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.

@Reastie I'm glad you go up to three times a day. It helps knowing you can increase. Stops the anxiety a little!
Aww 12 weeks exciting. Have you had your scan?

Scan is on Saturday but I’m scared about getting there. I haven’t left home in about 3 or 4 weeks and the longer it gets the more of a thing it becomes but I don’t feel up to managing anything. Last time I went out it took me three days to recover so I’m scared of the same again.

Dotty ondansetron was a game changer for me. It does make you MEGA constipated though- I hope your GP advised you of this? If not, ring up for a prescription for a laxative TOMORROW. Don't leave it til you're actually bunged up. I am now taking Laxido (movicol) twice a day and managing soft stools. Last week I was in constipation nightmare. It does make me nauseous but only for a couple of hours.

dotty as has been said, ondansetron works wonders for many hyperemesis sufferers. It also causes chronic constipation, so get some lactulose immediately to try and stop it building up.

I can concur with the ondansetron and cyclizine together. Needed both last time around. First baby i was grand on cyclizine. Hoping this time is better. Yes to lactulose cos you will def need it if you are ondansetron.
Im hoping and praying i can get christmas over me before sickness kicks in.

Reastie I see your point. I don't know anyone who has been made initially worse, but unfortunately that is not to say that it isn't someone's experience.
Dottie I hope you might find this list of drinks and foods (of a sort) useful. Sips of the juice of tinned fruit esp. peaches, ice lollies, flat full sugar coke, ice cubes, Lucoazade, Iron Bru, Dr Pepper, Elderflower water, Elderflower cordial and tonic water, Robinson's fruit drinks, sips of chocolate milkshake (maybe soya), fizzy orange, orange squash, orange juice (if not too acid) and lemonade. Cheap ice cream, nibbles of crisps and chips, baked potatoes, cuppa soup, Scotch pancakes, tinned fruit (esp. peaches) and slices of melon and mango. Some swear by biscuits. I am sure as you had the misfortune to be in and out of hospital for months last time, that you remember how they did take ketones in urine seriously,and no doubt you had some kesostix to hand from any chemists. Of course, it is often pointed out how more reliable signs of dehydration are a dry mouth, dark scanty urine, a headache, blurry vision and dry skin.
Waves to all...

SpringerLink Sorry - I missed your first post, and couldn't work out if were someone new or a regular with a different user name. Thank you so much for coming on to encourage current sufferers. For all but a handful olf people, as you say, the symptoms vanish within hours of birth. For an unlucky handful - maybe six out of thousands - and I was one and I recall SeaEagleFeather another - they are tied up with breast feeding hormones, but vanish when you stop breast feeding.
Sorry, Dottie I am being dopey tonight. Did you say you had got Ondansetron?

beanhunter ive been feeling worse the last week and am about the same as you (23-24 weeks) so not sure if it's another surge of hormones? It could also be going back to work although I am doing so little it seems a bit pathetic. Apparently I look fine so people at work are even less understanding than they were before I went back.
Hoping it's just a surge of hormones or something for both our sakes as then it might ease again soon!

I totally get what you @MauisLeftNipple it just feels like you jinx it if you talk about life with baby. I did get to cuddle a 4 month old on Sunday. Tried to get him off to sleep and he tried to latch on (to my top mind). I flashed back to DD at that age and couldn't wait to have my next little one here. It was a lovely feeling but I am trying to remain very much grounded.

@Reastie Plan a day bag for leaving the house. Things you know you can eat and drink. Loads of what ever helps you (sweets or fizzy drinks worked for me). Make sure you eat your meals at the right times and what your body usually wants. Sit down as much as you can only walk in short bursts (even if it's on the floor). Take a sick bag. You can do this!! Seeing your little one will be so worth it too.

Oh @silversplodge Be nice to yourself! you know how you feel and what you are up for doing. Pushing yourself too early causes a relapse. I learnt this the hard way with DD and this pregnancy everyone can do one. Even if people assume I am back to my normal chatty self and can pick life up where I left off that is their problem for making assumptions not mine. I can not wait to rejoin the world but if I do so too fast now I will mess up Christmas dinner and I'm putting that at risk for no one 😂

Thank you KS. Good advice. I struggle with food as most of the foods I can eat I can only eat them warm or I can’t manage them so not sure yet how that.l work with going out...Tbh I’m as scared of feeling worse from the exertion after the scan as managing to get to the scan itself. It’s when I overdo it (which doesn’t take much!) that I feel my absolute worst. The scan place is just over half an hours drive and I need to drive or being a passenger makes me feel more nauseous. Luckily there’s loads of easy parking right next to the scan building and we are second apt for the morning so it shouldn’t be running too late or be too busy. There are comfy sofas in the waiting room but the lighting is very bright and any sensory stimulation makes my symptoms worse.

Today I looked after dd on my own for an hour. I know this sounds pathetic but just the anxiety of looking after her on my own makes me worse. So that’s something even if I did miss her seeing Father Christmas :(

Hi everyone,

Took me an hour to eat a small pastry this morning!! But I finished it. Appetite gone completely.

I had spent so much time worrying about being sick I forgot about the issues with other end lol. I will go back for some laxatives! Gp didn't mention anything st the time.

@Reastie I didn't make my 12 week scan last time so my first scan was at 16weeks so I know exactly how you feel. I'm lucky my daughter is in school so only Need to worry about evenings and school holidays, just praying I'm not sick Xmas day! No idea how I would cope without school!

@LucindaE Thank you for that wonderful list of drinks. Be nice if I had my own bag of fluids to keep at home lol.

Hope everyone suffering today finds some sort of relief even if it's just an hour! Xx

Dottie356 Ah yes, do get a laxative from the GP- don't delay. Some brave souls can face using Fibregel - is it called Fibregel or am I hallucinating?! - that awful drink, anyway - but it is rather sickening.
I do hope the list of drinks helps. I remember from a US thread, I believe under Medicare they someitmes provide home rehydrating apparatus. I assume that isn't economically viable under the NHS, or some such thing.
Silversplodge I hope you are right about a hormonal surge for you and beanhunter. Looking fine must be annoying, though perhaps it is better than people saying 'you look dreadful'. Very sensible not to force yourself to do too much. I think anyone who goes into work with this deserves a medal.
KSjourney Very good advice. How sweet about that baby! .
Waves to all. I hope everyone is coping today.

We've a consultant obstetrician appointment in January so have been thinking about the birth. I was wondering what people's experiences of management of HG during labour has been? Has there been a need for changes to be made/use of IV/anything else relevant? Is it a reason for an ecs? I'd love a waterbirth, we have started hypnobirthing & found it really useful so far. I'm still taking all the meds for HG/reflux/constipation & continue to have days where I feel rotten. I've been having reflexology, think it has helped with hip pain. Had GTT earlier this week (haven't heard anything from them with results so hoping that's good news).

Priscilla probably not much help as my last month of pg was actually my best throughout from sickness pov. I still took meds and felt sick still but it wasn’t as servere as I felt through the rest of pg. if it helps I had a failed induction. Throughout the induction process I just kept taking my cyclizine as usual (it never got going) an eventually got an emergency csection. Once I was on nill by mouth preparing for the csection the mw at the hospital gave me an injection of cyclizine when I couldn't take it by mouth.

I got my mh nurse apt through for January. I panicked for a while as the surname of the nurse is the same as a student I teach (and quite a rare/unusual surname) but did some googling and luckily not the same person. I would feel mortified telling someone all my mh issues over pg and then next year see her every parent consultation evening!

Dotty I hope you get to have a good Christmas.

12 week scan tomorrow, I hope I’m ok to go and I hope it doesn’t mean I have a huge relapse from going.

priscilla my hyperemesis affected my labour in my first pregnancy. I needed ondansetron throughout my pregnancy, tho was down to 2 x 4mg daily by the end (son born 41 weeks). A couple of hours into labour, as my contractions got more regular, I had about 2 hours of puking/heaving with every contraction. I was having a home birth. This puking settled but I was unable to eat or drink anything. Cos I was in labour hubby and I and completely forgotten about the ondansetron. About 8 hours in the midwife offered me a cyclizine pill for the nausea, which reminded us about ondansetron, so I took 8mg of ondansetron. Unfortunately , I was still unable to eat/drink. So 14 hours in m6 labour was slowing cos so dehydrated so had to be transferred by ambulance to hospital. Once I had a drip labour picked up again, but by this point I was exhausted so ended up giving birth lying on my back, something I'd wanted to avoid, but I had no energy for anything else. Baby was born 4 hours arriving in hospital.

This time we are planning to go have a hospital birth. Still a long way off at the moment, but I'm hoping they can do a cannula early on in labour, then if I need fluids it's an easy plug in (as it were!). Things are further complicated with me as I'm on steroids and if still on at labour then I've been told I'll need IV steroids in labour. I haven't researched this or asked why yet, but intend to.

Eal you reminded me, a friend of mine planned for a home birth and in advance arranged that either she have a cyclizine injection with her ready for the mw at the birth to administer or the mw was told to bring one with her to the home birth (I forget which). That might be a possibility to pursue.

Priscilla Sorry you are still suffering in the last month. Goods tip from eallison and Reastie. eallison That sounds like a very horrible experience. I hope you have a good one this tme!

New Due Dates list by way of something to look forward to. eallison It's not fair, it's about time someone replaced you at the end of the list!

Due Dates
EveJackXXX 21 December
rotavixsucks 15 January
Olivecake 23 January
elpreggo27 20 March
silversplodge 4 April
Anya 13 Apriil
Beanhunter 17 April
8DaysAWeek 1st May
tinyradish 1 May
foreverblues 5 May
Plasticgiraffe 10 May
Mamabear13 18 May
bumblebee 20 May
SashaMonsta 31 May
eallison June

Assuming I get to my scan I’ll probably be the new person on the end of the list as I think eal is slightly ahead of me and I’ll probably get out back more than I think I am (Sod’s law, having to repeat the slowest days of my life all over again)

Try not to worry too much about due dates, reastie. I'm ignoring weeks pretty much, having focused on every single day last time. I'm finding it easier to cope as I don't have in my head an exact number of (many, many) days stretching out ahead of me. That's why I'm just June. I have an EDD, but we're just not telling people!

Hope everyone's been ok today.

Hi all, just checking in on the new thread.

34 weeks now, nausea has really ramped up this week but not been vomiting so that’s something.

Hope everyone else is doing ok today.

Spent the day fighting to get more of the high calorie juice drinks. Hospital agree I need but can’t supply, GP only wants to supply milk ones (clearly a bad bad plan). Eventually managed to persuade a dietician at work to give me a few until gp decides what to do. And even then they said he would give 2 weeks supply as them I would be better. Pointed out we were 22 weeks and counting and he told me I needed to have a more positive attitude....

That's appalling beanhunter! Hope you get your fortijuice.

Cos it never rains but pours... thrush. How can I treat it? Same as if not pregnant? I do so love being pregnant...

beanhunter that is a frankly ridiculous situation to be in. So bloody frustrating. Similarly, I was advised by my GP that though I would almost certainly benefit from such shakes, cos i was able yo eat and drink the trust policy means who couldn't prescribe them. Cosmic you can keep the shakes down then you can keep food and drink down so you don't need the shakes...

Eal around this time last time I started getting recurrent thrush. I’m waiting for it to start again this time. I seem to remember the gp prescribing me caneston pessary but check this out before treating as it was a while ago. I seem to remember I was advised to use my finger to insert rather than the applicator although not sure why. Hope it clears up quickly.

Made it to the scan and all ok, hurrah! Have been dozing on the sofa this afternoon so far and hoping and crossing fingers and toes it’ll cancel out any exhaustion after effects of going out. Baby was in a weird position so sonographer asked if she could do an internal scan as the angle would give a better view. She asked me if I could go to the loo before the internal scan to get the bladder empty to show it better and I replied ‘oh, that’s ok, I don’t really need the loo’ and she then said ‘you do, I can see from the scan’ —I wonder if she could see my constipation too— . Next medical apt is mw early January and I’m hoping to have improved enough to be managing trips out by then. I feel like this Christmas is completely bypassing me this year.