Hyperemesis Support

[LucindaE]

A new thread needed here already! Lovely Grumblin who started the second one, may be actually having that baby at this minute!

I hope this will be a source of support for present sufferers and ex sufferers alike and also worried family members.

I want particularly to mention my favourite feline FluffyWhiteKittens, who has been so invaluable a source of support on the old threads, and MOH, who has slaved to produce articles full of useful information and links to useful websites, LaTrucha, lovely CaramelloKoalaLover, Grumblin, NitNat, La, Lottie, Grandmagain, MaryLou, Cocoanuts and so many that I cannot name everyone for fear that the current sufferer may became annoyed at the long list...

Never worry about tmi or moaning. When suffering one has to discuss things that would make most people go weak at the knees and to have a good moan can help enormously with an illness where there is still a lot of ignorance and sometimes insensitive treatment.

It might help to remember - when you are at your worst - the words in that Eastern story.
'This Too Shall Pass.'

LucindaE
xx

Hi ladies, just a flying visit. Will be back later. Thanks for advice re meds.
I just saw this link and wanted to post in case you hadn't seen it. Looks like HG got coverage on This Morning this week. I have to be honest, I wasn't a fan of the midwife and some of her comments, in particular that HG could be 'an emotional response' to pregnancy. GRR

www.morningsicknessstarts.org/hyperemesis-gravidarum-severe-morning-sickness-on-this-morning

Oh MotherOfPearl I completely get the dentist thing! I had an infection where my wisdom tooth was coming through about a month ago. I felt a bit embarrassed too as I'd never had anything wrong with my teeth before, he put it down to HG, said the constant sickness was making me run down and more prone to infection. Glad you've got it sorted though and you're not having to put up with any more pain.

The nasty boss saga continues, if he doesn't get moved I'm going for constructive dismissal as he has such am awful history of physical abuse to people as well as verbal. How he still has a job I really don't know. My GP has been great though, he said he's more than happy to keep giving me sick notes until I start maternity as that sort of environment is healthy for me or the baby. On countdown to my 20 week scan now, only 26 days to go haha

Hello to everyone, hope you're all having a good day!

Cosmo, just watched the This Morning link. Good that attention is being drawn to HG but as you say the midwife speculating about 'emotional causes' is not very helpful, and nor is the fact the nobody mentioned that there are medications available which can help.

MOP - I had my first filling after my pregnancy and I think that the vomiting/difficulty brushing probably was a factor.

I agree about This Morning and lack of info on meds/treatment etc. But like you say, some publicity for HG is a good thing and hopefully a few more people will know what it is - although they struggled to say it correctly!

Feeling pretty down today about the whole second pregnancy thing, after a couple of days of thinking I could do it. I think listening to that woman on This Morning say how hard it was on her family and her daughter, made me feel a bit like, can I really put myself through that again? Then of course I can't help the pity party 'why me?' 'this is so unfair, other people get to have great pregnancies and plan their families according to their lives not this damn illness'... Also have horrid PMT so I probably should just not think about it all for a while.

Yes autumn is really upon us isn't it? But for you ladies and your countdowns that can only be a good thing! Keep crossing those days off and take it one at a time. x

Cosmo it is shit but you just have to really keep telling yourself that (although it feels like forever at the time) it is a really short period of time in the long term. Ds is nearly 11 months now, and I am so glad I did decide to try for number two, even if I didn't feel that great about the decision when stuck in hospital on a drip iyswim x

Thanks Fluffy. You are right and I would hope that having been through it once that feeling of 'I won't survive this' 'will this be worth it?' etc won't be there. I have my wonderful DD who is proof the whole thing was totally worth it and I did love that feeling of the HG disappearing and spending time with her in those early weeks and months and beyond.

It is a case of feeling the very real fear and doing it anyway, isn't it?..I guess my back and forth is showing me I am not quite there yet.

Whispers that those feelings may well be there but at least you're aware it's normal for an HG sufferer to feel them.
I do think you need to be sure but on the other hand you could dither for ever :)
Not sure if any of that was particularly helpful but just wanted you to know we get your thought processes :)

Hi, everyone, off to Nottingham and my aunt for a flying visit, but PC is back up, and has been 'swept' (hmm, we won't mention sweeping...) Schrod how awful, and hitting your head, and 16 hours in three weeks. Hope you still have some form of meds to help things?
Fluffy waves. One month to first birthday.
Pearl What a shame about teeth when you have been so careful.
Cosmo I do symapthise with your misgivings, but there is another aspect of which I wish I had known. In fact, my daughter when younger did complain of being an only child, and I was once upset by reading a mean book about only children, saying how selfish parents are who had an only child, t here were quotes from only children about how awful they found it, and one women even blamed her attending a dinner where someone died on her being an only child.... It is worth thinking on, but if you decide to go for it feel free to call me names if you have to go through full blown Hyperemesis again.
LucindaE
xx

Cosmo, this is my 2nd pg, I have a 3 year old DD. I had pretty severe n & v when pg with her but not full blown HG, and I still found it really hard to decide to have another child. It took a full 3 years to really recover from last time! After how ill I've been this time, I have to say 'never again', but then I don't think I'd want more than 2 DCs anyway. I guess, like Fluffy, I'm just saying that how you feel is completely understandable. It's such a tough choice. I suppose what finally persuaded me was thinking that 9 months of sickness is horrendous, but that a lifetime of just one child was much longer (not that I think being an only child is so awful, just that I really wanted 2, as did DP)! Good luck with whatever you decide. x

Morning ladies, thanks MOP, Lucinda and Fluffy for your thoughts. I really appreciate you sharing your experiences with me - it is helping a lot in my thought process to have advice from people who have been there and know what HG is all about.

Lucinda - that book sounds :00 I know a couple of only children and I have to say that they say they don't think they suffered as a result and have lots of friends as adults. I think a lot of the time it comes down to the parenting. Some siblings don't get on at all do they?

That said, I definitely have got a major case of 'broodiness' (hate that word!) lately. It is kind of all consuming but I am still too afraid of acting upon it. I am due to start a volunteer job next week, which is the major thing that is making me think I should put TTC off for several months at least, because I want to see how it goes and get some experience for my CV etc..It is as a breastfeeding peer supporter in hospital though so I doubt it will help much with the broodiness! Plus the longer I leave it, the older DD will be, and then the easier it will be on her....hopefully.

She starts preschool next September and I wasn't sure whether it would be better for her to be there when I was at my sickest or not, because then I would have pick up/ drop offs to do, which could be tricky....So I was thinking that it might be better to have her at home full time still while I was in the worst part (which for me was 10-16 weeks).

I have thought about all this way too much!!

Lucinda - do you mind me asking how old your DD was when she started asking for a sibling?

Lucinda Just an update.

I have been put on proper pain meds now, they were going to take me in and put me on morphine and to watch me incase I fell but I refused as I am allergic to codeine and scared it would have the same effect.

Now being put on daily Stemetil injections and have the pills to take at night. :) Feeling much better with them and was actually able to eat something and keep it down today. This morning I had a low temperature and couldn't even keep water down. :(

Hope everyone is feeling better, would write a bit more but feeling a bit dizzy.

Good night. :) x

Hi all

Hope everyone is OK. I just wanted to post and let you know there is hope. I had terrible, terrible MS up until 19 weeks. I had anti-sickness drugs which worked for a time. When I came off them, I was sick a few times, but gradually day by day it has petered out.

I'm now 21 weeks and have no morning sickness whatsoever. Having that full up feeling after a meal again is amazing, and I just wanted to give hope to those who are feeling that there is no end in sight ATM.

Take care x

Nooby Glad you recovered. :)

Unfortunately though, for a lot of us the only end in sight is delivery. :(

x

Hi Lucinda et al,

Wanted to pop back and firstly thank you for the support a couple of months ago. I really needed and appreciated it. The fact that someone out there knows how utterly awful it can be is a comfort, and this thread is such a great thing. Thank you Lucinda for keeping it going, it is appreciated.

I also wanted to share my experience in case it helps others ( bearing in mind of course that anecdote does not = data, this is just how it happened for me).

Firstly I got bad morning sickness. Utterly crap, but within the realms of normal.

Then I got to the stage where I was vomiting 10 or even 15 times a day. Couldn't keep anything down, not even water, nothing. Everything came straight back up, and if I ate and drank nothing at all I was just dry heaving or bringing up bile. After 5 days of this I ended up in the emergency room on a drip being rehydrated .

They prescribed some strong anti-vomiting tablets. They made me feel awful but they seemed to physically stop me from being able to vomit, so if I ignored how crap I felt I could at least force myself to eat and drink enough to keep me out of hospital.

I was on the tablets, feeling dreadful but surviving, for about 6 weeks, and then I ran out while abroad and unable to get any replacements. Guess what?? As soon as I stopped the tablets I felt fine!! I must have naturally got better some time during the 6 weeks, but didn';t realise because I was still taking the tablets and they were still making me feel awful.

Am now fine. Actually, it's quite funny; by the standards of this thread I am fine - only throwing up every couple of days, and able to eat most things, and only feeling sick for a few hours in the morning and the evening. When I tell other people I'm fine and explain that they look horrified! You tend to forget that for some people daily nausea and regular vomiting is NOT FINE!! But hey, I'll take it. I'm feeling on top of the world compared to how I was a couple of months ago.

Just with I'd been brave enough to stop the tablets sooner.

Love to all xx

Glad to hear Nooby and Aubergine both so much better. That is great news! Although as Schrodingers says, for some of us, it just keeps going. I'm 30 weeks now and still sick every day, but not nearly as bad as the early weeks when couldn't keep anything down. I don't foresee anything changing until after the birth, but hope springs eternal!

MotherofPearl They are allowing me to have daily Stemetil injections could you not ask for this? I'm 36 weeks.
x

Hi Schrodingers, I might look into that, thanks. I have been on cyclizine since week 7, but down from 3 to 1 tablet a day. Even on 3 a day, the best result I've ever been able to achieve is 1 vom a day, normally 2. But at the time I started taking it that was a huge improvement on what I had been experiencing, and it's enabled me to at least eat and drink reasonably well. Does the stemetil help with nausea as well as vomiting? That's what I could really do without - I still feel nauseous about 70% of the time I'm awake, which is so draining.

It does really help with the nausea and sleep too.

I get one shot during the day and take up to 2-3 of the pills during the night but you would probably need a lot less.

And who administers the injection? Does someone come round to do it?

Trying to get it sorted out just now.

If your GP is happy with it then him/her (which mines isn't even though I have an OK from to OBS Consultants ) or Maternity.

Thanks, that's really helpful. Not long for you to go now at least :)

Waves at Nooby and Aubergine. Points out that it may just have been that time fir you to start feeling better anyway when you stopped the tablets, if you had finished them earlier it may well have put you back.

Yep, between 1 and 2 weeks. :) No later.... Very, very excited!

Back from Nottingham and Robin Hood. Hello, everyone...
AubergineLovely to hear from you, and I was concerned but my pc problems meant I didn't pm you, so glad y ou are feeling better, but I hope the every other day puking and the nausea each day go too soon. Do keep in touch; that can get you down a lot if it goes on and on, which I hope it doesn't... I am happy that you found the thread helpful when you were at your worst. I remember your Puking in Shower sufferings. It is a thread that must horrify most...Cyber hugs to you.
Nooby Great news from you, too. Now you can - looks abut fearfully - enjoy pregnancy?
Pearl Really sorry it lingers; cyber hugs sent your way.
Schrod Stemetil injections sound great, the sort of thing they seem to have along with home IV in the US but only under Medicare and so on...Thank goodness that they are helping.
Cosmo My daughter was about four when she realised that most others have a sibling, and felt disadvantaged, and it went on from there. I think myself that it does give you a sort of ally, h owever resented at other times, against the grown-ups.
Fluffy Offers chair in pink castle...
I hope I haven't rudely ignored Anyone.
LucindaE
xx