Extreme morning sickness - has anything helped you?

[needabetternickname]

Hi all, I'm now 11.5 weeks pregnant with 2nd baby and suffering horrendously from morning sickness - am averaging about 10 vomits a day and am constantly battling nausea and retching up saliva. Can't keep anything down in afternoon or evening at all, although I do manage ok in the mornings, so I think I'm just about ok on dehydration front...I'm at work 4 days a week and so far haven't told my boss, although it'll be a miracle if he hasn't guessed as we have open plan office and unisex loos! Husband is away A LOT with work so I'm juggling work and looking after DD who is 1 and I'm just not coping. I'm exhausted, I feel depressed about the whole thing and I can't bear the thought of this carrying on any longer. I had some sickness last time round which went until 14 weeks but nothing like this extreme. Doctor has prescribed cyclizine which both dh and my mum are totally anti my taking. And I've tried i but it hasn't made any difference at all on the occasions I've tried it. So I'm feeling really desperate and would love some tips if anyone has found anything that works - whether it's homeopathy/reflexology/acupuncture or specific foods/drinks that help or anything else...thanks so much

So sorry for you... It is really miserable. Only the usual recommendations here I'm afraid - dry bread (white in my case), cream crackers, boiled sweets eg lemon sherbets. On my better days I managed babybel cheeses and ice lollies. On the drink front, I drank weak lime and soda. It passed for the most part at about 15-16 weeks. Good luck, chin up.

You poor thing. I think you need to say to your Dh and Mum if you dont want me to take them I need a serious amount of practical help and emotional support. I dont think its very fair of them to pressure you when really if it carries on then you might end up being hospitalised (Sorry if I sound like Im trying to frighten you). Maybe your DH could work less hours and try and be at home a bit more, or your mum could like after your LO to give you a chance to rest

I was really ill myself until about 16 weeks, and I dont know what I would have done without medication. Maybe try going back to the doctors.

I really hope you feel better soon

Yuk poor you. 29 weeks here and still occasionally puking but nothing like the 9-16 week hell.

1. Go back to Doctors. Cyclizine worked for me but doesn't work for everybody. There are other meds you can take which are all safe in pregnancy.
2. 10 times a day is a lot. You will probably be be dehydrated. Hyperemesis (extreme MS) was a leading cause of maternal death before Doctors started using drugs, so maybe ask your dh / mum if they would prefer that to you taking a drug which is safe to take in pregnancy.
3. See the Helpher website for more info and point your dh/mum to it as well.
4. Get some ketosticks from the chemists and use these to monitor the ketones in your urine. This gives an indication of dehyrdation and starvation. A reading of 3+ or 4+ means you need to be admitted to hospital for rehydration.
5. Come and see us on the hyperemesis support thread here

I can sympathise. My sickness lasted til 21w. But go back to your docs explain to them. There are other anti sickness pills. I had 2 different ones to the one you have tried. They are okay to take. I had to have them with DD1 and she is perfect...if you can call a stroppy pre-teen perfect

If you can talk to your boss do so...mine had guessed, she is lovely though and it meant when the doc signed me off for 2weeks she was so understanding because she could see how much I was struggling.

I was vomiting 6 or 7 times a day and my DD is 11 so I have ultimate respect for you for how long you have coped so far with more vomiting, a little one and your DH being away. My DH did everything at home between weeks 7 and 17.

I found milk and eggs made the sickness worse, have you noticed triggers?
I found soup and jelly quite good because if they came up they weren't too bad. Avoid chips they are horrific coming up. I sucked glucose tablets for energy andthe nicer flavour as minty things made me gag. Oh and the doc gave me antacids as the sickness was giving me hellish burning sensations

I got body shop lemon shower gel and used copious amounts as citrus smells were a good thing!

Ps I tried homeopathy and it did nothing for me

Acupuncture was like an off switch for me - the nausea stopped instantaneously! I found each session gave me relief for about a day and a half, so three sessions a week kept things bearable. I still have the odd vomit now at 19 weeks, but feel so much better than I did from weeks 6 to 15. Please please please see an acupuncturist tomorrow. I just don't know what I would have done without it.
Good luck. I hope it passes soon. I just wasn't prepared for how debilitating pregnancy sickness would be.

I feel your pain - I was just the same. Ginger in any form really helped me. Also, my husband got me some scented nose plug things that are designed for travel sickness - I think it was the menthol in it that reduced my symptoms a bit. I was living in China at the time and have no idea if you can buy nose plugs in the UK.
I hope things ease up for you soon.

It's easy for your family to say don't take cyclizine but in fairness they arn't the one going through horrific ms! I had terrible terrible terrible nausea for months. I took cyclizine full dose every day from week 5 to birth and DD (so far! she's only 9 weeks) is just fine. I could not have got through without it. It didn't stop the nausea but I'm sure it stopped me being sick.

Tbh nothing helped apart from cyclizine taking the edge off and resting and being as free from stress as possible and eating little and often. There were weeks when I barely got out of bed and ate nothing but jam on toast.

The whole resting thing is prob impossible with another DC though...

I was sick for the entire 9 months,(x5 times) but the only thing that made it bearable was travel bands. They stopped the nausea, but did not stop me actually being sick, so watch out. You have to re-learn you body's other signals that you are going to throw up.
I liked them because they are natural and safe. Really worked, so worth a try.

Thanks everyone - some really helpful suggestions and also just great to get some support and know that I'm not alone (not that that makes it any better for any one else going through this!). There are definite triggers- I can't handle dairy at all but I can usually just about handle toast and marmite. I think I'll give the cyclizine a proper go and then go back to the docs if that doesn't work. Will also get the ketosticks to monitor that and try acupuncture - at this stage anything has got to be worth a go. Thanks again for the responses x

Oh dear, i can totally sympathise with this, i'm no longer vomiting thanks to prochlorperazine, but so nauseous that i'm really struggling to eat. If you are having problems sipping fluids, my gp suggested drinking through a straw - bizarrely it seems to stop the wretching and helps you take more fluids. I was extremely dehydrated but this tip has really worked for me, and even though i still feel rubbish, i'm no longer worrying about dehydration.

Hope you feel a bit better soon.

Poor you, that's really awful. Mine's been nothing like that, but I did find that protein (non dairy) stops me from vomiting, whereas the normal dry biscuits etc didn't. It is a very weird feeling to try to force down a m

Ahh bloody phone! Eating pork pies has helped.

I second acupunture, I started with two sessions a week at week 6 (when memories of my first pregnancy came back to haunt me.) I couldn't have functioned without it. It hasn't cured the sickness but has made the sickness "bearable," - sick morning only and if I get too hungry/tired, I have been able to function and do my job. Whereas in my first pregnancy I was sick for the full term morning noon and night and was a zombie! I am 37 weeks now, and the end is in site! Good luck I don't think anyone can appreciate how truly horrible the condition is unless you have had it.

Sending you huge hugs

I had severe morning sickness and was signed off at 6 weeks and was in hospital with HG at 8 weeks.

Am now 22 weeks, and things are a lot better.

things that helped me:
anti-sick tablets (cyclizine) taken at 8 hourly intervals. (would have to lie dead still for an hour to avoid vomitting it straight back, many times i didnt succeed) but lieing still in bed in the dark and thinking ONLY about breathing was about the only way i could keep them down. took at 7am 3pm and 11pm.

when in hospital it was explained that i was likely to be back again, & that these tablets were HOPING to allow me to be hydrated enough to avoid hospital again... essentially they did their jobs, but at 22 weeks im still dependant on 2 a day (7am and 7pm) but dont need to lie down in darkness for an hour now either. I still had many days of sickness, and at one point kept nothing down for 36 hours, BUT that was still much less than the nothing for 72 hours which got me in hospital.

Accupuncture helped me too, especially once i tried needle plasters.... so i had needles in the relevant wrist points all the time for 4 / 5 days. It meant i could plan my like slightly by having accupuncture before something (like friends coming to stay) and would make no plans for my needle free days knowing i would be in bed and sick. In some-ways it was useful to 'know' when i would be in bed all day!

also ice lollies for breakfast. (if i kept down an ice lolly there was a small chance i could keep down real food, though no garantee!)

Its horrid... unbelievably awful but it does get better.
For me I was signed off for 10 weeks, and only the 1st 7 weeks of that were really awful (pretty much bedridden for 7 weeks) and at 16 weeks i got a bit better.

Im 22 weeks now, still sick about every other day, still taking tablets but i normally fell "well" in myself, other than just for a few minutes before and after sickness.

Hope you feel better soon and i highly recommend accupuncture.