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.

dilly let your husband see this thread maybe? and the ones before ? he will se ethat people -do- come through this awful time ... and the reward at the end is rather adorable.

Great idea, Meerka.
I everyone on here in this miserable weather is feeling much better by the time we get those first few signs of spring on its way.

dilly it sounds like you are in the absolute peak of it all at the moment- weeks 8-11 seem to be particularly awful for a lot of people.
am I right in thinking you are about 9 or 10 weeks?? I would not worry if you are only eating little and often- it is better than nothing. don't try and eat too much anyway as it is unlikely to stay down tbh. it is just best to take things very slowly at this stage. it is sometimes easier to eat a little bit than it is to drink- the stomach seems to be more amenable to solids rather than liquids somehow.
don't worry about what you are eating either- anything will do if it stays down!- junk food tends to be a favourite with many of us- for me it macd's fillet of fish and choc milkshake. Other things I can think of in general- fizzy haribo sweets, orange calipos, chicken and mushroom pasties (cold!) and elderflower presse to sip. just a few ideas but some more suggestions will soon be coming your way I am sure
xx

elizabethsmum Great post. I swore by cheap ice cream (strawberry or vanilla, with no bits in, of course), nibbles of crisps or chips, jelly, ice lollies and sips of flat full sugar coke or Lucozade. Nothing like a healthy diet, but as elizabethsumum says, eating at all is a triumph at the early stages...Later on, I found home made soup , leek and potato good if not too thick.

I forgot the tinned fruit and drinking the juice...

I'm 9 weeks tomorrow so definitely right in the middle of it! Desperately trying to drink enough but not sure its working. I've found skips help. And they don't taste bad when they come back up! Today I've managed 2 slices of toast, a cereal bar, packet of skips and a cherry bakewell. So better than I was a few days ago. Also bought some ice lollies to have :)

Meant to be going back to work on Monday.......not sure how that's going to happen!!

Oh yum dilly cherry bakewell are so tasty. Good choice!
I found ice poles were good as well. The thought of a whole ice lolly was not good but a wee titchy ice pole worked.

I'm needing cyclizine once a day now. And just had a scan. Baby is perfect! (Radiographers words not mine)

glad all is well comeagain! lovely to hear!
dilly it does not sound like you are anywhere near ok to go back to work to me. ime you need a good couple of weeks once hg has improved and you are 'managing' ok at home before you should consider going back. I was off for 10 weeks in second pg and wouldn't have managed to go back much before (off from weeks 7-17 ). I would realistically say if you can get a sick note for at least another 4 weeks as any slight improvements at this stage will soon be wiped out by going back to work. sorry don't mean to sound bossy but have learnt from bitter experience that tiredness and stress make it an awful lot worse xx

Definitely not feeling ready to go back to work so will certainly be getting signed off again.

After having a pretty good day yesterday, I've had a terrible one today. Thrown up twice and been feeling really sick all day. It seems like being in hospital is the only time I feel well

Other food ideas- tinned peaches- small pieces- I found the syrup good as well. macd's french fries and lots of ketchup. agree about ice cream lucinda- especially with the tinned peaches! milkshake had to be very cold as well. I think foods that are easy to digest and also not too awful coming back up

Unfortunately easy to go downhill very quickly at this point- between weeks 7 and 11 I had 5 admissions and was in every weekend for three consecutive weeks. like you after a day or two in hospital was ok- longest stay 4 days, shortest 6 hrs. if you have another bad day tomorrow then you may need to go back in- once dehydration sets in it is very hard to get back from with ivs/fluids. have you got any tester sticks to check for keytones at home?? X

I do have some test sticks and so far ketones are clear.

Luckily if I do have to go back in, I don't have to go through a&e so shouldn't be in so long.

elizabethsmum I agree you can easily go downhill quite quickly. I also had 5 admissions (longest stay 5 days, shortest stay 3 days) first admission was around week 7/8 then the most frequent admissions were between week 13 & 18 for me...with vomiting easing around week 20/22. I'm still taking ondansetron once a day which I find keeps the nausea at a level where I can eat and drink. Has anyone else had to take ondansetron throughout their pg?

dilly, elizabethsmum is right about taking time off work, tiredness and stress really do make hg worse. Please don't feel guilty for taking a good few weeks off, you need to let your body rest. It took me 4 months before I felt remotely ready to return to work.

As for food/drink I could face at my worst point of hg, Capri sun orange I took everywhere with me, was the only drink in could face (I'm now onto Capri sun summer berries....I wonder if I'll ever face Capri sun again after pg??).
Toast with peanut butter and decaff tea were the other two things I lived on...anything else for me seemed a no go!

how many weeks are you now durham ? -glad you are managing ok now. I stayed on meds until 28 weeks in second pg (which I was referring to here). in first preg was pretty much on meds all the way through- (worse from weeks 16-23)- they didn't seem to prescribe ondansetron then (9 yrs ago)- strongest med I had then was buccastem. if it is working for you then stick with it I say!! I came off meds in second pg weeks after I had actually felt a lot better as didn't want to relapse x

ps- most of the foods I have mentioned here I have never eaten since- the very thought urggh
vomiting emotion

Just dashing on to wave to Dilly Comeagain elizabethmsum and Durham.
I so agree with everyone, dilly - a very bad idea to even think about returning to work for some time yet.

Looks like I'll be having a word with my boss and telling her I won't be back on monday! It doesn't help that I work with food too! 9 weeks today, only another 31 to go!

How many of you suffered all the way through? People keep telling me it should start getting better soon but I'm not so sure!

I''m just over 32 weeks now elizabethsmum so not long to go. Have been on ondansetron since I was 8weeks pg, it seems to be the only med that keeps vomiting at bay.. So will stick with it! Thankfully I have good gp's who prescribe 100 tablets at a time, so at least I'm covered to the end of my pg.

Echo everone else, please don't go back to work on Monday dilly.

A few people have suffered the whole way through since I've been on the thread, but even they have generally greatly improved. Usually most people notice an improvement any time between weeks 14 - 21.

people seem to fall into one of three categories:

• it improves and disappears completely, never to return.
• It improves a great deal, some low level of nausea hangs around a bit and then gets a bit worse again in the last trimester
• (worst cases) It improves a lot but medium levels of nausea return but you can eat almost normally. It does get notably worse in the last trimester again, but never as bad as the early days.

That's reassuring to hear. I'd just like to be able to eat relatively normally again. Managed to keep down half a bacon and egg sandwich for the grand total of about 30 seconds!

Told my boss that I won't be back at work on monday. Will have to get another sick note

Hi all!
Can I join in? Just discovered this thread. I went absent from mumsnet upon discovering I was pregnant in November. I have been diagnosed with HG as of last week and finally have a sick note to show work I can't manage.

Happy news im carrying twins. Also our first dc.
Not so happy... Approaching 14 weeks and I'm still throwing up with severe nausea especially at night. I had been clutching on for dear life since around 7 weeks with the hope it would decrease by 12 weeks :( feeling so down.

Oh congratulation lewany! no less than twins, too!

Sorry to hear about the severe nausea and vomitting. It doesn't half take the shine off it, doesn't it. Very glad to hear you have a sicknote. HG is a condition that overextending yourself makes much worse.

The good-ish news is that at nearly 14 weeks it might start improving. Some people find that they begin to improve around then. Some people it takes longer - up til 21 weeks or so. But everyone does find some improvement.

Have you got any Ketostix to keep an eye on your ketones? Dehydration is usually the big problem unless the stavation goes on for too long. You can get them from a chemist and pee on them. The darker the colour, the more dehydrated you are. 3+ and you need medical attention.

Are you on any meds?

Welcome Lewaney. So sorry you're suffering, and that this has been going on some time with you facing it alone. Lovely news about twins, how many sets do we have now? I think maybe three - but Emysmarie has almost certainly got hers by now, I think. People with twins often get a great improvement because they wouldn't have had it at all with a singleton, though elizabethsmum had the bad luck to have it with both pregnancies...Hopefully things will start improving for you quite soon.
Can't improve on Meerka's advice about getting in kestostix, etc. What meds did you say the doctor had you on?
dilly Things will get much better, almost certainly. Only the unlucky suffer severely throughout and even they don't suffer anything like as badly as in the first tri, as Meerka says...
Waves to all. Exciting about these twins...

Hopefully I won't be one of the unlucky ones! My OH was completely amazing and pretty much cleaned the entire house as I've been completely unable to. I started doing some dishes but had to go and lay down after an hour or so of struggling.

Ketones were slightly raised last night but not above 3 yet. So disheartening as I've really been trying to keep drinking and thought I was doing well

Hope everyone else if feeling better

good to hear they are still low-ish. Please don't try to overdo it, even with the dishes. Honestly, HG is a condition that really you need to rest, rest, rest with. Think of it as for the baby =) It is hard on people's partners, yes. Poor husband worked non-stop during my preg. But it -will- get easier in time. Just seriously, try to rest, even from the house stuff, the moment you start to feel yourself struggling. I'm sure Mother Hen will say the same.

Hope everyone is surviving this morning