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.

Newshoesplease And you're right; she is lovely. Thanks for the beautiful picture. I have been worried about that bleeding and that they said there was an increased risk of prematurity and so glad all is well and you've finally reached the end of the Hyperemesis road.
Goldenrose From everything I have seen on the thread, this is dismally familiar; people are dismissive and ill informed, even medics. Some people get told to try not to vomit (I did when it came back after the birth, but don't worry about that post birth thing happening to you, it's only happened to three people I've ever heard of and it did go away). Some people get told to eat little and often, ginger is recommended, and all the rest. Colleagues at work can be hurtful in imagining your exaggerating. any Wasn't it you whose boss said 'that comes of being pregnant' after you were being sick at work for a long time one day?
Laura and any It seems to me your symptoms were obvious enough to get a little more understanding...
Mirabel Sorry doctor wouldn't look at that website information. I can't help thinking that financial considerations had a part in it. I hope stemetil does help and it's encouraging that it helped elizabethsmum.
Mygreeneyedboy It is very brave of you to do that drive. I've heard nappy bags are good as sickbags.
MotherofPearl Good luck with trip. Maybe you will have exciting news.
Waves to Meerka and elizabethsmum and everyone...

Yes that's right Lucinda he told me that's what I got for being pregnant! The bleeping bleep!

newshoes she is sooo gorgeous, congrats again! Hope you are enjoying lots of newborn snuggles.

Just wrote a very long reply to everyone on my phone, then pressed the wrong button on my phone and it disappeared. Grr!! Let's try again..

Fizzy drinks are surprisingly good I've found. Which was very unexpected for me, and a discovery I wished I'd made earlier! I stayed well away from fizzy drinks til I was a good few weeks pregnant (can't remember when!) because fizzy drinks have always made me feel sick! Citrus based drinks (ie fresh orange) and fizzy drinks have always unsettled my stomach (though, not a Gin and Tonic tho!) so I stayed well away from them - it was a surprise discovery. I was so bored of water and my husband was drinking a can of Fanta and I was just desperate for something that tasted of something so stole it off him - fully expecting to hurling it up speedily... Fanta then became my go to drink! It's the lack of being able to gulp I think... now pretty much all I drink is fizzy (my poor teeth!)

mrsm (I think this is you) 'normal morning sickness' that left you so dehydrated that you needed admitting for rehydration... my husbands response to me telling him this was "I trust someone punched the doctor in the face?". Which sums it up. Hope they take you more seriously now!

amy I totally understand about the weekly shop thing and not being able to face what you bought only days later. I think it's pretty normal. There were weeks of my poor husband being sent out when he got home from work to pick up whatever it was that I thought I might fancy/be able to keep down that night!

Those facing unsympathetic employers/colleagues/friends/family... I think unless you've been through HG, or lived with someone through it, you just can't understand the true horrors of HG. The whole "morning sickness" so work in the afternoon thing was ridiculous for me - mornings were my best time, 2pm onwards was when stuff went downhill - which seems very common.

I think the difficulty is, until you've been sat on the bathroom floor in a puddle of your own wee whilst retching and bringing nothing up (or sat with someone), you just cannot understand the depths of the horror of it. And the other side of that is, that's not really the story you want to share with employers/colleagues/friends/family...!!

I used to daydream about vomiting on the least sympathetic/most sarcastic people... but in reality could never bring myself to do it cos public vomiting was just too awful to imagine. I hate even vomiting when someone else is in the toilets at work! It's bad enough that any walking past in the corridor can hear the god-awful noises that accompany the vomiting!!!

Long post, sorry ladies! It's been a while since I posted, so lots of catching up!

Another day nearly done - just keep swimming (as Dory says in Finding Nemo!!)

Chops - I am a QC Tech for a resin factory, all the resins are no-go for me now so I am procedure writing etc so that when I leave for maternity, they don't encounter the same meltdown they have had the last 4 months.

MrsM - I understand how you feel, it's a really lonely journey, especially as medical people don't seem to get involved much before 12w. Mentally I was very dark till about 14w, because I felt so alone and that no one was helping.

Oh how bad I feel about the heat wave you all must endure. I think I'm lucky to suffer through the winter. Although I'm now on my second cold for the season, and normally I don't get many.

Thanks so much for the messages of support. I am feeling really low and teary tonight and even though my husband is brilliant I'm not sure he totally gets it. Just feeling like the road ahead is impossible at the moment but hopefully tomorrow is a better day. hope everyone else is doing ok.

mrsm there isn't a woman on this board who hasn't been where you are now. I hated myself for hating my baby. It was called "bastard bloody thing" for the first 5 months of the pregnancy. It's completely normal to be so emotional and teary and not be able to see a way forward. You do minute by minute if you have to. You will get thru it, honestly. I couldn't see how I would get thru it, but I'm thru the worst and enjoying certain bits of being pregnant now (still looking forward to not being pregnant tho!).

mrsm sorry you are suffering so much, I too got very low and questioned how much longer I could carry on feeling so awful. Take it day by day and sleep as much as you can, it does get better.
I'm s bit lost with all the posts but I've found fizzy drinks help, Sprite is all I have at the moment! I also have to have a big glass of pure orange juice in the morning but it's got to be Tropicana - it's costing me a fortune! In the earlier weeks I lived on dry sugar puffs and digestive biscuits, sucking mints in between couldn't face either now!
newshoes congratulations, she is beautiful!

Keep going ladies, it's all worth it in the end

It's late but just wanted to say in response to Ellison last night I was curled up in bed wailing at dh "why does the baby hate me so much? Why is it making me ill?"

Catch up tomorrow if I survived my first day back at work! ;-)

Mrsm I really feel for you please try to sleep as much as you can it's only way I got through it

No one can understand what it's like unless they have gone through it or as someone said lived with someone who has had hg.

I had it with my first pregnancy and I do remember getting sick more and I did lose a lot of weight but I was able to maintain some sort of normality I just carried around bags to vomit into I remember running up alleyways to vomit on my way to work this time I didnt lose as much weight but when it was bad it was bad and I literally couldn't move from my bed, it was bile i was bringing up and i was so weak, the effort to lift my head off my pillow to dry retch into the basin used to have me exhausted I bloody threw that basin into the bin with great pleasure last week never wanted to see it again!! And I used to have a good day here and there that used to make me think I was getting better only for it to return with a vengeance

I was telling a friend who never suffered from any nasuea when pregnant how one day hanging out the washing had me vomiting and retching in back yard because of the smell of washing powder and she couldn't get it,think ill just give up trying to explain to people what it's like and stick to people who understand

Mrsm it is a really tough road and we have all been there i can assure you. my dh was at times less than understanding and even went as far to say he wished I had never got pregnant (I admit so did I in those dark times). I basically want to say that your feeling teary, emotional, exhausted and just plain ill are all things I can totally relate to having been through it all twice and being able to look back several years in retrospect (10 yrs and 5 years). this is why lucinda, meerka & myself as former sufferers are here- because we know how bloody hard it is, not only on terms of getting through each hour/day/week of hg but also getting anyone friends/family/work colleagues and especially medical professionals to recognise hg and take it seriously (the stress of which can undoubtedly make hg symptoms worse). be kind to yourself and get some rest. xxx

I'll reply to messages later on. Just thought I would add another story to the list of people who don't understand. Never thought it would be my parents!! Current living with them due to the move of country, so they know. They called me downstairs and asked if I should see a councillor for some CBT. I was flabbergasted. I've only thrown up once this time round, when they weren't around, so they only see this nausea of me lying in bed trying to get anyone and everyone to look after DS. My mum had 4 kids, and never threw up once. She thinks I'm just being a hypercondriac and mentioned her best friend has terminal cancer...

mygreen I am speechless - how totally unhelpful of them!!!!!

Thanks for your lovely messages and sorry for others experiencing a lack of empathy too.

I am hoping for some advice about treatments if possible. I've been on cyclizine 3 x day since Saturday and not sure how much it is doing. It makes me incredibly drowsy too. If I take a metoclopramide in the day (prescribed 3 day but only having one) it seems much better but then that makes me quite jittery and affected my ability to sleep! Yesterday I cut it out and only went with the cyclizine and was sick 3 times and extremely nauseous again all day. Do others have these issues with meds?

Finally I've had awful indigestion for 2 weeks now. Sometimes feels like there's a lump in my throat all day and yesterday throat started really burning. Tried remmies but didn't really help and gaviscon just came straight back up :( I'm nearly 8 weeks but thought all this didn't start till way later? If anyone has tips I'd really appreciate it. I know I'm eating an awful diet which I'm sure isn't helping as it's pretty much pure sugar.

oh dear greeneyed can you not just think yourself better??!!

I had a similar (not as bad) comment from my boss when I told him. He asked me to do my best not to 'give into it'. Yep, that's gonna help.... Shame as he's otherwise very supportive

I think try some other meds mrsm, I went through lots and I think lots of people try different combos before finding the one that works best. try phenergan (promethazine) and if not stemetil (Prochlorperazine). lots of people get good results (less bad anyway) with ondansetron (think also called zofran) but docs are less willing to prescribe (like mine yesterday). Think this is partly as its the last line of defence and can cause constipation but as lucinda said the other day, it is also quite expensive so docs dont like to give it out for that reason.

I think it's very normal to be down from this illness. I think I had antenatal depression last time and I didn't know how worried my family were about me till after (it lifted when she was born thank god). I used to think of the baby as an incubus sucking the life and joy out of me. She is now my world and the most wonderful (if cheeky) little girl. It was so worth it but that doesn't mean you are not suffering horribly now. I worry how I am going to take another 7 months of this.

I read something quite helpful on the pregnancy sickness website - under a section about people saying 'pregnancy is not an illness', no but this is like pre-eclpampsia, SPD or any other pregnancy complication. This is not normal pregnancy, it is a serious illness and a pregnancy complication that needs special attention and support

Thanks mirabal. Will go back to GP and see what they say. Hopefully this time I can see my normal Dr, not the (recently returned from maternity leave) female dr who said it didn't sound like I needed to see anyone, right before I ended up in hospital overnight! And my boss has said the exact same thing to me! Said she was sure it was best not to give in to it. Aargghhh.

If anyone else has indigestion tips please share away!

mrsm I found that cyclizine didn't really work for me and changed to promethazine. Still drowsy but have noticed an improvement and that's with only 1 tablet a day! I was put on ranitidine when my throat tore, it helps stomach acid, might be worth asking your GP about it? I know others use it for heartburn.

Sorry green for the lack of empathy from family :( It's really sad but I try and think of it that its just so impossible for them to know how truly ill you are without having gone through it.

We will get there ladies! Slowly but surely.

Hope everyone is as well as can be and the heat isn't too unbearable!

mrsm that should say I have noticed an improvement in the sickness. Drowsiness is probably worse than I had with cyclizine but have to compromise somewhere.

Thanks amy will be taking a list with me to the doctors I think!

There is a definite reluctance ti prescribe ondansetron. It's off label use for in pregnancy - the packet will tell you not safe for pregnancy- and is very, very expensive (tho cheaper than hospital admittance!!). At my height of ondansetron use i was taking 4 x 8mg tabs a day, and only being given a prescription for 28 tabs at a time and had to speak to/see a Dr every time I needed a repeat prescription (could alternate phone call apts with actual apts). They really are reluctant. Then I got the senior partner gp (by accident, he just happened to be the one available) and he decided that enough was enough and put ondansetron on repeat til the week before by due date. But that was after 2 months!

On terms of heartburn, they'll probably want to start you on ranitidine. That helped me nut not much - omeprazole was a life changer for me. I'm now on 1 or 2 omeprazole a day and ondansetron as and when (between none and 2 a day, depending on the day). Once you get the right meds in the right combo it can make all the difference. Unfortunately, that can be easier said than done. You just need to keep fighting, unfortunately.

Is anyone suffering from Hayfever? I usually get it quite bad but didnt suffer last time i was pregnant. Its really bad this year, i asked at the chemist but they said there was nothing suitable

Hi ems sorry never suffered with it but just wondering whether cyclizine (being an anti-histamine) might be any use?

I do feel for anyone suffering from Hyperemesis in this heat.
Mygreeneyedboy Really sorry that parents don't understand. It can be really hurtful when even mothers don't understand.
Sympathies to Mrsm14 AmyMirabelGoldenrose and all who have been enduring unfeeling remarks. Gentle cyber pats to Mrsm14 Chopsface and all who feel overwhelmed. Things will get better.
elizabethsmum I so agree. That sounds a great idea about cyclizine as an anti histamine for EMS. Waves to Meerka and everyone.
Apologies to anyone rudely overlooked.
I will have to start a new thread tomorrow, I think, as we are coming up to
1,000 posts.

newshoes fantastic news. so pleased for you. hope the infection goes quick.

mrsm stop the metoclopramide now. Those side effects are worrying as in a very few cases they can become permanent. dont take it again til youve spoken to a pharmacist or doc. mirabel gave good advice; prochlorperazine, promethazine, domperidone or (if you can get it) ondansetron are the best options.

hope everyone surviving, sorry for briefness, am (temporarily) joining you in the sisterhood of the sickbucket, thank you children for sharing your bugs. NOt that it's anything like the whole horrible 8 months of hg, but still.

mrsm can you take someon e with you as an advocate who's seen you at your worst. also if youc an print out the Goals of Treatment page on the NICE website (link on original post) and the suggested meds page too. GL