Any counsellors with morning sickness?

[MsGreenwood]

I'm very early pregnancy (4 weeks) with my first baby so don't quite know what to expect. I'm feeling a bit worried about morning sickness, as I am a counsellor - so I can't really dial it in or pop to the loo all the time! Are there any other counsellors (or people in similar work) out there who have dealt with this? (Obviously I might be one of the lucky ones this doesn't happen to, but I know the chances are higher that I will!)

Similar line of work. I’ve been lucky that I’m not being sick, but I have been feeling very nauseous and getting a lot of migraines. Unfortunately I have had to cancel some clients - I don’t like to do so but I wouldn’t be much use and after a mc last year I’m trying to take good care of myself.
I had a discussion with my supervisor a couple of weeks ago as I was conscious of feeling anxious about it, maybe a chat with your supervisor or manager would be a good idea in a few weeks if it’s an issue for you?

Hi, I'm not a counsellor but my job involves one-to-one sessions where I'm paid by the hour and am very "on". I had to take 2 weeks off (unpaid) because my nausea was so bad despite taking medication. That was weeks 7&8, I think. Before that I'd have to cancel the odd client last minute which I hated.

It was horrible having to take time off when so many manage to struggle through but not all jobs are the same and if I could have hidden behind a computer and sloped off to the bathroom every now and again I might have been able to push through. But in our jobs we can't just sit there retching or run off to the loo for 10 minutes in the middle of a session while someone is sitting there waiting for us!

I'm now at 12+1 and still suffering but not so much that I can't make it into work, although occasionally nearly throwing up makes me a little late for my first appointment of the day.

Congratulations btw!

My work is similar in that i can’t just pop out while meeting with the families I work with. I found that I could manage an hours meeting as long as I ate something in between to keep something in my stomach; rich tea biscuit was perfect and can be eaten quickly and hidden in a bag or drawer. My sickness was worst first thing when I very first woke up then the rest of the day could be managed with food

I'm a psychologist, currently 17 weeks pregnant, and had nausea for about 10 weeks. I lucked out that a few weeks fell over the Christmas period so I was on leave which helped! If possible, I'd recommend taking a little bit of leave (even if it's just a day here and there) if you do feel sick just to help you get through!

The key thing that was helpful for working days was working out in advance how to manage the nausea as best I could. For me this meant getting up an hour early each day to nibble on corn cakes, and then grazing on plain snacks throughout the day. I always ate something light before a session and then again when I got out. Plus constantly sipping on cold water. Although it wasn't ideal, I did find this made it manageable, and once I was in the room with someone it was possible to focus for that hour and push through the nausea. Oh, and not booking people too close together- giving yourself time in between to get back on top of the sickness if it has started building again.
Of course, this only works if you have manageable nausea- I was only ever sick twice and both times before work so that was never an issue. But if you get the same (feeling sick but not necessarily having to run to the bathroom every five minutes), then pre-planning some strategies that work for you might help x

Thanks so much everyone. Very reassuring to hear that people do get through! The gods of irony have delivered me a client starting this week who has a phobia of vomit (!!) so I might see about getting them moved to another therapist...

I was very anxious about sickness during early pregnancy too. I was scared about losing my job.

Luckily I wasn't sick the whole pregnancy, up until Labour! So try not to worry yourself unnecessarily.

Thanks @SuziQ10 - fingers crossed I'm one of the lucky ones too!

Again, similar role but not counselling.

Firstly, I took cyclizine which saved me a lot of vomit!

But I was always better when working. In fact I was never sick at work (felt horrendous though!). At home, i was vomiting up to 5x a day.

I'm not sure why this was- distraction possibly?

Yeah I have been wondering/hoping that the distraction might help; I do find that when I'm with clients my own stuff tends to fade away a bit so fingers crossed! Thanks for the meds suggestion too, good to know what to ask for if I need something!

I'm a teacher. I didn't have morning sickness thank goodness but I had a colleague who had it badly and she used to have to keep a bin under her desk for in between lessons. It was pretty grim. Some people find certain foods/drinks help so might be worth experimenting with them at the weekends to see if anything settles you. You have my sympathies. I do keep needing to dash out of class for a pee though. Luckily they're old enough and nice enough to not riot in my 30s absence.

@MsGreenwood join the hypermesis support thread on here. The advice is invaluable. Also google pregnancy sickness support.

There really is no need to suffer in silence! I didn't take anything with my first, in fear of causing harm. This time round I've been much more informed (and medicated!). Still sick and nauseous but a lot better managed.