Hyperemesis Support

[LucindaE]

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 for sufferers, with information about medications, coping strategies, hospital admissions, useful links, advice for family members, and much more.

I would like to thank MOH and Everyone who has given such invaluable support and advice on this and on previous threads.

Remember when you are at your worst, 'This Too Shall Pass'. It really will.
So many women on this thread have thought they couldn't get through this, but they did.

Chaffinch- I had mine at 31 weeks. I did do alot of research into the shot as I really didn't want to have anything else during this pregnancy due to having so much already in the way of meds and dangerous medical procedures.

I declined the flu jab. Although I usually have this every year, I reasoned that it would not provide any immunity to the baby once born and I only have a short time left to go. So ill have a shot once I give birth. The midwife agreed this was reasonable. In the meantime I'm hibernating where possible!

The whooping cough seemed more important. All my family had this as children and currently it's on the rise. It can last for months, cause sleepless nights and lots of worry. I know in severe cases babies have died. I just thought that if my baby did get this and I could have prevented it or made it less severe, id regret not getting it done.

When it comes to vaccinations though, I think it's entirely at the discretion of the parent and everybody should do what they feel is right.

Xxx

sal agree the whooping cough thing, my leaflet says 4 newborns died in UK this yr so far. they have their first whooping cough/tetanus/polio jab at 2 months, so in that 1st 8 weeks they are open to it

I chose to have flu jab as work in retail and couldn't risk getting flu on top of HG nightmarish idea

In China apparently they call whooping cough the '1000 day cough'

'tis a vile illness

Sally Very good and balanced advice about innoculations. Haven't kept up with latest advice on whooping cough vaccinations - I had the real thing, as did all the school, as a girl hadn't,but obviously none of us had it as badly as her. I know that my OH and my DD had it in London,they'd both had the injections and had it mildly too but I recognised the gasping for air noise I used to make in the middle of coughing fits and DD used to throw up with it. It's a foul thing. DD was given it, I think, before we were discharged after her birth.
Slices of Lime That throwing up bile first thing is so horrible. Grumbling on the first thread had a Terrible Shredded Wheat Experience which I hope you avoid - . That sounds so sweet about DD. You mustn't blame yourself for not functioning properly, childen are very resiliant, she'll forget all her worries in no time when you recover from what I've learnt from these threads.
Punkstar Poor you, that is dreadful insomnia. Cyclazine (sp?) makes most people sleepy, but one sufferer on here, I think Murder of Goths found it gave her insomnia, though that is very unusual.
Chaffinch I am sure you are one third of the age, and ten times as pretty as Cilla Black even if you are at present a puker! The reason I ask about that sense of humour is I am a half scouse, I suppose, scouse father, and my OH is one, and when we first met I lived there for three years and I am sure it was there that I developed my weird sense of humour. Looks like they have a good one in the Black Country, too, if you are anything to go by. You live near Margaret O'Hara MOH then, who started the site quoted in the preamble.
I hope Howly and Thursday and all suffering badly are a bit better.
xx

Thanks lucinda' I keep forgetting about jelly do may send DH out for some later when he's back from work. It is still both ends so am thinking its a bug...

I finally sat up at about 1:15pm and I think the exertion caused me to get all vommy again. So the whopping half a glass of dioralyte came back up. I'm not sure which is worse - big chunders or dry heaves (sorry tmi)....

I was starving though do I've just had a bowl of fruit n fibre. No idea if that is the recommended thing to have but it's what I fancied. Fingers crossed it stays in/down.

slice I feel dreadful to my dd at the mo too, it's all I can do to sit on the sofa, feel so rubbish. Thank god it's the weekend so DH can step in.... Luckily she's with her grandparents today.

punk interesting you say that about being more nauseous when tired... I feel the same tho it doesn't feel like the two should be linked for some reason in my mind. Hope you find a way to sleep better ASAP.

Stay strong everyone!

CrazyThursday
I know, it's very odd isn't it?
The Prof warned me of it but he is the first person I've met (who has obviously never had HG!) who knows everything about HG. He was all 'and do you have excess saliva?'
But told me that I have to rest as more activity makes it worse (hehe was glad OH was there to witness, now I don't feel like it's just me moaning, it is FACT cos the Prof said so!)
I have no idea how it's linked though, maybe something to do with motion? It gets me out of doing the vacuuming anyway ;-)

CT how far along are you? Sorry you've got D with the ongoing V. Not fair at all. Defo sounds like a bug....I'm going to sound like Lucinda here but please keep an eye on the fluids, you're double losing it at the mo!
Hmmmm I do hate the dry heaves, I find them preferable to a power vomit though. I can cope with a petit vom easily,not much damage from that.

Get well xx

oh GOD that excess saliva. Arggggg. It's ....

That and the bad taste in the mouth. Yuk Yuk Yuk Yuk Yuk Yuk.

And yes, a bad night = more sickness for sure :/

Meerka Oh dear, that sounds nasty.
CrazyThursday Never worry about tmi on here- anything goes. I think dry heaves hurt more but liquids are so much better than half digested food. Do you find the juice of tinned fruit a bit more bearable than other liquids?
PunkStar That saliva is so foul, boiled sweets help a tiny bit. Someone swore by Parma Violets. Lol about my recurrent watch -out-for-those-ketones-creeping-up warnings. Ketones Danger. I once did a test on my non pregnant self, though with a really bad puking bug. Despite sipping water, my ketones are 3+ and would have meant an admission had I been pregnant after twelve hours.
xx

lucinda your tip about barley sugars was fantastic.

I had a box sent over and I'm sucking them nonstop (poor teeth, specially as I still can't brush in the evenings or even use mouthwash). It turned out to be a really huge box, husband and I opened wondering what on earth it was and ended up laughing at the giant bag that lay there. Long as your arm, it is.

hello ladies. been a while since I posted as generally been ticking along with nausea but controllwd vomming thanks to ondansetron. however unlike previous pregnancies it does seem to be waning. I was so worried what it meant but at last check all seemed ok.

tonight I managed to cook and eat a proper family dinner. only someone with hg can understand what a huge milestone that is. I can hardly believe it - there is hope ladies there is

very good to hear Eggy ... yeah, it really is a big deal isnt it?

What's the deal with ketones???

punkstar interestingly one of the 1st line anti emetics is avomine, a travel sickness drug, again linked to movement. I think balance controlled by your ears is linked to nausea in general, maybe avomine switches off sensors in the brain which respond....

Ive had labyrinthitis before, an inner ear infection where I felt utterly dizzy. didn't make me nauseous though, but in some it does

ketones are excess proteins in your urine, your body literally digesting itself as it is dehydrated/starving
happens a lot faster if you're pg and supporting a priority fetus

they are measured visually on ketostix via peeing on them then colour matching a swatch on the tin, either 0 (=fine) up to +4 or '++++' = very bad. hosps admit from 3+ upwards as you need rehydrating

Oh gawd, that doesn't sound great. Am really struggling with liquids at the mo. I'm 8+2, seeing the midwife for the first time on weds, don't know if the do a wee test then.

I'm pretty convinced this is a bug as have now kept down/in 2 bowls of cereal and a few bites of an apple. Difficult to say when the persistent nausea is always lurking. But I'll deffo go to the docs on Monday is my mouth stays this dry..........

Going back to the point about being tired - I recall in my last pregnancy that if I had a busy day I'd feel fine that day/night but it would catch up on me a day or two later. We had DDs 2nd birthday party on Wednesday so kind of makes sense that yest/today I feel shite.

Dreading the various meals etc over the coming couple of weeks....

Congrats on dinner eggy it is a huge achievement. My DH is losing patience with me now, thinks I should man-up If only he really knew.

crazy hopefully your dh will get the bug and you can tell him to man up and provide a list of jobs for him to tackle!!

sucking sweets can bring down your ketones
tin fruit -- drink the juice. lovely.
ice lollies
ice cold coke/lucozade
ice cubes
frozen drink cubes
or scalding hot tea
scalding hot florida spring veg soup (ultimate comfort food)

I defintely find that tiredness makes the sickness/nausea worse. I don't know why, but rest is the only thing you can do when it is really bad. Agree on the whole ketones thing - keep testing, keep trying to get any kind of sugar into your body. Plain biscuits, toast, juice.... anything at all.

Lucinda, I think I'd been in on a drip a couple of times before I found this thread. I am glad that I have managed through work this far - although it has been nard going at times. I have found that going to bed for a few hours when I get home from work helps me, and have been doing that all along, most days.

I am feeling huge now at 31 weeks and very aware that there are nine more weeks to grow! Argh!

Re the whooping cough vaccination, my nurse at the docs said I would get called in for it, but I haven't. I completely forgot about it, I must ask about it when I am up there next week.

Big hugs to all, especially mother hen - where would we be without you?

Eggy
How far along are you?
Cooking dinner is brilliant! I hope I can get there soon. I can now sit with other people but can't watch them eat. I have to look away.

I've now had two days with no vomit, have adapted to 30mg pred dose a bit better now so hoping to reduce again in a couple of days. Will have to look forward to another surge in symptoms I suppose. They apparently suppress the symptoms of HG but it's still there lurking like a beast underneath it all. Gah. It's the most pointless condition ever. There is no purpose to it!

A minor complaint... The 'roids have given me a stupid round face on top of my stick body AND acne on face, chest and back. I know minor in comparison to the trials of HG but when you look like a manky, grey and greasy horror it does nothing to enhance this unattractive state. I have five other friends who are currently pregnant, all blooming. One with a weekly FB picture update and she looks bloody brilliant. All glowey and smiley. This is so alien to me. People can actually look good and smile while pregnant??

punk I am 17 weeks now and was very very bad in early weeks and all through with other pregnancies.

I agree with rest and actually think the fact I am not working this time must be the reason it has improved

Oh those early weeks are hell!! I just did not want to wake up. I wanted someone to induce me into a coma until next June. You just feel so trapped. It really is mental and physical torture. The only way I was able to continue this pregnancy was because we told all my family at 7 weeks, we knew we needed help and we certainly got it. My Dad came up to see me and cried when he saw the state of me!!! I'm now living with him which really helps, I also knew I would never attempt to get pregnant again, so my only chance for a sibling was to battle on.

I will expect awesome Mother's Day presents every year for this.

PS I slept last night :-)

Well done to eggy cooking a meal! I seem to remember feeling slightly better round the 16 week mark last time too, so hoping for the same this time. punk I also can't believe that other people can apparently enjoy pregnancy and actually carry in their normal lives while pg, it seems totally alien to me! I've always said I wanted 3 kids but if I manage to survive this I don't know I'd ever work up the courage to try it again. I need to get some ice lollies and tinned fruit. I hate the way everything smells horrible, keeling the windows open in my room (staying with my mum) but the rest of the house now has a funny smell that makes me retch. Have to breathe through mouth esp in kitchen. Yuk. Thank you lucinda for wise & kind words re dd, she has plenty of attention from her doting granny so she is happy really. I will tell her about baby if all is well when we get to 12 week scan. Everything crossed.

punk who is the prof?? I also have excess saliva and horrible taste in mouth- it's so revolting.

CrazyThursday So glad you feel a tiny bit better and have actually eaten. about anyone thinking you should 'man up'. I don't think any man would be strong enough to handle this. That's my matriarchal views coming out!
Meerka I am so glad barley sugars helped with that dreadful taste.
Amazing you got a huge sack - hopefully you won't run out for a while.
Eggy Wonderful news about cooking dinner, so nice of you to encourage others still at the hellish stage.
Chaffinch Great tips - I hope some of them came from me when you were at your worst - sadly, tea didn't work for me - I so missed it, I'm a tea addict normally. Excellent summing up of Ketones Danger, too.
Jen Thanks so much for kind words and hugs for mother hen - hugs back - it's awful you went through two admissions before you even found this thread, one feels so alone with this.
Punkstar
I'm sure you look much better than you feel. Hugs too, you may yet start glowing, so glad you have got good support from family, that makes such a difference. 'The Prof' sounds like someone in a film...
SliceofLime Your DD will have a companion to side with her against grown ups which is priceless.
Apologies to anyone rudely ignored. Back soon.
xx

Lime
The Prof is Professor Roy Taylor. I see him every four weeks, he is managing my HG. He runs a medical obstetric clinic. He has researched HG for years and has some papers published which are visible on the internet.
He has kept me out of hospital despite significant weight loss and at one point I was barely able to stand.
This has made a dramatic difference to my coping in this pregnancy compared with my last. My HG is managed with regular medical checks without me having to wait until things deteriorate with plans in place with what to do should things take a turn for the worse. This should be happening for everyone!!!! Not left to rot until it's so late you need admitting and everything has spiralled out of control. Aggghhh, I feel so angry when I think about it. There needs to be UK guidelines for medical professionals to follow so everyone is getting the same level of care.

The smell thing is insane isn't it. I can't stand the smell of myself, sometimes even my own breathing smells, like there's something in my nose, I carry around grapefruit essential oil.

Hope the scan goes well, something to look forward to (except the journey there!)

I hated hated hated happy pregnant women in my last pregnancy. I am much more tolerant this time.