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.
It has been suggested that I add some practical tooth cleaning advice: a lot of sufferers find using a child's small toothbrush and strawberry toothpaste far less nauseating.
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.

Re: work - I’m 15 weeks now and I’m going to work most days. Not my contracted 8 hours but about 6/7. I don’t work Fri/Sat/Sun and am basically good for nothing on those days because I’m so exhausted. I also go to bed at 9pm every night. So I wouldn’t say I’m coping well but I am attending work.

Calmer do you feel okay whilst at work?

I’ve been especially exhausted this week, no idea why other than ‘hormones’. I woke up at 11:30am today, at midday I went to the living room, had some food, by 3pm I couldn’t do it anymore and went to bed. Felt really warm so opened the window and woke up at 7:30pm. DH came in after I woke up and declared it freezing! I’ve now made my way back to the living room and have sent DH to the shop around the corner with a list of cravings he asked me to consider my options if they don’t have everything, I’m really struggling to picture eating anything else (it’s ridiculous ).

This has pretty much been my pattern this week - very long lie in, and then 3-4 hours sleep in the late afternoon/evening. And I do nothing.

Hi everyone, I'm 6 weeks into my second pregnancy and hyperemesis is back. This is a twin pregnancy, and my first was also a twin pregnancy. Won't go in to all the details as I know you're all very familiar with this horrible illness, but last time ended up on Ondansetron which helped.
This time I've been prescribed Cyclizine (only 2 days ago) and it's helping keep the vomiting at bay, although nausea is relentless. However I feel so drowsy, and have had diorrhea after eating anything since starting Cyclizine. Has this happened to anyone else?
I'm massively nervous as I'm only week 6 ad my HG peaked last time around weeks 9 - 16, so I fear things will get worse.

Hi moonkid and congratulations (albeit sicky!). I had both the drowsiness and stomach issues, both of which have gone down. The drowsiness took about a week to pass, prior to that cyclizine knocked me out it seemed, and the stomach stuff took about two weeks to pass.

I’m still super tired but not in the same way (not remotely) so think this might just be sick pregnancy tiredness!

Wishing you the best for rest of first tri, you’re in the right place for understanding and moral support

Thanks @beforeihit30 that's reassuring in a way to know that the side effects of Cyclizine might settle down. In a way I wouldn't mind so much re the sleepiness but I've got two toddlers to care for and already feel like I'm failing them.
I'm glad I have found a group to get support from, HG is such an isolating illness and I don't know anyone else irl who has had it.

Little wet his bed at 3.30am then spent nearly 2 hours refusing to go back to sleep "cos it's the morning now, mummy". So I'm knackered. Went for a little stroll yesterday as well, so was already on the very tired end of the spectrum. ah well. Trialing dropping steroid dose again this week. Last time I dropped from 45 to 40 and took 40mg every day. This time in trying alternate days of 35/40mg, with today being first 35mg day. Wish me luck!! If it doesnt work, dont worry, will go straight back to 40mg a day. Also, did I mention I now have the requisite number of high blood sugar readings to tick the diabetes box? It's gonna be great fun managing that as well as the hyperemesis for the next 4 months... I'm Hoping that if 8 can successfully drop the steroids a bit then that will help lower my blood sugar levels as well. I feel like the chances of me having an uninterferred with and active labour and water birth are slipping further and further away....

Hi moon. I also felt very sleepy on cyclizine initially but agree it got a lot better after a few days (I was still exhausted but that was probably pg exhaustion). Didn’t have those bowel issues but early pg can cause constipation or diarrhoea so coukd be coincidence. Hope it’ll settle down soon and congrats on twins. Two sets of twins, wow!

Beforeihit I hear you with the exhaustion, it’s crazy isn’t it! I have to have an afternoon nap every day and I’m in bed almost straight after dinner! I feel exhausted already and I’ve only just got up!

Still constipated, grr. Just when I thought I had movicol sussed. Not sure if this is just the pattern of how it’ll be (ie 4-5 days of constant BMs followed by days of constipation) or if I shoukd increase movicol. Might go up to 2 sachets and see what happens.

Xposted eal good luck with reducing the dose and sorry about the diabetes. It was a side effect of the steroids though wasn’t it? At least you’ll be prepared you might not get the labour you’d like so have time to get your head around how it’s likely to be.

moon agreed with everyone, the drowsiness might well pass and it -is- a good med. If it's not gone in a few more days then it's probably not for you but there are others as well.

ealli best of luck with the trial reduction!

Just marking my place on the new thread.

Everything looked all good for me after being given a ton of meds.

Only I had to cancel my trip to Italy because I was sick again. And I'm still not feeling the best. BabyDoor has also been sick a few times since the hospital trip.

And I'm apparently a week and a tiny bit behind what I thought. Had a scan on Thursday which gave me a due date of Sept 8th but I have my 12 week scan on the 20th so that could change.

waves miserably to everyone.

Dead that’s rubbish the scan has pushed things back, I remember dreading that happening to me. It might change later though so cross fingers. Time goes slowly enough as it is let alone when you have to repeat days.

@DeadDoorpost I'm in the same boat I'm losing loads of money because I was meant to be jumping on a plane to Berlin tomorrow but dh didn't want us to go because of how ill I've been 😭😭

Oh dead and avacadoo that's a real shame. HG is a wretched curse :(

reastie I wouldnt think another sachet of Movicol would be aproblem at all and if helps, why not.
before I hope you managed to get some good rest in this weekend.
moonkid and cattaxi I hope the sickness hasn't got any worse today.
norbert did you manage to escape the bug or has it come to settle as a really unwelcome guest?
how are things with your little one notquiteagandt?

Wishing everyone a quiet night, nighttime and sasseh and canonlyhope and eali. Sorry to anyone I've missed.

Just popping into say night, thought I'd had a fairly decent day despite the horrible cold we've all caught but nope, terrible diarrhoea and a big puke to round off the day.
Sorry that your trips have been ruined @avacadooo and @DeadDoorpost that must be really annoying. Plus the scan date is enough to make you 😭 when you thought you could tick off one more week.
In other news, my lovely but stalkerish old cat has the worst cat food breath in the world, which I can smell from about 5m away - not that I need to have a super human sense of smell because he's always about 3cm away cleaning his bum. Noisily.

Thanks @SeaEagleFeather xxx

Thanks @seaeagelfeather.
Today’s hasn’t been too bad. Bouts of nausea and a couple of actual being sick. But I did manage to go out for my mum’s birthday lunch without disaster. I think that getting an early night last night helped.

I’m 4 weeks tomorrow, so still very early days. It’s funny, as much as I hate the nausea - I worry when it’s not there.

Sorry to those that have had to cancel trips. That happens to us when I was expecting our 1st. We never got that “one last tropical holiday”!

Hope everyone has had as good a Sunday as possible. I’m not quite catching up with names etc yet. But I have a feeling I’ll be here a lot more in coming weeks if it’s like it was last time.

Hiya mums need help! late period by almost 10days now. None of the obvious preg symptoms. Some lower back ache like I usually would with my period. This never normally happens to me. Just looking some advice? Took a test on the 7th day and got a neg result I hadn't realised that your not to take a test with alcohol consumption so that was silly of me😂 recommend to take another test if my period hasn't arrived in 3 days to retake. What do yous guys think?

Morning from hospital. Clutching my NHS cup of tea.

Had such an ordeal this weekend. Ate some pitta, salad and houmous on Sat night when DH wanted a takeaway kebab. Went to bed but at midnight woke up with awful sickness and diarrhoea and continues being sick all day. MAU said I should go to hosp but because I’m only 15+3 I’m still a gynaecology patient not a maternity patient so I should go through A&E. Arrived at hospital at 9am and sat in A&E crying and puking until the ward finally had a bed at 4. Had a cannula fitted in a storage room and was on a drip in the waiting room. Normally on the ward there’s an area for HG day cases where sufferers can go and sit in a recliner on a drip until rehydrated but beds are in such short supply that they’ve taken away this facility and put flu patients there!

By the time I got to the ward my ketones has gone off the scale bad because of the waiting in A&E so I stayed overnight. I feel brighter now but eugh...I cannot recommend a gastro bug on top of HG. (Except I can safely say that I no longer have an Ondansetron blockage)

Hi. Longtime lurker of the old thread aswell as this one and just want some advice.
I was diagnosed with HG after going into hospital about a month ago and have been on odansetron 4mg 1 a day as it seems to have kerbed things. I am now 18 weeks pregnant and slowly starting to worry that something will be wrong with baby at the 20 week scan. Am I being silly? my cousin had these all through her pregnancy and her baby is fine. I've just got the MIL saying ' you need to stop taking those' and now I'm starting to worry! X

Delilah that’s a really small dose, I was exactly the same but all looked fine on the scan. I’ve been taking 24mg every day since about week 6/7. Ignore mil, she will just be worrying and won’t know the drug facts. I read something like 20% of pg women in America take ondansetron now. Nothing is classed as 100% guaranteed safe but that goes for most things in pg. try not to worry.

Calmer poor you, sounds horrible waiting for a bed. I hate how overstretched everything is in the NHS.

Len I’m not sure, sorry, maybe redo test in a couple of days.

Rubbish evening yesterday, I’m putting it down to maybe fighting off dds bug (still) and not really managing a nap in the day as kept getting disturbed by dd or dh. I’m sure I wasn’t feeling so constantly rubbish at this point last time but maybe I was. Urgh. All I remember clearly is that my last month of pg was my best because the physical aches and pains were nothing in comparison to the nausea which was starting to taper off the closer I got to due date.

Oh Calmer you poor thing, sounds horrible it’s such a shame you had to wait so long in A&E, I hope you’re feeling better now with fluids and hope it has all calmed down

The A&E thing seems silly to me when you’re already known as having HG regardless of where you are in pregnancy, but this seems to be the way sometimes - DH has a chronic illness and if he has a bad relapse he has to present at A&E at the hospital he gets treatment from (i.e. not our local hospital). I think it’s technically the quickest (only?) way to process people with known illnesses given it is an emergency but sitting for hours in a waiting room isn’t ideal when you’re so sick.

Think I spent most of my weekend asleep feels like a novelty to be awake in the morning...

oh god norbert Just what you need at the end of the day ... hope today is better!
cataxi, always welcome. Thread's here anytime you need it ... fingers crossed you won't.
Hi LEN. Another test in a few days sounds like a good idea, good luck! You might get a bit more general help if you post on the general Pregnancy board www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pregnancy You can start a new thread just under the blue headings line.

Comber that sounds horrendous - that waiting when you're that ill. Good that at least they did admit you and rehydrate you, don't go home til you're ready.
delilah your MIL is mistaken. Ondansetron is safe. It's a powerful drug but tens of thousands of women use it. Dehydration can be more dangerous to the baby and you than anything.

The Thalidomide situation blighted the use of even safe medications for decades now, but it would never have passed the safety tests that are in place now and in say NO Meds in pregnancy, they threw away the gold as well as the dross. It's understandable but for quite some time now there have been meds which significantly help the health of the mum and are considered safe for the baby.
Everyone wants to cut down on the meds but do it at YOUR pace. if you want to try, cut out one tablet every other day. But actually 4mg once a day is a very low dose anyway.
Good luck with teh scan!
Reastie shame about the bad evening. So many bugs at the moment, and a bug on top of HG is just the absolute pits

Hoping everyone has a quiet day

@Reastie that's what I thought I'm on the smallest dose I could be and it works so I'm really lucky! Thank you. Hope your journey is getting better! X

@SeaEagleFeather thank you! That's what I was going to do at some point! however if they're helping mummy eat and drink baby will be growing so! X

@Delilah7 I unfortunately have a mil who told me taking medication is hurting the baby and it's bullshit.
The girls on this thread and my gp have reassured me that the medication won't harm my baby and being dehydrated is a 100 times worse. Also my midwife sister says they wouldn't give out stuff if it wasn't for the best.
Ignore her or put her straight, I did and she's slightly backed off my case just keeps putting in her opinions on what I can and can't eat now.

@avacadooo it's just annoying. She's like subtly saying ' when do you think you will come off them ' and worrying about me still being on them till after 20 weeks. It's just doing my head in, they're he only thing that make me feel normal. She's very anti drugs anyways ( which is funny as my OH used to be a rebel when he was younger 😂😂) x