Hypermesis 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.

So sorry to hear that stou xxx

Stou I am so sorry . That is heartbreaking anyway, and dreadful to have suffered so only to have this tragic loss.

stou I am so very sorry for your loss.

What has happened to Stou is awful. I think it is rarer in Hypeemesis pregnacnies, but for all that, some of us on here have had a history of miscarriage, which adds to the misery. Not being medical, I don't know if that is due to hormonal imbalance or not. Before the Hyperemesis pregnancy, I had a missed miscarriage myself, and I know several others have. In that pregnancy, though, there was a sinister absence of sickness after eight weeks, and I just had a feeling that what with my migraines I'd be likely to suffer badly that way and it didn't feel right. But it must be purely awful to have full blown Hyperemesis and then miscarry. I do know that we made comparisons, and quite a lot of us on here had a tendency to migraines and cystitis, too. This hormonal business is really complicated, so it's no surprise that Hyperemesis isn't properly explained, either.
Lovely Meerka I hope recovering well.
How is everyone today?
Waves to lovely elizabetsmum too.

Taking a bit of time to recover, the general anaesthetic or surgery seems to have rather knocked me but that's to be expected. Quite emotional as well. It's all healing up well.

Thinking of you stou

How are you today ealli and hello and Caspian (i hope you did escape the norovirus?) and ca55andra, sevan and everyone? I hope it's a relatively peaceful and gentle sunday. Thank you for the good wishes mother Hen and everyone.

I've had a really good couple of days where I've felt human. I think I've probably had 'normal morning sickness'. Which is absolutely lovely. went to a wedding yesterday, and had a lovely day. We went to the wedding, and then timing was such that we could pop home for an hours nap, then to the reception. Stayed til half ten, ate pretty normally, managed not to be sick and even did a bit of ceilidh dancing with hubby dearest (an achievement in itself, as he doesn't dance. I told him baby wanted to dance!). I'm hopefully and tentatively hoping that I'm starting to come out the worst of it. Having to be very careful not to get giddy and push too far. But it's been a very long time since I've had 3 good days in a row and actually gone out and done stuff.

The negative of the weekend was discovering that the house we were buying is not what thet said it was; current owners lied about how much of the garden they actually owned, so we'll be pulling out. Soul searching and crying (and not a little swearing at lying scumbags) has brought us to the conclusion that we're gonna stay put for a year or so and see what being a family is like and how it affects finances/priorities and gives us flexibility with deciding about me going back to work post mat leave. Sliver linings!

Not too bad here thanks, been off work this week as my son was on holiday from nursery. Had a lovely week together but it's hard work and has had a real impact on the severity of my SPD.

Hi all.
I've spent the last few days reading through some posts on this forum, and I really want to join.
I'm 12w1d with my first (and last) pregnancy (first scan tomorrow). I was diagnosed with HG at 7w and I've been on ondansetron and metachlopramide. I've had 4 IVs so far, and I'm monitoring my urine with ketostix.
I'm based in New Zealand and I'm really struggling with the lack of forums and support from other sufferers. My husband and family have been amazing. This morning my dearly beloved was there from 4am to 6am giving me water between vomiting episodes. But it is still a lonely and debilitating condition.
Hoping to hang out with all you lovely ladies and hopefully survive through this together. Xoxo

Melleebacca Welcome, sorry you are feeling so bad. As they've got you on good meds, it's a shame that you are still suffering so badly and have had so many admissions. I hope it eases for you soon. Almost everyone improves a lot at some point in the second tri, even those who suffer throughout. Glad OH is so good.
Hello Oh no, about spd. So glad you had a nice time with son.
Waves to everyone, hoping for better days for everyone.

:) here I was thinking that Ive got nothing to complain about compared to others. I've read a lot of the American blogs and felt pathetic due to not being in a more serious condition.
My husband is very anti-medication, especially in the first trimester, so for the last week I've been taking ondansetron when I need it. That works out to be once a day generally. I have absolutely no faith in metachlopramide, it worked for 3 days and since then it's done nothing. Might start taking it again in a few weeks when I'm feeling better.

I also have a problem with sleeping at the moment. I'm exhausted all the time, and on self-imposed bed rest (been off work 5 weeks so far and got a doctors note for another 5 weeks). As the only time I feel not unbearably nauseous is when I'm sitting or lying still. This means at night, I fall asleep at 8.30, but I wake up around 2am, toss and turn till 4am and then I'm wide awake. Any tips on fixing my sleeping schedule?

mellee welcome. Congratulations and commiserations.

Can you get hold of some Cyclizine? it works well with ondansetron and it is considered absolutely safe (a sister antihistamine of cyclizine is a FDA Category A drug on the US scale, which means it is considered 100% proven safe). You might have to say to the chemist that it's not for you as the pharmacists are very very cautious about meds, but it is safe.

Some people respond to metoclopramide, some dont.

About the sleeping, no I'm really sorry, I don't really have any hints unless you can somehow stay awake til later .... is reading / sudoku / sewing impossible? (it is impossible for many people but some can manage it). I do know a sleeping exercise but not sure how much help it will be. just in case: -

1 - lie flat, relax every muscle starting at toes, working up ankles, shins, calves, knees, thighs etc to the top of your head.
2 - listen to the noises outside quietly for 10 mins
3 - imagine yourself in a beautiful, peaceful place.

This works by relaxing your mind so that similar brainwave patterns are created as during REM sleep. It might be worth trying?

Other than that ... as I'm sure you know the good news is that HG does improve for almost everyone. most people notice a slow improvement between week 14 - 21. Hope you are one of the early improvers!

Thanks Meerka. I will give that a go tonight. I've been trying to stay awake longer, but I'm so exhausted that I fall asleep with the lights on if my husband leaves the room for a minute. The nausea is made worse by a bad nights sleep too!

yes, it really is. good thing your doctor has given you long sickness notes. Meds and rest, rest, rest, rest are the only things that have a positive influence on HG :(

Well, rehydration in hospital on a drip helps too, but if you've gone that far you've already had an utterly miserable time of it.

ealli forgot to say, very pleased that you've had such a good few days. Shame about the buyers, so short sighted lying about something like that, you're bound to find out before completion!

hi all- welcome mellee so sorry you are suffering - we will help you through it- ondansetron with cyclizine got me through the worst of it so worth a go.

Yay eallison crosses fingers

Hope you are on the mend now meerka?

waves to lucinda, hello and everyone

Meerka - I saw a women's health doctor last week and she took one look at me and said I may be vomiting for 2 more weeks and the recovery will be 4 weeks after that. My usual GP was only giving me notes for a few days and kept seeming surprised that I wasn't better yet. Needless to say, I will be changing GPs.
I've looked into cyclizine in NZ, but it does need to be prescribed by a doctor here.
Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Hi everyone... Mellee welcome to the thread and hope you start feeling better soon. Cyclizine might help a bit with sleeping as well as nausea. I didn't think it was working for me until the time I ran out and HG suddenly got much worse. I think cyclizine builds up in system so gets more effective over time?

After a rough week, had a good day on Friday then a bad weekend, vomiting a lot, plus heartburn on and off and migraine-type headache, though feeling a bit better this eve. I think it was probably caused by HG rather than Norovirus. Going to try going into work tomorrow if feel ok in morning... they said to come in any time I can rather than keep to set hours for now.

yes, cyclizine does build up in the system over about 3 days and I found the same, caspian. Didn't think it was helping much til I stopped it a few days ... went back on sharpish after that. Like most of the HG meds, some people find it helps, some don't.

Im sorry but I hope you won't mind if I vent a moment .... I'm kind of struggling with knowing that we won't have a third baby now. Getting sterilized was absolutely the right choice because of the HG. Beyond the HG, contraception -isn't- always reliable and we don't have the finance or space and I don't have the energy for another child thanks to the ME. Also I'm really too old for it at 45. But oh, I wish things were different and that we could have tried for a third. Am rather weepy at the moment. Sometimes it haunts me, the two HG pregnancies. It comes back in flashes at times and still seems so vivid right now. I love the newborn stage and found it so much easier than being preg. I wish that things were different.

Oh Meerka! It's a hard thing to deal with emotionally. I've always wanted 2, and my husband wanted 3, but after 6 weeks of daily vomiting, we agreed that it is definitely 1 now and maybe in 5 years, if we win lotto we could do another. I see that as very unlikely. I would be more inclined to adopt.
You will get through this. If you survived HG twice, you can do anything!

meerka I can understand the emotions you're going thru at the moment. I don't imagine it was a decision you or partner reached easily, but right now it must feel very raw. You have two little miracles, more than a lot of women do. And you fought hard for them. Well done, now sit back and enjoy them and not worry about putting yourself, your partner or your children thru another HG pregnancy.

mellee welcome. At 12 weeks I was still feeling horrendous most if not all of the time. 17 weeks today, and things certainly seem to be picking up. I would really recommend taking the ondansetron regularly, even twice a day at the same times. It makes such a difference (for me at least) and the potential damage of a severely dehydrated mum is, to my and my gps minds, far worse than potential side effects. My husbands research didn't find anything to give us cause for concern (and he's the sort to eschew paracetamol for a headache unless he can't see with pain, as well as being a man who must know everything about something). You might well find, as I have, that the more your pregnancy progresses, you'll feel better and be able to work back down the ladder of meds.

I stopped taking cyclozine on Thursday when j noticed that it contains lactose, and dairy is a real trigger for me at the moment. I think it made a difference, so will speak to GP about not cyclizine!

mellee welcome to the thread! Lots of great advice on here for you, I'm 28 weeks and still vomiting but it's much more manageable than the early weeks so even though it doesn't seem it at the moment things will improve!

Meerka, really sorry you're feeling upset I imagine it must be a real mix of emotions. But it sounds like you made the right decision. Try to get lots of rest and take good care of yourself. General anaesthetics can really take it out of you. I remember when I had a laparoscopy (years ago) I was very tearful and tired for a few days after, and felt like I'd been through some kind of physical and emotional trauma. The pain from a few stitches and bruising to abdominal wall was intense and really got me down.

Had a strange morning... woke up feeling ok-ish, only 1 bout of vomiting when getting ready for work so I went in. Soon after arriving I was hit by severe nausea, missed half the morning meeting (in loo), gritted my teeth and got through second half of meeting, went to ward and starting reviewing my caseload. Felt even worse, sweating and dizzy as well as nauseous, threw up in sluice, and suddenly thought why on earth am I here? What am I trying to prove and why? I was in no fit state to see patients or even be on ward, yet I was pushing myself to stay there! So I went back to dept, found my supervisor and told her I needed to go home. She was very understanding and said I didn't look like I should be out of bed. I went to see head of dept, who was also very kind and motherly. She said they've supported employees with HG before and in her experience the worse thing to do is come back too soon. She told me to go home and not to come back until I'm feeling up to it and to make sure I have at least a week of feeling well before coming back. She said she's seen women push themselves like I've been doing and end up taking more sick days than those who take a block of time to recover. She said to put my health and baby before the job, take as much time off sick as I need, and not to worry about anything. I was so relieved I nearly cried.
I feel like a massive weight has been lifted! Being told to stay home until feel well has taken away the guilt and (self-inflicted) pressure to struggle in and show that I'm trying. She was right when she said the pressure of trying to cope with new job when feeling so ill will make HG worse and prolong it.

I'm now at home with my feet up, feeling so relieved that I can stop worrying about job for a while and can rest and sleep all I need to.

BTW does anyone have any tips to stop heartburn? It's a recent thing but has been constant the last 24-hours and is making nausea worse. I keep vomiting what seems to be pure acid and its so painful! Throat is scorched. I've tried Rennies and Gaviscon but they don't make much difference.

Thank you ... I dont know why it's hitting me so hard, we've been waiting for this since the little Squeak popped out. I am even wondering if the disturbance to the ovaries is making me hormonal, honestly. It's weird, Im ok one minute then in tears the next! The incisions themselves are healing up just fine.

About ondansetron and safety, if you understand med-papers it's worth looking at the New England Med Journal Danish Study Outcomes of Ondansetron In Preg. It's technical but it's clear from the beginning and end that this study found no adverse outcomes to using ondansetron in pregnancy among nearly 2000 women. Other studies have been a little more equivocal pointing to limits in this article (though the critique seems in one case to be dangerously biased in approach and doesn't mention the dangers of the meds they suggest instead, it also hints that you can get help with a lawsuit! the other is less biased).

This is the more reliable cautious article: here. What it does not point out is that ondansetron is nearly always given -after- the first line meds including the cyclizine-type med (doxylamine-pyridoxine) have been tried, found not to make a big enough difference and the mother is still going through severe nausea and vomitting. When I look at it, the other article is less and less reliable; it fails to mention that metoclopramide can in a few cases have permanent serious ill effects on the mother though the baby is safe.

The thing is, as ealli said, the dangers of dehydration are real and seem to be greater than the dangers of using any meds.

caspian so glad your employers are so supportive! they sound very sensible.

General anaesthetics can really take it out of you. I remember when I had a laparoscopy (years ago) I was very tearful and tired for a few days after, and felt like I'd been through some kind of physical and emotional trauma. ... THIS is exactly what I'm feeling. They must have dosed me heavily too as I couldn't wake up for all of 6 hours after. Surfaced briefly for 5 mins every couple of hours but just could not come round. Vomitted all over too, they were clucking about it but honestly, compared to HG it was a summer's day breeze :p

Must be the GA then. Thanks, I was wondering what on earth was going on, cause I really did want the sterilization, for all the bittersweetness of it.

caspian re the heartburn are you managing to keep fluids or tablets down? If so I would go back to your gp and get them to prescribe something for it. I left it too long for my heartburn to be treated and ended up tearing my osephagus which was so sore! It was from vomiting so much but the acid from heartburn made the problem worse apparently!