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

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.

Hello all! I am currently on my 3rd week signed off work with HG. I haven't been taking any medication, just resting 24-7 & trying to eat/drink when I can. I am almost 14 weeks & don't want to get too excited but I'm feeling a little better today! Only been sick about 3 times (although felt nauseous all day). Please let this be nearly over! This heat isn't helping is it?! Commiserations & ice cubes to all x

Hi all, panic not I've done a few more wees today! Lol! I can no longer face a drink at breakfast so that's one down, back at work mornings and work in a baking hot lab, so no drinks at the desk! Tea room visit involves removing white coat, washing hands, flight if stairs....

Hope you girls find drugs that suit soon! I'm on the promethazine, twice a day. I was finding them very sleepy but 2 weeks later I'm not feeling as sleepy and now stay up til 10pm too lol! I've not vommed in over a week and I can eat! If I delay a dose by about an hour or so I feel nausea returning with a strong gag reflex.

Hi all! I am officially on maternity leave, at 35+2 and completely exhausted.
But the end is in sight, and I am focusing on that with all my might.

For me, nausea has been a constant, with vomiting reoccurring as and when it feels like it. I think I managed it better this time as I only had 1 hospital admittance for rehydration as opposed to the 4 in my first pregnancy. Things that helped me -
cordial/ juice in the first trimester (no interest in it now)
eating what I can when I can... even if it is a bowl of cereal at 8pm or whatever
Avoiding things that make it worse (this is the most obvious advice ever) but I have always been a fervent tea drinker and yet tea has added to the nausea so I basically have had no tea for 8 months. I can, however, drink coffee. And do.
Lucozade when you know you need some glucose/sugar.
Fizzy water works better for me than still, so I have a soda stream and fizz to my heart's content. Side effect of this - DS loves fizzy water now too and steals my glass.
Heartburn/acid reflux wakes me in the night and I swig peptac liquid, I keep a bottle by the bed. I am on bottle number 4 now and I don't know if it will last through the final few weeks.
I also take Ondansetron although I think I am lucky as my GP prescribes it for me without question - although he has sent me off to the hospital before to get rehydrated, so he has seen me at my worst.

To MrsB - although it is a reaction to the growth hormone that allegedly causes this (apparently the place in the brain that controls the growth hormone is right beside the place in the brain that controls nausea and vomiting, so they set each other off) there is not one of us (I'm sure) who has not questioned whether they can carry on, resented the pregnancy and generally had some dark thoughts. There has been at least one lady on this thread in the past who knew she would be unable to continue with the pregnancy and we all understood. Just hang on in there. That is all you can do.

Meerka - I am not brave. DS was 9 months old when I conceived again and I can assure you it was stupidity rather than bravery. I was terrified when I got the BFP because I was afraid of a repeat of the HG (check) and the horrendous PND I suffered (still to be seen). Word to the wise, ladies. When DH says to go ahead and go off the crappy pill and he will be responsible DO NOT TRUST HIM. Or maybe that is just MY DH. But he seems fairly fertile so best to avoid him anyway. (kidding)

Finally, I am in Northern Ireland and attending the Royal Jubilee so if anyone else is local and needs some help with drs or whatever, I'll do what I can.

Now it is 8.30 so it must be time for bed. If I can sleep in this heat with this bump.

Lucinda, I can almost smell the pink castle.....

Totally off topic, is anyone else having a Christmas baby or is it just me?

February sorry chops ! DS bday is 31st Dec though!

I'm Feb too. Christ that feels like a lifetime!

laura thanks - fingers crossed these work for me too. Today has been hideous but I know everyone is struggling in heat. Hoping for a slightly better day tomorrow!

Finally done for the day. And hubby is finally home from his nightmarish 5 hour commute (seems even the trains can't cope with the heat - should've taken him an hour). I'm going to bed with my new fan and a pan of iced water in front of it. I'm reliably informed the iced water make it even better.. can't make it worse I suppose!!

Midwife tomorrow for anti d injections. Seriously, any of the complications, big or small, one can have in pregnancy... I've got em all!! I blame hubby for being O Pos. Or O Neg. One of us is one and one of us the other... so baby could have blood that fights with mine! I'm hoping it's getting all its awkwardness out of its system now...!!

Keep smiling ladies, we're getting there. And this time next year when it's lovely and hot we could well be on maternity leave and enjoying the sun with a nice gin and tonic!!

Yes my boss is a total swine!! So lovely to hear of others' bosses/managers being so lovely and caring, you need all the support you can get with HG, especially from work! I'm very much looking forward to mat leave to get away from the place and look for a new job!!

chops mine will be a November baby. A Christmas baby will be the best present ever :)

Ealli - you must be o neg, only women with rhesus negative blood require the anti d injections. I am also, hubby is A pos, so will be getting my jab soon. Let me know how it goes.

Everyone - I feel so bad for you all sweltering in the heat with HG. My sickness started in March, and it was warm enough here then for me to feel really bad. I still have bags of ice blocks in the freezer left over. I'm hoping that baby comes before it gets too warm here. Although the prediction is for a long hot summer this year, with a warm sept/oct as well.

I've managed to return to work, although on half days for this week and next. It's so nice to have people to talk to. Feeling exhausted but no return of HG sickness yet (still waiting to shake this cold).

Sending cold thoughts your way!!

Hi everyone and welcome new ladies!

I've been away for few days at a family gathering. Managed better than I thought, even the 2-hour car journeys (thank goodness for AirCon!) DH and I stayed in an empty flat kindly lent to us by a family member, so I had privacy to throw up, take naps and cook HG-safe food. For first time ever relatives told me I was 'glowing' 'blooming' and 'looking well' instead of 'looking ill' Probably helped by having a tan, but felt so nice to be thought of as healthy and pregnant rather than ill!! Bump got lots of attention too. Almost managed a vom-free day yesterday, was fine on journey home, then we stopped for fast-food and I spent half an hour violently throwing it up soon as we got home. Generally though I've been much better with HG last few days, less nausea and the vomiting more sporadic. Can't say the same for SPD (sleeping on pull-out bed for 2 nights was agony) but start physiotherapy sessions this week so there's hope for this too!

Haven't caught up with full thread yet... but to lady asking about prochlorperazine, I recommend giving it a try, it's supposed to be stronger than the anti-histamines. It didn't work for me but seems to take edge off for many, and unlike other meds i didn't have any side-effects when taking it. I've also taken it in past for vertigo when I had a middle-ear infection, it worked well for that, i think it works on balance-centre in brain.

Hope everyone's managing in this heat!! I find it helps to run the cold tap on my wrists for few mins when feeling overheated.

Lilac has reminded me of something. If you want to cool down quickly, put cold things/ice on wrists and ankles. It cools you down really well, something to do with how the circulatory system works.

chopsface I'm having a Christmas baby! Wish I could just fast forward through summer!
Think I reached rock bottom yesterday (hopefully cos only way is up) struggled so much with heat and sickness overnight. I think if there had been a gun to hand I would have been tempted to shoot myself in the head ( joke-sort of)
Things now look better after a few hours sleep but I am also facing up to moving house tomorrow which just seems laughable, thankfully I have a lot of support but also pride and I don't want people to see me wretched on Friday like I was yesterday. Oh well should just give in and get the sympathy vote and help I guess!
Thanks for wrists/ankle tip with cold water will try that.
Hang on in there everyone else who is hot and bothered Xx

Last night I managed to eat play after my disaster of being stuck in town unsafe to drive home! But already vommed this morning. Tmi: I was thinking about what others said about vomming quietly, I can do it sometimes. To I tried to work out what makes it quieter: you need to make your throat longer, as in lift up your chin rather than tucking it in, and open your mouth wide and don't fight the vomit, just let it come. It hurts less like that and none comes out of your nose either.

I ate some crisps, which is like my lifeline at the moment, especially with the salt for my low blood pressure. But seeing as I haven't kept the cyclizine down, I think the crisps will come up soon.

DS and me are spending the morning watching CBeebies until my grandparents come to look after him.

daff good luck with the move and I say take all the help you can get! mygreen I've puked up my first dose of stemetil this morning. Try again later eh!

General question for ladies on here - have you needed time off work and if so, which week(s) did you take? I'm feeling under pressure to get back...

MrsM I'm back in work this week phased return after being signed off for 3 weeks. Never had any trouble getting the GP to sign sick notes and it doesn't count against my sick leave at work as it's pregnancy related. If you need it you need it.

I can't vomit quietly. I think I fight against it though as I really bloody hate it! So dh gets full sound effects I feel the need to appologise for!

Glad you had a good few blooming days with your family Lilac :-)

When are you due daffodil?

Hello twodrifters and welcome. week 14 and you should soonish be starting to feel reliably better. Always good and bad days for a while =) Ice cubes sound wonderful for several reasons!

jen so glad your doctor is supportive and gives you ondansetron, it must be bad if you're still nauseous and sick even with it. Doesn't bear thinking about if you didn't have it!

Hope you managed to get some sleep last night, all things considered. Also I really really hope you escape the PND this time ... wishing you the best of luck there.

good luck with the doctor getting meds confused, let us know how you have got on?

ealli hope the injections went well. I'm told they're relatively trouble free.

lilac it sounds like you had a relatively good few days away and as though you're generally on the up nowadays? more or less?

daffodil best of luck today - can't imagine moving house in this heat even when you're well, never mind with HG. Do hope it all goes smoothly at least.

chopsface, amyyy, melle greeneyed and mrsm and everyone, I hope you are managing to get through the day. chops do take it easy with returning to work ...

mrsm you can also get stemetil as a tablet that goes under the lip, you don't swallow it. It has worked for some people in the past. if you can't keep it down as a swallowed tablet, it might be worth asking for just to see if it helps.

Ah mrsm and meerka stemetil must have been what my GP suggested to me, she said I goes under the lip. But I declined as she suggested it might not taste great (she didn't know?). Is it good? I haven't taken any cyclizine today. I regret that now because I think I'll be throwing up bile soon but I can't bear to touch anything, so still have had nothing. Debating in my mind if I should fly tomorrow...

mygreeneyed stemetil only a tiny tablet, under lip. has a slight after taste but far pref to hg!! it worked reasonably well for me in first hg pg - took the edge off anyway- I would advise you to give it a go! is it essential that you fly tomorrow?

Time off:
initial diagnosis at 7 weeks : fri-Tues off. Back short hours on weds. Shorter hours on Thurs. Off Fri. Half term. Week off. One week of reduced hours. 2 days of reduced hours, rest of week off. 4 weeks off. 2 weeks easter hols (would probably have been off if not holiday anyway). 3 weeks reduced hours. Normal hours since then, with the odd shortened day when I've gone in but then fallen apart.

So loads of time off!

Thanks chops meerka eallison

Had 2 stemetil so far today and still puking but not sure how long it takes to have an effect. Just checked ketones and back to ++ so guessing I need to focus on getting some more liquids down this afternoon.

mrsm I had 3 weeks off but in this time I had to go in and teach my exam classes as it was exam season ( we have all heard my stories of being sick in my classroom sink) I then did a 50% timetable that lead me to half term (thank god) then increased my hours and am now back full time. I've got two and a half weeks left before the summer holidays and it can't come soon enough!
chops I'm like amy and have a November baby :) am very much looking forward to this Christmas!
mygreeneyed I take stemetil that I dissolve between my lip and gum, it tastes fine. Makes my tongue a little tingly but if you can manage a drink after its gone then what little taste there is goes. When I was really bad I just used to pop them in and go to sleep so they'd be gone by the time I woke up. It's a little harder now trying to have conversations whilst they are dissolving but it's ok. They really work for me and I'm eating and drinking so much better with fewer vomiting bouts!
Hope everyone is coping in the heat ok

Thanks meerka x
chopsface I'm due 14th Dec- so kind of an early Christmas baby!
mrsm This is my 8th miserable week off work. I've had bad nausea but also no energy which has ruled out much more than getting up or down the stairs from my flat.
Feeling sick today and food and fluid not settling. Midwife advice of going back to A&E if deteriorate ringing in my ears. Don't want that just want to move and settle in to new place!! Here's hoping my stomach starts behaving itself again :-)
Waves to everyone xx

I'm debating about ringing the out of hours GP to get my keystones checked now. Maybe I could get one round of IV and cyclizine done in the hospital before flying even if it means discharging myself. I've only managed half a glass of water today and some spaghetti hoops. I'll wait until DP is home in an hour or so though. I really don't want to delay our flights the alternative is I brave it up, travel and go see a doctor in Oslo on Monday.