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.

MOH's wonderful website is full of useful information on this illness:
sites.google.com/site/pregnancysicknesssos/
Another invaluable website is:
www.pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk/
If you need help in obtaining medication, this phone number is
brilliant:
024 7638 2020

I would like to thank 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.

'tis a day of remarkable heartburn, here in the nest

had a nap earlier and woke self up choking on regurgitating yogurt what a disgusting way to be woken.

sat here slurping on a massive glass of ice cold tonic water..I know it'll heartburn me in 40mins or so, but so does everything else so I give up.

16 days to go

exiting times, finch! and a relief to know that well, if the baby comes now then they're properly ready :)

all set? :)

So jealous of meerka and chaffinch ! Not long now. I wish I had a fast forward button. Getting quite bored now. Want to get on! Maybe doing some washing will help the boredom.

Thanks everyone for your good wishes. Everything seems OK so far, NT is 1.6mm and everything else seems fine but I won't have a final risk calculation for 10-14 days yet. The scan took 45 minutes because the baby would just not stand still and he (she?) had managed to wrap the cord around his neck at the exact point where the measurement had to be taken (apparently that is a common complication!).

cautiously congrats then, contingent on the results in 2 weeks' time :)

and yes, at least it -is- the home stretch.

I'm 8 weeks and feeling extremely ill.... Forgotten this feeling! Wish there was an injection to put me to sleep and awake me when the nausea, vomiting, severe headaches, blurry vision and fatigue has gone . It's miserable, can't even watch television with my headaches, vomiting 24/7 and nauseated! Was on buccestem but under the lip kind, made me sick due to being able to taste it. Now on cyclizine and hoping my life will turn around. I just want to get up out of bed for once! Feel like the loo and my bed is my life at the moment. Help, advice on what I can do would be appreciated as I asked the dr today for a magic cure and he honestly said, 'there is nothing' don't believe what Google tells u cause this is the full ticket but time will tell. Ah great!! At lead the was honest, love him!

Meerka, lucinda and the others will tell you there are lots more meds you can try. It took me 8 goes on different meds to be put on ondansetron which has been a lifesaver for me. Cyclizine didn't touch the hg for me.
Are you able to keep anything downemma?

oh dear emma :( so sorry it's so bad.

first off, can you keep water / any sort of liquid down? This is really important. You can check if you are dehydrated if you get some Ketostix from any chemist or from Amazon. YOu pee on them and check the colour they go; if it's more than 3 you need to get medical advice. The headaches may be dehydration related so please, do check. How much liquid are you managing to keep down a day?

Secondly, there are quite a lot of meds you can try. Cyclizine is actually one of the mildest and it sounds like you need something stronger. Very few doctors are experienced or trained in hyperemesis, and they are usually not up to date with it. Sadly, he's right that there is no magic bullet and if it's this bad, you're unlikely to feel really ok. But there are drugs to help other than buccastem and cylizine and there are also some hints and tricks that help with getting liquid and food down you, even if they don't make you feel better.

Ok, the governmental body NICE which lays out guidelines for all doctors in managing illnesses says

"Goals: To reassure the woman that nausea and vomiting are normal in pregnancy, To reduce nausea and vomiting, To reduce time off work and other lifestyle disruptions caused by symptoms; To prevent complications" cks.nice.org.uk/nauseavomiting-in-pregnancy#!goals

The drugs they recommend are here: drugs commonly used for N+V in preg. Cyclizine is usually prescribed with B6 and it's actually the first line of defense.

These drugs are not just 'off the internet recommendations' they are the government's own institute's guidelines.

Can you go back to the doctor with a partner / friend who can advocate for you? it really does sound like you need something stronger and it's hard to put things clearly or keep persevering when you feel like shit.

If the doctor is not helpful there are a couple of other options. One of the helpful sites that lucinda metions in the original post has a helpline with a very experienced doctor who will ring you back.

lastly, there are a few things that can help with keeping liquid down. Lucinda's sites have some hints and finch has a great list of high-liquid water foods, if you have any time of day when you can eat something.

HG really can be hellish and make preg hell. We're always here for support and to listen. We've all been through it and know what it's like from the inside.

oh, i just re-read your post - is this your second HG preg then?

emma that sounds pretty miserable, so sorry! I don't have any advice on the medication, I hope you can convince your GP to be more proactive, but just a thought on the TV...I am very sick with the computer screen but OK with the kindle and ipad. DP says it's because they have a different refresh rate (no idea what that means) but it may be worth trying other media as something else may allow you to read, surf, and keep your mind a bit off things.

No this is my 3rd pg. Had hg with my other 2 now 15 & 9. Having hg twice put me off having more. This one was a shocker!! I can only drink dips of Evian water, I make myself have it. Food doesn't stay down I just biting it all back up again. With possibly the water I drank. I try not to drink water with food but learnt that bringing toast back up was extremely distressing!! As for the tv or media, I struggle to use my iPad or phone too. It could be dehydration with hormone changes too... Had 2 lots of cyclizine today and I'm not saying I'm good but it feels a little better. Not sure I should say that as I have said that before with buccestem and it came back at bite me very hard!! I heard promethazine work well if taken early enough in the morning.. If the cyclizine doesn't work I will go back with a friend. This part is the longest part and I hug each and every one of us going through it, it he'll! Takes over your life, body and mind but gives u a miracle! The baby already had a heart beating at 160bpm, AMAZING!!

oh Emma weeks 8-12 are vile vile vile. keep your mind on that beautiful baby and see doc if meds aren't working, much has changed even in last 5 yrs when I had my ds

Can I ask you about your experience? I had 2 'good' non-sick days on Saturday + Sunday (there was nausea, but the metoclopramide helped) and I was even able to get out of the flat for short walks on each day.

Then, on Monday, the nausea was back with a vengeance and I couldn't go anywhere. I wasn't sick though.

Now, on Tuesday, I woke up feeling crap and sick :-(

I'm 18+1wks (exact age of baby, rather than adding 2wks on like Drs usually do) and wondered if anyone else had experienced this too? A slight improvement - getting hopes up - and then a slide down again? Does it improve again??

With my phobia/anxiety, I'm all over the place and have no idea what to do or think about what's going on with the improvement then worsening of the sickness, and I'm finding it incredibly stressful.

Any thoughts or advice?

I experienced ups and downs like that. bit annoying, but you learn to grab the good days by the balls and get stuff done!

I vommed this morning - a one-off this week, a welcome to week 37 no doubt,.

it's the ultimate in ''live for the moment'' isn't it, HG. you only know for sure how you feel right now. can't predict anything else, or make plans etc. it is stressful, it's renowned as a depressive condition.

hope the good days start to outnumber the bad, though, are you keeping a form of puke diary? help you see any trends/patterns

starry with my first preg it was steady, constant sickness the whole time, didnt even begin to faintly improve til week 21, not that it ever went fully away.

with 2nd preg, it's much more up and down, several good days til the evenings last week, last 4 1/2 days have been fairly horrible. sometimes it's just one bad day in between a few good, sometimes its the other way around.

The variability started around week 15, but I can't really say what weeks 13 - 15 were like because I was hospitalized with another condition. They did put me on a rehydration & antibiotic drip though for 7 days and from what I've been told since, the rehydration will have helped a lot with turning the corner with the HG. Actually I had a very high fever during that time and the HG went away for several days before returning when the fever went down ... but I wouldn't recommend it as a cure.

emma i hope you're feeling a little better today

chaffinch thanks so much for your reply. You are so right about living in the moment. I've spent the last 2 months just being sick and feeling so completely crap that I'd pretty much forgotten what it was like to not feel sick/nauseous. It completely threw me!

But, you are right, I need to take advantage of any good days that come my way - just hope there are more!!

I haven't been keeping a sick diary... never thought of that. How does it work? Just note down when you're ill, or include food...?

Emma Welcome, You are very brave to go for it three times. I can't improve on Meerka's advice, and like others I am worried that you are still puking so much on the meds and think you need some moral support from a friend or OH to get more effective ones and that number will really give good advice about how to go about it. Believe t or not, I envy you as all former sufferers say it was worth it, but you're at the worst stage now. As you've been through this fun twice before I don't need to warn you about the dangers of dehydration and the need for kesostix, you are the expert. Take heart, if you phone the number or follow the links you'll get lots of information about more effective meds.
MeerkaGreat advice. You've really been through it.
Starry I so agree with Chaffinch about variability. It does seem that when the good days finally start happening, they become more frequent usually, though for some unlucky people a fairly good second tri can be followed by an increase in sickness in the third, but I don't think it's ever so bad as it was in the first for almost anyone! The up and down stuff is makes it harder to bear in a way. Hugs.
Boo I'm glad you can face some IT!
petitelapinWhatWorry and Evreyone,how are things?
xx

emma hello and so sorry you are having a horrible time. You're very brave for going through this again!

Very of chaffinch and meerka that this will be over soon. Me and punk are also in a race to the finish

Interview 2 today. In fact I am arriving at Amsterdam right now. And have a second interview for the other job I went for last week which really surprised me!

Headaches we have worked out are lithium related. Had blood and urine tests today for those proteins. Hopefully nothing!

zuid - well done on getting to Amsterdam and for the second interview!!!! You deserve a medal!!!

Good luck with this interview too :-) Really rooting for you!!

Lucinda thank you, as ever, for your words. I really appreciate them. I hope so much that my 2 good days mean that there are more forecast for me. The emotional turmoil is wreaking havoc in me and I don't know where I am with it all! Trying to stay upright and focused.

Thanks starry I will pay for it tomorrow I know!

Sorry you feel so pants. It didn't let up till well after week 20 and even then it's up and down. I haven't had vomiting since week 15 but the nausea kills me at night. If it isn't insomnia it's wanting to be sick. We also have a tiny flat and I feel like a battery hen sometimes.

Good luck today living and congrats on second interview!

starry my hg varies so much now. I wish i'd kept a puke diary, but from memory I started having good (non-vomit) days around week 18 (16 by your calculations) then it got a bit worse again 22-26 ish, now better again. I even had a day at the weekend (29 weeks) with minimal nausea! Thank goodness baby is kicking by now or i'd have been straight down the hospital convinced something was wrong!

Seizing the good days remind me who I am, that I do have a life and I can achieve things, even if I do end up overdoing things and having a bad day the day afterwards. And yes, i'm counting showering without vomiting and putting washing on as achievements...

GP has signed me off till maternity leave now. I managed to sort through baby clothes yesterday and have a pile to start washing now, and I went through the list of stuff to buy and realised it's nearly done! I love normal pregnancy things!

don't be of me! Ive been pg & vomiting since last summer!!!!!! last summer I tell you!!

god Ive been pg since JUNE jeepers.