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.

@birthdaykake your welcome! I feel better after talking on here. So Thankyou everyone too. My partner has been rock so I’m lucky. And I don’t have any other children apart from my dog lol but that doesn’t count

birthday really - go to the doctor and ask for medication

Cyclizine is the usual starter med and it is completely safe (if your husband is persuasive, you can actually get it over the counter but a lot of pharmacists will try to put you off.. Don't go yourself, they won't give it if you look like you might be pregnant). It works by calming your body's reaction to the preg hormone HcG, which can make some people real sick. Joy, allergic to our own body!

Second line are
Domperidone
Prochlorperazine (often v effective)
metoclopramide

Third line
Ondansetron - given your previous history of illness then maybe a good doctor will put you straight on this along with cyclizine.

Really, meds can help a great deal. Do go, and tell him your full history of pregnancies.

birthdaykake welcome and congratulations on your rainbow pregnancy:) I echo the words of others who have encouraged you to see your GP for meds. They really do help, and you definitely don't need to suffer.

Hi bithdaykake, I can’t believe you’ve done it four times before, huge kudos as I thought I could only do it once and this is for second child and took me 7 years to build courage! I absolutely sympathise as at 7 weeks I could’ve written your exact post. I was convinced I couldn’t cope and would have to have a termination. I’m 10 weeks now and intermittently still think in this way but drugs are the only thing that have got me to this point. I can’t swallow tablets so I have to chew them. Can you get local friends or family to help with school run etc?

Seaeagle I thought ondansetron was second line? I thought steroids were the only third line

Eal meant to say is going privately to specialist possible for you if nhs referral for drugs is slow, round here you can see th same consultants as nhs privately quicker and I believe they can then do the recommendations so nhs will prescribe.

Has anyone had any recent issues with ondansetron prescriptions cancelled? Someone on my mn fb group (who may be on here too, I’m not sure as I’m not sur eon their mn name) said they went to hospital for drip yesterday and doctor said ondansetron wasn’t now being given to pg women because of a study result but I can literally find nothing about this online but feeling very and nervous about it .

reastie I've not heard anything about ondansetron being withdrawn, and I really can't see it happening.

I had a 4 hour stretch of sleep last night!

Thank you everyone! We're relatively new around here so it's hard to ask for help, but I have actually started paying a local mum to do the school run, and another mum has offered to clean my gross house on Tuesday. I'm highly embarrassed but she seems nice!

So you lot really think the drugs will help? Actually, when I was first pregnant with the one we lost I made an appointment strsighti, explained my history and asked for pre-emptive meds. The GP was nice but old school and she said that sickness is a good sign and it's best not to take anything in pregnancy...!

Never thought of going private. Going to look into that now!!

Birthday I looked into getting medicatoin privately before I was pg as I was worried gp may not due to cost of the medication making it prohibitive to prescribe for some gps (this is just one medication, there are others they are much happier and easier to presciribe). The private gp said he only would if my gp supported me taking it. When I was going to go private when I was pg it was to an obstetrician (needed a referral from gp though). Be warned some local obs are unable to see patients privately due to insurance reasons for sickness in pg (I was refused by a couple but rang around and found one that could see me and would prescribe if necessary). I did this as I was so desperate as nhs were being so slow and every day was too much for me to cope with. See a gp that’s less old school, look up the nice guidelines for hyperemesis and take them with you as there’s a page in the appendix that gives clear information on drugs and dosages. The guidelines state that all medical routes should be explored before a termination for sickness, if it’s inpacting on your daily life to the extent it is you are entitled to medication. Cyclizine is often prescribed initially and it’s thought of as very safe, I know so many people who have taken it (including me with dd from 5 weeks until the day I gave birth). If a medicine doesn’t work for you they have other options. If your gp refuses it is your right to get a second opinion, you can ask to be referred or see another gp (or both). Take someone with you so they realise how seriously it’s affecting you. These are all the things I can think that have helped me or I e read on here that have helped others.

Ps drugs often aren’t a miracle cure but they can make the difference between coping and not.

birthdaykake No one would expect someone with a broken leg to struggle on without pain relief/the bone setting/a cast/crutches "cos it's only temporary and it will fix itself eventually". The anti-sickness drugs are unlikely yo provide a miracle cure. But they are essential in helping you manage your sickness, and get the necessary food and drink in to sustain both you and the tiny person you are growing. As reastie said, rhe guudelines are clear that every possible avenue is explored before a woman feels the only option left is a termination. I am so sorry you feel so awful, and rrally do encourage you to see your GP as soon as possible. I am glad there are people around who are helping you as well.

Thanks again. DH has Friday off work so I'll try to get an appointment for then. I might have to reiterate that I terminated my pregnancy last year because of how awful I felt.

We've just had a cleaner round to give a quote. The house is so embarrassing but she seemed lovely.

BirthdayKake you might be surprised- I've actually never had an issue getting meds from any GP. Across my 4 pregnancies we've lived in 2 different areas so 2 diff GP surgeries, and both generally supportive. I remember there was one youngish female GP who told me cyclizine was the only thing she could give me. A week later I saw her male colleague whose wife had suffered with sickness, and he was only too happy to prescribe up the treatment ladder.

I am in a similar situation to you in that we are new-ish to the area and I don't have any really good friends to lean on. I am friends with lots of school mums, and they have all offered help, but I've been embarrassed to let them see me in an un-showered state (since I started ondansetron I am now able to shower without getting palpitations, so am washing daily!). My house is a bit untidy. Hubby has been doing to great job trying to keep on top of things. We normally use cloth nappies but I've been using disposables on washing day to lighten the domestic load.

We decided to pay our cleaner to do an extra mini clean in the week. So on a Monday she comes and sorts the kitchen (including mountain of washing up!) And toilets. Then normal full clean on a Thursday. A bit of a stretch financially but something had to give, and this has made a real difference.

Eallison I don't blame you. It's depressing not having the house nice. Thank GOD we've got a dishwasher now. Didn't have one in any other pregnancy so it's amazing. Saves DH a lot of time.

Oh my god, the palpitations in the shower! I'd forgotten about those. I can't really brush my teeth now but I don't even care tbh... Last time I was so worried but the dentist said they were fine. Phew!

I think I hit 8 weeks soon and I'm really nervous about it getting so much worse. Also it sounds weird but if it does get worse, it'll kind of take away the surprise of the baby's sex. I'm fully expecting it to be a girl if the sickness is bad. The only time I coped better with morning sickness was when I was pregnant with a boy, but then he was my first child so maybe it seemed easier because I didn't have anyone else to care about!

Kake a lot of friends found sickness a lot worse in subsequent pgs because of having other children to look after, so less sickness won’t nexessarily mean a boy

My sickness has got worse with each pregnancy. Most ppl I know were worse with the second compared to the first, and a lot of them have kids of the same gender.

BirthdayKakeSorry, we cross posted before. Welcome. I remember the name. Sorry you had to have a termination. You've had great advice about the need for effective meds already. I can only echo that and say an anti acid can make a big difference. I Also, did you get kesostix to check for dehydration in your other Hperemesis pregnancies, as hospitals to take those measurements seriously even if we now that they don't really measure dehydration effectively. As you are a veteran you don't need my ice lollies, flat full sugar coke and the juice of tinned fruit spiel.
Allie Most people find they get a fair bit of relief at some point between 14 and 21 weeks. Even those who suffer throughout almost never suffer as badly as in the first dreadful bit. With normal pregnancy sickness, in fact, people often suffer up to 16 weeks, despite all the talk of 12 weeks.
Reastie I never heard of this survey. Is it brand new? I'll look online.
Great advice from everybody.

Thanks guys. Yeh I suppose boy or girl baby, it's still going to be really difficult having four children and sickness.

I now seem to have come out with awful cystic spots which I NEVER get in pregnancy so I'm gutted about that too.

Thanks for remembering me, Lucinda.

One thing I'm finding hard is being so damn bored. All I'm doing is sitting on the sofa or laying in bed. Anyone got any ideas of how to pass the time? Not that I'm up to much :(

Kake I listen to the radio a lot of audio books. I do knitting when I can too.

Lucinda from what I understand it was a recent study but I can’t find anything online which seems really weird, you’d think there’d be something somewhere in it and I can find nothing.

Reastie The most recent online news about findings of surveys and Ondansetron seem to be reassuring, so I am puzzled by the sufferer's news.

I've taught myself to crochet! YouTube videos and picture tutorials... I now have a 3/4 finished blanket for my son. I'll be making a smaller matching one for baby. And im gonna make a couple of scarves as Christmas presents. It's not very complicated, there are some really simple blankets you can crochet. Very repetitive and I find it soothing and calming. And really easy to literally just put down if you need a puke run!

birthday the meds really do help, once you find the ones for you. Different people respond to different things, maybe because most of them work in different ways, except promethazine (which I forgot off the list) That's a stronger version of cyclizine.

reastie I haven't checked for a while but certainly ondanstron was seen as the strongest med pre-steroids. Assuming they're all of equal safety (mutters about metoclopramide not being that good for the mum) then doctors used to go up the scale to ondansetron via the other ones. Perhaps that's changed now and ondan. + cyclizine are more commonly prescribed.

Despite the NICE guidelines, doctors don't seem to have heard about consistent standards of treatment when it comes to HG :/

I'm wondering if that study you're talking about was a rumour that came from the Danish study?

There was a huge study in Denmark published Feb 2013 I think of all pregnant women. Of the total preg. female population during the study, about 8-9k had taken ondansetron. There was a little bit of uncertainty about slightly elevated risks of adverse effects up to 12 weeks, but the overall risks are considered very small - especially in the context that there are risks in not managing to take enough liquids or enough soluble vitamins. It seems that any other nutrition isn't really a problem, but you do need enough of the vitamins that only last a few days in your system.

BirthdayKake Audo books, radio, netflix (if you can face a screen)?

I really hope there is a period of relief from the sickness/ nausea. Well I’ve rang work and I’m not off for another 4 weeks. So now I can focus on having a stress free and relaxing Christmas. In bed probably lol I wish people understood what it was like so thy didn’t judge xx

Sorry to all those suffering so badly still - really feel for you all.

I seemed to turn a corner at 18 weeks & feel so much better! Even normal sometimes? :o Still taking 3x cyclizine daily but dropped the others a while ago - the Dr wants me to try 2x a day now. Also been back at work for a while after 2 months off so it's going well here... I hope some others get relief very soon.