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.

Managed the car journey. Way there was Ok. Hurled after about an hour of being there, but made it to the loos. Didn't manage to eat any lunch - had a few mouthfuls and mu stomach objected very clearly with horrid painful cramps. So I listened to it and stopped. Made it back on the return journey without vomiting... did fall asleep tho (front seat next to the head with 5 kids in the back).to be honest tho I'm fairly sure that's the only reason I didn't hurl kn the car.

Baby is really, really active at the moment. Kicking me in tge bladder lot, moving round most of the time, kicking and wriggling. Sometimes it's nice. Sometimes it's really not. It's clearly it's fathers child as it gets very excited when I eat and starts somersaults. Problem is, it's very difficult to eat when its moving quite so excessively.

All those who've vomited on doctors; I know it's awful and embarrassing and hateful, but at least it gets the point across very clearly that you are NOT well.

I'm falling back into nausea again, and I think it's the start of 3rd trimester dip that many seem to get. I can just about cope with a dip as long as it doesn't get as bad as before!!

Having a very queasy day so far vomited 6x since getting up so cancelled all plans, which is a shame because DH is off work today and we'd planned outings. Hope this is just a few bad days not a sign of HG getting worse now i'm in 3rd trimester! To all ladies who's symptoms worsened in 3rd trimester, when did you start feeling worse again?

Amy well done on outcome of your doctor's visit and for persevering! Really glad you've got stronger meds and access to ondansetron if you need it. Hope you cope ok at work today.

Jen that's good news about antenatal checkup. Is Peptac for heartburn? I'm still struggling with heartburn/reflux but increasing dose of rantitdine just caused more vomiting. I'm mainly relying on peppermint rennies now.

About Kate Middleton, I actually found it helpful that she had HG, as people at work realised my condition was more serious than morning sickness when I told them it was HG. Colleagues kept saying 'oh it's that thing Princess Kate had, she was in hospital with it' which saved me having to explain too much. But maybe hers got better after 1st trimester? She never looked ill in public later. Must have been stressful though, imagine feeling sick when you're on a public engagement, knowing if you have to get a sick-bag out the whole world will see the pics of you vomiting!!

Eallison glad you managed the school-trip! Sorry your nausea's getting worse again. How long is the 3rd trimester dip supposed to last? I'm worried I'm falling into it too, I'm 28weeks and feeling worse after a few weeks of feeling so much better.

Amyyy27 poor you can you be signed off work? Be really careful on promethazineI know when I take it it knocks me out the effects last about 12 hours. Be careful I know I can't drive on it.

ealison yay for vomitless school trip :-) well on the bus anyway.

Glad Dr taking you seriously now Amy

Was it your consultant who told you to control vomitting confused? Wtf?! I have vom-o-phobia I wouldn't choose to vom! Someone on MN said something similar a while back when I started a nausea thread. She told me not to get into a cycle of being sick as it's hard to get out of. Whaaa?

Talking to my mum the other night, she's not that happy with me taking pills for sickness. She said to wean myself off them and if I needed to be sick I needed to be sick. And didn't I feel better after being sick? She found it hard to believe that no I didnt feel better after being sick

Hi ladies, i had my 20 week scan and our little boy is perfect. I'm so relieved as i have been on so many different meds from very early on. amy i second what kayme said, those tablets knocked me out so be careful and dont hesitate to get ondansetron if you arent noticing an improvement, it really has worked miracles for me.

I agree that Kate having HG has helped but it's a bit like the 'have you tried ginger biscuits' and its all i seem to hear! I too would like to know what treatment she had, i himk it would be very powerful for her to speak pubicly about HG but that's probably not the done thing!

Personally i cannot fault my GP, i think from comments he made to me that his wife has had HG so he is very understanding. I find it frustrating that others are coming up against unsympathetic professionals and receiving different levels of care and support.

Eallison Congratulations on trip. Oh dear, about third tri return. That is tough; almost nobody suffers as they did in the first tri if it does recur, but it's dismal. Some people have it on and off and it's very unpredictable. Some have to go back on meds they'd weaned themselves off,which is very disappointing. I remember reading somewhere that in late pregnancy one hundred times the amount of oestregen (sp?) you normally have is in your system, which is astounding. I hope it's just a temporary dip.
Jen That is happy news about development. Sorry about ongoing nausea,not at all fair.
EMS Happy news again.
Lilac Sorry about bad day; I hope it is a hormonal surge rather than the sign of a recurrence.
any Much sympathies, but really glad you are being taken seriously, now, so it was worth it in a way.
Chopsface If that comment was said to you meaning 'control yourself' then it was purely idiotic;and I do feel for people having to hear this sort of nonsense; but a dr did say to me, apropos migraine, that the brain can get into a vicious cycle of violent vomiting that is some sort of nervous system thing that has got nothing whatever to do with willpower, and that is why it is best to take anti emetics before the vomiting cycle begins to try and prevent it starting. I think that is what is sometimes meant by some medics, which is I think why pre-emptive treatment is the best thing for Hyperemesis, and is a different thing from the ignorant advice that you even get from some doctors of 'just try not to vomit' and all the rest of the nonsense.
Apologies to anyone rudely overlooked.

Hey all,

Sorry to hear so many are suffering at the moment. I'm crossing my fingers I don't get the 3rd trimester relapse so many of you seem to suffer with.
I've had a good couple of weeks, and I'm back to work on Monday after 16w off, pretty daunting, but it's only for 11w and then I'm on maternity.
Has anyone tried frozen coke? I got one from mcds this week and it was great. Cold, pumped full of calories and I could only sip at it. Good way of getting a large amount of liquids into me over the course of the day.

Stay positive everyone!

blimey thread is so busy at the moment. although I have had two hg pregnancies they have been entirely different - first time round it was completely on and off all the way though- in fact on reflection I would say just bad ms until 12 weeks and then progressed almost to hg from weeks 15-24 - from memory then onwards was very variable but recall managing at work from weeks 24-32 ok before having another relapse around week 33 and the another week or so off sick, back at work for another couple of weeks and then going on May leave around week 35, having a few days of feeling really well before being induced at week 36 with severe PE and dd1 being severely growth restricted (due to PE). can't honestly say it ever went off totally but it was manageable for several weeks at a time interspersed with briefer relapses.

with twins pg- full on hg from weeks 6-15 then reduced and no relapses of hg but various other separate issues.

what I am trying to say I guess is that it is so completely variable it is so hard to call how and when symptoms improve.

my sympathies with those suffering the misery of those dismal never ending early weeks and the total dis-heartening relapses that can come without much warning later on (albeit if there is anything positive to say they are shorter lived often and also by then food 'strategies' are a bit more developed through prior horrid vomming experience of what stays down/which meds work best etc.

to those suffering in later pg at the moment- lilac, eallison, amy are you all still on meds? I stayed on them for weeks and weeks after I probably needed to second time round due to previous dismal experience. also as you are obviously finding- it doesn't take much to overdo it an relapse. rest/recover/don't feel guilty wherever you can- hg is so bloody unforgiving

Hi everyone, what a busy few days! Not sure I can remember everything I've just read...
eallison I also went on a school trip yesterday, with 50 students to cadburys world! I had to have a risk assessment before I could go. I was petrified about the travelling though. Luckily I managed it, only being sick before we left (which was outside a colleagues classroom window :-/ ) the rest of my department on the trip are aware on my hg so we're very supportive throughout the day. I mostly did the sitting with people's bags thing! Just a shame all that chocolate was wasted on me :(
amy I hope your new meds work, I know finding the right ones for me has been a godsend and I can mostly function normally now. I know we are at similar points in our pregnancy.
It's right about catching it early, I think I did and my doctor was very understanding, giving me medication straight away. I was violently sick in his room so I can join the 'sick at the doctors club'.
To everyone else, sending hugs and good day thoughts

Elizabethsmum and Lucinda thanks for advice and info about relapses. Yes I'm still on meds, cyclizine and metroclopamide 3x day and will probably stay on them for rest of pregnancy. Stopped the prochlorperazine and promethazine months ago as didn't make any difference. Can't take ondansetron (triggered migraines for me) so run out of options with meds now! It's just so disheartening to have a few good weeks then end up relapsing. I'd just started getting my life back, signed up for aqua-natal, planned days out etc and now feel reluctant to stray far from bathroom
At least in 3rd trimester it's not as long to wait! Roll on September!!

mellee good luck with your return to work. Are you going back full-time or on phased return?

Ems congratulations on your scan!

Lilac Poor you about seeming relapse, I will be so happy to welcome you into the fabled Pink Castle in September. Glad you are still on meds, anyway.
Laura and eallison well done on surviving the horrors of school trips.
Laura by a window - sounds very tidy, anyway. The thought of the smells and sights of all that chocolate when feeling sick [green].
I had to smile at your Sick At the Doctor's Club.
Meleebacca Hey,frozen coke is one of the things I routinely recommend - allowed to go flat and frozen as ice cubes or made into lollies. Lol, did it go into your unconscious somewhere, I wonder? Very soothing and as you say, does have calories in it.

elizabethsmum What I find amazing (apart from your courage as the survivor of a twin pregnancy after bad Hyperemesis) is that in the twin pregnancy the Hyperemesis went off at sixteen weeks, despite the other, awful health problems. Did you have residual heartburn? That can be so agonizing .
Apologies to anyone overlooked. any confused chopsface casabanca kayme and everyone, how are things?

lucinda I know they were so completely different in hg terms lol! the docs thought maybe some of my later symptoms in first pg might have related to underlying placental problems (not that this is in any way always the case btw) and that hg with twins was 'normal twin hg' iyswim - lucky me

Forgot to say that Lilac Sympathies that Ondansetron gave you migraines, that is unlucky. Laura I'm glad they caught it early, but it sounds bad enough from your description. The whole thing about pre-emptive meds to stop the nervous system setting into a pattern of uncontrollable vomiting mechanism and the ludicrous idea that one can in any way control that by willpower seem to be confused in many people's minds (and even some medics). I'm not medically qualified; but the difference seems clear to me.

Hi all,
Well I'm on day 3 of taking the cyclizine and the tiredness seems to be better today. Thursday and Friday (which I took off sick from work after a terrible day on Wednesday) I pretty much slept the whole time between taking DD to school and picking her up again. It's hard to say if it's helping or not, I think there's some improvement but despite taking one an hour or so before getting up in the mornings, I'm still throwing up bile for England within about 5 minutes of stepping out of bed. I'm still feeling nauseous constantly too but am eating ok, keeping fluids down and not being sick any other time of day. So I guess compared to what many of you ladies on here are going through, I don't have it too bad. My sympathies really do go out to those suffering horrendously as I can well imagine how that must be, lord knows I'm feeling sorry for myself as it is. I can really relate to the person who said just put me to sleep and wake me up in 9 months! The road ahead seems so long at the moment. Virtual hugs all round x

Sympathies going out to everyone, my good day yesterday I realise is just a slow gradual build up to 6 weeks when it will be full blown I imagine like last time. Taking advantage of DP being at home, he is looking after DS and I'm in bed. I still haven't vomited yet, I think I'm just quite good at judging when and what to eat for the time being.

As I'm still imaging this is going to get pretty bad, what do people know about flying with HG? Should I get a GP note? I flew last time, it was tiring and I was drugged up, and over the worst, but this will be at 6 weeks, 8 weeks and then again at 11,12 and 13 weeks!! I'm hoping the airline will be fine if I'm puking/weak/fainting?

Casablanca Glad cyclizine is helping, but throwing up bile is vile,not to make a horrible pun. Sometimes it seems worth drinking water just to avoid that.
mygreeneyedboy I wish I could advise you about flying. I wonder if its worth contacting the airline,and surely then they could provide specialised service, seat near loo or whatever?
Waves to all.

Hi ladies would you mind if I ask a question? Had hg in previous pregnancy and on phenargan and metochlopromide. Doc gave me same meds as soon as I got bfp. I haven't started the all day vomming yet (ofcourse praying it doesn't come but sure it will), but the meds I'm on, I'm not sure really working but also making me feel so terrible in other ways ...Like a zombie but with restless legs in my whole body, similar to having flu where your body just feels so wrong. Does anyone have this with these meds? Is ondansetron the same? Is the constipation really unbearable ? I'm sorry to ask ladies, I can see from lurking on this thread this time and last time that there is so much more suffering here and I'm lucky to have meds at all.....just hoped I guess that you amazing ladies might have had similar experiences with the meds. So sorry for all those suffering x

Also, does anyone else suspect phenargan in their antenatal depression?

Mirabal metaclopramide can give you weird symptoms like restless legs they have changed the guidelines now and say you shouldn't have it for more that 5 days. Saying this I was prescribed it again this pregnancy. I took it for two previous pregnancy's and didn't have bad symptoms.
I also suffer from a lot of acid type reflux have been taking omeprazole this seems to help a bit.
It's my birthday today, feeling a bit sorry for myself. We came down to my parents to say do my husband can go sailing in a race today he left at 4 this morning. My parents have gone out this eve, I said to carry on as I'm not well enough to go out, they always go out on a Sat. My husband has been so busy with work and looking after our kids I wanted him to go to have a nice day. I haven't even had a card from my husband or boys.
Anyway enough of self pity it's just annoying as I don't feel so bad this eve. So sat watching TV on my own.

Hi Mirabel congrats on your bfp :-) fingers crossed you don't get hg with this one, or get on top of it quickly with meds :-) I'm on different drugs to you (promethazine) but I feel pretty grim on them too. It's 6 of one half a dozen of the other really isn't it?

Oh Kay how rubbish for you! They've not actually forgotten it's your birthday have they? You poor thing :-(

No my parents remembered I got a card and money from them. It's just the way the days worked out.

Thanks both. It does feel that way chopsface

Kayme that sounds really rough. I'm sure it's only thoughtlessness but on top of everything, I would be upset too

Yes the curse of HG my next birthday I'm having a party! Drinking and eating lots and not being sick!