Hyperemesis Support

[LucindaE]

We need a new thread.

I hope everyone suffering from the Horrors of Hyperemesis will find this thread useful as a source of support and information.

There's no TMI on here - can't be by definition - and nobody should feel ashamed of moaning as much as they feel the need to.

I used to include extracts from MOH's wonderful website
sites.google.com/site/pregnancysicknesssos/
but I think that makes this link less visible so am merely putting the link. The information on this site is invaluable.

I would like to thank MOH MOP Ovaltine Caramellokoalalover (I think she's changed her nickname) Fluffy, Horsey Kali and Everyone who has given such invaluable support and advice on previous threads.

Remember when you are at your worst, 'This Too Shall Pass'. It really will.

F1rst just wanted to reiterate what everyone else says. You should go direct to A&E this evening. They will take 4+ ketones seriously and even if it takes a while to be admitted from A&E they will start you on a drip while you are still being processed. I promise you will feel better for the drip.

Firstly I just want to state that I don't disagree with advice above!

My ketones haven't gone below 4+ in two GP appointment and a midwife appointment but I've been told not to go back unless I can't keep down any fluids for over 24hr. Interesting the variation!

Hello, like Nitnat the current news brought back rush of awful memories from 2 years ago - this thread was a lifeline. Lucinda such a star for continuing efforts.
Thoughts with all resent sufferers - it's truly awful and I reallu do feel for you..

First, I agree! Go to a n e now!! A little wait will be worth it once they put you on an IV and hopefully give you the good drugs!

On a positive note, I managed to drink more water in the past hour than I have in a week. Heres hoping i can keep it down. Food unfortunately hasn't stuck but hopefully once I'm rehydrated and doc gives me the good meds, il be able to!

nannyl glad you had a better day today. Just didn't want you to think you had been forgotten. I feel similar to you in that I can cope with the being sick if I don't feel horrid. The flu feeling and constant feeling of the world swimming about 'only' lasted a few weeks. Lots of tears and feeling sorry for myself, but better now. Will try and keep an eye out for you on here, but do come and update us on the bus.

My sympathies to everyone else.

Hi everyone. Thanks for your advice - I'm hooked upto an iv drip. Tho if the next person/ nurse asks if its in sympathy for the duchess i will screem
Feel really sick still and very thirsty but hopefully I will start to feel better.
Does anyone know how long it will take? Thanks

I had HG back in 2008. I find it very disappointing how little has been achieved since. I am determined to take advantage of the current golden opportunity to push things forward with the GPs and NHS, in general. They ignore and neglect HG sufferers. Consequently, some family members and employers do, too. HG meant hell for me as I wasn't taken seriously by my GP, therefore refused hospitalisation. And, from what I have read, I am not the only one.

I know the very few websites related to HG. The first that come up are: an American one www.helpher.org/about-her-foundation/petition.php, very advanced with their online petition;

and a second one, British, www.pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk/help/hyperemesis-gravidarum/, a charity that tries to help, but not an HG-focused one though. Here is a extract from the press release on their website:

?The level of HG training is currently low in the UK compared to other countries even amongst
midwifes. In Canada for example safe and tested anti-nausea medication is licensed but these
are yet to be adopted in this county. However, there still no cure for HG, which is why support is
so vital.?
One in a 150 pregnant mothers who suffer from morning sickness suffer from Hyperemesis
Gravidarum. That still equates to quite a large number of women being affected by the sickness,
with many HG sufferers forced to terminate the pregnancy and a small number developing
serious complications.''

I was determined to start an online petition the second I saw the headlines on Monday, but I have found an online petition, very articulate, that I support. I believe this is the way. They are doing it in Scotland, over 1,000 signatures compared to our 36.

Sign the petition now and make a difference.

Hyperemesis Specialist Nurses Petition

First Thank goodness you are on IV and I do hope you are feeling a little better. Hugs. I'm good and mad about that GP, but no point in my ranting!
Ester Welcome, and I'm so glad you want to join the campaign to raise awareness. It doesn't sound like you came across MOH's wonderful website I mention in my preamble to this thread, but it is Hyperemesis based. The other's a bit US based, where treatment is so much more advanced generally If you have health insurance, it's different if you don't).
sites.google.com/site/pregnancysicknesssos/. Check it out to join the campaign, progress has been made, but it's a slow job, and everyone's overstretched, so it's wonderful to have someone interested.
Curiously Welcome, do join us if you are suffering badly too!
Nannlyl Congratulations on better day.
Reebok Great news about water marathon!
LA Lovely to hear from you, I haven't forgotten you, later on you said you waddled when you walked [as distinct from wriggle when you walked lol]. I remember your driving n Ealing and thinking of me and those bins where I did my Public Puking Performances. Ugh! That was before the got in those lidded bins...Thanks for praise .
Kali Lovely to hear from you too, how is Joseph Henri (Is he called after Henri of Navarre, one of the few monarchs I have any respect for?)
Ghoule I have heard from Kali that if suffering from starvation you can have high ketones without being acutely dehydrated, she had that. I don't understand the chemistry behind it. I don't know how they distinguish. How is the Ensure going down as a means of combating that? How are you today?
Sorry to anyone rudely ignored.
Lucinda
xx

Hi Lucinda,
I'm not on ensure or anything else. Just at 4+ and noone too bothered. Told 'eat crackers before you get up' by the doctor who asked me 'are you pregnant?' after I'd been talking about sickness for 5min. That wasn't a clue for her I wasn't keeping much down (I'm 35 weeks!)

I actually don't feel half as bad now I'm signed off and able to lie around, I was getting horrible stomach pains and cramps moving around at work and migranes but at home it feels more like MS. I keep fluid down without the movement and only throw up food, so I can go long periods in the day without throwing up, which is doing wonders for my mood!

Ghoule I'm worried about those high ketones, I am not sure whether you can get Ensure on prescription for all I know from a GP's or chemists, I know you can buy them online www.nutridrinks.co.uk/Ensure/ but pricey, something like three pounds for a bottle. What does the dr say about those high ketones? Are nibbles of crisps no good at all? It was one of the few things I could stand at one point, sips of flat coke or Lucozade and nibbles of crisps was my diet, and no doubt people assumed I had brought my problems on myself by always eating like that! I'm so glad you can take it easy and feel a little better, now we need to get some sort of nourishment into you as you know too well.

First Still really relieved you are having that IV. How do you feel now? It can take a while if you were very dehydrated before. I assume they are trying out different meds?
Cyber hugs always on offer.
Lucinda
xx

First glad to hear you've been admitted. Hope you're feeling better.

Ghoule, glad you've been signed off.

Had a pretty rough day myself. Have just been crying as I throw up...the whole 'why me??' routine. Struggled to eat and drink today. spent most of the day sleeping to ease pain from it all. Hubby keeps trying to urge me to go back to hosp but im holding off to see if I feel bit better by weekend. Eurgh when will this end?

Well I don't look like Kate Middleton right now, just saw a pic of her leaving hospital and my sympathy waned.

Lucinda- doc/ midwife only concerned if dizzy or can't keep down fluid.

Reebok-There's something about throwing up that makes you cry isn't there

Lol Ghoule yep there is!

Just looked at the pics! She looks pretty good. I look nothing like that at the moment! Probably gave her the good drugs straight away! Glad she's out though.

the thing with the "good drugs".... the earlier in pregnancy you are, the less safe they may be

as far as i'm aware she is a human too, would they really risk max dosing her on the best drugs, rather than those which have more evidence of being safer?

My Drs (and maybe its just them) are more cautious then to just give everything, and to give minimum possible..

But then i have not personally researched the safety of drugs in pregnancy, so all of the above may be rubbish

I wouldnt feel comfortable risking my baby, but taking more of these drugs than i needed, and i certainly think twice before taking the risk with our future king / queen...

Ghoule, I know this is not going to sound great but I really think the time has come for you to lie to the doctor and midwife and say you can't keep any fluid down. There is no way that you should be left with 4+ ketones. I can't imagine how terrible you must be feeling - the ketosis makes you feel worse, if that's possible, than 'just' the nausea and vomiting. If the only way to get treatment is to fib, then so be it. I know it's tough to fight your corner when you're feeling so wretched, but maybe if you say you can't keep liquids down they might actually take some action?

I've name changed - was f1rsttemummy. I stupidly downloaded the iPhone update and couldn't remember my log in so felt it was time to update my name. I feel so much better, in hospital tonight but just had the fifth drip removed. If ketones don't return overnight I am off home!
Thanks for all of your support and encouragement ladies it means a lot.

I have had a few comments about taking after Kate though- almost like I was being a drama queen. So I think the publicity has a double edged sword to it

Ghoule - I agree you need to get into hospital. My dr refused to admit me so I went to the a and e dept. the dr on the ward today was horrified at the level of ketone I had and said until they were gone I wasn't going home. I feel so much better for just one night, and I am petrified of hospitals and needles but I wouldn't hesitate in coming back if I was that poorly again.

Hope everyone is ok and sorry for the fleeting posts!

nannyl here's a link to some stuff on drug safety. [https://sites.google.com/site/pregnancysicknesssos/research/medications]
I was on the good drugs ie ondansetron from 8 weeks. My consultant didn't bat an eyelid when she prescribed it. Who knows if Kate's taking them or not, but I bet they won't refuse it because its too expensive like what happens to so many women on this thread!

Thanks, Lucinda. I have seen it actually. I am not saying that support is not in place, but the truth is that most HG sufferers look for medical help only to be 'confronted' with the GPs' blank unsympathetic faces. When I had HG, not even one GP or consultant diagnosed me or mentioned HG as my illness. It was my brother-in-law who sent me an article thinking that he had discovered what was wrong with me.

And here's what I found on the site you recommended sites.google.com/site/pregnancysicknesssos/surveys/survey-results

''Those who had heard of it knew about it from knowing previous sufferers either professionally or via friends or relatives. One had read it in a pregnancy book. None reported having been informed by their midwife or doctor. ''

Fascinating, isn't it?

This is why I think a petition will tackle the matter top-down. MOH needs to make sure HG is entered into the GP surgery protocols. That's how I see things, anyway.

Hi everyone, I don't post on mn very often but am always thinking of this thread and the invaluable support Lucinda and all the others gave me through my 2nd HG pregnancy last year.

I really hope that Kate having HG raises the profile and more people understand a little more about HG.

nannyl - congrats on your pregnancy but sorry to hear you have HG this time round too. Hope you are doing ok today.

Big waves to the others who shared my HG hell, made it infinitely more bearable, and made it to the castle too.

To all the others currently spending most of their time feeling like utter shit thanks to HG, I'm thinking of you & offering much sympathy.

Caramel Hugs, you are a great friend, Love the pictures on your blog. You suffered throughout, and with a toddler, too. So nice of you to encourage current sufferers.
Ester I agree its awful that women have to plead for treatment and that some GP's still follow the standard practice of yesteryear and allow women to become so ill they have to be admitted for IV before they get any meds at all. So glad about the petition, I've signed it. It's bad you had to suffer like that comparatively recently, I was treated barbarically but that was a long time ago. In fact, Melange who just posted was vomiting 'coffee grounds' - very dodgy - and we had to urge her to go to A and E before she got any meds at all, and that was only two years back. So glad you are raising awareness.
Peppa So glad you are feeling a little better and have got over your fear of needles. I agree about 'double edged sword'. What meds are they trying?
Ghoule I so agree with MOP (waves to MOP )that the only thing to do is ot be 'disengenuous and say water is coming up too now. I think that GP is downright callous. I so agree with MOH too that the D of C, who can afford any amount of private treatment, will get the best of meds and Ghoule As MOP says, you must feel terrible and sayng you can't keep water down may be the only thing that makes them take action. I expect the D of C had a private make up artist go into the hospital, not to mention those photos being photoshopped. I thought it bad publicity, giving the impression that people can look healthy again in days.
Reebok Poor you, hugs. I think it is the exhaustion. How are you today, better or worse? And Nannyl?
Thinking of Everyone.
Lucinda
xx

MOH thats really interesting

thank you

Just to add about me (will be 12 weeks pg tomorrow)

yes still not feeling great, BUT this week has been my best week so far...
at this point in my previouse pregnancy i was bed ridden in darkness and could barely move at all without vomitting.

yes im still being sick (as anyone would expect with HG) but this week as been my best week so far, and im already feeling as if i might be winning the battle a bit more this time.
I am being sick, but for alot of the time i just feel "really quite poorly", rather than "like a want to curl up and die".

who knows how long this will last?

I hope this gives some hope to those who are really really suffering right now

because it makes such a difference to only feel "crap" all the time

Nannyl you're giving me some hope. Since coming out of hospital I've confined myself to darkness in my bedroom with a bowl. Only thing that helps is to sleep through it all. Feeling rubbish as ever lucinda so going back to gp in about half an hour. Dunno if I have the strength to get up though. Hope everyone starts to get better soon and this horrible sickness does one!!

Reebok You poor thing, hugs, best of luck with GP, those meds don't seem to be helping enough, how are the ketones (she demands as usual)? They should try something else, or you may well end up being back in again. You will feel better in the future, that's a promise; but they could do more to help you through this stage. Can anyone go with you to back you up?
Lucinda
xx

I really feel for you Reebok

you sound just like me last pregnancy. Its awful at the time, but it DOES get better eventually, honest XXX
When i was pg last time i lived about a 3min walk from the drs (it probably took longer than that to drive) but i always drove round the 1 corner, cause there is no way i could have walked it. I remember lieing there thinking how am i gonna move in 90mins / 60mins / 30mins? etc, but somehow (and sometimes i swear i dont even know how) i made it,

I want to slap receptionist. She asked how I am and said 'yes I know you're not good. You have what the princess has. Except you are not a princess so you can't get private treatment. Try ginger.' arghhh is everyone stupid!

Lucinda no one to go with me. Hub at work. Have run out of sticks to check keytones. I cant make it to nearest chemist without collapsing so will ask hub.

Doc has put me on metoclopramide on top of cyclizine. Said he's never seen a case this serious. When I asked him to put me on something stronger and that there are several cases to say it is safe, he said he ha never heard of zofran being used on preg and as I can't take buccustom this is my only option.