Morning sickness and sick pay.

[Latitia]

Hi all. Suffering from pretty terrible morning sickness at the moment. Really struggling with work, as I am up from my desk every 30 mins to be sick or wretch over the toilet bowl. Very embarrassing and awkward as nobody knows I am pregnant yet (other than my manager). I would usually be off sick and very much want to take a few days, but my worry is that I was off work last year with an infection for 5 weeks which hospitalised me. This in turn used a lot of my sick pay which only renews after 4 years. I'm only 7 weeks pregnant and only have 3 weeks of sick leave left. I don't want to take them now and then need them later in my pregnancy. I CANNOT afford to take unpaid time off, it's just not doable.

My question? How the hell do you cope with morning sickness at work, being sick every 30 minutes, and continue to work without people noticing? I'm close to tears and am really struggling. I just want to go home to bed...

Some really good advice here, thank you!

So 4/5 times a day isn't normal? It's my first pregnancy, nobody tells you these things.

@booandbumpp thank you so much for your advice. So so helpful.

@HariboIsMyCrack oh man, you poor thing 🤣 sorry - I shouldn't laugh but the way you've written it is very humorous.

@wizardswife79 WFH not an option unfortunately!

The mad thing about all of this is that my dad is a GP, a bloody brilliant one at that! His surgery had 5/5 on nhs direct (unheard of right) and he knows his stuff when it comes to pregnancy. I just can't bring myself to tell him before 12 weeks as I want it to be a celebration, not a worry.

4-5 x a day can be normal it’s a heave or two per time and you can eat and drink and function ok and it’s for a week or two.

It’s not normal if you’re debilitated by nausea, can keep nothing down and are heaving tens of times in each of those spewing sessions.

I had to tell people much earlier than I planned - unfortunately you may need tonif you’re that sick.

Pop on over to the hyperemesis thread - lovely supportive women who have kept me sane through two horrific HG pregnancies

@Anatidae fab! Thank you. I'll definitely check it out

@Latitia completely agree with @booandbumpp they have to do a urine test to be able to tell if you need medication- ketones in urine is a sign of negative energy balance (aka you're not getting enough food to stay down to support your energy needs). Dr cannot know that without urine test.

Also 100% agree with everyone who says to get the meds- they're safe and I would have lost my baby if I hadn't (because i had chronic low blood sugar which can be bad for baby if untreated).

Also if you read this bit on NHS website it says severe morning sickness wont affect the baby IF it's treated - www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/severe-vomiting-in-pregnancy-hyperemesis-gravidarum/#will-hyperemesis-gravidarum-harm-my-baby

OP vomiting 3 times + per day means that you could be failing to keep down all or most of your meals. This means a calorie deficit which forces your body to use up your fat stores - you might go into ketosis which is measurable in your urine. It only takes a few seconds and is a very objective measure that fits in with NHS guidelines. Ketosis places strain on your body and together with dehydration is the reason why women with HG are admitted to hospital to be fed / rehydrated intravenously.

The only people I know who were vomiting 4-5 or more times a day had HG. Honestly I don't think that's normal! Coming from someone who was nauseous throughout and vomiting 8-10 times a day.

Hope you feel better soon

Haven't been pregnant but experienced nausea. As they were (that time rightly) reluctant to give medication a friend said to try scratching and sniffing a lime or lemon - she suggested a lime as easier to get one without wax on. No idea if it would work and obviously not an alternative to kicking up a fuss with GP and getting tests if you need them but might be worth a try.

I wore sea bands to work as well (under a long sleeved top!) pretty sure they helped a bit with the nausea, didn't get rid of it but took the edge off.
My GP wouldn't prescribe me anything for sickness to help me continue working; only once I was really bad with 3+ ketones in my urine and severely dehydrated and by this stage I was too ill to work anyway.

@Bluebirdsky how to drs think you can work when you feel that unwell? Would they like to work feeling that ill? The NHS is funded by people going to work!! Xx

@Aw12345 I am not saying it was right I am just reporting what my experience was!

I had horrible sickness, things that helped me were boiled sweets, wrist sickness pressure bands, bubble gum chewing gum, eating little and often, so a plain biscuit every hour etc. Unfortunately once I found something that worked it only worked for a couple of weeks and then I had to find something else.

@Bluebirdsky oh yes I totally get that :-) Wasn't trying to be difficult just trying to agree with you that is very difficult to work when you're feeling like that! Sorry if it came across the wrong way!