Late hyperemesis diagnosis, worried about work

[Hollyhop17]

Hello,
I am 13+1 but just today been diagnosed with hyperemsis, I did wonder as my sickness has felt so severe and have previously been in hospital for dehydration. I dont throw up everyday, though feel horrifically sick everday, so wasnt sure if I was.

My question is regarding work. Can they kick off or do anything to make my life more difficult? I have basically been signed off since the end of November (though initially it was mental health related) and now today been signed off for the rest of the month. Has anyone had this much time off? Anyone suffer negative reactions from work. My work are already being difficult and tried to log my pregnancy related sick days as all mental health related ones, unti I reminded them that pregnancy related ones need to be recorded separately They cant fire me can they? Any advice gratefully recieved..

Pregnancy related absences can't be included in any absence % so you can't be punished for it via an absence policy as this would be discrimination. They do only need to pay you as per their sick pay policy though, so you could end up on ssp only depending on company sick pay policy. They can force you to take maternity leave early but not until much much later near the end (can't remember off the top of my head). Hope you're feeling better soon - please try not to worry x

Thank you Cats. I do worry about my pay, will have to look into how much ssp is. As I said my work arent very nice so I am sure they will probably switch me to ssp as soon as they can. Ugh, just another lovely side affect of being pregnant... Wish I could have the baby now!

I was signed off for August and most of September. Signed off again 3 days before Christmas and until 36 weeks (when you switch to maternity leave) at the end of Jan. It was a pain in the backside for my work but after a while I took the approach there's not much you can do is there. And to be honest most days I feel so awful I don't care anymore (and I love my job!). Just focus on getting better, make sure it's recorded as hyperemesis, and they can't count it against you. Hth!

Thank you Mama. My previous notes have said pregnancy complications, this one specifically says hypermesis. So hoping they will take it more seriously now. I do feel guilty about how much time I've had off. However, I do feel so awful that I feel so torn between wanting to just rest and wanting to get back to work and normality.

I really feel for you Holly, it's utterly miserable isn't it. I don't know if this is helpful or not (!) but from my experience you aren't going to feel normal whether or not you go back to work, if that makes sense. I went back at 19 weeks and struggled through full time until 28 weeks. In retrospect I shouldn't have gone back full time probably - rest is THE only thing which makes a difference I found. I only started to accept that I wasn't helping anyone by struggling through at work when I started making mistakes, falling behind etc because I just couldn't sit upright anymore. I've basically been off again since then (though technically was on A/L over Christmas) and it's only on this side of Christmas that I've felt relief rather than guilt! I definitely went back FT far far too soon, I would strongly suggest you build back up to it and when you do go back go PT for a good couple of weeks whilst you adjust. Did you know there's a hyperemesis support thread on here? I only found it at 28 weeks and wished I'd found it earlier - come join! Most of us do seem to find an improvement at 18/19 weeks so I hope that's encouraging! And then some like me find that at the third trimester the increasing size/kicks of baby makes it much worse again - but definitely not everyone. I would urge you to think about your mental health whilst you're off. It is so so isolating to be stuck in bed for weeks/months. Make a plan for whatever you can do which will keep you sane!!