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.

I must say that I agree with Caspian, it is really shocking how poorly informed most HCPs are about HG. It seems that it's only when you have to be admitted that they take you even halfway seriously. And what makes it worse is that when you're in the depths of suffering it's very hard to fight for better treatment. You really ideally need an advocate like partner or husband to make your case. I found that I eventually just felt resigned to it all, didn't have the energy to argue. In retrospect I really wish I'd tried harder for better meds.
Flamingo, I found anything salt & vinegar a godsend during HG. I'm afraid my craving for salt even resulted in me eating it by itself. Baby turned out fine.
Hope all sufferers coping OK.

The lady whos a TA (sorry, can't remember name and going to bed but wanted to post while I remembered). I'm in a similar position to you, work in a school as a member of 'support staff' not teacher (teachers get far better rights than us! I'm a chaplain). Your school has to do a risk assessment for you (any work place does when you're pregnant) and you can stipulate in the risk assessment against lessons that involve lots of standing.

Also, if your doctor recommends (an amended sick note) that you should have reduced hours and amended/restricted duties, then your school will find it difficult to refuse. I had a couple of day trips that I was leading when I was really ill but still trying to work, and my gp gave me an amended sick note saying no school trips. There was little the head could do about it!

Are you in unison? If not, its probably worth joining, probably about a fiver a month, and theyll be able to offer support and advice

Argh.just typed a long response then my phone had a meltdown and it's gone! Grr!

Just a quick one to the lady whos a TA (sorry, can't remember name and wanted to post quickly before falling asleep!). I work in a school as a Chaplain, so similar to you, support staff not teacher. A couple of things. ..

1. Your school have to do a risk assessment (as do any work place when your pregnant) - mention that standing up is gonna be bad for pregnancy long term, and unhelpful at the moment while you're in the peak of HG - perhaps get something from your doctor. Which leads me to...

1. Get an amended sick note from your gp. This basically says your fit to work under certain conditions, like reduced hours amended duties (which could feed into risk assessment and sorting that new timetable out). When I was really ill but still trying to work, my gp gave me a specific note that said no school trips or driving. There was little the head could do. The worst the school can do is say that they can't make available the conditions of the gp, in which case you've tried to work and they've said no.

And now there's two posts!! Sorry ladies!!!

eallison That's great advice for Penguin. I so agree about unison - well, I would, I used to be a rep long ago.
Caspian I'm shocked at the attitude of that doctor, so unconcerned about dehydration. Flamengo I can't imagine how you managed last time.
Thank goodness for chips and tinned peaches...
Waves to MotherofPearl and everybody...

Hi Ladies, had my scan today, all is well and there is only one baby! I have been trying stemetil for 3 days now and since i started i've been violently sick each evening. I am keeping small amounts of breakfast and lunch down, am i asking too much to be able to keep food down of an evening? Not sure if it is worth going back to the doctors, i feel like i now have unrealistic expectations of what medication can do for me!!

It really is different for each person. Evenings have always been my worst time, even on ondansetron. However, I think you'd be justified going back to docs and saing that stematil has made a small difference, but still not eating a lot during day, and evenings are full of unpleasant violent vomiting. They won't stop you taking stematil unless they're gonna give you something else. And if the something else doesn't work, you know you can go back to the stematil.

Hi all. 23 weeks pregnant and water is still the enemy. I have good and bad days and my question is - when do I know I'm dehydrated? Sometimes when I pee I think I can smell pregnancy hormones, but now I'm wondering if its Ketones..? I've had occasional flashing lights in my eyes and burst blood veins in my face from retching so any miracle cream suggestions?
Also the metallic taste is still driving me insane and I stuff cake, or sugary snacks to take the edge off - any tricks with that?
Huge Hugs to my HG sisters ;)

Just wanted to add - sometimes I get really hot around my neck?! I've been in the waiting room at the doctors begging my husband to put his hand round my neck because they were cool. Anyone else had this?

Ems, I agree with Eallison, it does worth trying different meds. What helps seems to vary quite a lot from person to person, so it can take time to find the right combo. Seems worth giving it another go?
Bubble, do you use ketostix from the chemist to test your urine for ketones? You need to do this I think, sounds like you may well be dehydrated. As for cakes etc, I think you just have to go with it and eat whatever stays down, however unhealthy.

Bubble - you need ketostix to detect ketones in your urine at home. My rule is it needs to be +++ before I can go to the hospital for rehydration. At the moment I sit between 0 and +. Another rule is how frequently you are peeing a day. If you are dehydrated you won't be needing to go very often despite baby sitting on your bladder. Before my first rehydration I had peed 4 times in 24hrs and each time was only a very small amount.
I think you should see your doctor anyways, because you sound very ill. What medication are you on?

Sorry, cross posting!

Not on any meds- just told it will pass.- It is getting better, but still ups nds down. I will get some ketostix though. Any idea about the heat and metallic taste? Many Thanks I hugely appreciate your advice. xx

Ems, congratulations on your scan! Evenings are worst time for me too. Even if I have a good day with minimal nausea, I still vomit in evenings. Stemetil didn't help with that.

Bubbles, re metallic taste my midwife swears by chopping strawberry-laces into small pieces and sucking them throughout day. Not sure about hot neck thing... maybe try those cool-patches designed for migraines? They're supposed to go on forehead but would probably work on neck too. Re skin, which products do you use? I find my skin's become very dry and reactive since getting pregnant and I keep getting a rash on one side of my face (always the same side and it flares up when I use certain products). I used to use Clinique but now it makes rash worse so I switched to Clarins sensitive range. Boots No 7 range is supposed to be hypoallergenic, I use their cleanser sometimes but now I've started reacting to that too!

Hi bubble not sure about the hot neck thing but i'm struggling in general to feel a normal temperature - one minute i'm really hot,the next i'm shivering! The things these children do to us! I'm just waiting for my mum to bring me back some zofran tablets, my doctor has just prescribed them to me over the phone, i think i've exhausted all the other meds! He has advised just one 4mg tablet a day to see how i get on, he also said they are super expensive, it was a bad line but I'm sure he said £70 a tablet!

just showing face- have been briefly lurking but not had a chance to reply in detail to anyone but suffice to say welcome to flamengo, bubble and ems- and anyone else I may have missed! sorry you are all suffering but everyone has been giving excellent advice and support as usual.

sorry not sure who was mentioning stemetil but I found it did not stop vomiting from happening - just took edge of nausea. if meds you have tried so far are not helping then you need stronger by the sound off it.

waves to all and skulks back off to do emails and invoices - back later xx

Ems Congratulations on scan - that's always a boost. I knew Ondansetrn/zofran was expensive, but £70 does astonish me. I heard some time back it was possible for other manufacturers to manufacture the same drug now, so you would think the price would drop, unless I'm misinformed.
Bubbles You haven't been offered meds at all in twenty-three weeks of suffering. I do think it might be worth phoning the Pregnancy Sickness Support number of 024 7638 2020 as they've been good about getting people meds on here. I so agree with MotherofPearland Melleeabout kestostix being necessary, it does sound as if you might be dehydrated. Is the urine dark and do you have a headache or blurry vision or very dry skin?
About the foul taste, I swore by old fashioned barley sugar and Meerka did too, but it can be not so easy to get. The trouble can be that sets of the excess spit a bit sometimes too, you can't win with this...
I think we'll need a new thread tommorow, I'll do one and create a link.
Waves to elizabethsmum. Hope Everyone is coping today.
eallison It's intriguing about individual responses to meds - there have been a couple of people on here who found cyclazine made them insomniac, while with most people, it knocks them out, which at the worst if one is in bed all day, isn't such a bad thing.

My mum works in a pharmacy and said she looked it up and generic ondansetron was about £10 for a box but the branded zofran was about £100 for a box!! I don't know if it varies place to place though

Ems - I totally get the temperature thing. I wake up hit with a racing heart then spend a lot of the day shivering under a blanket. It's got something to do with the hormones I believe.
Bubbles - I hope you get some medication. I'm on ondansetron, 1 x 8mg tablet a day. It doesn't completely take away the sickness, but it takes the edge off.
I also am worse in the evenings. Although recently I have been vomiting first thing in the morning too. Generally I'm at my best between 10am and 2pm.

Wow sorry to hear you are all suffering, I'm there too have just struggled through 2 days back at work after being off for eye surgery. Managed to eat 2 bananas and some salt and vinegar crisps but that was it. Evenings are my best times I get a couple of hours respite from nausea and have managed a small roast dinner this evening but guilty that I should be eating way more during the day (my pre pregnancy weight is 8 stone so I don't have any weight to play with really). Ems I have the shiver hot thing too I've been sucking ice lollies then randomly wrapping up in duvets with a shivering fit. Life feels a bit tough at the moment :(

Twas our year 11 leavers mass this evening. Which meant I left work at 3.15, got home and slept for two hours, ate, threw up, dragged myself back to work for 6.45 then sat thru and ran the mass (only 2 sachets of gaviscon consumed and one vom, in the loo during). home via chippy. Eaten my chips. Now to bed in the hope I sleep before hurling again. Gosh, I'd underestimated/forgot the impact of pushing myself too far!

Hope everyone else has had a better day!

flamingo keeping anything down is a bonus so try not to feel guilty. The baby will get what it needs. Evenings are the worst for me but ive managed to keep some scrambled egg and toast down this evening and ive actually read bedtime stories to my daughter and sat downstairs with my husband and watched tv for a bit, rather than staying in bed! Small victories hey!! Sending lots of positive thoughts to everyone xx

the salt and vinegar crisps thing has made me smile- i had to have very strong ones - particularly Smith's square crisps! - wonder if it's the salt as electrolytes are all over the place with hg?

10am - 4pm were my ok ish hrs in 1st preg- lots of morning and evening sickness but generally reasonable during the middle of the day (on good days)- think it may be to do with blood sugar levels. in the twin pregnancy there was barely a good minute until about 15 weeks- nausea kept me awake a lot of the night as well

I went through a salt&vinegar crisp phase in first trimester, the Walkers Baked variety! The sharpness and dry taste seemed to help nausea, I was eating them 2-3x day. Then around week12 they inexplicably started to taste of bananas and I went off them. (DH couldn't taste this and they hadn't been stored near any bananas- funny how pregnancy messes with your sense of taste!)

Ealli, are you having a better day? Try not to push yourself too hard, working in evening as well sounds exhausting.

I'm having a bad day, had several violent vomiting sessions and can't get rid of the lingering headache I've had last few days.

Does anyone find their baby makes them jump when it moves suddenly? I've got used to mine kicking and wriggling in day, but last night I woke up and put my hand on bump as I turned over... baby must have been startled as it kicked/jumped so hard it scared me. I nearly leapt out of bed in a panic

Amazing to think something so small can kick with such force. It also seems to be kicking higher up now, instead of contained in one area! When I vomit it seems to set it off moving, as if it's protesting at being woken up lol.

caspian sorry you're having a bad day- headache may be due to dehydration so keep an eye on keytones. yes baby movements used to make me be/feel even more sick!