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.

[LucindaE]

Gatorade Thank goodness the ketone reading is still low, you wouldn't think it would be after so much being sick. I remember gatorade from when a US woman asked me to take over her thread for a bit! Good luck at Dr's today, I do hope s/he prescribes something that does a good job. Do you find ice lollies or sips of flat coke any use at all? Weirdly enough, sips of warm water sometimes stayed down with me, too.
We don't seem to have heard from First in a while...
Lucinda
xx

[BelleEtLaBete]

Hi: I poked my head into the last thread and was hoping I might not need this one... But I'm freaking out slightly so here I am.

Have been on metaclooramide for a couple of weeks, but started vomiting anyway so have been swapped to stemetil buccal tablets yesterday. Am in bed off work with a chest infection and trying not to feel panicky that I'm going to have serious hg this time again no matter what I do. I really hoped that medicating Pre-emptively would help. I HAVE to be able to work this time.

Hg nearly killed me before, in an indirect way. I was very dehydrated for a long time, and basically immobile. I broke my foot when ds was 4 months old and got a DVT which ended up in about thirty bits in my lungs. I almost died in A&e and was in hosp for over a month. I am so frightened of being that ill again. I've spent the last 2 years in and out of hospital and all linked back to the hg I had in my last pg.

I'm so scared but I feel like I can't talk about it to relatives. They just see me not being that sick at the moment and just kind of hmm at me. Am I allowed to come here and just vent my fears a little, even if I'm not really being very sick ATM? Every wave of nausea makes me remember last time and I think I am overreacting a little.

[BelleEtLaBete]

Oh and ps: if another person says 'well Kate Middleton's got that and she seems ok now' I am going to punch them. Irrational, but true.

[LucindaE]

Belle Of course, come on and vent all you like, that's what this thread is for amongst other things! I am so sorry about those awful complications - was it due to lack of protein making the bones weaker? I have to say I was unlucky too - my migraines have been much worse since that run in with Hyperemesis, I think the hormonal unbalance got much worse, but I don't want people who get migraines to think that's typical or inevitable.
No wonder you are apprehensive! I think you might have to try and few meds, lots of people find the first one's just don't do the job properly and end up on a cocktail (babies fine, of course!) of Ondansetron, cyclezine, B6 etc...I do so hope you can keep on working, a few woman on this thread have somehow kept going, I sometimes wonder how, and how they managed not to puke on the floor all the time, I would have. If you do have to get a sick note for at least part of the time, can it be done financially if you don't mind me asking? (well, I always say there's no tmi on this thread, lol!)
I think Kate Middleton will have access to all sorts of sophisticated treatments not available to the commoners on the NHS and also she may have been one of the lucky ones who are more or less over it at fourteen weeks or so...
Lucinda
xx

[Reebok]

Thanks Lucinda for that info...looks like I will just have to hang on and pray it ends soon. Slightly better morning today. Actually avoided my morning throw up but still felt sick to stomach until I ate. Finding it hard to find things to eat...I now officially hate toast having lived on it so long! So moved on to crossaints...unhealthy yes? But who cares!!

Welcome Gatorade. I hope you get medicated ASAP and have a helpful doc. No suggestion on the dreaded disgusting g.biccies on this thread!

Belle that sounds awful! Hopefully you are not hit with bad hG this time! To both Belle and Gatorade, we are here for support! I've said this many times...this thread is a lifeline. I couldn't have gotten through the past 2 months without the support of these lovely ladies...especially Lucinda and MOP. So please make sure you use it.

[BelleEtLaBete]

Thank you.

The break was from a nasty fall I had. But they think my blood was thick after the hg (all linked to movement with me so I was laid up on the sofa a lot of the pg), so I got the DVT and then the PE's. I am usually so healthy but the last 2 years have been very tough. The Hg had me in hospital, then the foot, then the PE's (I had pneumonia and various complications). Then a couple of months later I got Guillian Barre syndrome and the doc in hospital tied that back to the hg too, saying my body had been through so much that my own immune system was attacking me.

I'm not even being very sick. Just once in the morning and afternoon. Im only 6+6 today and it never stopped last time, only eased after 16 weeks. I had a huge migraine at 16+2 and it was noticeably better the next day onwards.

Stuffing my face and slurping all the water I can: just loads of stodgy carbs at the moment, and cheese. I was advised last time by my very brilliant gp to avoid iron rich food like beef and acidic food like citrus as these apparently can make hg worse. So I'm avoiding them where possible. Turkey and bananas are supposed to be helpful - I lived off Bernard Matthews turkey drumsticks last time! Also, I find freezing a banana and sort of slurping it like a lolly really helped. Turkey and banana have lots of potassium in which is supposed to be anti-emetic. DH used to roast me a whole turkey leg and leave it for me to pick at all day. He used to call me Henry 8th!

Migraine seems to be a common topic here. Does anyone know if its linked?

Also, anyone had good results on stemetil? I've changed to that yesterday.

[Familyguyfan]

Hi everyone

Sorry for not coming back. I felt so awful I couldn't seem to pull myself together enough to get on the Internet.

Doctor has confirmed very bad morning sickness but I am not dehydrated yet. He is keeping an eye on me and I am now off work. He's been brilliant, as have my family and I'm hoping I will start to feel better soon. Good luck everyone. Feel better soon!

[MotherofPearl]

Hi all,
Apologies for being silent for ages. I've noticed that Reebok has been having a dreadful time of it and also that we have some newbies/returnees, but have not had time to post as work has been frantic. Reebok, how are you now? Any luck with the Rennies? I found them a godsend. What you said upthread about missing 'being you' really struck a chord. I so remember that feeling, and thinking about how HG robs you of your whole identity, not just your health and any enjoyment of being pregnant. It does put a strain on relationships, too. While I would love a 3rd DC (mad?), my DP has said there's no way he's putting up with me having HG again.

How is Room now? Still on the up I hope.

Gatorade, I'm pretty sure I remember you from before. I think your baby was due a couple of months after mine. Hope this time around is not as bad.

Belle, it's no wonder you feel anxious, after that dreadful chain of events set off by HG last time. What a horrendous story. As Lucinda says, you may well have to try a number of different combinations of drugs before you hit on the best one for you.

Hope everyone else is holding up OK, and apologies to anyone rudely ignored.

[hopeful92]

Hope everyone is having a good day today. I've had a pretty crumby one to be honest :( can't keep any food down today but thankfully have managed to keep some pineapple juice down so that will at least give me a bit of sugar.

Gatorade Hope your ketones stay at +1, think mine were +5 when I was in hospital last time and I felt very rotten. Have definately learnt my lesson and will not be letting myself get so dehydrated again!

Belle You're not overreacting at all, your last experience sounds terrible, and is bound to play on your mind this time. Just keep an eye on things and don't let things get too bad :)

And if one more person tells me to eat a ginger biscuit or compares me to Kate Middleton I won't be responsible for my actions... I even had someone ask me why I wasn't wearing makeup as "Kate manages to keep up her appearane with hypremesis"

[Reebok]

MOP, how did you manage 3?? I can't see myself doing this again and nor can DH! It's really put a strain on our relationship and I don't think I could handle it again. Having an okish day...don't want to jinx myself though as I've said it before and half an hour later...well you all know the drill! Rennies help slightly. They taste awful...not as bad as gavsicon though. Carried on with Zantac...helping slightly too but not great unfortunately. 26 and a half weeks....I can do this!

Lol hopeful @kate Middleton! She has to put makeup on...she's a princess! Lol we fortunately are not in the public eye so it doesn't matter if we sit in our pjs all day looking like a tramp (I am Defo one big tramp! I don't recognise myself anymore!) Hope you feel better soon Hopeful..,tomorrow is another hG day guys. Hang in there wonderful ladies!

Welcome back family....sorry to hear you feel so bad. Yes Defo try to keep those fluids up (I know it's hard to...I'm using a straw so I don't drink more than I can and throw it all up).

[Reebok]

Mop, misread that...realize you have 2...but even with 2, you deserve a medal!

[RoomForALittleOne]

Hey All. Still very up and down here depending on how much I do/how much rest I get. I'm trying to take on more child care/domestic stuff slowly so that DH isn't missing lectures but that does really take it out of me and makes me feel much worse. Unfortunately you can't go off sick from looking after your own children. I so wish that I could!

[LittleMissSnowShine]

hello everyone! Just popping in for some tea and retching sympathy Just been reading through the thread and really feel for you all. HG is the worst!!

This is my third pg - I had bad HG with DS who was born in Aug 2010, and I was pretty sick (but not as bad) the last time round but I had mmc at 10 weeks. I half believed the reason I wasn't so sick last time around was because it wasn't my first time round and HG is supposed to mainly affect first timers...tho obviously a quick browse of Mumsnet show how often that is not the case! Anyway, I think it's more likely that I just wasn't as sick the last time because pg wasn't developing as it should have but hindsight is a great thing!

Now I am pg for 3rd time, 10+6, and last 3 weeks have been living hell. I went on to cyclazine straight away because I waited til 9 weeks with DS and it nearly got me hospitalized so I knew it was important not to let it get out of hand but I've been signed off work, I'm basically bed ridden round the clock and I can't look after DS on my own so I've had to draft in extra hours from childminder and get my mum, MIL and my aunties to pitch in to help me, and DH has been doing all the housework.

I know I'm very lucky to have a good support system and a very understanding boss in work but I am really at the end of my tether. The vomiting is horrific some days but even the days when it is not so bad it's the round the clock nausea and dizziness that are just sucking the life out of me, Too tired and sick to read or anything, so just mindlessly watching daytime tv!!

Have an appointment with acupuncturist tomorrow since it's probably the only thing I haven't tried before but since acupressure, ginger and hypnosis cds haven't really worked I'm not holding out a lot of hope. My only ray of light is that with DS it stopped just before 14 weeks so if it follows the same pattern this time round I should only have 2 or 3 more weeks of this. But there's a part of my brain telling me that it might be different this time and I could be stuck with this for another 29 weeks!!!!

[hopeful92]

LittleMiss Oh no, so sorry to hear you're suffering, sounds awful :( You're right to go on cyclizine straight away, I left it til 17 weeks and it took 10 drip bags to rehydrate me, so definately keep the fluids up!! (Ice pops have been a godsend for me when I coudn't keep water down). Hope you feel better soon x

[LittleMissSnowShine]

hopeful - 10 drip bags!!! You poor thing :(

motherofpearl - I'm the same as you, I always wanted 3 or 4 but I am never going through this again, no way!! 2 will have to do, I just wanted DS to have a brother or sister but otherwise I would have stopped with 1. HG is possibly the ultimate cure to any feelings of broodiness! However if no. 2 turns out to be another boy I will probably be a bit fidgety about wanting to have a girl. But I hope people remind me very firmly that I really don't want to do this again!!!

Kate Middleton...ah yes... it's quite convenient she has been so publicly ill because it means when people look at you blankly when you tell them how sick you've been you can tell them, 'you know, like Kate Middleton, I have what she has'. On the other hand, have no private hospital to retreat to, no palace to recuperate in and no army of stylists/make up artists to make me look ok when I am able to venture out of house so she is making us all look bad!! (Sorry Kate, it's not your fault!)

[LittleMissSnowShine]

PS) LucindaE - that link is brilliant, reading through it all now. I have been off work for a couple of weeks and I'll prob be off next week as well, but I'd like to be able to go in even for a couple of hours at a time the week after and all the advice on stuff to take with you when you are out and about is really helpful..

[LucindaE]

LittleMiss Welcome, love the name - sorry you are suffering so much. is htere any chance Dr might consider Ondansetron, as that helps so many (but locks up the bowels?) or a number of things, maybe, I know nobody likes taking lots of drugs even if they are proven safe but if you are as ill as this, it's the only way. I'm so glad you like the link, that website was created by the wonderful MOH who calls in regularly, and knows a lot about meds. On the rare occasions when Icould totter out when at my worst, it was the old plastic bag to put my head into for me! I think you're vrey brave to go for it again.
Belle What a horrible series of medical 'events' no wonder you are anxious; I think there is a definite link between migraine and Hyperemesis, I suppose troublesome hormonal imbalance of some sort...really feel for you in this anxiety. Frozen bananas, that is a fascinating concept. That cooking Dr sounds just what is needed. Why aren't all GP''s like that?
Room You deserve a medal too, for battling on with kids,and getting tired makes it so much worse. Hugs.
FamilyI'm so glad you are not dehydrated.
Hopeful Ketones 5+? Aagh! You must have felt unbelievably bad...
Gatorade How are things today? How are the meds helping?
MOP Lol about OH, I wonder if the last straw was when he was in the firing line and was puked on when you were in labour?
Further back, Nemo said she was going in for ttc, I hope I didn't forget to wish her luck and remind her never to feel alone if that dreaded Hyperemesis raises it's ugly head again for her, I hope it doesn't.
SB Also gave some great advice about protein, and I'm not sure I acknowledged it.
Reebok Hugs, I do so hope you get some relief soon, this torment doesn't do a lot for relationships.
Make up Someone said people had the cheek to ask why she wasn't wearing make up. The nerve! Anyone with this is brave to be on their feet, and do people ask our OH's why they haven't got their make up on?!
Apologies to anyone rudely ignored.
Lucinda
xx

[hopeful92]

Lucinda Yep, had a couple of people ask me why I've not bothered to put make up on one of them being my SIL.. How rude eh!!

Took my nephew to playgroup today, there was lots of tiny babies and I had a cuddle with a few - made me think all this sickness wil be worth it :)

Work tomorrow, not looking forward to it, I haven't been in since last Saturday, no shifts available, but not looking forward to it as I'm in 10-4, might not sound like a super long shits, but with hg 5 minutes seems like an eternity of a shift! The ovens don't help - they make me soooo overheated!

Hope everyone is having a good day :)

[Reebok]

Surviving so far...not as good a day as yesterday though. Feel like I'm going back and forth. Come on hG!!! Take a damn hike!! Sorry! Just very fed up.

Hope everyone else is having a better day.

[Reebok]

So annoyed with this weather and how crappy I feel...I have a craving for a tuna subway...whether I'd be able to eat it is another story but it's all I can think about after dreaming about it last night. But stupid weather and hG are not allowing me to fulfill the craving! Subway should really learn to deliver...so many pregnant women I know love it!

[BelleEtLaBete]

Oh, subway! Now I need a Subway Melt :)

[LittleMissSnowShine]

LucindaE - I did think about Ondansetron but since cyclazine keeps vomiting (tho not nausea) under control I feel like I should just stick with it instead of maybe trying something new. I may change my mind if the 24/7 nausea lasts past 14 weeks tho...

Reebok - Not a huge fan of Subway but had a real craving for a proper Tuna melt earlier. My mum makes amazing tuna melts - she worked in a dinner in New Jersey for a couple of months one summer when she was a student and that recipe has lasted the course. Nom. Acupuncturist advised me to avoid dairy for next few weeks tho...so no mayo or cheese on mine :( Also fed up with feeling crappy! How many weeks are you?

Went for acupuncture this morning - didn't try that in previous pgs so was curious to see if it would have much effect. It did work...a bit. Can't say I'm not feeling nauseous but I did feel a bit hungry after the treatment and I never feel hungry these days so that was something anyway. Going again on Monday cos acupuncturist reckons first couple of sessions should be close together so we shall see! First trip out of the house in a few days and first trip out alone wthout DH or my mum as a chaperone since HG kicked in.

[Reebok]

Today has been a rubbish day guys. I've spent 2 hours with my head in a bowl puking and crying. I can't take anymore. Littlemiss, I'm 13+4 and losing hope that this misery will end soon. All I can stomach today is crossaint and stupid acid reflux not helping. Burns my stomach and chest and I vomit bile. Sorry tmi!

Feeling very alone. OH is fed up of my tears and complaints. I'm alone all day and luckily have no other dc to look after but it's so hard to look after myself. I have no energy this weak and feel like I want to die.
Lucinda, don't worry...I'm not dehydrated before you ask...have been checking. Just been so difficult lately. I know I'm not vomiting as much as I did at the start but I just feel awful all the time. I'm sick of waking up to face another day of misery and keep having those terrible thoughts again. And I feel so guilty because I've seen my baby.

[RoomForALittleOne]

If you are that bad, you need a change of medication. It's not unusual to be put on one type and need something different or for the GP to be rubbish and refuse. Go to A&E if you get really bad. You will get different drugs from the hospital and then the GP will have to continue with the treatment that the hospital gave you. They may not want to give you ondansetron because it is expensive but it is cheaper than keeping you in hospital. It's used all the time in America without problem. Just get some suppositories for constipation if they give it to you. Trust me on this one. Praying that you improve, Reebok.

[Reebok]

Thank you Room. Unfortunately stupid hospital is just as bad. They only give cyclizine, Metaclophamide and buccustom. Have tried all 3 and doesn't work. I had to tell them about zofran but they say it's unsafe in pregnancy. No gp in my area is hG friendly. Seems like I'm destined to suffer. Wish I had support at home...