Intense nausea and fatigue, questions from a first timer (again)

[Sundaylunchhappy]

Hello all,

After the initial surprise of finding out I was pregnant a few weeks ago. I am on day 6 of the most hideous feelings of nausea and fatigue.

I was absolutely convinced I should expect something, but it's blown my socks off and I'm struggling big time.

From the moment I wake up around 6am to the moment I go to bed (now getting as early as 8pm) I am dealing with constant and unrelenting waves of nausea without actually being sick. I have hardly left the house, can't cook, can't use laundry detergent, can't go near my dh when he's used deodorant and take an age to shower and dress (so far still hasn't happened today).

I am usually napping for up to 2 hours if I have managed to go out in the morning and my diet consists of hoola hoops, breadsticks and water.

I am six weeks today.

Please tell me, is this normal? Do I just need to suck it up or is there anything I can do to make this better? I don't work during the school holidays thankfully but I do need to be able to function!

It's pretty rubbish isn't it! I'm 11 weeks, second pregnancy, and had horrendous sickness from 7 weeks each time.

A couple of tips, find some things you can eat and keep eating, as most of us find it's worse when we are hungry. I've found sweet popcorn is quite good, plain crackers, salted crisps, etc. And rest, mind also gets worse if I'm tired. I pretty much end up hibernating for a few weeks at home each time as I can't cope going out.

You can go to the doctors as there are things they can give to you, they'll probably start with cyclizine, which helps some people but not others, but there are other things they can prescribe too.

The website www.pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk is also helpful.

Hope this helps a little.

Thank you for your reply boopdoop.

I feel a bit sheepish at the idea of going to see my gp, like I ought to be able to just crack on. Do you think I should try and hold out until my booking appointment in a fortnight?

So far the idea of leaving the house is just ludicrous and I'm very thankful I'm able to hibernate on the sofa. Currently feeling 'okay', which seems to last for a maximum of an hour, so making the most of trying to hydrate.

You sound exactly like I did when I was 6 weeks, just before I got diagnosed with hyperemesis. Nothing wrong in going to GP.

Thank you for the encouragement, starting to think if it's stopping me driving/ preparing any sort of hot food/ able to do more than sit on the sofa maybe the gp is good idea.

You sound like you might be approaching HG. Get seriously hydrated. It's miserable isn't it? I hope it doesn't but my sickness started about 7 weeks and was horrific. I spent the previous 2 weeks in bed with unrelenting nausea. Only my DH knew I was pregnant and I think he thought I was being a bit precious!

I had the same thing, it was horrendous. Weeks 7-8 were the worst - still pretty nauseous at 16 weeks but nowhere near as bad. Hope you feel better soon OP!

It feels like it lasts forever but it doesn't. I remember googling at the time and it saying that 9/10 weeks is the peak which was true for me. I was sick from 6 weeks until 20 weeks but up to 12 weeks was worse where I couldn't leave the house, brush my teeth, go food shopping, cook (smells made me feel worse) or eat. I lost a stone in weight in 2 weeks and had to go to the doctor who found I had ketones. I was prescribed Promethizine (and the GP was wondering whether to send me to hospital) but they worked which meant I could eat a crumpet or two a day and drink water - not great but enough to stop a hospital visit.

It doesn't last long. Find some box sets and just eat what you can. Go to the doctor if you're loosing weight. You should still be able to function day to day with 'normal' morning sickness so get tablets if you can't or it will just get worse. Congratulations 💐 x

Oh and ice pops and breakfast biscuits also worked for me

You've had some good advice above, which I would echo. You sound like me. At 6 weeks, the sickness just hit me. I got into bed on Friday night and didn't manage to get up for the whole weekend! After a few days of trying to tough it out and use natural remedies, I ended up at the GP sobbing for help.

There's feeling rubbish and having a bit of sickness, but there's also severe nausea and vomiting/HG which is a totally different ball game.

If you feel it's really impacting on your life, don't be afraid to talk to your GP. The sooner you start treatment, the more effective it is.

In the mean time, sipping a bit of Lucosade might help. As above, try to stay hydrated the best you can (frequent sips) and bland salty carbs tend to stay down best

Thank you all very much for your comments. It's so unbelievably nice knowing there are others out there. As it's so early on in pregnancy and we've told hardly anyone I feel very isolated.

Trying to weigh up if I have prescription worthy symptoms or if I need to be stronger in myself.

As an other wise fit, healthy and active late 20's person I have managed this today:

Making our bed, eating porridge over the space of an hour, getting myself in the shower 4 hours after having got up, drinking only water, hung a load of washing up over an hour (hate the smell of detergent) and just walked a pathetic quarter of a mile round trip to the post office at about 2mph! Now in bed exhausted clutching cold fizzy water.

It depresses me that when dh asks what I've managed I say "I've made the bed"

I think you should see your GP

How many weeks are you?

Also feel free you come and join us here. Lots of women supporting each other through sickness

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pregnancy/2986523-Hyperemesis-Support

Lemondrop99 I am six weeks. Hence I feel like a bit of a plonker phoning gp before booking in with midwife in a fortnight. However cannot function outside the house alone for more than half an hour, absolute misery.

Thank you for the link to the other thread x

Ok seriously, go to your GP. Do not feel like a plonker. If you're already feeling sick that early, it's likely you'll only feel worse over the next few weeks (tends to peak around 8-10 weeks. If you're lucky, it'll fade by the end of time first trimester. That can still feel like a very long time when you feel so rubbish though).

There's so much pressure on pregnant women to soldier through anything and everything, because we're 'just' pregnant. Don't let yourself suffer when you don't have to. Please go.

@Sundaylunchhappy You're doing really well, honestly. That's more than I managed all 12 weeks, pretty much! I was able to keep working but DH did EVERYTHING in the house.

Only you can decide if the sickness is too much for you. There are medications the GP can prescribe to help which carry minuscule (i.e. basically no) risks - I only didn't because I read that they mostly only prevented the vomiting, not the nausea, and vomiting was the only thing that made me feel better!

Lovely dh is on his way home so at least I can moan at something more than my bedroom walls! He is a trooper and doesn't make me feel guilty which is a blessing. Alas he's going abroad with work tomorrow for a few days. DM has kindly said I could go and stay there so I'm not totally isolated (can't trust myself to safely drive and we live rurally). Not sure if staying with DM will help with nausea or not! One time being a feeder is not on mum!

Phoning gp tomorrow, if they can't offer anything for nausea then I've not lost anything by trying.

Dh home and thrust the phone into my hand so I had to ring the surgery, felt really nervous for some bizzare reason.

Ring back tomorrow for thurs/fri appointment apparently or you could just ring 111 and speak to a nurse for advice on coping didn't want to tell the receptionist she was a patronising so and so silly Billy at all!

The Pregnancy Sickness Support ohineline will likely give you better advice than 111. They are brilliant, Kay on the phone line is SO helpful and supportive. Give them a call tomorrow.

Let us know how you get on with the GP. If they prescribe something, it'll likely be cyclizine to start with

*phoneline

111 will do nothing for you. They'll suggest ginger and all the other bollocks. I'm 18 weeks now and I am on two antiemetics and someone said to me today "have you tried ginger?". Do people think I've got to 18 weeks and lost 9kg and they're the first ones to suggest this magical cure it ginger?

I tried a bunch of different prescription drugs. None of them worked as well as no to morning sickness tea. I made sure to steep it at least 5 minutes.. and I actually sipped on it throughout the day. That was the best way to keep my nausea at bay since mine wasn't just morning sickness. At first I added honey but by day 2 I didn't need it. I like strong tea so the stronger the better for me.

Rang surgery again this am, expecting a call back from the gp. Thank you for all the comments. Not looking forward to the next 48 hours without dh but I guess that's what watermelon and Duvets are for.

Don't play down how sick you feel. Give lots of details. In my experience they didn't take it seriously until the vomiting started, I was lucky to get a good GP on my case eventually but it wasn't fun at first. They can be very tight with meds and lots of medical people didn't really seem to get it. Once I found the right drug even that was a battle to keep being prescribed!