Morning Sickness and Work

[Dolly87]

Hi there looking for some advice /reassurance. I'm now 7weeks and for the last 6 days or so have felt terrible!! Have been off work (I'm a teacher) and no idea how I'm going to pull myself together and go back. I've self certified myself and will have to go back to the doctors tomorrow. I'm just feeling really guilty for being off work and leaving other people to teach my class. One minute I feel like I'm feeling better and the next I'm shaky, nauseous and just generally awful. I know this could last a while hence I don't know what to do. The only thing I do know is that I couldn't stand up and teach a class the way I'm currently feeling. I haven't actually been sick yet and that's why I feel a bit of a fraud. It's just constant nausea :( someone please help. Thanks

Hi, that's one thing I am worried about too. I'm about 4 weeks I think but not had it confirmed yet. I don't have any symptoms yet but am worried about morning sickness!

I read that some people cure/help it by eating... And especially eating before bed so that your blood sugars aren't so low in the morning as apparently that doesn't help.

I start work at 7am and I worry that I wouldn't be able to make it if I felt sick! Lol.

Hello, poor you! I am feeling similar... I have had extreme tiredness and feeling nauseous in waves but managing with work ok. Then suddenly on Tuesday evening (8+4) it got a bit worse, I was hungry then suddenly couldn't face dinner, felt ill all evening, and spent yesterday hardly able to eat and at times speak for fear of retching!!! Couldn't even drink much. I now have a thumping headache (pretty sure it's dehydration but it won't go away!) and am still off my food. I couldn't safely do my job either so called in sick. I haven't had fevers or diarrhoea to make me think this is a bug, I think it's more likely morning sickness, especially since it comes in such waves and I can occasionally eat some odd thing I fancy (sundried tomato, OXO cube... Half a cup of beef soup! Salty stuff mainly).

I like you am wondering what to do if I'm not getting better. Luckily I have some annual leave booked next week. I think it would be a trip to the dr for some anti sickness medicine. I have given in and just taken some paracetamol which I really wanted to avoid but I was almost in tears with it all and I figure if I can feel better and eat better then all that is better for the baby.

It's really horrid and I feel for you. If you need the time off then you need the time off. Maybe anti nausea tablets will help - make sure you get them from your dr because some aren't safe in pregnancy.

Good luck, let us know how you are getting on.

Ask the doctor for drugs. There are lots of medicines that can be used in pregnancy and have been for decades without any evidence of harm (they cant do direct testing in pregnant women for obvious reasons). You do not have to suffer without help. If you are finding it hard to keep things down then take a urine sample so the doctor can check for ketones (to give an indication of how your body is coping)

If it's so bad you can't work I would go and see your doctor. You don't have to suffer if it's that bad. You can try all the ginger/crackers/ice-lollies/travel-bands etc. but they don't work for everyone! Just some hope for you I felt terrible from 6-8 weeks then I don't know if it genuinely got better or I learned to cope better but from 8 weeks on it wasn't so severe and I could function better. I'm 15 weeks now and only feel sick in the mornings.

To echo others, there are drugs you can take which are considered safe during pregnancy. I took stemetil from 6w to the day DD was born, which kept me functioning.

I can't imagine teaching while feeling so sick, you have my sympathies.

The GP can sign you off rather than self-certifying if you feel too ill to work. For most women, this will only last until the first trimester is over (and I have to say even if it lasts longer - mine was really bad until at least the end of the 2nd trimester - it did sort of get easier to cope with once you've lost that 1st trimester exhaustion which just makes it all so much worse)

I know people don't like to tell their work before 12w but when I was so sick, I felt I had no choice to. I know teaching is generally a hands-on job but could you talk to work and see if there is anything you can do to help that isn't physical teaching, and try and reach a compromise?

It is hard and it feels awful making life harder for colleagues but it is a time to take care of yourself and look after number one.

Thanks ladies, it's nice to know I'm not alone. Think ill head back to doctors tomorrow and see what they say. I've also just had a uti which I'm on antibiotics for too so really not wanting the anti sickness drugs just yet fingers crossed I start to feel better sooner rather than later xx