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.

Can't really help on the food front. My likes vary so much day to day that I've given up trying to plan/guess. Luckily DH is still working mostly from home so he hunts and gathers as needed.

I've been struggling in the evenings more and more. I had plateaued to being bad in the mornings and then broadly functional in the afternoons and evenings so long as I had a nap but am finding that evenings are becoming increasingly bad again. Any suggestions?

I'm afraid that some people do get a resurgance of the nausea starry. Not everyone though. It's never as bad as in the first stretch but it can get wearing. Much less vomitting though as a general rule. People do end up taking meds again though, it's well worth it as it helps keep you in a better state for the birth

Just popping back to say I agree about the food thing. Some of the things I had aversions too I can cope with now. Im still ok but fully expect things to get worse again. That being said I went through a phase where all I ate was bran flakes, pears and bananas and egg mayonnaise sandwiches. I am eating more now but could still happily live off just that. Fizzy drinks help me. As did sweets until I got told off. Sherbet lemons in particular someone else said barley sugar but I couldn't get those. Sleep is a big help for me too.

Thanks meerka I really hope it doesn't continue/get worse... oh well, fingers crossed. I think you're right about the medication. I had started cutting back on my domperidone because I didn't need so many doses per day, but I had to take it this morning just to get out of bed and not feel ill :-/ Urgh.

For food, when I'm stuck and can't think of anything at all I want to eat, I go to cold melon. It's my 'neutral' food that I know I can eat and keep down. Otherwise, I'm like Oklahoma and go day-by-day because I can't predict what I'll want to eat on any particular day.

I'm living off marmite on toast in the morning and nutella on toast in the afternoon, washed down with ribena. Healthy.

Ooo, melon. There's a thought. I just had super noodles on a sudden whim. Not bad.

okla sorry to hear its getting worse in the evenings. It was always my worst time. The only things that 'helped' were lying in bed, not moving, keeping the room cool if thats possible in the summer heat. Going to sleep as early as possible without risking waking (more) in the night.

mrsnec i have half a giant bag of barley sugars left and I'll happily send them to you, probably a kilo's worth. whoever told you off for eating sweets hasn't had HG.

I lived off gala melon in my last trimester. Watermelon was tolerable when I wanted a change, but cantaloupe disgusting. And McDonald's :( try diet coke as well if you can face it that was my major pregnancy craving and really helped with the nausea.

Had first glass of wine in a year. Put it this way, I have become cheap to keep

lottie the consultant is, quite frankly, disgusting in her attitude and unprofessional. One of those that thinks being a doctor makes her God and able to talk how she likes without any accountability. And bringing her personal prejudices to the table which are completely wrong. I think you know I have psychiatric issues and also major psychological problems with becoming a mum as a result of childhood things, not to mention a difficult relationship with my mother. I can assure you that labouring and pushing out a baby does not 'cleanse' or 'heal' or any of that other bollocks that I also heard. You could say the same about the decision not to bf too. I remember lying there at 6am watching the sun rise, clicking madly on my epidural button, and thinking, 'right I'm so ready and excited to meet my baby' which I know I would have felt if I had gone for a section. The thing that changes all the stuff from the past and helps the head is your baby being there. How the baby gets to your arms matters not in helping any healing process.

I would consider a formal complaint. As if having a c section is an easy choice!

Thanks living your post has made me cry again but in a good way! It's lovely to read supportive words and you make an awful lot of sense. Last session I had with my therapist I had a mini rant about all the bollocks that is spouted to women to make them put up with all sorts of shit and this natural birth issue is right at the heart of that. Of course I want a natural birth if it's going to be a positive experience and result in the best outcome for me and the baby, but I refuse to believe that will definitely happen without all my other issues (physical AND mental) being addressed properly. That said even the consultant wasn't really advocating natural birth, just vaginal birth with a (very) early epidural... That just screams keep the c-section stats down to me...but what do I know? (Not a lot apparently!)

Starry sorry it's coming back, andOklasorry it's particularly bad in the evenings. I can't improve on others' advice. Waves to Livnzuid and Meerka. Melon - there was a woman on an american thread who swore by melon put in a juicer and frozen into cubes, now I come to think of it.
Waves to Flowery Mrsnec SomeSunny Mrsgeggles Kali and everyone. Watch me cross post with someone!
xx

Lucinda that's a fantastic idea about blitzing and freezing melon - guess what I'll be doing with my next melon

Lottie my primary reason for a cs was mental health related and my consultant didn't bat an eyelid, he just said 'yes, don't worry about it.' I started mentioning other physical/medical issues, but he stopped me in my tracks and said I would get the birth I wanted, and I didn't need to give him any other reasons. I'm sorry you are having so many problems with your consultant, but I'm glad you have a therapist and also that your dh will be with you to provide support next time.

Excellent advice from living and starry.

I wasn't great with the melon tbh but I didn't try watermelon and that might have been better.

Id forgotten about the dirty fast food though, yes that helped! I've had it again twice since I was at my worst and it still tastes amazing!

Meerka that's really lovely. It was that horrible consultant that had a dig about my weight and put the fear into me about gd that tried to ban me from eating sugar of any sort. The other 2 consultants I've seen didn't agree with her but I'm still trying to be a bit careful just not as extreme as she likes. I've escaped a gtt for now at nearly 28 weeks and my baby is measured at 1 day behind and I've put 6kg on so not too bad. But if my sickness comes back I won't care about all that, I'll be doing what I can to fight it and taking you up on your kind offer!

certainly, just let me know and I'll get em in the post :)

sorry, what's gtt?

gods there are some rotten consulants around! as well as the stars, like Punkstar's consultant, he sounded amazing :)

Oh heck, gtt, I'd forgotton about that.

gtt = glucose tolerence test.

I had to have one last time as my sister has type 1 diabeties. Even though I have NONE of the other risk factors and my sister tells me type 1 diabeties has no relation to gestational. After saying many many many times there was no way I'd be able to get through it without throwing up, which invalidates the results, they eventually said they could prescribe an antiemetic for the test. Then there was seemingl no record of that when I turned up. Much tooing and frowing ensued, all this time whilst I've had to starve from the night before so feeling rough with a capital R. Eventually got the antiemetic, most painful bloody injection I've had but blimey it worked. Never had a day feeling so little nausea (once I'd had it) the whole pregnancy. But it also knocked me for 6 and I was exhausted. Fell asleep in the frezing cold waiting room that only had the most uncomfortable chairs in the world in it (really, everyone ther is pregnant, uncomfortable adn has to sit there at least 3 hours, give us the better chairs will you?!), and it was the day we exchanged on our house and I had to pick up the keys after and try to walk from the estate agent to the new house (didn't drive, no bus, no idea why I didn't just get a taxi). Oh I was so tired.

Gosh, I think it scarred me a little bit. Horrid day. I think I may very well just point blank refuse to have it this time! If I thought I was at risk I'd do it, but I'm sure I'm not.

(for gtt you have to starve for 12 hours they take some blood to test blood sugar levels then give you a special sugary drink to drink, then you wait for 3 hours in which time you're not aloud to leave the waiting room, or eat or drink anything else, then they take more blood and compare the blood sugar levels with the first lot to see what your body did with the drink).

Flowery, that's a pretty good description of the horror, can't believe you also moved house on the same day! Brave woman!

Hi everyone. Back from 12 week scan. All good for baby, except I'm only 11 weeks so another week to plough through. Also diagnosed with antenatal depression. No wonder I couldn't cope with school....

Oh Henrietta, you poor thing. Are they offering treatment for they depression? It's no wonder, HG is so hideous. Glad scan was OK though.

Flowery I'd definitely decline a GTT in your position. It sounds medically unnecessary and very unpleasant.

In terms of food I feel like, really it's just feta cheese (on it's own!) and salt & vinegar crisps at the moment, and sometimes coffee (which I appreciate is very odd, and I do stick to decaf!). With DS2 I had tropical fruit cravings - can't stand it this time around. I'm doing better than I was last time at managing to have a reasonably healthy diet, in between the crisps. Tomato and lentil soup is manageable, although I'm adding too much salt...

Soo much respect for those that made it through the gtt. I don't know how you could do a house move in the same day! Brave woman definitely.

Henrietta, that's great news everything is ok but sorry to hear about your diagnosis can they give you anything? You did sound to me as if you were coping it was the other people you were working with making life difficult for you they'd still be the same regardless.

Yes I agree with sunny, some consultants just have a bee in their bonnets about weight and gd risk. I had my initial bloods done at my worst in terms of sickness which was about 15 weeks. At that point I was constantly fighting nausea with full sugar coke and sweets so I think I spiked my sugar on that day. It was still within the healthy range though. And the doc in question actually told me to drink more coffee because I looked tired! I've been off it for ages but I had a frappuccino today and it was lovely! So she was more worried about sugar than caffeine!

Interesting about food too. I still think it's best to just listen to your body and eat whatever you fancy. But I'm glad I have my taste back for healthier things again.too much salt hadn't even occurred to me!

I had the GTT at six months, definitely not pleasant but the doc thought it was worth doing as the baby measured large. Similar to everyone else, I had to go on an empty stomach, took about an hour to get through queues, had the first blood test and glucose drink the hang about for two hours for the repeat test. For me the drink did not taste that bad, but HG tastes seem to be different for everybody.

Good news about the scan henrietta. Have you been offered any help with the depression?

For me it was drinking anything that was a problem! And although I was picking up keys for our house, we didn't actually move that day. Due to vendors messing us around we had an expensive, but quite useful in a way, 3 week overlap of our rented place and the house we bought.

Herrietta Sorry to hear about the depression. Are they on the ball with offereing appropriate support/councling/medication? How are you feeling about it.

henrietta glad all was well with the scan. Antenatal depression was probably inevitable with the way your school have behaved. Be kind to yourself and definitely don't go back anytime soon!

Henrietta My goodness, I'm not surprised after your recent treatment on top of Hypeemesis that you feel 'depressed' - is this a valid diagnosis, though,in the circumstances, I wonder, as who wouldn't be completely fed up? Wouldn't there be something wrong not to feel frustrated, fed up, down hearted etc etc? Hugs. Glad about scan, anyway.
Starry Great, I do hope the Melon Cure helps you as it did the woman on the US thread!
This glucose tolerance test sounds hellish - I've never understood how people with Hyperemesis manage to avoid puking without some anti emetic injection. How much drink is there?
Leaves looking shocked.
xx

Hi ladies

Sorry for lack of personals, but you have all been busy posters since I was here last!! I've been back at work this week on a phased return and I am knackered today!! Had to have a nap when I got home at 2pm!! Haven't been sick all week which is great, my nausea has been variable often worse at the end of the day but manageable with regular snacks and naps. Still not sleeping well which is made worse by the heat, thank god for fans!

I will try to post more again from now lol

Fraggle What great news- I'm so glad you aren't feeling too bad (comparatively), that this phrased return at least isn't a nightmare after Mother Hen feared the worst.
xx