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

Lastly, the NICE guidelines on treatment are useful:
cks.nice.org.uk/nauseavomiting-in-pregnancy#!prescribinginfosub

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.

Fascinating idea, elizabeth'smum. It's intriguing reading of people's varying experiences, but oh dear, it does show there is a great room for improvement in treatment.
Merka Realy feel for you. Hope you're not feeling too awful.
Mrsnec Oh dear about the cheesy scone thing, poor you.
xx

It's really interesting to read others' stories....
I find it pretty hard to talk about my first HG pregnancy....briefly, although milder than the HG of current pregnancy, mentally much more difficult and to top it off my Mam died six weeks after my little boy was born so not an easy time overall and it's just a bit hard to write about...

HG in this pregnancy started at five weeks, started pre-emptive treatment the day of positive pregnancy test. Requested over telephone from GP with no problems....cyclizine, stemetil, metoclopramide. Ran into problems around the seven week mark, pretty much bed bound. At this point getting pretty malnourished and dehydrated, lost 7% body weight over 10 days. Obstetrics started ondansetron, reduced vomiting but still losing weight. The nausea was insane but equally all the peripheral symptoms you get with HG...light, sounds, conversation. Basically any sensory stimulation increased nausea and vomiting. Pretty much lay in a dark room for many weeks.
Refererred to a HG clinic, seen pretty damn quick around eight week mark. Started on prednisolone. Woohoo..,.I could now take more than a sip of fluids but vomiting restarted despite pred and ondansetron.
The consultant I saw in the HG clinic has pretty much got me through this pregnancy, I don't know how much longer I could have functioned for. I'd gone from someone very physically fit....marathon training/weights/kettlebell to someone who was too weak to shower/bathe in less than two weeks. Consultant gave us his email to keep him updated of any problems, he upped the pred at week nine to 45mg and I see him around every 6 weeks.
Started to be able to eat and gain weight from this point. Vomiting stopped completely on high doses of pred, since I have got below 20mg I vomit most days and my nausea makes me curl up in bed most evenings. It is very difficult to eat again and I have gained no weight in the third tri....not too concerned though as the steroids have given me some extra padding ;-)
I can wholeheartedly say I am never ever getting pregnant again!!!

Happy Easter everyone! I'm feeling very nauseous, got to get a move on and face the dreaded shower though as meant to be going out for lunch at one

meerka and punk you have been through the mill with pg haven't you. In awe that you've both managed it twice.

boo that's inspired me to look into the potential of carrying on here or coming back for treatment although private won't be an option for a couple of years as I will have a student husband My main concern is the psychiatric care whilst pg because I found it almost impossible to function at times with sickness ten times a day and raging bipolar depression caused as a result of the hg. I had access to my psychiatrist on a weekly basis which got me through. We move back to the UK in August and sneakily I know I would like to try for another even though this one needs to arrive first hehe but afraid of what lack of treatment I will have.

It's not that I think the NHS is bad, far from it, but it's just so stretched. I think once you access the right care it is wonderful but it's such a mission getting there you almost give up in the process. It's a similar position if you have to fight for treatment in NL - not because they can't give it but the culture is to never medicate unless you are about to die. I know it annoys my psychiatrists - I had such a fight to get thyroid medication and they knew that was the problem but my gp refused to give it to me until I was so sick I could literally not leave my bed. On my wedding day I was married in the morning and in bed for the rest of the day, finally got given levothyroxine then once my thyroid was completely kaput. It was also responsible for our fertility problems and my mc.

Also to add more positives though to meerkas point on the lovely clean hospitals in NL and lots of staff and whizzy equipment, there is virtually no MRSA - I think the occurrence is less than 1%. They are so reluctant to give antibiotics here (which resulted in one spotty and slightly green husband after refusal to give for tonsillitis for three weeks!) the upside is the population has low immunity to antibiotics.

For my birth i will have a private room with own bathroom and be in for a week afterwards. Mum is coming next week and we are looking round the unit together. The aftercare for new mums in NL is second to none. You either say in a birthing centre or they have someone come to your home for several hours every day for a week or so to cook, clean and help you with the baby. That is a definite step up from the NHS!

mrsnec just ignore the grumpy old sods. So long as the care you get is good and the baby is growing happily, then let them whitter away. And come tell us about it afterwards :)

I think but could be wrong, the the literal translation for birthing centre here is birthing hotel. We went to see a friend in one and it was amazing, just like a hotel!

Living sounds amazing if you can actually get the help you need in NL.....loving the idea of someone coming around to help for the first week. Like having a Doula!
Would love to get my own room....don't think I'll be lucky enough to get that.

Eeeek can't believe you are secretly planning second. Hehe now that is brave. No way I could think about it while still in the throes of HG. Espesh with your other medical conditions... But you're nearly at the end :-) soon be May! Yes!!! Slowly getting there :-)

I agree re Meerka and Punk. Punk, I'm really not surprised you've decided not to do it again. I've found my symptoms have got progressively worse with each pregnancy. So I'm already thinking next time would mean meds and hospital admissions for sure.

Birth hotel sounds amazing as does the after care. I've no idea what that's like here. My previous experience of the hospital is that they never keep you longer than they need to.that doesn't bother me. And when I had a stay in this hospital before the care was great, only me and one other girl on the ward and they made an effort to put us together as we were both English and could keep each other company, and it was xmas and they gave us presents. Food was good too.

Re dodgy consultant, I've read of others getting doulas and private anethetists and bringing them in, I thought about it but wont they just get in his way? Here there is no gas an air or epidural.you get pethidine if you need it which is a slight concern.

MrsNec I really like the idea of a Doula, if I wasn't having a CS I would definitely get one (having said that I know someone who is a doula and they provide support and aftercare for any birth)
I think it's just nice to have someone act as your advocate.

Bit limiting the whole nothing or pethidine scenario but at least there is some pain relief!

I've heard a few people say the HG gets worse with each pregnancy

Bit off point but I'm really interested in others' experience of moving abroad. How easy did you find it? Any family or friends already there? Easy to settle/make friends? We are potentially going to Canada or NZ just for 12-24 months next year (depending on where OH gets his training post) at least there would be no language barrier :-)

I have a doula friend too punk, but she doesn't speak greek and didn't actually qualify yet shes considering getting back into it. I'm too tight to pay for one at the moment but I'm happy to be her final case study. I was thinking of the advocate aspect too but it's a tough one given the practices here.

On the moving abroad front, I settled and made friends but not loads. My in laws retired here and set dh up in business. Our friends are mainly clients.language barrier isn't a problem everyone speaks English. I tried to learn greek. I can read it but don't know what the words mean half the time but I understand menus and labels in supermarkets etc. Worst bit for me was that in the 3 yesrs I've been here I've never found a job and I have failed business ventures so I help dh or stay st home which is why it was frustrating that conceiving took so long as we have the perfect circumstances for me to be sahm and I'm fine with that. I've not been back to the UK since though. I couldn't imagine bringing up kids there. We were both from the south but moved to the west midlands for work. We couldn't afford to give our children the childhoods we had unless we moved. Cost of living is cheaper for us too we are self sufficient in water and electricity too. I would definitely give it a go but I would have reservations about going that far if you have strong family ties. My mum visits us 3 times a year.

punk i think there is a -tendancy- for HG to get worse but it's not always the case. My 2nd preg has def been better (though still horrible) than the first and Im not the only one to find that. The doc at preg sickness support did say that if you get it once, you're 80% likely to get it a second time tho :(

moving abroad I found easier than expected. My bf (now husband) already lived here though so he knew the ropes and arranged housing and paperwork. So all that was necessary for me was to arrange packing everything up, inform the utilities in the UK I was leaving and book the ferry :) I think if you have housing arranged and enough money to tide you over for a ocuple months that's the important thing.

Making friends has not been easy but hte dutch are -notoriously- standoffish. Forbes magazine survey found them the unfriendliest people in the world! :) It's a standing joke they pair off at 18 and never make another friend in their lives. Not actually quite true, I do have a few friends now after 6 years, but it's taken time! fortunately i get on really well with husbands friends and in laws. DIff language didnt help either. I suspect that in Canada or NZ it would be way easier becuase it's same language and more outgoing cultures.

There are things I miss that are just English like the countryside and english teabags but how strong the longing is is pretty individual I think.

mrsnec kind of surprised you can't get an epidural ... cyprus does do things differently!

Wow mrsnec no epidural? I don't get gas and air in the unit I'm going to but I could get everything else bit scared I may end up with a C section as this baby is so big but pain relief is definitely top of the list of things for us to investigate!

punk I lived in NZ for a while in Auckland which was wonderful. I left due to my divorce (ex was a Kiwi) and didn't regret coming back to Europe but I loved my time there. My brother still lives there as well. Both are very different to the UK and the worst thing in NZ was the press. I didn't think it could get much more awful than the UK but they really scrape the barrel with reporting or lack of there. It can be very parochial outside of the big cities which I struggled with. There's a lot of racism too which I found odd as they have as a nation tried so hard to resolve the historical issues with the Maori and I thought their efforts were really good. Not perfect but they do try. Sometimes it was like being in the UK with its island mentality but x100 due to the location. I always felt it needed more cities like Auckland and Wellington but there is not the population to support that of course - and part of its appeal was how isolated and qi

Culturally they are very polite but uber defensive about any criticism to the country made by a non-Kiwi and sports obsession is taken to new heights. The customer service is superb though and people go out of their way to help you out. Both Oz and NZ are EXPENSIVE though so be wary of that. NZ has some of the best primary education in the world and healthcare is good. You pay to see a GP but it's a nominal fee of around $20 to prevent time wasters. And it is, of course, stunning. The outdoors lifestyle is yours for the taking. The wine mmmmmmmmm and the food always tasted so good to me.

The Netherlands has been very good to me in some ways and awful in others. As meerka said, it is a very closed society. I don't have any Dutch friends - the only ones I have are ones I made through work who are not Dutch! The mental healthcare is brilliant but it's a very very difficult country to integrate into and it's deliberately done that way. DH is not even really considered Dutch but 'second generation' even though his dad is Dutch and he was born here. Their idea of international education is to teach something like International Baccalaureate level English to a select group of kids and that's about it.

The education system is complicated but great - if you get into the right stream. Otherwise its prejudiced and hard to rise out of a deprived area. They think in little boxes here and if you don't fit into that box it is impossible to get anywhere workwise. It's completely inflexible and I love the UK for its ability to look beyond how many Masters qualifications you have. I've really struggled with that. Oh and they tax EVERYTHING! There's a fine or a bill for just about anything you can imagine! Including missing a scan at said shit local hospital I hadn't asked for after my care got transferred and they told me I was going to mc Apparently they invented speed cameras. The cost of living I find ridiculous, particularly when compared to next door Germany.

DH is Dutch so same as meerka I don't have to worry about the bills etc but then again aside from the tax office people in general speak very good English or you can get to someone who speaks English. Anything my doctors couldn't explain in English he just translated for me. Which hasn't been very often.

All that said, I do really like it and will miss it when we go. It's lovely to be on mainland Europe and there's a sense of connectivity I don't get in the UK. The chips are also amazing and it is a much more simple approach to life - not so materialistic. And not so hysterical as the UK, much more matter of fact about things. The Dutch are notoriously direct but I like it :) DH doesn't care about moving back but I hope we will do so in 5 years or so as I'd like the baby to experience both cultures.

whoops - isolated and quiet in NZ! You'll get a lot of space to breathe if that's what you want :)

And much more friendly than the Dutch. If they know you are new to town they'll throw a bbq for you. Much more relaxed way of life. Don't expect to work between Xmas and New Year - this was frustrating for me as some companies have a mandatory shutdown and I lost 11 out of my 20 days leave per year. Think this is changing a bit but there are some random things like that which I wasn't expecting.

And sorry for derail with reminiscing. It's something that has been at the forefront of my mind lately, sigh.

Back to hg, I made the mistake of eating some cashews today. They do not sit well at all. On the contrary, a bag of cheesy popcorn was like mana from heaven. I wanted to add something a bit healthier to my diet like a handful of walnuts - has anyone had good or bad experiences with this?

Happy Easter :) just think, this time next year we can enjoy Easter eggs!

That's interesting about Nz. That's exactly how id imagine living there is like. I also get how you feel about the Netherlands. Slightly different but I lived in different parts of Spain too and felt more connected in Barcelona than I do here.

On the epidural subject, I. Definitely need to ask more questions. Would they go straight to a section if there's a problem? I m anticipating it as i have a small pelvis and was born with forceps myself. Mum warned me as I have ridiculously small feet but that could be old wives tale. On the other hand not being naive but I've been through 2 very traumatic events in my medical history so I keep telling myself I have a high pain threshold and ill be fine I'm more worried about pethidine making me even more sick than actual pain!

Re nuts I get that too. Actual nuts don't sit well but crunchy peanut butter on an oatcake or brown toast works for me.

Thanks guys. That's really interesting. I have a lot of great friends in the UK that I would miss but they are all so scattered around the country that it's not like I see them every week anyway. WRT family, my Da would love to visit frequently, not sure my brothers would though (cost)
The place in NZ is called Tauranga which I think is a couple of hours drive from Auckland. I have a good friend from Auckland and he loves it there, he reckons T is probably a decent place to live in NZ but I think I would miss access to bigger cities. I'd love the opportunity, my parents took us all to live in Australia for a few years when we were kids and I remember it as a childhood highlight so would love them to experience what I had.
My main worry is OH is on call for his patients 24/7 for approx 340 days per year, I don't think it will be onerous but it means I need to be available pretty much most of the time re childcare...(drunken weekends in Auckland may be out of the question ;-) my friend has put me in touch with some of his colleagues regarding my line of work...
Not sure where the Canada fellowship is, possibly Vancouver. Lots of things to think about :-)

Wherever I go, I always miss Yorkshire tea and cider (although think I've always managed to find cider in NL!)

Ooo I have at various points managed walnuts, however my reflux is mental at the mo and I think anything with a high fat content is asking for mega burnage. I'm braving strawberries tonight.

Ah one of the good things about having HG last time (believe it or not I have a few positives!) is that due to my colour/visual stimulation issue, we painted all the bedrooms cream with cream carpets and white bedding. Is absolute bliss this time having my colourless retreat. At it's peak it is so mental I can't even look at patterned/coloured bedding. Anyone else have this? I do feel a bit insane with these aversions at times! My consultant promised me this is very normal and one of the secret delights of HG :-)

MrsNec Barcelona is one of my favourite cities, I'm envious you have lived there. My PIL were both working in Barcelona when they met....but chose to live in Manchester instead!!! (I do actually love Manchester but not sure it compares to Barca!)

I didnt get the colour thing but i could not look at a computer screen at all at its worst, or only for the relatively low-vomitting couple hours in the morning. smells? pure hell. Light too. Any movement, even breathing. Speaking .... one of our friends popped in regularly to make sure i was still surviving when husband and son were on holiday in the UK and he keeps saying now how bad it was to see me try to speak and then end up vomitting! Phone was a total no-no.

living Im surprised yoru husband isnt considered that dutch at second generation, in the big city of rotterdam! I heard the western villages can be bloody awful like that, but rotterdam's a city/ You know what's really odd given the closed insularity? just how many dutch people marry people from other cultures!

hope everyone is having not-too-bad an easter sunday. not the best of days with all the eggs around!

< waves to okla and mrsb and mother hen and elizabeth'smum and everyone>

meerka Wilders springs to mind! Height of hypocrisy. It's almost a ghetto tbh different communities live together and never venture out Turkish, Moroccan, Dutch Antilles etc. There was never a policy of integration and it's now happening with the eastern European immigrants. Huge problem. The UK does very well in that regard.

Was once in a supermarket in Zeeland (southernmost province of Holland) and then was this little black boy standing there waiting for someone. I kid you not the whole supermarket was staring, blatantly so. Unbelievable.

On the colours thing I had this at the height a little. Everything had to be muted or dark colours. I found it very similar to having a migraine. Still get it sometimes. And yes to the talking couldn't do that much either or watch TV.

The second generation thing is a government thing similar to equal opportunities lists of how many different types of British there are. Except you don't have the choice to put Dutch, you're just considered non Dutch. Makes me

Wow thanks for sharing everyone- really interesting to hear of all our varying experiences. Realised after I had posted that I might have been appearing nosy but I think we are all well beyond the tmi barrier!! [Winks]!!

Hope everyone has managed to get through easter ok? Strange coincidence we have been considering a temporary move to new Zealand as my job is on the skills shortage list. I have travelled there before but dh has never been- have bottled it for now as such a big upheaval for the kids as well but thinking of holidaying there next year when we have some money
And maybe be able to make a decision after that.

a lot of what you have said living I had heard also so good to hear positives and negatives from someone with first hand experience. We would almost want to treat it as a semi working holiday if that's possible although I think I am probably being unrealistic as I have heard working hours are longer and less leave etc.

mrsnec you can get an epidural from a private aneasthetist and I doubt he would get in the way as everyone would be used to that way of working. In Greece and I strongly suspect the same is true for Cyprus, people tend to pay for private medical care, either in its entirety or in addition to what is available on the state system - it is nothing like the NHS which is comprehensive in its care. If I were you I would look into getting a private MW who speaks both Greek and English and can negotiate the system for you. She'll know how to get things done, how to enforce your wishes, and how to play the system which is absolutely crucial in these countries.

With regard to colours and hg can't recall whether that was a particular problem for me but when I was having a bad time could not read, watch tv, concentrate on anything , just had to lay in bed curled in a ball in a quiet, darkened room!

Just dashing on to say, with elizabethsmum I hope everyone is surviving Easter. livinzuid Lol about the standing joke about the standoffish Dutch - that's rather awful about the not really Dutch till third generation stuff. What an international thread this is at the moment anyway.
Punkstar Sorry you lost your mother after Hyperemesis.
Lottie Very brave of you to go out to dinner. How do people with this dine out?
Leaves, looking anxious...
xx