Morning sickness when to go to hospital

[Kitcat159]

At what point should you go to hospital for a drip?
I have been feeling really dehydrated over the past few days as I have not been able to keep liquid or food down.
My bp has been low but I don't know when it's "too low"

What made you go to hospital?

I'm 12 weeks with my first. I don't have a midwife yet.
Feeling really rubbish.

Just go straight to A&E, you don’t need to be referred, my GP told me dehydration is very bad for you and the baby, once you’re at A&E they will check your urine and decide whether to admit you, but they may just put you on a drip for a couple of hours then send you home.
I can’t stress this enough, do not worry about your job, once you’ve told them you’re pregnant it doesn’t matter if they think you’re taking the piss or not, they cannot sack you for being off sick, I had three months off in total and I thought my work might retaliate but they couldn’t have been nicer!

There is a huge range of experiences with HG. Some will require IV fluids but if you don't the HG survivors (for that is what we are and you will be) aren't a competitive sickness community. If you're finding your pregnancy sickness unbearable and you are unable to work you are too sick to work. Don't let anyone (i.e. your parents) tell you you're a malingerer. You're too sick to work. As a PP posted your pregnancy sickness can't be held against you. Perhaps HR have never encountered someone as sick as you in pregnancy. You should NOT have to pay for a letter if someone who is not pregnant would not have to pay for a letter and could self cert sickness for a stomach bug for example. I know you have sorted it but it is discrimination although I suspect you're too poorly to fight it.

Emu's blog post is fantastic and exactly sums up my feelings. I couldn't watch TV and couldn't feel happy. It's such a hard and isolating time especially if someone knows someone who sailed through their pregnancy (not helpful )

Get the meds that work - and check with PSS if you're concerned by the leaflet
Get signed off for at least a month so you can relax.
Ignore insensitive people
Get on the HG thread.

I joined MN for the support on that. It was amazing to know I wasn't the only one. Really truly supportive.

Very best of luck

I joined MN for HG support too. Nearly 10 years ago now, but I still remember the absolute wretchedness and despair of HG.

If you can't afford to pay for the private sick note, go in and ask a receptionist to print off the summary of your appointment (the doctors notes) and stamp it. I do this for type of thing for people all the time to save them money. I know GP receptionists get a bad name, but everyone I work with would do it for you. The GPs don't mind either, they get so pissed off with employers who ask for sick notes in the first 7 days. Like they're not busy enough in the current climate! Feel better soon

Thanks everyone.
I'm feeling better today. Managed to eat and drink without throwing up (so far anyway). Hopefully I'll have a decent night. I'm usually throwing up at about 2am!
I'm going to try to go to work tomorrow as I'm conscious that I have only been in for 1 day this year and people are making complaints.
I know the doctor said to stay off tomorrow as well but I am worried.
HR are contacting my doctor for written evidence of everything that was said in my appointments.
I also have my 12 week scan on Friday so if I don't go in tomorrow they might not let me go to the scan.

If I need to throw up tomorrow at work. I'm gonna take the HR woman with me. She can see how painful it is and see me shaking, crying and passing out after!

Massive headache tonight but hopefully that will be all! I have just eaten again incase it's the empty stomach that makes me sick. But the thought of throwing up after eating is making me panic (I have a phobia of vomiting)

Think positive thoughts for me tonight!!

Forgot to mention.
I'm the 2nd woman to be pregnant at the company. The other lady only worked 2 days a week anyway.
My boss had a baby last year so he had the 2 weeks paternity leave. I'm the only woman to be pregnant and a full time employee in the company.
Which is probably why they are being funny with me because it's as new to them as it is to me. Sort of.

You will need all of the support you can get as it takes a toll mentally too, at times. Please read the hyperemesis support thread here on MN and PSS are a great charity with lots of information on medication you can ask for. All anti-sickness says not to take it when pregnant, like any medication you take there is always risks but you will be OK, my baby was fine and we were on a cocktail of medication.

Your mum and dad don't understand because they haven't seen it, my advice is stay with them a couple of days when you are bad. No one understood until they saw it so work seeing it would be a blessing in disguise for you..

A GP letter is sufficient, they can't fire you due to sickness caused by your pregnancy. Speak to ACAS if you feel that you're being treated unfairly, it being new to them is not a good enough excuse!

Good luck to HR getting confidential info direct from your GP! 🙄 For the love of god, what is wrong with people?

Do NOT go in tomorrow OP. Right now you need to look after yourself and your baby. Screw work and screw your parents opinions. If work fire you you can sue them because it is illegal.

I also have a phobia of vomiting and I too really suffered with my first pregnancy. Luckily my employer was very understanding and allowed me to come in late (I found waking early was a trigger) and lay down when needed (which helped). I also found that I HAD to snack all the time because the second my stomach was empty I would be sick. It didn't always help, mind you, and I didn't have HG. I did take metaclopramide but all it did was actually prevent the vomiting so I dry heaved instead. The first 16 weeks I was off sick a LOT.

Please please take it easy and do not go in!!!

Don't go to work Op, you need to rest. I'm another HG survivor, you have my sympathies . People are still ignorant to HG, if I heard one more person say morning sickness or 'have you tried ginger biscuits' argh.

Please don't stress about work, let them find out the hard way that they cannot treat you like this. You and your baby are much more important.

On hindsight with my pregnancy I wish I took it much easier earlier and didn't just 'try to get on with it'and gave in to HG and not try to cure it. I was stressed about not eating, I couldn't keep folic acid down. But..even after not eating for 7 months...no lie...I had drips nearly every 2nd day I gave birth to a healthy happy baby. I couldn't believe that my baby was healthy .

Be kind to yourself....this will pass (but it is close to hell when going through it)

And print off information on HG for your husband and parents. They need to support you.

Oh the bloody ginger biscuits!
I haven't eaten one since last January. Never touching them again. Remind me of that awful time.

Please don't go into work for fear of HR! I struggled on in my first HG pregnancy and it was 10 x worse. My second I was signed off 7 weeks to 24 weeks and the world did not end. I had a much healthier pregnancy because I could manage more food and drink due to putting 100% effort into just that. Sounds odd to anyone who hasn't experienced HG but that's the toll it takes on you.

Honestly, I'm so scared of what HR and the others at my work are going to say. I have been sick this morning already - 2 sips of squash that came back with bile. but I should at least try to go in.
I feel so guilty if I don't go in.
Slept like crap last night too but I think that's the worry about work.

Yea I'm not going in.
I felt better yesterday but I think I slept through the worst morning bit.
I'm so thirsty this morning but anytime I sip some drink (even water) it comes back in seconds.
The acid feeling in my throat is so painful and I'm exausted already.
Feel really dizzy and like I'm gonna pass out.
Gonna go back to sleep for a bit and try to drink more in a bit.
Work are not expecting me in today anyway I just felt so guilty.

Glad you're not going in, you really need to try and take it easy otherwise you'll just end up feeling worse. Hope you manage to keep some water down later (I found drinking ice water a bit easier to keep down, fizzy water even easier than that and at the worst point only fizzy pop would stay down). Get some Rennies or something for the acid (well, send someone to get some for you, don't you try and go out anywhere today!)

Thank you so much Thingymaboob, I'm really glad you liked it - though sorry you've had to go through this horrible experience too.

OP I hope you are doing ok and getting a bit more support from those around you. Sending you a gentle hug . Also, just to reassure you on the prochlorperazine, I've been taking it throughout and am 34 weeks now - all scans etc have been absolutely fine with no problems. They have to put that on the label about pregnant women as it's not ethical for them to conduct tests in pregnancy, but the reality is they've been used for many years without any problems. It works fairly well for me, especially now that I'm further along, but many/most with HG end up needing Odansetron, perhaps also combined with another one like cyclizine. So do go back if it's not working.

Hi OP, glad you have not gone to work. From experience when you are at the vomiting bile stage and can't keep a sip of water down you are heading for dehydration. I'd try and go see your GP if you don't improve throughout the day.

A midwife recommended making ice cubes out of Lucazade Sport, it helped me.Rennes are a good suggestion too.

Take care of yourself. Try and let go of all the guilt and focus on yourself. Sending you a big warm hug.

So sorry completely missed all the new posts and thought I was posting directly after Thingymaboob on the other page. OP it sounds like your work are being dreadful, you really mustn't feel pressured to go in. They are legally not allowed to prevent you from going to your scan, they are not allowed to request information on your confidential doctors appointments and they are not allowed to discriminate against you for being unwell whilst you are pregnant. If you have been signed off work by the doctor that is sufficient and they can not request further information. If other people at work are complaining about you having time off sick that is unfair and discriminatory and your work have a duty to deal with those comments and complaints in a way that protects you. Something that might be worth noting (that my GP told me when I said I might try and work when he signed me off sick for HG) is that if you go into work whilst signed off it is actually detrimental to your work because they would not have insurance if something happened to you whilst you are there. So actually it is best for your work if you stay home when you have been signed off, and they shouldn't really allow you in. I'm just so sorry you're going through this, HG is such an isolating condition and you really need support not all this extra worry.

If acid is bad then a good anti-acid prescribed by the GP can make all the difference, both ranitidine and omeprezole are safe in pregnancy and are soo much better than gaviscon which will likely make you vomit more. You might have to push for it but it can make all the difference.

I second everything Emu has said OP. Btw, you can buy ranitidine off the shelf in Tesco's pretty cheaply. It's their own brand generic. It's also the active ingredient in Zantac, which is available over the counter (although usually best to not mention that you're pregnant - some pharmacies can be sticky about this, even though it's perfectly safe). Reducing the acidity in your stomach does help ease the sickness a little, ime. I found a combination Ondanestron as anti-emetic and Ranitidine as anti-acid worked quite well.
Hang in there OP.

Agree, I spent first 14 weeks nursing gaviscon and then got prescribed omeprazole and it was so much better. It significantly helped that awful acid feeling and I wasn't glugging gaviscon which helped! My magic combination was cyclizine + ondansetron + omeprazole. I'm 39+5 and don't take ondansetron or cyclizine that much now but take omeprazole everyday still.

I have to go back to work tomorrow as my self certification runs out so if I am off I will need to be signed off by a doctor.
I have just been really really sick and now my throat is cold burning down to my chest and I keep shaking.
Can't drink anything as it comes back up.

Tried Rennie but didn't make a difference.
Any suggestions to stop the cold burn?
I havnt taken the new sickness tablets yet as I thought I was feeling better. Don't really want to take it now incase it makes me more sick or I sleep through my alarm.
I just want to cry and curl in a ball till it all goes away.
I'm sorry for the constant complaining but I don't know how to help myself and don't have any support around me for things like this. People seem to think I'm making a mountain out of a molehill.

1. you can't stop taking the medication because you feel a little better. This is a mistake we've (HG suffers) have all made with disastrous consequences. Take the medication now otherwise you'll get worse.
2. you don't need to go into work. You can ring your gp and speak to the duty doctor (every GP) surgery has one and they will sign you off over the phone and you can pick up your sick note when convenient. This is what happened to me.you've already seen them and they know you're suffering.they will not refuse you a note. They can also give you a different type of anti sickness medication. You will make things worse for yourself if you go in to work.
3. you need to change your attitude about this illness. You are not doing yourself any favours. I understand that it takes a while to accept it, especially as many people don't understand how awful it us. It's a terrible and debilitating condition and the sooner you realise this, the sooner you will get the help and support you need. You will not get a medal for going into work. Forget what your ignorant parents have said, your work cannot touch you!

Take the medication.

Which area of the country are you in?

OP. Call 111. You aren't keeping anything down including water and you're pregnant. You are at a high risk of dehydration. Call now.

Do not go to work. You are more important than your work. Call your Dr, get a sick note. Take your meds and do not miss a dose (I too made this fatal mistake) even if you feel great.

You will get thru this but you need to start taking care of yourself and stop worrying what other people think.

Ring your GP first thing and get in. Your ketones need retesting.
Forget work, and look after number one. X