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.

[Meerka]

Welcome oklahoma, congrats on your preg but sorry it's so rough.

Yes, in the first months everyone feels like hell and increasingly despondant. You've been a relatively fit and healthy person and suddenly you're permanently ill, you can't eat or (worse) drink, you can't do anything at all sometimes including turning over in bed. Other people don't understand either unless they've been through it. It's just horrible.

It's really good your husband dragged you in to the doc's honestly. Please do take the drugs, all the commonly recommended drugs are safe and they do help. Sometimes people have to try a few to find the right one or combination for them.

If you go in for a drip, it's actually not the worse thing that can happen. Getting rehydrated makes you feel better all on its own, something to do with the electrolyte balance in your body.

HG does get a lot better for most people by week 20 and for some people earlier, around week 14 or so. Hang on in there, please please take it easy (rest helps the HG) and we're always here if you want to chat or just to moan. We've all gone through it and understand.

[mrsb87]

Hi oklahoma, you've found the best place to have a good whinge and a moan!
Ihave spent nearly 2 months barely enough energy to get out of bed and slump doswn to the sofa, unfortunately you just have to go with it for a bit and concentrate on getting some food in you.
I hope the meds they have you on help.

[Lottiedoubtie]

Anyone else feel really down and like they just can't cope?

Me! Me! Can I join? I'm 14 weeks and have been virtually house/bed bound since 8 weeks. I was admitted to hospital for 24 hours last weekend for a drip, dehydrated and dizzy as well as up and down BP.

Can't stop crying (which doesn't bloody help) and feel like I'm just bringing down the September thread with my misery.

I can't find the energy to do anything and I just want to feel better

[Oklahoma]

I know exactly how you feel. I've practically become part of the sofa.

How are you all coping with work? I tried to push through but have now given up as I just couldn't take the commute / throwing up in the loos any more. My boss is being great but I feel so guilty and like her patience is bound to run out eventually.

My poor DH is picking up all the slack at home too.

[mrsb87]

I havn't been to work since I was....... 5wks I think? Im 12 weeks on Saturday. I've turned a corner this week and I'm really hoping to go back to work next Tuesday. Im still struggling with smells and nausea in the evening but I think I'll be able to cope with that.

I was worried about work but the ladies on here were really supportive and helped me realise I really was in no fit state to go back to work til I was ready.

[Tallyra]

please don't try and struggle through to work. I know you may not want to tell them you are pregnant but a good doctors note will stand you in good stead. pg related illness can't be counted against you on record. you also need to rest. hg gets worse the harder you push xxxx

[Meerka]

hiya lottiedoubtie too, and very welcome.

Rest is actually one of the best things you can do for HG! really :)

My husband had to do -everything- too :( Oh well, the menfolk are 50% responsible for this misery!

[mrsb87]

My dh has actually learned how to cook through all this, every cloud !

[Lottiedoubtie]

My husband is busting a gut doing everything too, I feel bad but there is literally nothing I can do.

Have only got out of bed to go to the bathroom (approx 7 foot from my bed) today, I need a shower, but I can't face standing up in it. I just can't do this

[Oklahoma]

Thank you ladies, I can't tell you how much better you have made me feel!

I guess I just have to keep on taking it day by day. I just feel like a such a failure for not being able to cope. But as DH keeps saying it isn't my fault.

[Meerka]

lottie, it does get easier. It does. They might crawl by, but the minutes do pass.

are you able to drink anything? very hot or very cold drinks help some people, sipping them or using a straw. Or sucking ice cubes.

Have you got any meds? Nothing makes HG okay, but some meds do help with the nausea and the vomitting.

Please don't feel bad. You're growing a baby and got a very nasty disease indeed. You will get through though, honestly

[Oklahoma]

Lottie if it makes you feel any better my shower yesterday ended up with me sitting in the shower tray sobbing while throwing up through my nose.

I totally get the can't cope thing and don't quite know how to deal with either. I think we just have to keep on taking each day (or hour) as it comes. Unless anyone has any genius solutions (please, please someone do...)

[Meerka]

wish there were :( the only way i found was like you, just enduring the minutes and enjoying the couple of relatively (relatively) nausea free hours a day that I had.

Meds did help though, a lot; also finally finding a really supportive gynecologist at last and well, the people on this thread.

[Lottiedoubtie]

Lottie if it makes you feel any better my shower yesterday ended up with me sitting in the shower tray sobbing while throwing up through my nose.

Now I feel terrible, poor you. Just had my shower, same experience except I wasn't actually sick. It horrifies me that this could (and is for some of you) be worse.

I have had Cyclizine since I was in hospital it's drastically reduced the amount I'm sick but the nausea, dizziness, weakness and tearfulness remain.

[ChaffinchOfDoom]

ah you have my sympathy lottie and oak 1st time hg is utterly life buggering-upply awful.
it's a total mental swing that you can't 'do' your normal thing anymore.

+worry NOT about work, if you don't have the strength, you can't be there.

• if drugs don't work in 1-2 days go straight back to doc to try something stronger
  +if you can, go to chemist - or get dh/p to go and buy some 'ketostix' theyre readily available about £3; and you pee on them, they let you know how dehydrated you are. If you are 3+ or higher ketones you need an emergency doc apt/walk in centre/a&e for rehydrating - and don't be scared; you'll feel so much better if you get to this point
  +nibble salty crisps, crackers, quavers, wotsits, monster much - whatever you fancy
  +these will help make you thirsty - sip with a straw, try ice water, lemon slice in it, bitter lemon, tonic water, diet coke, whatever you fancy
  hot water with a slice lemon is nice too
  
• eat melon, nibble toast...anything you can
  +sweets lollipops ice lollies lemonade ice lollies... ice cubes, frozen grapes, freeze whatever you fancy
  or get dh/p to do it, I couildnt bear to go in the freezer LOL
  
  it does get better

[Oklahoma]

I was trying offer solidarity and sympathy not make you feel bad, I'm really sorry Lottie!

[Lottiedoubtie]

I'm just desperate to believe it does get better.

I've had one morning of feeling ok in weeks and then a switch flipped and I had the worst 24 hours so far, resulting in hospitalisation. Is that typical? A calm before the storm? Or was I just spectacularly unlucky?

I'm sipping water, eating toast and raspberries mainly. Got to go back to doctor tomorrow or else meds will run out and I can't face the thought of that.

[Meerka]

it does get better. It really does. maybe not to full Normal state, but it's very, very rare not to improve drastically, starting between weeks 14-21. It's just a matter of enduring til that point (just).

The HG does vary for a lot of people yeah. The good hours are like being on holiday arent they! and yes, relapses are common too.

I'm a raspberry addict too!

lottie and okla, consider asking for something stronger. Metoclopramide helps some people, stemetil others, ondansetron is very good too. Have a look at this thread //cks.nice.org.uk/nauseavomiting-in-pregnancy#!prescribinginfosub which is from the government's own Best Practise treatment body, NICE.

can you take someone with you to the doctors to advocate for you? it's so hard whne you're so ill to really get over what you want to say

[ChaffinchOfDoom]

another raspberry freak on the thread!!

my worst week in my 2 hg pg's was week 9. that's the week I was hospitalized. Mine got slightly better week 16 ish, better again week 22, and bearable after then. I'm on ondansetron, no other drugs touch my hg.

[Oklahoma]

I started Cyclizine yesterday but it hasn't helped much. DH came with me to doc and was a huge help. Not least because I was unwilling to drive!

How long does it take before you know if they're working or not?

This thread is a lifesaver!!

[ChaffinchOfDoom]

only give it 1 full day, make emerg apt the next day, if you're still puking in effect after 1 day and 1 night's dosages, it ain't enough
they should only take 2-4-6-8 hours to work max, I think

meerka is our drug expert though...

[ChaffinchOfDoom]

tablet cyclizine did me no good at all

metroclopramide worked for me for 3 days then stopped

err.... prochlorperazine worked for about a week

ondansatron is amazeballs. started on 3 a day, weaned down to 2 after several weeks, now managing on 1 a day. it can only be prescribed by a consultant though, generally, so you only get it after being admitted and begging/demanding it

[Meerka]

im not an expert! but ... yeah, cyclizine should work pretyt fast, building up within a day or two. It's often prescribed with the vitamin B6 since they work well together. But both are first line drugs and it really sounds like you need stronger

[Lottiedoubtie]

Raspberry's are popular I see! They should add them to the NhS guidance!

I figure there's quite a lot of water in them so that must be good. Same with cucumber which I'm also eating some days.

I could take DH to the doctors (he'll have to drive me anyway), he was good when I had to go to hospital, well not very reassuring to me, but phoning 111 and laying it on thick about how I needed medical attention fast!

[Lottiedoubtie]

Should I ask for vit B6 don't know much about what it does/the risks? But if it could reduce the nausea I think I can cope with the vomiting at it's current level if I just felt a bit better ifyswim.