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.

Morning all

Fraggle hope it's just a one off for you. Glad you're coping a bit better.

ToAvoid you can get a doc note to say pretty much anything you want including something like 'is only fit to work when feels well enough to do so'

Twinkle welcome (but sorry you're here). We've all spent many hours sobbing on the bathroom floor. It sucks. As some of the others say it does get a bit easier when the initial shock wears off and you accept the situation (a bit).

Emsy that's how I learnt to cope. Know your limits and try not to get excited and do too much on good days (I'm still learning...).

I have a pillow in my bathroom for just such sobbing/despair moments, when it's too much effort even to get up. Thankfully, I haven't been sick in 2 days (hurrah) and even managed to eat tea with DH and DD yesterday which was the first time in 2 weeks thanks to my meds.

But, I have found that loud noises make me feel really nauseous, does anyone else have this? DD is messing around on the tablet downstairs and has the volume up full and I just keep getting really bad waves of nausea. What's that all about?

fraggle sorry to hear you had a bad day yesterday. mrsanne that's good that you've seen a bit of an improvement. Hopefully it will continue.

I'm not too impressed with stemetil so far. Had a better afternoon yesterday with it but been sick 4 times today in the last 3 hours. Looks like today is going to be a long one.

Hi All. Sorry that you're all here. HG is exactly why I shouldn't be checking in. And yet, just had a BFP for DC5 With DC4 I was on ondansetron until 36 weeks So, Lucinda, do you have any good advice about preventing HG? And does anyone have any experience of treatment in the South Cumbria area? Last time we lived in Nottinghamshire and had amazing treatment.

HI noroom ... congratulations and commiserations.

Mother Hen is away a few days, but we're trying to hold the fort =)

Sadly if you get HG at all you can't prevent it as such. But taking good meds early can help cushion the worst of it; apparently the earlier you take them, the more effective they are. Print out the NICE guidelines on Goals (in the NICE link above; they are the governmental best practice body for all medical issues). Take the print out with you to your doc, maybe take the Meds page printout too. Ask if you can make a plan together how to deal with it.

If the doctor doesnt seem helpful then the best advice I can give is to change them, quickly. Unsupportive doctors really don't help.

Other than that - eat as much as you can now. Eat and eat and eat. Get as fit as you can in these last few remaining days. Build up your reserves and stamina for the months ahead.

Can you set up child care arrangements? If you're incapacitated then you won't be able to look after them, better to sort that out now.

Best of luck, noroom. And fingers crossed that this pregnancy is one of the 3 in 20 that manage to dodge the HG sickbucket bullet.

sorry I have been so quiet but move, work and a now 12 week old baby (where did the time go!) means life has been rather busy! Still having stupid food aversions and random nauseous moments at certain foods I come across in the supermarket but as the hormones fade it is better. Daisy is doing well and all organised with jabs etc after a somewhat chaotic entry into the NHS system, but all par for the course. I was politely told that all the baby clinics were full as they were one nurse down, only to hear on the grapevine that the whole area is in disarray, there is no end in sight and even with the wee ones it's emergencies only. Sigh. Missing our access at any time child service in the Netherlands already!

Sorry to all the new ladies on here. I haven't had time to read everything but I see a brave soul is on DC5 so I am in awe. Hoping starry is getting on well with her wee girl. Will try and pop in a bit more often. But I know it is nearly over for many of you :) oh so hard in the last few weeks but you've done amazing to come this far too :)

Hey living great to hear from you! Glad the move has happened and that, hopefully, you are settling into your new home. I'm sorry to hear about the poor health services. I'm doing okay-ish but struggling with post-hg life. Like you, still nauseous occasionally. I'm still anxious about going out of the house in case I'm nauseous or sick. Meerka suggested getting some professional help and I think she's absolutely right. The mental health provision where I live is really poor so I'll have to pay for any sessions - just hope they aren't too expensive!

get someone who's used to dealign with traumatic situations, starry. A nice cosy chat type of counsellor won't have the experience to deal with it, I think.

Someone who knows something about HG would be ideal, but they might be hard to find heh.

Hmm, wonder if you could find something through the hospital counsellor or pastoral person? They might know who's used to dealing with traumatic experiences.

Meerka - that's a v good idea and one I'll follow through. I'll also have a look online to see if I can find anything in terms of mental health provision in/around this area that deals with trauma and/or hg. Can't say I'm expecting anything re: the hg mind you! UCH has a good perinatal mental health service but where I am now really doesn't :-( I had to take my daughter to the local hospital here on Friday (our first trip out of the house - not ideal!!) and it was really rubbish dept. Btw, dd is fine!

starry both this pregnancy and last I saw a hospital counsellor who was specifically attached to the obs/gynae department. I imagine she saw a lot of women dealing with cancer, infertility and pregnancy loss, but she had also seen several women with severe HG before so did genuinely have a sense of what was involved. I have seen her both as an inpatient and outpatient (with telephone appointments available when I've been at home but too unwell to go in for an appointment). Your local hospital may be too small to have anything like this but you mention UCH - could you perhaps get in touch with them and see if they can at least offer a recommendation? A lot of these people do a mixture of private and NHS work so you might be able to arrange something that way.

The other options you could look at would be your local children's centre (mine has a psychologist attached to it whom I saw for about a year after DS - she was more focused on the practical stuff re: regaining confidence eating etc but did have a counseling element); or, if you are very lucky and have anyone specialising in mother-infant therapy locally I would really really recommend this. Again I was lucky with where I lived - we are literally 5 minutes from the Anna Freud centre which pioneered this kind of therapy and again I saw someone there with DS until he was about 1. It was hugely hugely helpful and supportive for me, I would recommend this sort of support very highly and I am hoping to arrange some appointments there again in late pregnancy/early post-natal period this time. It's a very unstructured approach and to start with I couldn't really work out what if anything was going on! But actually I found it very powerful and still think about those sessions quite often.

www.annafreud.org/

I am in Suffolk at the moment with intermittent internet so haven't caught up properly, but welcome to all newbies.

noroom you are very very brave!! Have you got worse each time or has it been more static or variable than that? My mother also has five, with HG each time.

Meanwhile I am to my surprise doing a lot better. I've only been sick a couple of times recently despite a few close calls. I'm still on the steroids but a low dose now (3mg) and continuing to wean off it. I am very tired and wobbly but basically functional. I am a bit confused because the first 14 weeks were so unbelievably bad, even worse than last time, but now at coming up for 18 weeks I am actually a bit better than I was last pregnancy at this point. Last time I vomited every day without fail until 26 weeks or so. I keep worrying about the baby, so I'll be reassured when I get to the 20 week scan which is two weeks today. Also interested to find out the gender and see if this different pattern means a girl or not.

Courage to everyone.

Hi all, big hugs to those having a rough weekend, hope everyone is managing to enjoy at least a bit of the bank holiday - I for one am really pleased the weather isn't so hot; heat definitely makes my sickness worse.

I think I've turned a corner (I should whisper that really). The last two nights have seen my intense nausea downgrade from hours to minutes. I had a 20-min period of crippling nausea on Saturday night and last night, I had a queasy 10 mins. I've also not needed Ondansetron for three days now.

I sure hope this is a turning point, but I know better than to get complacent. I can't help but feel a little bit sour that I'm looking at my pregnancy this way, I work with someone that is desperately TTC and she's finding my non-enjoyment very difficult to handle. I wish I could be bouncing off the walls with unbridled joy... but I'm just not.

kaili Im truly pleased to hear you are doing better than you expected.

fingers crossed for you frenetic. Like you I had good days and bad, you'd get a run of bad days then one of good, and vice versa. the overall line was upwards though ... til the last trimester at least.

< waves to everyone and wishes them a low-nausea day>

Kali it's so good to hear happy news from you, I'm pleased that despite the horrendous start things are more bearable now.

Frenetic Sounds like you are on the up too which is great. I wouldn't worry too much about the unbridled joy bit. We TTC because we want to have a baby/child I don't think there should be any obligation to love the pregnancy bit! It's a means to an end after all.

I'm doing ok, 2 weeks to go!!! Still nauseous, still taking a low dose of the meds, spent a good few hours awake feeling sick in the middle of last night. But basically the most 'well' I've been all pregnancy! Finished the nursery decorations with some super cute wall stickers earlier today

I'm reading this thread on my phone and there's an advertising banner at the top incessantly telling me "just-eat". The irony made me chuckle. It's not even 8pm and I've had to come to bed. Feeling nauseous and rubbish and uncomfortable. 11 weeks in and I look about 5 months pregnant already, but apparently this is ok for twins?! Must stop googling! Here's a thought to brighten the evening, let's all look forward to next August bank holiday, when I'm sure we will all remember this moment and smile at the very distant memory!

Emsy what a lovely thought that really made me smile.

Glad everyone seems to have had ok weekends.

Is it Boo then Lottie due next?

Kali I remember you from last time on this thread, I'm sure. Did you come back after you had your LO? DD3 is nearly 14 months old. To answer your question about my experience of HG, with DD1 I was medicated from 6-16 weeks (got off lightly!) then with DD2 I was on mess from 6-20 weeks. I struggled on at home each time but should have been admitted. GP was rubbish. I was only sick about half a dozen times with DS so that was a relief. Then came DD3... I went on meds at 8 weeks as soon as I started being sick (from the moment I started I was bringing everything up having not been sick before then) then I had to be admitted at 10 weeks, rehydrated and given IV ondanseteon. I was discharged with oral ondanseteon and stayed on it until 36 weeks (with the associated ondanseteon joys ). I was treated brilliantly in Nottingham so am very nervous having moved. You never know though, it is possible that it won't happen this time. I didn't get HG with my MCs but then I didn't get a strong line on the HPT with the MCs like I have this time so hopefully all will be well. I'm hoping to not be sick for another couple of weeks. Yesterday the nausea and feeling of motion-sickness was awful and I wasn't hopeful. Today I've done well with nausea in comparison so am worrying about MCing instead. There is no happy medium!

Sorry, I shouldn't moan like that. My last bout of HG was recent enough to know just how lucky I am to only have nausea at this point.

Please excuse the typos.

Kali you've really been through the wringer. I'm so glad it's getting a bit better. You sound so strong to have coped with all that!

No Room how have you managed to keep going back for more? One thing I keep telling myself is that it's only this once! My case isn't as bad as those like Kali either.

I've been moved on to Metoclopramide now as had a really bad day on Sunday were I kept nothing down. Thankfully the doctor I seen was really supportive and let me know I can try other things too. She even suggested if I couldn't keep it down to come back later in the day and she would give me an injection. I also got an appt within 45 mins of calling.

My midwife seems a bit impossible to contact so I'm glad the doctor is easy.

Yes I think I might be next, ELCS on 2nd September. Sorry to be rubbing it in though for everyone else who has weeks/months to go.

MIL had a massive stroke this week and it's been really terrible. I think the stress is affecting me as the nausea is 100% worse and it's all a bit too much.

Hi NoRoom, DS is 20 months old so we would have overlapped on the last thread - I threw up all the way through last time so was still posting right to the bitter end! I did come back a few times afterwards too.

Interesting that you were so much better with your DS compared to your DDs, I've heard that from a few people. Though it sounds like between your DDs the sickness got worse each time.

booboo so sorry to hear about your MIL, I think stress definitely makes it much worse; great that you are so close to the end now though! We'll ALL get there eventually . . .

Kali glad to hear you are feeling a little better

Booboo I'm very of you having your baby at the beginning of September. Good Luck.

Hello to everyone, just checking in. I had stopped taking the meds but am taking them every now and then as nausea seems to be getting just a little worse. I'm now 28 weeks, has anyone else experienced this?

boo im sorry to hear of your MIL, I hope that she can recover and that you are able to handle the stress

mampam there are good weeks and bad even after generally improving ... some people do find that they get worse in the last trimester tho. Never as bad as the first weeks though.

boo how awful, hope your MIL is on the road to recovery. Check out stuff from the Stroke Association if you want some good info in English. Had a few occurences of that in my family so I am unfortunately familiar with how devastating a stroke can be :( fingers crossed for you and at least the end is near and you get to meet your baby soon.

kali so pleased to hear you are doing better. You deserve it after all you have been through! Great advice on the psych support and I may look into some of them myself! Still struggling with the psychological impact of food avoidance for all those months.

starry it sucks it is so poor where you are. And it is expensive to go private. One of the things we checked before we moved was access to a teaching hospital as I firmly believe services are improved if you're near the research. We are about a ten minute drive from one of Europe's biggest teaching hospitals and although we are in a different NHS trust they share services because it is the closest hospital to us. Daisy is going to get into the system there too. For once, it seems pretty joined up. Thank goodness. I even got to meet the obstetrician who set up the maternity services at the hospital today (retired now) and we discussed HG and how severe the impact can be. They are well versed in it here apparently and I think there is a research project. I will look into it and post details if I find something.

If I ever dare to try for another baby I wanted to be sure I was near good psychiatric, pediatric and HG services! Despite the rocky start, DH took her for her second round of injections today (where does the time go) and he was very impressed with the treatment for her. I still firmly believe the NHS care is brilliant once you actually get to it, it's just getting to it which is the problem. I am waiting for all my records to arrive from the Netherlands but I was very pleased with the GP. Bloodwork has all been done and I was immediately set up with repeat prescriptions for my medication. Waiting for a referral once the reports arrive and they see my history but they said I should be with a psychiatrist quite quickly and on the list for a psychologist to start again by the New Year.

I can't remember now if you got in touch with MIND at all? They are brilliant and may also be able to provide you with information on free resources in your area.

mampam my last trimester was a bit miserable for nausea. It came back pretty badly. I think the sheer tiredness I felt too did not help and I had problems sleeping. I was told to just keep sipping on fluids and keep down what I could. Same advice as the first trimester really, and was on my anti enemic for the whole pregnancy. They may need to adjust your dosage as your volume goes up (liquid-wise, not just weight!).

Hope everyone is not struggling too much. Cooler weather and rain is meh but at least not uncomfortable, unbearable hot.

mampam yes last time I got worse again from about 30 weeks and went back on medication after a few weeks with a lot of nausea but managing almost without drugs. Towards the end I was worried I was going to lose it again completely and end up in hospital but in fact I never did. In the third trimester I found avoiding tiredness/stress made a big difference - all my worst days were when I had tried to do too much. Easier said than done though, I know. Also worth trying an antacid med like ranitidine if you haven't already (or going back on it if you've got some) - I found these especially useful in the last months when your stomach is so squashed.

Really interesting point from living about possibly adjusting dosage as your weight/volume increases in late pregnancy. I never thought of that!