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.

@Teddyreddy thanks for the work info that's really helpful. I also work part time, 3.5 days a week. Might try afternoons only at first when I eventually return.

@Reastie I found this too in first pregnancy with the heartburn and much better on one side! I seem to recall the advice was as long as you're on one side it's better than being on your back.

Either side is fine. Advice is just don’t fall asleep on your back.

Hi all, has anyone taken xonvea for HG? I've been taking it nightly for just over a week and it's really helping with the vomitting but one of the side effects is it is making me really sleepy, I think it has antihistamine in it so I guess that's why. I'm due back at work tomorrow and feel so much better than I did that I think I am going to go but I'm worried that I feel better because I've just been resting all week, and that work will bring a resurgence of symptoms!?

I’ve never heard of that 8 weeks but googled and found this for anyone else interested. It sounds like it’s a drug actually licensed in the uk for pg relatively recently. I didn’t realise there was any drug licensed for sickness in pg so this seems a step forward and I imagine will be commonly prescribed in time. Sorry, that doesn’t your question! I’m sorry, I can’t help as I’ve never heard of the drug before but I’ve taken cyclizine which also causes huge drowsiness initially but after a week or so it greatly improved so I hope the same will be the case for you. It could be resting it also helping make it better as I find I’m infinitely worse when I do stuff but it’s hard to know until you do stuff if you are up to it and see what happens. It might be that full return to work is too much but you can manage to do reduced hours.

@reastie I am finding it very effective for vomitting and nausea but I have combined that with a whole week of resting so time will tell tomorrow when I'm working to see if it's up to the job :)

Can you take a higher dose so if doing stuff makes it worse you can try increasing the dose or are you on max?

Hi @reastie, I'm on the minimum does but upping it would mean taking it during the day which I can't do as it makes me go to sleep and I need to function for my other little one :) I think it's a fingers crossed situation!

Yes, that’s a tricky balance. At least it’s helped you so far, which is great!

So yesterday for MD we had a buffet in the evening at home. I couldn't eat much of what my DNan provided but she did try to accommodate me as much as possible. She even bought me some brie, which I know I shouldn't eat unless it's cooked but I really didn't care last night because it was all I wanted with my roast potatoes. I didn't have much, only a little bit, but now the guilt is setting in.

I've also found that I'm really struggling to keep drinking enough. I know I'm dehydrated because I can feel that I am (and my lips are dry which is a huge sign) but I just don't fancy anything to drink at all. It's like my body just doesn't want to drink anything.

8weeks xonvea was very recently licensed specifically for sickness in pregnancy (it's the only drug currently specifically for pregnancy sickness) so I don't know how much experience of it there is around just yet. It's fairly low level, so it may be worth speaking to your GP about combining it with another med (it's very common to use a combo of meds that work on different ways). I don't know how xonvea works, but I would have thought the lovely people at Pregnancy Sickness Support would know, and thus be able to offer advice as to what other meds would be good in combination. I would also suggest that you are almost certainly correct in connecting your week of rest with feeling better. If you can stay off work for longer, I urge you to do so - rest, rest and more rest is key with this horrible sickness and nausea.

deaddoor if you had it with roast potatoes, the brie will have cooked slightly, and cooked it's fine! I've been having baked (goats milk) camembert when I can find it!

reastie your GP should be prescribing ranitidine or omeprazole (or both, if necessary, like me!), you shouldn't have to pay for it!! Go stand your ground and insist!! I do hope your cold passes soon. I think my son has shared his nasty cough with me, so that's an added joy (big old hacking coughs and my if I of pelvic floor really is a a combo made in heaven....!)

Sleeping on your side.... I find it much easier and comfortable to sleep on my right rather than left. I tend to nap on my right. I go to sleep at night oh my left, sleep my longest sleep on my left, then I turn over at every wake up after that. Side over back, left Side is technically better (something about a major blood artery or something), but right is much better than back. I think we have to be a little open in how we interpret and understand advice when we have HG as well - it's all a big balancing act of trying to balance stuff. And if sleeping on left increases heartburn, then naps/short sleeps on the right side seems (to my mind, at least - I'm definitely not offering medical advice!) sensible. Maybe speak to your midwife?

Hello, everyone. Reastie and everyone, I no longer look like a vampire. Yes, took eye drops, and had to stop yesterday as they aren't meant to be taken for over a week.
Welcome to 8weeksExhausted. I vaguely knew there was a new drug licensed for severe sickness, but wasn't sure of the name. Great advice from Reastie about it. On returning to work, have you got a staggared return? It is too easy to underestimate the improvements you get from resitng, as others say. Can you ease yourself back gently? Did you have Hyperemesis with your first pregnancy? If so, as a veteran, you don't need my 'have you got kessostix' and 'full sugar, flat coke, ice loolies and the juice of tinned fruit' suggestions.
Have you got a good anti acid? That can make a huge difference.
Reastie Many swear by Omprazole too. I think that can be bought over the counter. Gaviscon made me feel terribly bloated myself, thoughI believe the tablet form is a little better.
DeadDoorPost Good advice from I think, eallison about that brie being cooked inside! Do you find ice lollies or ice cubes any good?
beanhunter Cheering you on over the finish line"
Waves to eallison ElkieMacjibe and everyone...

Evening all! Another not quite as sick day here. Still a way to go, but I hope this means the second trimester will be better. Spent a good deal of the day flat on the sofa as ds kept me up all night coughing. I discovered at about 4am that the cough disappears when he’s in our bed. Funny that 🙄

@8weeksExhausted good to hear about the new drug. Good luck at work tomorrow, but don’t push yourself. Bring tired / doing too much really sets the HG off I find.

Hope you are feeling better today @Reastie.

@DeadDoorpost I was having massive cravings for Brie last night! We live in the sticks so I had no way of getting any 😞 have popped it on the Tesco order for this week & planning on having it with some pasta, courgette & cherry tomatoes. What’s the bet that it’ll turn my stomach by the time it gets here?!

Glad to her your eye is better @LucindaE.

I’m also a right side sleeper & find I start feeling sick on my left!
Despite losing over a stone since falling pregnant, my trousers have all been getting uncomfortable. So today I dug our some maternity jeans. Hello old friend! Big, comfy waistbands are the best!

@attack I know what you mean, dairy as a whole is almost a no-go for me ad I feel so ill after eating it. I was the same last pregnancy.

@LucindaE ice cubes in a drink are fine but not by themselves. I got my MiL to get me some flavoured waters. Hopefully one of them will at least help. I'm really having to force myself to drink. I hate feeling dehydrated AND sick.

I've worked out this weekend that fish also makes me incredibly sick. Every time I eat some I feel like I'm about to hurl. So that's one less healthy thing I can eat.

I was on the PSS website today and they have a link to a survey the BBC are doing on HG. Has anyone else taken part? I filled it out earlier.

Attack? I meant @cattaxi 😂😂😂

Have been doing very little the past few days due to cold making me worse. Feeling slightly anxious that bms have slowed down a lot past couple of days or so and every time this happens I then have a day of terrible nausea followed by frequent bms. It’s like I know it’s inevitable but I dread it. Heartburn not behaving today either.

Growth scan tomorrow. Hope I don’t feel too bad and can make it.

Dead I meant to say I got an email with a link to that survey a couple of weeks ago and filled it in. Will be interesting to see the results. Can you try ice lollies to get some moisture?

Eal any more bleeding recently?

Cattaxi hope the good days grow and improve for you..

Easter holidays coming up, how’s everyone feeling with having the other dc home from school/nursery? Luckily my fantastic parents are helping out alit with dd in the holidays. They’re even taking dd to have a haircut/dentist/new shoes and the other holiday chores that usually I’d be able to do. I truly don’t know what I’d do without them.

DeadDoorPost Just in case, I'll post the list of helpful drinks in the hope that something appeals. Besides the ice cubes and ice lollies, the juice of tinned fruit, flat full sugar coke, soda water, fizzy water, Elderflower water, tonic water, tonic water and Elderflower cordial (eallison;s tipple) , Robinson's fruit drinks, fizzy orange, orange squash, orange juice (if not too acid) Lucoazade, lemonade, sips of chocolate milkshake (mabye soya), Iron Bru and Dr Pepper. There is also jelly and the liquids from slices of mango and melon.
The survey sounds a good idea.
Reastie Good luck with the growth scan which will almost certainly make you happy if you can make it. Sorry the cold is dragging you down.
Thankscattaxi and everyone on good wishes over eye infection. cattaxi I am so glad you had a not so bad day.

Goodness, silversplodge is nearly there!

Due Dates
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
Nighttimenope 13 July
evuscha 26 July
emma 4 August
CalmerComber 5 August TWINS
Teddyreddy 9 August
advocadoo 11 August
canonlyhope 13 August
Bili 16 August
Hairgician 16 August TWINS!
norbert 26 August
beforei hit30 3 September
stroen 4 September
DeadDoorPost 8 September
1Potato 8 September
MoonKid 1 October TWINS!
Elkiemacjibe 12 October
cattaxi 19 October

Hi everyone,
It's been a while since I posted but have been lurking.
I'm 20+2 now and alas,despite reaching that magic 20 week marker, I'm still suffering with awful nausea 24/7 with occasional vomiting and I just know I'm going to be like this all the way through and I just feel totally miserable and cry all the time.

I know this is an irrational thought because I'm low and exhausted but can any of you ladies who have had this before reassure me that it will definitely go once the baby is born? I've felt like this so long now I feel like I can't remember what it's like to feel well and I get paranoid it will go on forever and I imagine having to look after a newborn whilst feeling so sick.

I have a 5 year old and although I was very sick with him, by this point I was so much better and it had almost gone.

Mog as soon as the placenta was out I felt instantly better. It was amazing. My appetite came back full force.

Ha ha @DeadDoorpost - I’m definitely more grumpy these days, but I promise I won’t attack!
I took the bbc survey a couple of weeks ago.

Hope your cold is better by tonight @Reastie.
We are lucky that ds goes to school in the mornings and my parents & mil do the rest of the childcare on the 4 days I work. They have offered to pitch in and have him over Easter too. And dh will take some time off. It’s a relief to have it all covered, but I do feel a tad neglectful. I really struggle with ds’ general bouncing around and boisterousness. He’s so lively! I just had to be sick in the middle of washing him tonight because he was bouncing around so much!

Oh @Mog6840 you poor thing. I think it’s complely understandable that you feel low. I’m sure you will be much better as soon as the baby arrives. My hg came back at about 36 weeks last time & dissapeared as soon as ds arrived.
Do you have people you can talk to in real life? Hg can be so isolating, make sure you are taking care of your mental & physical health.

A bit more sick here today after a couple of better days. Hopefully everyone else has had a good day.

@DeadDoorpost it may sound silly, but have you tried drinking using a straw? My mum suggested it as something that worked for her, and it certainly helped me. I also found milk (dairy free as I was dairy free at the time) easier to stomach, and eating jelly helped when I got really desperate.

I've convinced DH to take Thursdays off over Easter (they are one of my non working days) as I'm not sure I'd cope otherwise!

mog I have been having exactly the same worry, what if it is actually something else and I'm stuck feeling like this with a newborn. I think irrational anxieties are common in pregnancy though especially when having to deal with this nightmare.

Lucinda I'm sitting bouncing on my birthing ball, drinking raspberry leaf tea, eating pineapple and dates and twiddling my nipples as we speak (!) so really hoping it won't be long now. I've got sweeps booked for Thursday and the weekend then induction next Tuesday if nothing by then. I am so looking forward to this being over. The last few weeks have been a weird mix of being desperately hungry, stuffing my face and then feeling so dreadfully nauseous I can't eat again for the rest of the day so I've actually dropped a couple of kilograms again after having been gaining weight quite well.

Hoping all a restful evening, another day essentially done.

Evening all, been feeling listless and haven’t managed to post as a result but have been reading and I hope everyone is okay.

Perked up a bit on the weekend but did way too much, thankfully I didn’t get dreadfully sick, but it absolutely wiped me out and I’ve been exhausted since, sleeping loads, and more nauseous, feeling very fussy with food and drink etc. I dislike the lethargic feeling where even posting feels like a hassle, as at that point I feel especially useless!

Have my anomaly scan in 2 weeks and feeling a bit impatient for it now as I want to know the sex of the baby so I can start feeling a bit more engaged with doing things, like naming the baby, buying clothes (not that I’ll be dipping a baby of either sex into a vat of blue or pink according to stereotype ), that sort of thing. Told DH today in 20 more weeks we’ll be coming up to the birth, I already feel so ready for this to be over (in a nice way!), I’m looking forward to not feeling ill and just cracking on with lack of sleep instead

Also haven’t heard from hospital yet about my ASAP appointment with the consultant about my autoimmune issues so will probably call them tomorrow if nothing comes through the door. It’s my birthday soon and I never do much anyway but it just dawned on me today like, “Oh, that’s in a few days...”. My mum asked if I wanted anything and I was blank, thinking I just want to be back to normal!

teddy I've tried a straw but not noticed much difference. And milk and dairy in general make me feel incredibly sick. I had the same problem last pregnancy as well and was miserably on this thread adding to my list of aversions. So far it's pretty similar. Sigh.

Managed to drink 500ml of flavoured water today. It's making a difference but still dry mouth and lips, though not as much. May go and get some mango slices but have a feeling I won't be able to stomach them this time round LucindaE as I can't even stand the taste of mango juice or squash. Maybe the mango flesh itself will be different...

I typed out a really long reply to everyone last night, then my husband managed to catch the back button on my phone And I lost it.

I'm back in triage again today, arrived at 7.45am and still here. Another bleed. Bleed is fine, they're not worried. But yet again baby is not ticking the right boxes on the monitor thing so I'm sitting here hooked up to the bloody thing again. I'm so tired, more emotionally than physically, I'm either crying or on the brink of crying at any moment. I'm hungry, but I haven't got my insulin and they wouldn't be able to feed me any way. We were gonna go up to my dad's next week if I didn't have any bleeds or other dramas in the meantime. So probably won't go now (he's q 2 hour drive away, and quite isolated in terms of maternity units). I'm devastated cos we've not been up since Christmas (when we had to leave early and drive home to get the specialist hospital cos I was a puking mess again). We're normally up there every school holiday for a few days, and often a weekend inbetween.

I'm monumentally fed up and frustrated and angry and tired and woe is fucking me.

Hi everyone! I'm 12+6 currently and have struggled with HG since week 5. My diet has been atrocious all I want is ice cream and tortilla chips the rest is unlikely to stay down. My pregnacare has stayed down intermittently too, some days I cant even swallow it. My question was does anyone feel as guilty as I do about not giving their baby the nutrition I can imagine they need during the first trimester when they're doing all their growing?