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.

Hope the new drug is useful eallison. Can I ask what dose you are on? Just reading info on Pregnancy Sickness Support and it seems to suggest Prochlorperazine/Stematil 10mg 3x/day. I've been prescribed 5mg 3x/day.

Mauis I’m prescribed 5-10mg 3x day but I don’t always take them as I take two other drugs as well

I actually have no idea what I've been prescribed. I have a box of 5mg tablets nd the sticker says "three times a day as needed" and she didn't tell me on the phone what I'm meant to be taking. I'm gonna ring pregnancy sickness support tomorrow. I don't know why I didn't think of that today. That would have made so much more sense! I'll take 5mg tonight and chase it up tomorrow.

Today has been a pukey day. Today I am sad and angry. Today is pants

ealllison My goodness, 25 minutes; that is a dreadful puking session. That may be a record - I do hope it wasn't continuous? Gentle cyber pats on offer if you can stand them.
Waves to Reastie Mauislefttnipple (that sounds like the sort of name for a female Viking leader - you know,, like Harold Blue Tooth).
and everyone...

Was pretty continuous, to be honest. Last 5 minutes wasn't completely continuous. It's been q crap day

@SassehMonsta I had a scan at 8 weeks and they put me back 5 days which was awful thinking I had an extra 5 days of sickness. But at 12 week scan I was only 1 day behind so you may catch up. Any extra days with HG seem like a lifetime.

@Mammabear13 my DH has had it twice in the last few months it's truly awful. He was in a lot of pain and couldn't sleep for 2 days. I hope your baby is better soon.

I have been back to my GP after speaking to pregnancy sickness support thanks to the advice on here. At 14 weeks and three different GPs they have now prescribed prochlorperazine (stemetil?) to take with cyclizine. I haven't taken any yet as I caught my DS's sick bug at the weekend. Feel like I was starting to get somewhere and my weight loss was slowing down and then it's back to square one being sick and not being able to even keep down water. Have eaten some toast today. Does anyone know when you take prochlorperazine you feel better and how long it takes to feel the benefit?

My work emailed and said they've had to take a project off me as I'm not able to work at the moment. If this time is the same as my previous pregnancy I should be back after Christmas but who knows as this time it's much worse. Don't know how to respond as it's not like this is a choice it seems very unfair when I'd love nothing more than to just feel normal again and go to work but from their point of view they need consistency

Sorry you've been so ill Plasticgiraffe. I noticed a difference straight away with prochlorperazine- I didn't feel as nauseous as I had been for the previous few days.

plastic dealing with work is such a tricky thing. We want so badly to go to work as normal and it's simply not possible. And it's really hard not to take it personally when they have to make changes due to the fact we are so ill and not there (like take projects off you). Do try to see it is them trying to lighten your load.

mauis Its reassuring to here that you felt pretty immediate relief from the prochlorperazine. Hopefully I'll be similar. However, I think I needed domperodine instead. It works in a similar way to metoclopramide in that it speeds up the whole process of food in your body - it's broken down, absorbed and moved on thru the digestive system quicker on meto and domperodine. Prochlorperazine works in a similar way yo cyclizine, so I don't think the combo will be particularly effective. One can only hope, tho!

This evening I'm stuck in a self pity loop. I feel it's a pretty justified one, but it's not helping anyone (least of all my poor husband who just spent 15 mins contorted in a weird position so that he cuddle my in our tiny downstairs loo while I had a big ugly cry). So I'm going to bed, safe in the knowledge that I've got thru another day (Just abou!), and hopeful that tomorrow will be easier.

Wishing all a restful nd peaceful night

This really directed to Lucinda and anyone who has suffered HG pregnancies in the past. Is there a thread anywhere to discuss 'surviving' it? I don't want to depress those of you who are really suffering now because I am not and am ever grateful for that, but I realise I do seem to have some long-term issues as a result (no 'physical' problem but very easily aroused nausea, and some vomiting/diarrhoea, making contraceptive pill impossible, but also a couple of dicky days around ovulation every month). If anyone has any knowledge / thoughts about what the after effects can be (including psychologically) I would love to hear about it.

Oh dear;' it looks as if a lot of people have been having an awful time.
SassehMonsta Sorry: stupid me; I have just seen that you did have your scan results. Lol about OH's jokes.
eallison I do hope Stematil helps. Not a happy day.
Mamabear Sorry to hear about poor DS's outbreak of that infection.
plasticgirrafe And sorry to hear that you have got a stomach bug. I hope it clears up fast. Just what you don't need with Hyperemesis.
Apologies to anyone rudely ignored.

Just spent the night crying on the phone to my mum telling her how depressed I feel and she's made me decide to talk to the doctor tomorrow to try and get help. I feel like a fraud cos not being sick much but still exhausted and feeling nauseous.

Feel like everything has got on top of me lately- I think I'll have to defer my degree this year, I'm under pressure at work cos they want to extend my probation due to me being off sick so much, and my husband doesn't get it at all and tells me I'm miserable and hard to be around and that I'm messing work around too much by being off.

Really miserable tonight

mrsreader the mental side of this scourge is much ignored/unnoticed. I know I definitely flitted in and out of depression with my last pregnancy and am doing so again this time. Learning from last time I have been in contact with a counsellor I saw for several months last year. But I'm fortunate enough that we can pay for private counselling, meaning I had access within a week - I know from past experience that NHS services take a helluva lot longer to access, with it being likely that baby is born before counselling/support available!

Which leads into what hopsalong has said. I know that in the months after my period returned but before we decided to try again (About 18months) I would have a panic attack if my period didn't come on the day I expected, if I felt slightly nauseous then this would bring panic and worry. If I actually was sick for any reason I would go into complete meltdown. This is part of the reason that when baby arrives my priority will be to get the GP to agree to sterilize me. I cant go thru anpther pregnancy and I can't go thru the regular panic of "oh no, is it happening again?". Im aware it'll be a difficult sell to GP and generally they 're reluctant, but I know that for my mental wellbeing it will be essential.

Aww @eallison88 sorry to hear you've had it so rough. I understand why you would want sterilisation, this illness is awful. I honestly don't think I could go through this again.

@eallison88 thank you so much for sharing your experiences. I had ordinary morning sickness with my first and HG with my second for almost all of pregnancy other than part of second trimester (though still very much at mild end of spectrum compared to some of your experiences). I have a copper coil now and am not worried about getting pregnant again, but I am worried about how to deal with the nausea symptoms until menopause! The POP pill had me heaving on the first day I took it. Tried Qlaira and was good for first few days (which turned out to be estrogen only, I discovered) but nausea became unbearable by second week. So am having normal cycles now, with about two days around ovulation and one before more period where I feel really sick and have diarrhoea / struggle to eat. Also as you say the mental side -- It seems to reactivate feelings of hopelessness I had in pregnancy, or maybe it's just that the same hormonal changes that make me feel sick also make me feel low in mood? Anyway, sorry to hijack this thread, maybe should start a new one. But am convinced these symptoms are to do with the HG because I had a year of normal cycles between baby 1 and 2 and no problems at all. I was pretty lax and late to medicate my vomiting because kept thinking it would just go away, so maybe more evidence that it is good to get symptoms under control early in pregnancy?

Today is shit. Today is fucking awful. Today I've had enough. This is fucking shit. It's not fair. And it's shit. And it's not fair.

I have a GP apt at 5. A different GP. So I'll have to fill him in on all details. Mainly I will cry. Cos this is shit and not fair and crap.

Prochlwhatsit did not help. Trying domperidone. Next step appears to be a referral to specialist at a different (fairly local) hospital and steroids. Crap day. Going to bed. If I could wake up in a month or so, that would be freaking awesome. Hope everyone else is fairing a little better.

hopalong (as in Cassidy?) Welcome. Sorry I missed your message.
I do think, unfortunately, that Hyperemesis can change the hormonal balance of the body. I had menstrual migaines before, but although I didn't suffer for long by the standards of most people on here, afterwards they were much worse, with violent vomiting that I hadn't had before.I do think you ought to get prescribed meds to combat the nausea.After all, you are not pregnant, and can safely be given a whole range,but probably quite a mild one like Cyclizine (which I believe you can get over the counter) would work! I also think many ex-sufferers have PTSD, which makes sense. It might be worth

ringing 024 7638 2020 and discussing it with them. They will call you back with very good advice. I think a woman who was on this thread also started an ex-sufferers group on Facebook, and I know that there is one with HelpHer (sorry, I don't have the link for that). Sometimes, when we comfort other people, we comfort ourselves; I bottled in my feelings about how dismissively and contemptuously I was treated for years, until I stared these threads. Then the sadness went away, so everyone who has been on them has done me a greater favour than they know. You might wish to drop in and give advice on here; you would be very welcome.
eallison I am so sorry.Everything you say is true. It IS completely unfair. I hope the doctor can suggest something. Twenty-five minute vomting bouts must be horrific. You are probably at your worst, not as if that is much comfort.

Due Dates
Two Drifters 28 November
Questabellatreetops 28 November
rotavixsucks 15 January
Olivecake 23 January
elpreggo27 20 March
Beanhunter 17 April
8DaysAWeek 1st May
tinyradish 1 May
foreverblues 5 May
Plasticgiraffe 10 May
Mamabear13 18 May
20 Maybumblebee 20 May
SashaMonsta 28 May
eallison June

I'm having an awful day. Endless vomiting. Message from GP surgery confirmed bloods are Ok, apart from thyroid which needs re-testing in 2 weeks. I couldn't be bothered asking for a call back from GP to discuss medication options as she'd ring this evening. I'll call tomorrow. Want to double up prochlorperazine and add in cyclizine. Took prochlorperazine and cyclizine at 7pm. Ate half a slice of toast. Now desperately trying not to vomit

Mauisleftnipple Oh dear. Poor you. Might asking for a good anti acid help when she does get in touch?

Thanks Lucinda, I will suggest that too.

I got some ranitidine otc yesterday. It was a godsend. I've gone from just nausea on the ondansetron to now being sick 2-4 times a day on it. I have added the stemtil back in to see if it helps, as the cyclzine wasn't doing much extra and just made me sleepy.

I was off work yesterday and today as holiday. Yesterday I went to the next town over and had a long browse and some food, then home for a bath and a vegout in bed. Today, dh is also off while dd is still going to nursery so once I have tackled the drs we are going to just watch t.v. and do very little. I can't wait!

mauisleftnipple have you tried tinkering with the timings of meds a bit? Just noticed on your post you'd taken meds at 7 and less than half an hour later had eaten and were struggling to keep it down. For me it takes at least 1 to 1.5 hours for the meds to kick in. Just a thought?

Big hug @eallison88 your message summarises the bad times perfectly fine have nothing to add :) be kind to yourself because it is hard. @MauisLeftNipple Sorry you're having a tough day too. Hopefully today is better.

Morning all so I am missing my non pregnant self. The thing I am missing the most is drinking a pint of water in one go!! I AM SO THIRSTY!

"Water water everywhere. Nor any drop to drink!" Hope everyone is fairing better.

mauis I echo what ksjourney has said about drug timings. If you can get at least an hour between meds and food you might find the meds more affective.

I miss my non-pregnant sociable self. I'm normally such an extrovert, love a good chat and being about. I really miss my students. I think I'm finding that really hard as my year 11 students will just know I'm not, no one will have told them (rightly so, of course). I'm just gutted to miss a huge chunk of this academic year when I've got a particularly gorgeous bunch of year 11s. Instead I rarely bother getting dressed and leave the house hardly ever. So unlike me!

Thanks ladies. I have tinkered with med timings over the last week. I am trying to leave an hour before I eat but its been tricky. I'll try harder today! I've got a phone appt with a GP at lunchtime. Not my usual one but hopefully she will be ok with upping meds.

Ksjourney I'm with you on the drinking thing. I used to drink a pint with lunch and dinner. Now I'm drinking out of a tiny glass, and not managing to finish the contents.