prescription for anything until about 20 weeks when I was past the worst bit (it didn't work anyway). My doctors had the attitude that, unless I was admitted to hospital, which I managed to avoid thanks to Lucozade, they did not prescribe any drugs if they could help it. I felt like death for the first few months. Just because I wasn't admitted to hospital did not mean I wasn't ill. I was throwing up about 12 times a day and could only keep down a bit of lucozade and crisps.

Have you seen more than one doctor? Are you checking for ketones? I think they tend to take you more seriously if you can tell them you have ketones. Also, there's a useful section on the HelpHER website for friends and relatives. I think some of my relatives and work colleagues thought I was making a fuss about nothing until they read the information on here.

Just waiting to see if I'm going to get HG again in this pregnancy, 6 weeks tomorrow and only (relatively) mild nausea up to now. I don't remember a slow build up last time, I think it just started really bad. I'm just keeping everything crossed but it's not looking promising. I agree with you, the care I got last time was absolutely rubbish and I was traumatised by the experience, so much so that the day after I did the test I got a doctors appointment to get them to promise me some medication this time around if I need it. Fortunately I've moved house since last time and the new doctors seem more sympathetic up to now.

I hope it eases off for you soon. Don't assume it's going to continue to the end, mine stopped completely out of the blue at 36 weeks, so you never know...

Great to have a new thread. I wouldn't have survived the first trimester without you guys :)

I come from a family of HG sufferers, my mum, two older sisters and myself have all had it, with all of our pregnancies-between the 4 of us we've had 10 children and 3 miscarriages. Funnily enough, my mum's two sisters never had it. My mum was finally given drugs after arriving at hospital at deaths' door, with my gran calling a priest incase she needed last rites. If she could get a doctor to give her an injection of a drug called spareen, she could stop vomiting and eat, but otherwise she had continuous retching. This was the 1960's and Freud was still popular so she was actually put in a psychiatric unit and told that deep down she didnt really want the baby and she was making herself sick to subconsciously abort it!!! She was forced to undergo group therapy when all she needed was an anti-emetic. Amazingly, she had 5 of us, (and she had a miscarriage). She started off sick for 9 months, then with each subsequent pregnancy it lasted for a bit less time. With my sister who has 3 kids, it didn't get any better each time, if anything it got worse.

My sisters' experiences with medical help with HG was also rubbish. One of them did eventually get some maxillon, but only after 12 weeks by which time she'd lost loads of weight and the vomiting had set in and nothing would stop it. My other sister got phenergan which didn't work and she lay in bed till the HG abated by itself after 18 weeks. Knowing all this, I decided that I wouldn't have children as I know my limits and I knew i couldn't put myself through it. Then I found some research - I'm a medical scientist so I have access to academic research - which described treatment protocols that are used in Canada and America. Its a myth that you can't have anything in the first 12 weeks, there are plenty of safe drugs. If your doctor refuses to give you anything, change doctors, get a second opinion, ask for a referral to an obstetrician, anything but keep fighting. A doctor who refuses to treat HG is only watching their own back or they're ignorant of the latest developments, they do not have your best interests in mind.

On the plus side, I did get treatment and it worked - though only after my GP refused to prescribe, in fact she wouldn't even look at the research papers I took in to show her. That's when I lost all respect for her. She did though give me a referrral to an obstetrician who was BRILLIANT (by this time 10 days had passed waiting for an appointment and i was vomiting and unable to keep down anything including fluids). Right away she gave me phenergan, stemetil and ondansetron (zofran). She told me to take what worked and adjust the dosage myself to find relief. She said if that didn't work I should come back and she would consider steroids. If that didn't work, she would look into further options. She told me how important it is to treat before the vomiting beds in because its as though the body just gets used to vomiting and its difficult to stop once its established.

The magic pill was ondansetron (zofran) and I was on that till I gave birth, though i was able to reduce the dosage. I made sure I kept some, plus a friend who has recently had chemotherapy has kept some of hers for me for the next pregnancy, if there is one. I consider myself lucky that I found a good ob, but understand that care is still so patchy out there. A good link is www.pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk they have a database of doctors in the UK who are prepared to treat HG. You call and leave a message and they get back to you.

Every time I tell this story I'm overcome with rage that 40 years after my mum went through hell, things haven't improved. I have 3 nieces and a daughter, I'll do whatever I can to make sure they don't have to go through the same thing. As far as I'm concerned its medical negligence to leave a woman to suffer HG. Its a national scandal and the Royal College of Obs and Gynae should be ashamed of itself for not doing anything about it.

Sorry, rant over. I'll calm down now.

Hello, Everyone mother hen calling in from library pc (they must be fed up with the sight of my face) to thank Grumblin and Everyone for the compliment in the name of the thread, undeserved in my opinion.
Welcome, all. I have boringly recounted my story several times, my doctor didn't believe me and didn't test urine, etc, but I was helped so much by Acupunture that I avoided hospitalisation, though I was a sight to be seen as I staggered retching up the street to that appointment. I think Acupunture does help everyone a bit,I just wish it helped eveyrone as much as it did me.
Aisling I do so feel for you,and I can only second other's comments about kesosticks. Thirty weeks of it is awful. You must, like these veterans Caramel and Grumblin be one tough woman, but that is not much comfort. I am startled that you have received so little sympathy. MaryLou how are you? Crisps, Lucozade and Coke were my staples and lots of other people's, too. I wonder why? Is it the saltiness/sweetness? MOH100 that is an awful story. I remember reading part of an old book on pregnancy and motherhood which told women off for feeling/being sick and said that they had no right to feel sorry for themselves, they had brought it upon themselves by mental attitude, etc etc. Steam burst from my ears!
Caramel I do hope that the vomiting hasn't come back? How is the heartburn? LA and NitNat Ihope the sink episodes haven't (no pun intended) repeated themselves? Rozzee apple - now that is surprisingly healthy to be able to face...You'll be daring a salad soon...
Re: sweets, has anyone been able to get hold of that barley sugar I used to get hold of from a funny traditional type of sweetshop?
NitNat I do hope you feel happier today, I was so shocked about the treatment you received, particularly in a unionised place. Grumblin how did you ever manage to teach at all in such circs?
*Everyone I have rudely not named, being warned 'five minutes to go' on computer screen
We need a green face. Should we use the green 'envy' icon (how ironic) for the purposes of this thread?
Luce TheOnly and all, thinking of you.
Kittens I hope you come along to purr soon...

LucindaE
xx

Cocoanuts It's you, not Rozzee chewing the apple! My goodness, you must be feeling better!
LucindaE
xx

Thankyou to every for sweet and drink suggestions - Wasn't able to find barley sugar sweets, we have an old-fashioned sweet shop were they weigh everything and it's really good so they probably have them but haven't been brave enough to venture that far - am only managing to do one shop if I go! But my OH brought me home a pack of foxs glacier fruits which are great - really juicy and last ages. Had to pick out all the cirtrus ones though as tried a lime one and it didn't agree with me! So let my OH have them as a reward :)

Saw my Gp yesterday, was a bit worried as I couldn't see the same person I saw the first time and have read so many stories of nightmare gps! But she was really nice and had dealt with HG before. She upped my medication to taking 2 tablets at bedtime instead of one and signed me off from work again (another relief!) and booked another appointment for next week saying she wanted to keep an eye on me! Very reassuring to have someone looking out for me and also being able to see the same person takes the worry away also. It's just a lottery at our Gp surgery - you get whoever is available - no set doctor.

So I took my extra tablet last night and woke up this morning feeling the same - bit dissapointed but I know I have to give them a few days to kick in. Came downstairs and had a small pot of jelly and then realised I didn't feel sick - it took a few minutes to register as have felt sick for almost 3 weeks straight!! So then decided, stupidly, that if I was feeling good I should get a good amount of food in while I could so had 2 pieces of toast - within about 20 minutes I was feeling rotten again - guess I shouldn't have pushed it! :(

On a plus side - had a nice morning, my mum came over and took my energetic little man to the childrens centre for an hour so I could rest then came back, washed my dishes and stayed for a chat! Was nice to have someone adult conversation to chat and take my mind off things.

Hope everyone is having an ok day - soon me another day over that we don't have to go through again!! X

Lucinda - Yes I am feeling better, the cyclizine is definitely working for me. I still have the odd day where I'm stuck with my head in the loo but I'm learning that I have to sit still for about an hour after taking my tablet before eating or doing anything, then it kicks in. If I get up straight away that's when it all goes wrong.

So I set my alarm and take my 1st pill in bed - I take them and a glass of water to bed with me so they are there in the morning. I then lay in bed for about an hour, then I can get up and have breakfast and it stays in.

I don't really fancy any foods, and have a foul taste in my mouth. I'm constantly thirsty but don't want to drink much other than lemonade or orange lollies.

And on the sweet front DH bought me some skittles the other day - they were loooovely!!

I still can't believe the stories on here, that HCPs can let you get that ill and dismiss it. Shocking.

Hurray, glad everyone is finding the new thread without too much bother.

caramel sinusitis is clearing thanks. I'll never forget the emergency GP's face when I threatened to chop my head off! She couldn't believe I still had HG at 25 weeks, apparently she was told at medical school it went at 20 weeks. I said 'Does it look like it's gone?' and shoved my sick bowl hat thing at her! I can not believe the medical profession keep themselves so uninformed about it. She quickly wrote me a script for antibiotics to get me out of there I think.

aisling, moh100 and marylou I found that the care of HG gets slightly better each time, like they take you more seriously if you've had it before but it could be that I've just got more assertive. Now that I'm on my third bout of it I pretty much just tell GP's and A&E doctors 'My ketones are 4+, I can't keep down any fluids, the antiemetics aren't staying in my stomach for long enough, do my bloods you'll see my counts are low...put me on a drip now please, yes I still throw up daily until labour.' Sometimes they get a bit shirty but they soon come round when all their tests prove me right. Ondansetron gave me such high hopes, I really thought it would be my magic pill but when it didn't work for me I realised that medicines can only go far, there is no real cure for Hg apart from time (20 weeks seems to magic for most) or delivering the baby (for the very unlucky few).

Anyway rant over for me! don't get me started on HG I hate it!

Hope everyone else is ok/good/fantastic!

Grumblin glad the sinusitis is clearing. Your emergency GP sounds like the same one I saw when I had sinusitis a few weeks back. I asked him to take my BP to rule out any Pre-eclampsia probs bc of the severe headaches I was getting and he told me you only get PE in the first trimester . Uh, no. Also said HG, actually said 'morning sickness', doesn't last past 12 weeks .

And I think they take you more seriously when you have HG second time round too. This time I didn't have to get to hospitalisation before being listened to. Sad that it has to work like that though.

Coconuts glad you've found a strict regime to make the most out of the meds. It's insanely controlling this HG business. If my morning routine doesn't go exactly to plan I'm screwed for the day.

Lucinda sympathies re your lack of internet at home. I'm still using a mobile dongle and waiting for bband to be installed...so frustrating!

Yay for the new thread! This has also kept me sane for my first trimester.

2 most annoying things about HG......when you tell people and then they google it and say "oh its just severe morning sickness". Pretty sure I could cope with severe morning sickness, this is something else entirely! Never before have I been so bed bound, tired and sick, even after a weeks bender at Glastonbury.

"have you tried ginger biscuits?" (I have had to throw them all away, the thought of them make me sick and no matter how much bloody ginger I had it didn't help). If I heard one more person say that by 8 weeks, I was going to throttle them!

Thankfully, at 17 weeks, it seems to have passed and I am having "normal" morning sickness. I do think a lot of this is down to no stress, no pressure and the most massive support network from my partner, mum, work, friends and mainly here as I realised I wasn't going mad and in fact I should stop moaning as it hasn't been half as bad for me as a lot of you.

It is a shame I am no longer throwing up at everything as I don't have an excuse not to do anything round the house now :) I tried the "but it will make me puke cleaning the kitchen" last night but I had eaten my weight in sausages, mash, veg, fruit, crisps, pancakes and chocolate. Again.

Caramello - that's just it. If I can't get that balance right, my day goes to pot. Nothing stays down and I'm back to square one. Must be having a good day... Just cleaned all my floors. Haven't done it for 6 weeks

well done on new thread girls dont forget to tell all your worried mums to join me on gransnet.

I'm not bad thanks Lucinda. Still feeling a bit queasy but still (touch wood) haven't thrown up. I'm finding that if I keep busy I don't think about it as much.

Still feel like I'm waiting to receive a prison sentence though, I so hope it doesn't kick in but I'm not holding my breath. I'm six weeks in today. I thought it kicked in at 6 weeks the other day but now I'm thinking it might have been 7... Will have to keep waiting. I keep waking at night and staying awake for 2/3 hours worrying my head off. Oh well, all will become clear soon enough I suppose.

Hope everyone's not had too bad a day today.

Woops, I'm actually only up to 5 weeks today so definitely not out of the woods at all yet. Got my hopes up a bit then, how depressing...

Marylou, I found mine kicked in at about 6 or 7 weeks. Before that I had nausea but no need to actually vomit. I was 7+2 when I was hospitalised so must have started on the cyclizine at about 6+ something. Really hope you can get some meds prescribed before it hits you. If it does.

Oh and I'm now only 10+2 so a long way to go!

I had hg with all 3 of my previous pregnancies it was absolute hell. I was prescribed stemetil with my last pg (the worst so far) but it had no effect.I really felt like i was dying every day i felt sicker and sicker and couldnt keep anything down i was dehydrated and hugely depressed.I couldnt even look after my other dcs and it was horrendous.

I would desperately like another baby one day but unfortunately because of how i suffered with hg i think i would be too scared to even consider it unless i knew of something that would help-ive heard a lot of positive things about zofran is that the best one then? I feel like i need to arm myself with the name of whatever is the best just in case i am ever in the situation to have another!

Morning all Just popped onto new thread to mark place before going to Docs for sick note #324.

Ariane Cyclizine works for me to stop most nausea but doesn't stop vom or loss of appetite/food aversions. Might be worth a try? If you can get it on an IV in hospital, even better - it's very, erm, relaxing.

Congrats on pink bump La. I am now obsessed with tights. Cannot wait to dress this poor baby up in stripes! DS wants to call the baby Lady Gaga, with Frame for a middle name .

Grumblin are you back to work today? hope feeling better-ish?

Good to hear stories from other HG fighters. I think a Channel 4 documentary is the way to go to expose this ridiculousness. Do we know any producer types?

Had good day yesterday (21 week mark) apart from obligatory retching of a bucket of saliva in morning. Body appears to have run out of bile. Went to Ikea, arrived 10am, left 3.30pm. Had free coffee at 10am, a bowl of soup at 12 as about to vom, meatballs at 1.30pm (husband works nearby and met me there) and then resisted hot dog after the checkout and just had a fat coke! Eating much better as you can see. Just need to drop the retching habit at 8am and 12pm. I think I can see what they are on about when they say you need to stop the vom before it gets entrenched. My body has definitely got into the habit and even though I usually bring nothing up except saliva (lets not go into what happens in the tena lady dept) my stomach doesn't seem to be able to get out of the habit. Bah.

Nitnat - I also agree that it becomes a habit for your body to retch like it does. I have just got back from taking DD to playschool and as I walked it the door I had a big heave. I sat myself down on the floor quick (I always go dizzy when I'm sick) and waited for it to pass before carrying on with stuff. If I had gone with it and rushed to the loo to chuck up that would have set the pattern for the day.

When I was pregnant with DD it was a habit to get up and the first thing to do was the bile run. One day I just walked straight past the bathroom and pretended I was fine and that was start of me getting better. But I'm alot worse this time round so don't like to make too many comparisons.

Glad you are eating better. I seem to have an addiction to skittles now. They are so fruity and refreshing in your mouth. By the end of this I shall need dentures!

Caramel Yum! Skittles are the business! LOL at dentures. I have had so many sweets/coke this time, coupled with very brief teeth cleaning so as not to set off the vom. Have dentist appt on Monday and am dreading what they are going to find!

Well, I'm sat here at work and think I'm going to have to go home. I think it's started properly now. I was awake about 4 hours in the night feeling awful. This morning I've been sick a couple of times and can't move or I think I'll throw up again. I've been to the toilet twice and retched, my head is spinning. I feel bad as we are short staffed and I only do two days a week but I'm so tired and feel so ill. I've eaten nothing this morning whatsoever.

Am going to ring the doctors and try to get an appointment for tonight.

I hate this. I hate feeling so ill and I hate how you have to tell people before you'd like to. I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to look after my little boy, but if I want help from family then I'm going to have to explain why. Same for if I need time off work. And I'll look pretty stupid whatever I say, given that I've been saying never again for the past 19 months. The truth is my contraception (Persona) failed. I can't pretend it's a planned baby because it's not! I'll just have to hope the medication works I suppose....

Here I am, back with pc, I have so much catching up to do...MaryLou Really sorry it seems to be kicking in - but maybe there is a lot in the 'catch it early and it won't be as bad as it might' arguement? If so, it is odd that so many doctors won't prescribe meds till one is a totally dehydrated, and I am so glad you've got one who sees the sense of prescribing early. I don't see why you should be ashamed of failing contraception - you are just evidently very fertile! Caramel tut, tut, silly doctor...Nice of him to tell you what you hadn't noticed...Grumblin Thanks again for managing thread, more efficiency from you. NitNat don't forget to bring the packets of ready salted on but for me it was also the indepsensable carrier bag. Oh dear. GrandmaAgain Lovely to hear from you, I do hope Luce is feeling better now?
theOnly That sounds great, I am so glad that you got through so much food...Ariane I believe in the states they regularly prescribe zofran, and the only reason they avoid it here is expense? ElliotsMummy Cocoanuts Caramel That is intriguing about routine and habit - the brain is an odd thing for sure. LA Rozzee how are you?
Fluffy waves...Hey, horrible irony, as I was typing this our cat started heaving and I have just thrown it out (its a male).

LucindaE
xx