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.
On my image of a pink castle: that is an image I use because when I was little, my family had a Snakes and Ladders board with an image on the last square of a pink castle in the clouds. As Hyperemesis is so like a grotesque version of Snakes and Ladders - eat a meal, go up a ladder, first thing in the morning bile run, down a snake - I have used the image of that pink castle on the last square of that Snakes and Ladders board as a metaphor for the happy end of Hyperemesis.

Dh is home, and I have taken myself upstairs for a bit. The dog keeps following me and he STINKS. I'm unimpressed.

SassehMonsta Much sympathy. Gentle cyber pats on offer, if acceptable. Sometimes, is a good thing to cry. I had no pets when suffering,but I should think the doggy smell must be awful, however many baths you give him.
Much sympathy for everyone who has to deal with a know all who say that it can't be happening to you because it didn't happen to them.
eallison Oddly enough, I've been having a twitch in one eye as well. I feel it, but nobody else sees it! It seemed to come on with cold like symptoms. Really weird your OH should have it too. I hope it isn't the dreaded twitching for you. Talking can be a dismal trigger.
Ksjourney I hope it clears up like magic at sixteen weeks this time, too.
Reastie Much sympathy about the phobia. That must make it extra hard. So, in this case, the worst happening - actually vomiting - doesn't take away the dread?

Lucinda there’s various outlooks on vomiting taking away the phobia. For some it might help for others it makes it worse. It’s so extreme that I spend so much time forcing my body not to be sick. Imagine you’re hanging onto the edge of a cliff by one hand and if you let go you die. Imagine that intense fear and panic and focus on not falling andnthats how I feel about not being sick when I feel bad.

Last night was a bad evening and it’s been a generally bad day too. Am crossing everything not for another bad evening.

@Reastiepeace I genuinely do not know if this will help. It depends on whether you don't like the actual being sick or the consistency of the sick when you inevitably are. But I find if I know I am going to be sick I try to actively drink water usually 1/4 to 1/2 pint sipped slowly helps. It makes the coming up much easier but unfortunately doesn't stop the stomach cramping to release every last tiny mm of content and then some. It also makes the whole being sick faster so you're not having to hold your breath as long. Sorry if even talking about being sick is a trigger for anyone on the thread.

@LucindaE me too 👍 thank you

Reastie That's awful! I asked because I used to have a certain horror of vomiting, either me doing it, or others. After doing a lot of it the alarm went, either for me doing it or seeing others at it, and these days I just feel sympathetic if I see anyone else puking. But it was obviously very mild compared to yours. I think then that very likely mild phobias often go with experience of whatever it is, but not strong ones. That is really tough.

reastie I would have thought so DK yarn (double knit yarn) seems to be the go to for things like blankets, I'm using a DK yarn for mine. That looks like lovely yarn, actually. You might be surprised how much you need tho; might be worth finding a basic pattern as it'll tell you how much yarn you'll need.

beanhunter that sounds such a tricky balance to be trying to make, you're between a rock and a hard place really. I do hope you find a balance that works.

ks I'm glad you're taking that approach. We tend to be so hard on ourselves, rather than being kind to ourselves.

sasseh I think we both had the same sort of day yesterday! Hope today was better

Oh and reastie my cats are basically locked outside all the time at the moment. They stink. Of course, no one else can smell it. And actually, it's only 1 that stinks but it seems cruel to only lock the smelly one out!!

Eal I’m now singing ‘smelly cat’ from friends! We have an elderly cat who has a tendency in winter to poo inside as he can’t be bothered to go outside (as in on the floor, not in a litter tray!) . I’m stressing about the bad weather and I will not cope with cat poo in the house. I’ve ordered the yarn but I suddenly realised crochet you have to do little squares and sew together rather than just crocheting the whole thing in one go like knitting so I might knit a blanket instead. It’ll still keep me busy with minimal brain power when I’m up to knitting as I can’t comcemtrate enough on reading or watching anything involving concentrating so I don’t mind!

Thanks KS and Lucinda for the sympathies

@reastie you don't have to do it in squares- I'm not! I'm doing a multicoloured wavey pattern, so I do two rows one colour, then swap. But I'm crocheting the whole thing is one thing, if that makes sense!

Tonight I ate some lamb hotpot! Only a small portion, but twas yummy and stayed put. I've avoided cows milk all day today and have had a better day. So I do think the cows milk thing is happening again. Plus side, there are many cheeses from goats or sheep's milk... So I had some of those for my lunch, with no problem. So at least I can still eat cheese!! So I'm gonna minimise cows milk intake and see if it helps. Think I'll still drink a milkshake or two a day as it's the easiest thing to drink (even if it leaves my tummy feeling queasy), and I'm fortifying it with milk powder so it's getting a fair bit of good stuff inside me. I'll see...

Wishing everyone a peaceful night.

Not all blankets have to be done in tiny squares! The one I am doing is currently an 8 pointed star but will turn into an octogon soon (don't ask!!). I also like a good ripple (attic24 has a good pattern called neat ripple which is a good base).

I've been up since 5am feeling vile
Meds not due until 7am. Last night I vomited for the first time in weeks because I opened the oven to turn dinner over. Luckily I had a bowl to hand a d ran out the kitchen! My food aversion to margarine has gone though, hurrah.

Sasseh ovens are the devil's work. No-one in this house has been allowed to use it for 10 weeks now! The smell just permeates and lingers, even if theres nothing in there.

I was only doing oven chips and veggie nuggets, with hash browns. :(

I did manage a lie in as agreed in advance with DH, so got up at 8.15 rather than 6am. Phew. Scan today

I’m minimising any cooking and all cooking is done by dh bland things that smell as little as possible. Sass there’s your lesson - no more cooking! Hope you feel better soon. I can’t imagine how I’d cope if I were working atm (teach cooking).

Eal hope the dairy thing works. I haven’t been able to have milk for a few weeks but have been eating cheese atm but only certain types. So my crochet hook is really small so I couldn’t fit more than a dozen or so stitches (it what every they’re called) on before I’d run out of space. I think I’m going to knit the blanket but I might try to learn a new type of knitting to give myself a challenge.

Rung gp this morning for reflux medicine and she did prescribe something beginning with o I think but she said she was feeling a bit out of her comfort zone with me as she’s never had a pg person on so many medications. She’s looking forward to me seeing a consultant I think just so she doesn’t feel the sole responsibility of giving me all these medications. She wants to see me later this week just to check in.

sasseh the attic24 ripple is the one I'm doing. I'm loving it! Enjoy your scan today :) mines a weekon Friday. I'm looking forward to actually know how pregnant I am - knowing how many more days I've got to tick off!

I'm doing oddly ok with cooking smells this time. However, soaked the things from our extractor fan in mineral bleach to give them good clean yesterday... Now, to me, the whole house smells slightly of grease (apart from the kitchen, which stinks of grease) so that's not pleasant!

Crochet friends! I was due to finish this blanket this week (it's a gift) but haven't been able to do the last 8 rows or border due to sickness

Been back to the GP today. She's taken some bloods to see if I need admitting for fluids. I'm still on the prochlorperazine only and am trying to take the doses a little more frequently. Only 1 spew so far today. Progress!

Hurrah for only one vom! Reastie, you (usually) only do one stitch at a time with crochet (unless increasing/decreasing) so you don't hold the stitches on the hook. :)

Scan today put me back by 5 days 11+6, Due date to be confirmed next Friday when I have to go back again. I didn't wonder when I got moved forwards several days at my private scan. DH is trying to be funny and joking it couldn't have been his but all he's doing is winding me up and I want to punch him.

I'm now sat waiting for a hearing test before I see ENT specialist for an on going issue that I booked an appointment for 6 months ago.

Currently, I can eat, but the nausea is causing some breakthrough vomiting. Can I couple my ondansetron with stemtil rather than cyclzine?

Sass I’m on cyclizine and ondansetron at the same time and take stemetil as well as the other two at the same time if required.

Love the crocheting, you are so talented mauis.

Loving all the knitting/crocheting that is happening. I find knitting is sometimes a welcome distraction if I'm up to it as it doesn't need too much concentration - I am trying to finish a blanket for a friend's baby who is already here!

My 13 month old hasn't been well since Thursday with a particularly aggressive and unusual strain of hand foot and mouth disease. The poor thing is so uncomfortable, covered in this nasty rash head to toe and it is such a struggle to meet his extra care needs. Thankfully he slept last night as the lack of sleep has ramped up my sickness hugely - praying he sleeps again tonight!

I also take stemetil with ondanestron and cyclizine daily atm Sasseh so there are definitely other options you can try

Reastie apart from when my Granny taught me granny squares aged 9, I hadn't done any crochet until I went to a workshop earlier this year. The blanket in the pic is v v easy. It's only one type of stitch, and you only need to be able to count to 4. I hate sewing in ends so I've made the stripes with 4 rather than 2 rows of each colour. attic24.typepad.com/weblog/neat-ripple-pattern.html

Hope your hearing test went ok Sasseh

I’m having such a grumpy day today. I’m almost 37 weeks and I’m so fed up of people saying “Not long now!” and “Nearly there!” because the fact of the matter is, if they felt sick and nauseous, and someone said to them “Don’t worry! You’ll only have to feel this way for another THREE WHOLE WEEKS” I’ll bet that would be a hideous realisation for them. So the fact that I’ve already endured it for months on end really isn’t any sort of consolation. Meh. I’m feeling very fed up.

Hope everyone else is doing better

TwoDrifters you’re so right aboit people saying unhelpful things like that - I remember people saying to me at the start that ‘oh you’ll probably feel better around 12 weeks’ and thinking I wonder how they would feel if they had horrific food poisoning or similar and I told them it would probably only last 12 weeks! You have my sympathies. I’m almost 30 weeks and just had a midwife say to me that I didn’t seem to be enjoying pregnancy much... had to try not to roll my eyes or bite her head off. People who haven’t suffered HG don’t realise how horrible it can make the whole pregnancy experience but doesn’t make us any less excited to have the baby!!

Olivecake Exactly! I said to someone the other day that at this point my entire focus is on the fact that soon I won’t feel sick anymore, and that the baby is almost an irrelevant side bonus. They looked aghast but I don’t care

TwoDrifters and Olivecake Oh no! Really sorry that you are both suffeirng stilll, and that people are jollying you along. Olivecake didn't the mdiwife read the notes? That can be the only explanation for such a fatuous remark!
Mauisleftnipple What a lovely piece of crochet work. All you crocheters and knitters and sewers are a clever lot .
SassehMonsta How did the scan go - I think you had one today?

After much kerfuffle and back and forthing with my GP (and a complete jobsworth of a receptionist who I'm afraid got a telling off from me for being so damned rude) my metoclopramide has been swapped for prochlorperazine (stematil is the brand name). I'm hoping it works, as I've had a really tough 3 days since stopping the metoclopramide. If it doesn't then I'm going to have to find a way to have an apt with a consultant and explore metoclopramide/my eye flutter. The poor GP just sounded so out of her depth (phone consultation), which is fair enough, she s not a specialist. But the early pregnancy unit told me to speak to my GP about it. Frankly, I think I knew more about the meds options and possible combos than she did. Anywho, we'll see.

Yet more examples of people who haven't experienced HG having not a single clue as to just how awful a HG pregnancy is. I had a particularly fun vomiting session earlier, about 25 minutes. Half way thru the thought entered my mind that if someone was to video me puking like that it would serve 2 purposes; 1. Bloody good contraceptive for teenagers! 2. Might give people a bit more understanding of what our pregnancies entail.