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, phone them on:
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.

smartie
Everyone is different, everyone’s biological response are slightly different. One person is deathly allergic to peanuts, another can eat them fine. One woman gets pre eclampsia one doesn’t.

We still don’t really know what causes hg. I suspect an interaction between the immune systems of Mum and baby (which will vary slightly by baby) and genetic factors.
There may even be multiple causes - some work suggested that high HCG levels play a role, other more recent work that it’s down to a peptide produced by the placenta. But we don’t know how or why it happens.

It’s not a weakness or a problem in you, it’s just the hand you’ve been dealt. Everyone is different. What it ISNT is you being a wimp.

That’s great natsku! :)

Thanks isthismummy. It’s so hard because people don’t get it. PILs are the worst for suggesting that I’m somehow weaker than other people and am vomiting with a touch of mild nausea and it’s really nothing like that!

DP obviously sees me suffering and is generally brilliant but even he has commented that it’s weird how he doesn’t know anyone else who has been ill in pregnancy. Last time after I’d struggled through a day putting on a brave face at a party and then collapsed at home he suggested that it was partly on my head and if I could be ok at the party I could do that all the time. He didn’t seem to understand that I still felt completely shit at the party and what an effort it was to try to appear normal to people.

Cross post anatidae, thank you.

Smartie this is my 6th pregnancy but my first with hg. It is totally incomparable to "normal" morning sickness. I am completely floored by this whereas worked quite happily through it with the others. As long as I ate every couple of hours I was fine but this time I have to force myself to eat a couple of times a day.

I am not a lay in bed person and always push through illness even if it hurts me but I absolutely cannot do that with hg. My world is consumed with nausea, I'm either feeling like I'm going to retch, trying not to retch, retching or feeling dizzy and faint.

I have hg fairly mildly compared to others on here so I cannot begin to imagine what they are going through. I used to also be in the "pregnancy is not an illness" camp but definitely no longer!

Nat that’s a brilliant name.

It’s so hard when people are so misunderstanding of how hard hg is. I had a lot of back comments from predominantly women when I had to have so much time off work etc. They didn’t get that I wanted to work and feel like I could but even walking to the loo at times was tough.

I did my gym class today and walked into the hall and straight away smelt a weird chemical smell a bit like a cross between glue and nasty paint. It was really obvious and I commented to some classmates about it and none of them could smell it! Usually my smell isn’t that amazing so I’m getting anxious in my 2ww and doubting how I will cope if I’m pg. first time I started feeling really sick over s week before my period was due so I have form to start early!

nails

I have always found the constant crushing nausea and accompanying exhaustion MUCH harder to deal with than the actual vomiting (which is grim enough in itself.) It’s just debilitating. I only have one older one - hats off to you for managing with five!

I feel so guilty for having time off work but I cannot cope - on the days it’s my turn to drive ds to nursery and back that is literally the only physical thing I can do. I had to pick him up and carry him to the car through the snow yesterday and the effort made me cry.

I am not a crying person. I’ve worked through all sorts but I can’t manage this. It is what it is, I can’t change it I just have to manage as best I can. I am very much dreading the end of March as my sick line runs out and I’m still not seeing any real improvement

Great name nat.

I think it is impossible to battle through with HG. Even when I’m not vomiting the nausea and exhaustion is so crushing I literally can’t do anything and any tiny movement can set off a retching or vomiting episode.

yule I have my fingers crossed for you that you avoid HG.

Smartie completely agree with the above, esp Nails comment - I had fairly constant nausea and frequent vomiting in my first pregnancy, pushed through it and worked etc all the way through. This time I have been floored by it, pushing through in the earlier stages was unthinkable, now at 15 weeks more manageable, although overdoing things (still not back at work even) causes horrendous nausea and vomiting bouts. Nobody understands what it feels like unless they have suffered from HG.

Hotchocolate hope this is the start of things easing for you, you definitely deserve it after such a difficult time of things.

No extra advice on sleeping I'm afraid isthismummyI take promethazine at night in addition to other meds as totally zonks me. I think you'd have to talk to GP about other options, pharmacists have to stick to licensed products (very few for pregnancy), whereas doctors can prescribe off license.

Anatidae I totally agree with the constant nausea being terrible. I sometimes find a short window of relief after vomiting, unpleasant as it is.

Anatidae I tried taking my DHs Benadryl a few times which works quite well. Everything on line says it's safe in pregnancy, but then The pharmacist told me she couldn't recommend it She had the brill suggestion of camomile tea instead

The trouble is insomnia is my worst HG trigger. I've now been sick eleven times (a personal best) and can't even keep water down. Tell that to all the people who love to tell us it's all in our minds

Thank you Bored yes I'll have to call my GP for advice tomorrow. I'll have too anyway if my vomiting stays this bad.

Can I join? I'm 10 weeks tomorrow and have had severe nausea all the way through, I'm not sick that often but I feel like I'm going to be 95% of the time. Lost 11lb in 2 weeks as I couldn't eat, went to the doctors, Tried Prochlorperazine but they didn't work, then got put on cyclizine which was a miracle worker at first, been on it for 2 weeks and it takes most of the symptoms away but I'm still very nauseous and sick sometimes but the pharmacist at my practise said I can't have any more. I'm dreading coping without them :(

Don’t forget that the pharmacist has to tell you that. They could lose their entire career for recommending a medication that’s not approved. I understand why they do.

I had thrush while BF and wanted flucanozole oral tablet to clear it. Pharmacist of course says no, but I checked the prescribing guidelines and made the decision myself to take it.

Obviously I am neither a medical doctor nor your doctor, so I too would not advise you to take something, but perhaps you could talk to your doc and explain the need?

Anatidae I only have 2 dcs, the others were miscarriages but only after I'd survived the morning sickness of the first trimester. Most unfair!

I spoke to a lovely lady at PSS yesterday and she said that it was an unrealistic to think I would be returning to work whilst I have hg even whilst medicated. She said if I can get to a point where I'm able to carry out day to day jobs around the home then that would be a victory. That made me feel a bit better too.

Nail I was signed off throughout when I was pg. I tried going back around 20 weeks but it set things off and it was easier all round for me not to work as work needed someone to reliably be in which I couldn’t do and I was getting myself worse stressing about how I couldn’t manage. I think I was signed off in 2-4 week inclements and rung my gp who unquestionably kept extending it.

Kayleigh your gp can prescribe you more surely? I had cyclizine from week 5 until I gave birth.

Mummy when I was pg I couldn’t sleep either. I think it was something in my hormones disrupting sleep. I felt so tired but I would constantly be awake in the night and usually I’m pretty good at sleep. It was like my body just couldn’t do it even though it needed it. Think I ended out trying sleep hypnosis meditation type audio files to try to get me to sleep.

Oh I am sorry nails I hope my comment wasn’t upsetting or insensitive

I’m very sorry for your losses - I’ve been through it myself and it’s awful on every level 💐

I'm going to call and request a call from the doctor tomorrow and specifically ask for the doctor and no the pharmacist. Hopefully the doctor can help me. They are really good at calling you rather than getting you in

Kayleigh1986 definitely should be able to get more from your gp.

I was on Promethazine throughout pregnancy last time.
Good luck with doc tomorrow

Welcome to Smartie andKayleigh. Kayleigh The doctor should be able to prescrible some more anti emetics, and a good anti acid can make a huge difference. Smartie There is no way that it is in your head. The difference between normal pregnancy sickness and Hyperemesis is that one floors you, as everyone says. There is, of course, a sort of grey area in between, where those with bad pregnancy sickness find it borderline not manageable at times. As ever, I recommend both Smartie and *Kayleigh' to get some kesostix from a chemists in case they get dehydrated as A and E departments do take notice of the ketones they measure mor e, it seems, than not being able to pass any urine1 My usual list of recommended drinks: flat full sugar coke, ice lollies, ice cubes, the juice of tinned fruit, Lucoazade, Elderflower water, sips of chocolate mikshake, fizzy orange, Dr Pepper, orange squash, orange juice (for those with less acidity) and Robinson's fruit drinks. For food of a sort, nibbles of chips and crisps, cheap ice cream, cuppa soup, cornflakes, slices of melon and mango, jelly, and some say custard.
Natsku A lovely name: thank you for tellin g us early!
nails I am so sorry about mc's. I had only one, and that was really distressing.
isthismummy I am sorry I can't think of any recommendations for insominia. The pregnancy pillow sounds a great idea.
hotchocolateI hope the nausea keeps at that level for a while - just enough to reassure you.
Anitidae Much sympathy over virus, and having had a sleepless baby before. My health visitor said it was my own fault that DD was sleepless, but I wasn't sure. It's torture when they are! I have met parents who say that the first was sleepless, and their second normal, and yet, they used the same routines, so I hope your next is fine.
Yale That does seem to be a symptom that makes you wonder. Of course, you are apprehansive. But with meds, and having a plan in place, you will get through it, I am sure.
Apologies to anyone rudely ignored. I had to answer a long phone call in the middle of the post, so will have.

Natsku I love it, good choice.

Snap on the insomnia front and my best friend who is pregnant is the same so it's definitely a pregnancy symptom and probably made worse by hg exhaustion.

Ana is right Smartie we are all different but as she said it's definitely not "all in your head". It's really hard to accept that you just aren't going to be one of those lovely glowing glamorous preggers women. We have all done it smartie it had a couple of hours where we have felt ok enough to do something to then suffer but get the inevitable but "you were alright earlier" chat from others.

Oh Yule that sounds like you might be but fingers crossed you avoid Hg, it can happen.

Isthis are you ok, 11 times is a lot please make sure you try to stay hydrated.

Nails that is incredibly unfair, I'm really sorry for you having to go through hg and pregnancy loss. That lady sounds lovely we need more of her around.

Yep Kayleigh as others have said please keep pushing to get the meds you clearly need.

Polkadotpixie Good advice, and I hope you are managing.
Waves to foodylicious and everyone...

@LucindaE I'm okay, thank you! 😊 Still on Promethazine but down to 2 a day now and hoping there's an end in sight! I'm 13+1 now and it's still an issue but not as bad as weeks 7-10 so I'm grateful!

Thank you for the advice ladies. It was much appreciated.

My grand total by the end of the day was 17 times. I couldn't even keep water down. Have woken up feeling like death and calling my surgery once it opens.

Hope everyone else is hanging on this morning. and we can't drink to all.

Anatidae it's absolutely fine, it was nice to have someone assume they were all successful for a change!

Oh isthismummy I’m sorry to hear you are so ill. I hope the doctors can help. If not, can you get to A&E? You surely must be dehydrated.