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.

Thanks all, I'm actually having an unexpectedly good day today - amazing what a difference it makes! Hopefully this is the first of many but I refuse to count my chickens yet

I'm on super high calorie nutritional supplements from the hospital, but they're disgusting! I know I feel better once they are in and stay down, but it is tough going getting them in. I see both consultants next week so we'll see what they have to say.

waves - I think maybe giving in and having a few days in hospital is what you need. It'll force you to rest (well as much as you can on a noisy ward) and it might reset you a bit. I found it also gave everyone else around me a bit of a kick up the bum!

TallGiraffes last time I had HG the hospital dietician had me on proper nasty high calorie energy drinks. Can't remember the name....anyway, the only way I could tolerate them was to freeze into icecubes and lollies. It kind of worked and was certainly less disgusting then trying to drink them in their intended manner.

I've not tried to keep anything down today, figure I'll have a couple of days of feeling awful then hopefully get myself to hospital for rehydration.

Meerka I am quite convinced that I ended up so poorly last pregnancy because I refused to "give in" and ended up in a terrible state. Main worry is that no-one knows about the pregnancy, so trying to work out if I can get away with keeping it a secret

hhrmmm yeah. tricky :s

wavest That's a very good idea about the frozen into lolllies thing, sometimes lollies and ice cubes are the only bearable thing for some reason.l
I found ice cubes and lollies made of coke left to go flat good, too, but no vitamins in thosel, sadly. Meerka Some excellent advice - sometimes soujp and milkshakes are bearable. I know that Kalidasa said at certain times when her body needed it most she craved milkshakes. Oh dear, waves as Meerka says it's a tricky business trying to keep things quiet. Would people believe in hints of a long standing stomach disorder after the last time not being long ago?
NewShoes You poor thing, hugs.
Tallgiraffes Meant to say, that was funny about your LO's misconception.
I hope everyone is coping today. At least, not so cold. I suppose, waves it doens't ever get really cold on Gurnsey as an island or am I mistaken?
xx

Hi ladies, a little advice is needed. I have a consultant appointment tomorrow and wanted to discuss with them the need for my GTT test. I had a GTT appointment last week but vomited badly before the nurses had even taken the first set of blood, they didn't do the test as I wouldn't have tolerated the glucose drink. I have another appointment for the test on Monday but really don't think I will be able to keep the drink down (maybe a little better if allowed to take meds). I was told by the nurses to discuss with the consultant if the GTT test was necessary or could be changed in someway. Has anyone else had this experience with being too sick for the GTT test and if so how did you overcome it?

Hope this ramble made sense!

Hello everyone. Hope you are all doing good(?)

I had an appointment with consultant yesterday who advised me just to keep taking my cyclizine. It's doubly important I don't get dehydrated as it can exacerbate my MultipleSclerosis symptoms. And my trial stopping of meds just ended with me becoming so disinterested in food and drink. Nausea was back to the same level it had been.

Cyclizine is allowing me to eat and drink with just a bit of nausea. I'm happy with that!

Hi durham. Didn't have to be tested myself but some women here have been. I think it's always been a struggle but some might have some hints ...

comeagain try taking some vitamin b6 with the cyclizine, it's supposed to help; one med in Canada actually combines them and it's supposed to be good. Good that the nausea is not too unbearable though :)

Hi everyone sorry just time to post quickly....

durham sounds ghastly for you- sorry no good advice here as I didn't have to suffer a GTT. Strangely I did manage tiny sips of lucozade sport in the very early stages of second pg before HG took hold. How much do you have to drink?? Is it possible to sip it very very slowly?? (Seriously I should know more about GTT's working in an antenatal clinic, but scanning is my area of knowledge rather than midwifery! Do you have risk factors for diabetes?

On the subject of high calorie drinks- several of us- myself included - swore by Mac d's chic milkshakes- in general something about fast food seems to agree with hg when you can tolerate it!

choc milkshakes !!

Thanks Meerka and elizabethsmum. I have my appointment shortly and I'm hoping an alternative can be arranged. My risk factor is that my dad has late onset diabetes (diet controlled) so they put me forward for GTT
I have to drink a plastic cup full of the glucose drink, looked quite gloopy so not looking forward to the texture either...yuk!

DurhamRed Poor, poor you - several women on threads have somehow kept that down, but I don't know how. Do they have a contingency plan? I'm not medically trained,but from what I' ve heard if it was late onset the risk is less (my grandmother had late onset type 2, I think, the sort where you don't tgake insulin and when I said it came on late, medics seemed much more dismissive about it? ). Do they have a contingency plan if it does just reappear? It must be on your records how ill you are!
Comeagan I'm glad the cyclazine is helping so much. Great advice from Meerka and elizabethsmum. I did actually drink Lucoazade when in the throes, weirdly enough, particularly leaving it to go flat. Is it more or less the same?
Sympathies to all.

Will put vit b6 on my shopping list. Thank you

Oh I haven't been in a maccy d's in such a long time that a milkshake from there never occurred.
Mmmmh it's horrible out here. Rain hasn't stopped all morning. Think I'll just have a cup of something hot instead of going out!!

Hi everyone, sorry to intrude but after some advise.
I'm currently 7+2 with my 4th and for the last week I have barely been able to eat or drink anything, any effort to move makes me gag but I am only being sick during the night and first thing in the morning, I have survived on a few apples and a few bites if plain pasta this last week, I have even lost 5lbs in weight and spend most my time lying in bed or on the sofa, I tried to get a drs appointment today but there are none with any dr until next Tuesday, I just don't know what to do anymore.

tall in my first pregnancy the nutritional drinks (Ensure 4-cal - the strongest ones) were bearable for about a week and were enough to get me out of hospital finally after multiple admissions/intractable ketosis. I found after a week or so though, when I'd thrown them up several times, I couldn't face them any more as although they come in different "flavours" they all taste pretty much the same and have the same distinctive texture which was enough to set me off once I'd chucked them a few times. In this pregnancy the sickness was (unbelievably) worse and nothing really helped, I was stuck in hospital for weeks and weeks and didn't get out until 14 weeks. They kept bringing me various nutritional drinks to try but I just couldn't keep them down. In general, I had, oddly, more problems keeping down fluid than some simple food this time, once I started feeling fractionally better. The only thing that really helped were big doses of steroids. And KFC zinger burgers, weirdly, finally got me out of ketosis at 14 weeks after about 7 weeks in hospital. I came very, very close to the dreaded tube feeding: the hospital nutritionist wanted to do it, but the consultant thought it was less urgent and I kept getting them to delay another day or so until I finally improved a bit. I lost a lot of weight - about 10kg from a starting weight of a normal BMI. I did gain it all back eventually, though I didn't get back to my starting weight until around five months or so. Now I am into the final weeks (am 37 weeks today) and I weigh about 10kg more than my starting weight, which is towards the bottom end of appropriate weight gain for the end of pregnancy, but it's OK. I have measured 'small for dates' all the way through, but multiple scans say the baby is an OK size. All evidence is that the baby is fine. With DS (who's now 2) I definitely felt that the long term effects seemed to be mine, not his. I was very run down for a long time after the birth, so watch out for that.

durham in my first pregnancy I was meant to have the GTT but I explained that I was absolutely guaranteed to throw up the lucozade as at that point in pregnancy I threw up whatever I ate/drank first thing without fail every single day and they just said to call and book in when that stopped being true. I did eventually have a patch when I wasn't throwing up every day but there was never a point when I thought I could reliably fast first thing and then keep down a load of lucozade so I just never had it done. I had no particular risk factors for diabetes in pregnancy, though, I think it was just standard at my hospital, so I wasn't really worried about skipping it. There definitely are other ways they can do it - while I was in hospital this time they constantly checked my blood sugar because the high steroid dose made diabetes slightly more likely.

Anyway, I am 37 weeks today and coping. My pelvis is my biggest problem really at the moment, I've been in a wheelchair for months now and have essentially no mobility at all. I still feel nauseous all the time and I'm still taking a lot of cyclizine, ranitidine and omeprazole in order to eat relatively normally, but I'm not actually throwing up much now, I think largely because I am basically unable to move at all! We had a pretty awful Christmas break (the less said about my mother's behaviour the better!) but our lovely nanny came back today and 37 weeks is officially "term" so we really feel the end is in sight. I am having lots and lots of Braxton Hicks, very strong in the evening especially, so I am hopeful that I won't go over and that the baby might even be obliging enough to arrive slightly early. Fingers crossed!

Just dashing on to welcome DarkMoon. How are liquids staying down? I don't think the surgery should have put you off so long. Can you get some kestostix? They're available from any chemsits and will show if you're dehydrated. If the reading is more than 3+ ketones you will need IV and ought to go to A and E. It's awful that medics can be so unsympathetic and think you are making a fuss about nothing when you aren't. If liquids are staying down, you may well have kestones from starvation, though, so it's very complicated. Do you find crisps, ice cream, or jelly bearable? Sips of flat coke either full sugar or diet can be good too, and ice lollies.
Kalidasa Great to hear from you, glad about weight gain, great advice.
Back soon.
xx

Thank you lucinda, will send dp out for ketostixs in a bit, managed to keep about 300ml of water down since 11am but but have not ate anything, every time I look at or think of food today I gag.
I feel completely useless and so guilty for not being able to do anything, dp is being lovely and helpful but is working long hours so then I feel guilty when he comes home and has to do his and the kids tea ect.

kalidasa you are so strong, I take my hat off to you. Keeping everything crossed the baby appears v soon!!

Part of my issue with the ensure/fortisip/e028 drinks is that I have Crohn's Disease and they bring back such horrible memories of months in hospital as a teenager having them. My dad saw them in the fridge the other day and even he got quite emotional as it brought back to him a time when I nearly didn't make it.

Anyway, enough of the melancholy - hue announcement.......I have just cooked a meal!!! And eaten it!!! You are the only ladies who will get my delirious excitement at this achievement

Congratulations tall! Last night I had a whole weird hour in the middle of the night when I felt quite cheerful and energetic and DIDN'T FEEL SICK and then this evening I suddenly felt like eating two satsumas (I have essentially been unable to eat fruit since I got pregnant). I am taking these highly unusual symptoms as proof positive that labour is imminent!

I totally understand about the ensure. DH wanted to order them in advance when we planning this pregnancy and I resisted because I found the very sight of them so depressing. I think if you have Crohn's though you should really be having some extra nutritionist input of some sort?

Not sure if it is compatible with the Crohn's but have you tried the junk food trick? A lot of women on here have had success with burgers of some kind/milkshakes/Pepsi from a fast food place. I am still mainlining the Coke zero and relying on a Zinger burger meal when desperate. So weird but perhaps it is quite sensible to crave such high calorie and fibre-free food when starving?!

Not sure if I'm just suffering normal morning sickness of whether it's HG. Im 6+3 and the past week I've suffered really badly. The nausea lasts all day and leaves me barely able to do anything. Today all I've eaten is a bit of French bread, an ice lolly and 3 roast potatoes. I'm barely able to drink anything either and have had the worst headaches the past 3 days. This is really getting me down and my poor OH doesn't really understand or know what to do to help.

Thanks Kali for sharing your experience of GTT. Unfortunately the doctor wants me to try the test again on Monday, though at least this time i'll be able to take ondansetron prior to the test, so hopefully that will help! Not sure what they'll suggest if I can't manage the test a second time.
I have my fingers crossed for you that baby comes early...you are most definitely due an easy labour!

Tall congratulations! I know how happy I was when I managed my first meal and kept it down, it felt like such an achievement! Even my OH was over the moon

Welcome DarkMoon & dilly I'm sorry to hear you are both suffering. I can safely say this is the best place to come and have a good moan and air any worries. Without the support of the lovely ladies on here I really don't know how I would have coped.

In haste, welcome darkmoon and dilly. dilly if you're getting headaches they could be dehydratoin headaches. Please do make an appointment at hte surgery and take a record of what you've eaten / drunk.

Ice chips or lollies are great. SOme people find very hot or very cold drinks just about tolerable, specially if they sip them with a straw.

Ask you OH to look at this site Preg Sickness SUpport it gives a very good idea of what HG or severe nausea + vomitting is like.

But do please see a doc, dehydration is serious.

tallgiraffes congrats! :) big little achievement isnt it? :)

Been to the doctors this morning. He was actually very understanding about it all. I'm not clinically dehydrated yet (although I certainly feel it!). He's reluctant to give me any medication yet and suggested the pressure bands and ginger biscuits. If it's still bad on Monday when I have my first midwife appointment they will do blood tests. And if it carries on they will have to admit me to hospital for IV fluids. Really struggling to keep anything down today, even fluids :(

dilly, can you ring the Pregnancy Sickness Support line above and ask their advice? Leave a message and they will get back to you.

at this rate you will get dehydrated. I do think you need meds -now- because they can stop it going too far. The further the sickness gets, the more difficult it is to recover. It would be better to not get to the state where you have to go to hospital.

You can actually buy the first line meds over the counter - cyclizine and vitamin B6 (just don't tell them you're preg) - and take them but you are much much better off asking the doctor at the preg Sickness Support line.

These meds are absolutely safe. There is no danger. They have been used by millions of women and similar ones are used for preg sickness in the US and Canada and have been rated absolutely safe in pregnancy - and they don't give that rating easily at all.

Also take a look at cks.nice.org.uk/nauseavomiting-in-pregnancy#!prescribinginfosub This is the governmental best-practise body and their recommendations for Nausea and Vommitting in Preg. The Goal of treatment is so you can continue life as close to normal as possible.

ginger - well if you benefit from it, good. But .. ahem ... it's not very common.

Also try to get Ketostix from the chemist / amazon. Pee on one; the darker the colour, the more you're dehydrated. 3+ and you need treatment.

Do take care.

Hmm Dilly be careful, if you already feel dehydrated then Monday is a long time away. Things change quickly. On the day that I forced myself upon the medical services (spurred on by my cheerleading team here) I went from being clinically fine according to my GP in the morning, to tachycardic and 4+ ketones by the evening. I had 5 litres IV before I weed! Not trying to scare you, just making you aware that sometimes things happen quickly. Good luck

I have been on these threads several times I'm just under a name change at the moment having had dreadful HG every pregnancy the single most important thing I would say to anybody with HG

Please please seek medical help ASAP if your HCP is not helpful or understanding ring the pregnancy sickness support service it can make the difference between having dreadful sickness that's manageable and an unmanageable condition that spirals out of control quicker than you would think.

Even if you have not had a booking in appointment yet.

I'm not going to bang on about my situation as I have already been talking about it for days (I do have a long thread elsewhere) but its not been very pleasant and with planning and early treatment can be prevented or reduced and that's a good thing.