Morning sickness making me depressed

[elle1994]

I'm 9 weeks pregnant and been suffering from morning sickness from week 6, although for the first couple of weeks it could be tamed with food/ginger/ sea bands and didn't really stop me doing anything, the last 2 weeks have been a nightmare and I can't even stand up without retching. I haven't left the house in days and I'm even dreading a retching fit starting when I'm with my midwife tomorrow.

I used to suffer from an extreme phobia of vomiting and the whole thing has caused me to have severe anxiety and depression to the point I feel completely isolated and trapped. I'm so happy to be pregnant and it's making me feel ungrateful to all those currently struggling with infertility. I feel like women have been doing this for millions of years and they've coped - so why can't I. I've been signed off this week and I have no idea how I'll physically return (I work night shifts in critical care).

I've started taking vitamin B6 but although it's stopped my retching - I still have the intense nausea where I feel like I'm about to vomit.

Did anyone else feel that morning sickness left them bed ridden, depressed and desperately isolated - and guilty for not being able to suck it up and carry on?

Feel for you. My DD is nearly 12 and I can still remember how it made me feel. TBH - 9 weeks was probably the peak - I remember being so exhausted and crying my eyes out. I had to have a day off work because I was so sick and tired of being sick and tired! Easy to say now - but it will start to ease. Get a bit of fresh air - even stale air made me retch. the thought of food shopping had me retching in the car park - get food you can stomach be delivered. Good luck - hope you feel better soon x

So much sympathy. I had it in both pregnancies and week 9 was worst week both times. For me it lasted til about week 15 but was manageable from about 12. In my second pregnancy I went to the gp and was prescribed anti emetics. I strongly recommend speaking to your GP if you can't cope. Mine was really understanding and the medication helped a lot.

Hopefully you're going through the worst of it right now and it will ease. I know that's not true for everyone. I still have intense bouts of nausea at 18 weeks, but nothing like I did in the first trimester. I recall days spent lying in bed feeling utterly desperate and terribly guilty as I was resenting a pregnancy I'd longed for. My only advice is to eat and drink exactly what you feel you fancy/ can cope with. I pretty much survived a month on bits of bread and watermelon with a huge amount of biscuits.
Be as self indulgent as you can be and try not to despair, it's absolutely horrid and many people on here myself included sympathise.

Worth a visit to your GP, they now have several meds they can prescribe for morning sickness. Also eat little and often if you can.

Oh lovely! I totally feel you, I’m 20 week now and feeling loads better!! It does get there!
I waited until 16 weeks to go the GP and wish I’d of gone sooner! Just go, they should be able to give you something to make you feel better. I was vomming 5-6 times a day, at work I felt useless but nobody seemed to notice! I’m vomming max once a day now.
You will feel better I’m sure, I’m just about to start nights in A&E, totally doable now, felt like my Everest at 9 weeks, you’ll get there!

Hi Elle I’m not much help I’m afraid, just here to say I’m also 9 weeks and suffering from the dreaded sickness. Last time week 9 was my worst week and gradually every week after that got slightly better and by week 14 I felt human again! Hang on in there, we’ve got this!

I had morning sickness where i was sick between 2 and 4 times a day for a good three months - I'm now 25 weeks and still vomit most mornings but its better than it was.

It is hard and it coincides with a big rush of hormones which messed about with my mood too - so i felt quite down and also was pissed off and tired about the sickness.

so your mood might also be being affected by your hormones.
Just take it easy, get through it, and it does get better after 12 weeks!

I can completely empathise as I’m in the same boat right now. I’m 11 weeks and have been hospitalised 4 times with HG and really struggling to bond with my baby. I have hardly left the house for over a month and when I do it exhausts me. I think it’s natural to have some level of resentment for something that is making you feel so crappy - but try to remember it’s the hormones and not the baby’s fault. When I had an early scan and saw the baby’s little arms and legs waving about it helped me feel a bit better, but still struggling. I would advise to speak to either GP or midwife for professional advice and join the Hyperemesis support group on MN for peer support.

I have literally JUST written a post about battling with emetophobia (fear of vomiting) and nausea whilst 8 weeks pregnant! I feel exactly as you do - depressed! I’m also bed-ridden as

(Sorry, finger slipped on the ‘post’ button before I’d finished writing my reply)

... as activity tends to aggravate the nausea, making it worse. My days are spent avoiding throwing up at all costs! Other pregnant women seem to be throwing up with ease during their ‘morning sickness’, which makes me feel like less of a woman - “why can’t I handle this, if THEY can?”

I don’t quite know what else to say other than I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL!

It’s nice to know that there are other pregnant women with the same phobia, though - it’s easy to feel like you’re the only one (I certainly did until I stumbled upon this very post).

Hopefully, it gets better. Nausea is said to usually fizzle out around week 13, so not long now (finger’s crossed).

Hi!
Just wondering how you are feeling now? I’m 9 weeks pregnant and in the same boat, can’t get out of bed because of the nausea and I’m also weak and dizzy. I am so depressed and feel so alone. My OH is amazing but I feel so guilty as he has to do everything. I am really not sure how much I can take. I’ve had Ciclizine which I only take when it’s really bad and I’m taking liquid iron but I’m even struggling to go to the bathroom.

Sorry that was a rant and a half I just wanted to say I know how you feel and wondered if there was any improvement! Hope you feel better x

Hi! I started to feel completely normal at 12 weeks and started to really look forward to the rest of my pregnancy, but I tried to go back to work and it knocked me back and made my aversions 10x worse! I’ve been signed off work since 7 weeks with Hyperemesis and I’m 16 weeks now and can’t see myself going back!

It does get more bearable and you never think at that stage you’ll make it to your second trimester but you do and it starts to go a lot quicker then! I’m not bed bound anymore but I am living at my parents because of the smell of my house/ husband make me sick haha! I understand how completely isolating and trapped you feel but don’t let yourself feel guilty, do what is best for you and baby - if you are ever going to be selfish now is the time to do it! Hope you feel better soon. Xx

Can someone help me pleaseee !
Since week 5 I ve been felling so sick all day and having hunger pains wich complicates everything I can’t see food in front of me that I vomit streigt after but if I don’t eat I fell even worst !
I ve been on hospital so many times but they always send me home to try new sick tablets I’m now nearly 13 weeks and can’t cope with this anymore I haven’t been to work in weeks I feel depress I try my best to get out of my flat to not be thinking 24/7 but from 1/2in the morning I just can’t sleep vomit. And have that pain in my stomach wich they say I needed to take gaviagon I have tried and nothing I have tried everythiiing in this pregnancy and nothing works this is driving me crazy :( I just wanted to enjoy being pregnant but it’s not happening :(

Hi op, I have been suffering a lot with pg nausea and I also have bad emetophobia. With my pg with dd it was extreme and lasted the whole way through. I was housebound (and bedbound) for months and had to be signed off for most of my pg. anyone not emet would have been sick frequently but I forced myself and did every precaution I could to limit this. But I still struggled, it affected my mental health greatly and was the hardest thing I ever did. I said I’d never do it ever again yet here I am 8 years later 17 weeks pg again!

This time I am prepared I’ll be bad (I just have this reaction to hormones). I have medication, I’m signed off work, I’ve got family to help with childcarento limit the stress on me. I’m still finding this awful - some days I can barely get out of bed and I haven’t really left the house in months.

I keep telling myself this is temporary and I will get through this. Luckily I’ve got a really supportive gp.

The emetophobia really adds a difficult dimension to this that I struggled to get any health professional to fully understand last time.

I am 7 weeks and also have emetophobia. So far my nausea is mild and manageable, but every morning I am waking up dreading feeling worse or being physically sick if anyone has any tips on how to mentally handle nausea I’d appreciate some!

I feel for u i felt the same. Mine was at its worse at 9 weeks I was admitted to hospital with dehydration. Since being on medication I have only been sick 3 times in 3 weeks it really takes the edge off. Although I still have nausea 90% of the time it's manageable. Also I found having an empty stomach made it 100x worse. My advice see u doctor. Hope u feel better soon

Hi! I'm now 10 weeks preg and have been sick asf all freaking DAY since 5weeks! It's terrible. I'm miserable asf and feeling so so depressed. I dont even care or do the things I was doing b4. :( this sickness I wouldn't wish on an enemy 😣🥴

I am so paranoid about being unwell. I have morning sickness I think but without the sickness and am hot in the evenings and can’t eat much. Is that normal? I called 111 and they have decided it may be COVID (which seems to be the answer to everything these days without properly examining you)

I am so glad I found this thread. I am struggling so much with the constant nausea and it’s making me doubt everything. I’ve wanted a child for so long and now I don’t feel connected to it because I’m so miserable with the sickness. On top of that the lockdown is really getting me down. I just need to feel human again and like me. I’m 10+5 today and hoping this will get easier

Hi, I’m about 7-8 weeks and been following this post and feel the same. I have been as sick as a dog for 2 weeks. I have 3 children already and I know it gets better, however all of them I managed to motivate my self, I just want to sleep 24/7 so I don’t feel sick. Struggling with home schooling as I feel so poorly 🤮.

Contact your GP. I have been given anti sickness medication and it is the only reason I can function!

Yes, definitely. I had terrible terrible sickness and I was so grateful to be working from home - no idea how I could have done it if I was commuting and in the office. I was constantly throwing up, and when there was nothing left to throw up I would be retching instead.

For me, it brought back trauma associated with when I had cancer - I felt like I was having chemotherapy again and I really really struggled with that. I had always been so matter of fact about having had cancer many many years ago and it never bothered me, but all of a sudden I was reliving it all and it was making me upset and depressed and I felt like I had gone back 12 years. It got so bad that I couldn't even take my pregnancy vitamins because I felt like I was taking chemo drugs again.

It was very very tough and it certainly affected my mental health, but it did eventually get better. I know that's hard to believe right now, but by week 11 / 12 it started to ease and then I realised it had all stopped.

Speak to your GP. I thought the sickness I had was normal for pregnant women and so I just forced myself to power through because, as you say, women have done this for millions of years. But after I told people I'm pregnant and talked about the first trimester, I realised how unusual it is to throw up as much as I did and I should have gone to the GP for support.

Don't make the same mistake I did and think it's normal and suffer unnecessarily.

Hi. I'm the same as you and around the same pregnancy stage. I've two other children and I remember feeling sick. But nothing like this.
I do feel very hormonal and the sickness lingers all day. Lockdown hasn't helped at all and homeschooling my other two is added pressure when you're feeling so poorly. Hard to concentrate. From what I remember it eased at 12 weeks. I'm wishing the time away to get to that stage so I can enjoy the rest of it... x

Hi I’m so happy I found a recent thread about morning sickness, I’m 11+3 and I have no appetite what so ever I don’t fancy 1 thing to eat and I loveee food usually 😔 I would have loved to have lost my appetite for a diet but now I have I would never wish it again I’m miserable I can’t get out of bed and I’m hardly eating and it makes me feel worse!! Iv been sleeping at my mums with my little girl just so my parents can basically wait on me .. they’ve been brilliant! I had HG with my little girl up until 15 weeks and I woke up and was normal one morning but because that was 6 years ago I feel like I can’t really remeber how I felt and this time I’m just so sad and depressed I can’t do anything and all I keep thinking is is this sickness ever going to end!!! I’m not as bad as I was with my first but even this morning sickness is just not copeable! Iv spoke to midwife and got anti sickness I just want to feel myself and be able to shave my bloody legs instead of having to get in and out of the bath/shower because I feel dizzy ! I look on Instagram every day and all the pregnancy people are all happy and getting on doing fun things and here I am in bed with my sick bowl all day and feeling guilty I can’t enjoy the sun with my little girl! Did anyone get over this at 12 weeks? Iv crossed my fingers xx

So relieved I have come across this active thread. Just like every other lady here, I have been seriously suffering with morning sickness. This is my first pregnancy, so all new/exciting/scary times. I am due for my first midwife appt. on Jul 1st, but at this stage I am uncertain of my precise weeks pregnant. I am assuming week 7/8 - I have been suffering with morning sickness for 2 weeks now?

It's mostly just the retching, 24/7. I am exhausted and upset, and just quite frankly over it. I'm sick probably once every other day - I'm trying with all the temporary remedies -- seabands, ginger teas, rest, eating as and when (and what) I want. I'm so grateful for my partner, who is so caring and essentially is at my beck and call! But where I have struggled with depression in the not-so-distant past, I am fearing this is rubbing off/returning on account of how my hormones are making me feel currently. Meanwhile I don't want to moan and sound ungrateful for the blessing this is!

I see women say 'it will pass, hang in there!', and I appreciate this is probably the best/only advice that can be given. Though can I please ask - those who are really finding it tough; aside from sleeping, how do you keep distracted? All I want to do is cry.