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.
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.
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.

Both DM and DH have suggested seeing how I am tonight before heading into hospital. Which is fine by me as I don't fancy waiting in a&e for 8 hours like I did last time. It should also give my body time to accept the tablets. Maybe.

DH is doing the bedtime routine with DS tonight thankfully but may need to tell him I'm not doing anything tomorrow. Not felt this bad in a long time. He doesn't know what to do Bless him. He hates seeing me like this.

@DeadDoorpost at my worst I needed ondensatron, metaclopramide and cyclizine so there are more options they should try with you and hopefully something will work.

@eallison88 very glad you are home, it must be such a relief after so long in hospital.

I'm feeling exhausted and like I'm wading though treacle both mentally and physically all the time. I suspect it's anaemia (28 week midwife appointment next week where they will check) but taking iron makes me feel really sick - even one Spatone a day - so I'm really not sure what to do. Has anyone else had this? I'm 27 week, tired and fed up and based on previous pregnancies have another 15 weeks to go - do things get better in the 3rd trimester as all......

Huge congratulations to @eallison88 I hope you enjoy being back home at last xx

I'm sorry that there are so many new people on the thread, it's unbearably hard especially in those peak weeks but try to rest and avoid anything that's not 100 % necessary! Everyone on here kept me sane and held my hand through all the worst parts xx

@Teddyreddy I'm 24 weeks and completely exhausted, generally I feel so weak and weirdly worn out which I just cope with by very early bedtimes! I had a growth scan yesterday to double check measurements were normal and asked for a blood test while I was there. I have multi vitamins but I feel so sick when I take them that I've avoided them which I know isn't good. Could you get a blood test sooner?

On the up side I haven't been sick for 2 1/2 weeks now and my scan showed normal growth etc so no more worrying about HC, he's only around the 25th centile for most things and the 8th for HC but officially all normal range. Phew.

Dead how are you feeling today?

Teddy my iron had dropped a bit from booking to 28 weeks testing but still luckily was within the acceptable range. Mw said to me they expect a drop over time through pg so if you were borderline before you coukd we’ll be low. Fwiw my stomach is very sensitive to iron and I can’t take iron supplements. I take floradix liquid and when I first start taking it I take a very small dose (say about half a tsp twice a day) and take it with food rather than the recommended half hour before food as its gentler on my stomach. I then gradually build up every day the amount I take and have never had any side effects that way. Whence started taki;g it suddenly at normal dose it upsets my stomach for a few days (despite being one of the very gentle iron supplements on the market!). Obv if you need to up your iron quickly this might not work as you might not have time to do it slowly. Tips for iron absorption are to have vitamin c with iron to absorb more, to not have antacids within an hour or so of iron as it inhibits absorption and meat sources of iron are better absorbed by the body than vegetable sources. Assuming it is lack of iron. I’ve been exhausted throughout pg and my iron is fine, it’s just stupid pg making me exhausted! Every single day I have to lie down after lunch for a couple of hours. That’s been the whole way through!

Norbert great news about scan and 2.5 weeks sick free!

I was thinking last night about historically how many babies women had/how many pgs they had before properly effective birth control and when children often died so women had lots of babies on the basis not manyld make it to adulthood. I think my grandfather was on of about 18! Can you imagine having hg every time and being pg so much? I don’t know how those women ever coped. I wonder what the doctors would do or say about it. I wonder if women died because of having constant hg pgs one after another and poor access to nutrition/medicine/poverty etc. It must’ve happened and I just feel so awful for those poor women enduring so many pgs feeling like this and having to keep going through it.

Feeling much better today so far reastie thanks.

Ah, reastie so my great aunt had HG and was told by her Dr not to have any more children after 2 (she also had another problem but can't remember what it is) as the sickness wasn't worth it for her health. She ended up having a hysterectomy.

As for further back in the generations, I think if the couple actually cared about each other then they would have had fewer children, possibly with larger gaps. But then, could have been due to miscarriages as well. I'm thinking about my family tree and the information I have.

eally Just popping in to say really big congratulations. Lovely news after such a long hard road. Beautiful name too!

Hoping everyone can keep going today ...

@teddyready - if you need iron and really can’t tolerate orally you can have it as an infusion. You’d probably have to go through the hassle of proving you can’t mabage it first. There’s also good evidence that taking everyone other day once or twice a day is as effective as the 3x day dose you would get prescribed so could try that?.

@norbert - so pleased to hear you haven’t vomited in a while.

@dead - glad things a little better today

Waving to everyone else. @eallison88 hope you are enjoying home and blood test ok today x

Unfortunately we're back in hospital. The blood test showed his jaundice had risen again. And we're on the children's ward this time- can't go back to neonatal once discharged. Luckily, we have a single room - I was dreading a noisy ward! We also have an amazing mat thing that does the light, rather than overhead lights. So.he lies on the mat on naught but his nappy, and is then swaddled on the mat - you pick.him and it up.as a bundle. It means that he's receiving therapy even when he's feeding or.im holding him - so I can cuddle.him as much as he/I need, without stressing about getting him back under the lights for treatment. Which is frankly amazing.

The hyperemesis in the past thing- it's thought that one of the Bronte sisters died due to hyperemesis. I can't remember which one, though.

I had my booking appointment yesterday and my blood pressure is very low, which explains the dizziness and fainting.

I also nearly passed out after she took blood, I think that was a combo of already feeling faint, not eating/drinking enough due to HG and the fact I do not like needles.

Pink at least you know why you’re feeling so dizzy and faint. Fwiw when I had blood taken at my booking apt with dd I nearly fainted too and I didn’t have low bp and I’m totally fine with needles. I think pg can sometimes make weird things happen to you. I remember having to lie down and feeling really embarrassed!

Eal that’s rubbish but the special light thing you have sounds great, and hopefully it’ll be a short stay.

Dead that’s interesting. No one at all in my family have had issues with pg sickness that we know of except me 😩🙄

This week I’ve been taking it easy and fx generally seems to be helping, but I hate saying that as you never know when the next hormone surge will be or bad day will happen. But resting seems to be making a difference. But I’m so bored. And feel bad that I’ve been doing nothing for so long. And when I don’t feel so bad I tend to forget how awful I feel when I feel bad and then feel awful and it all comes flooding back.

I’m going to try metcoploride again next week as it disagreed with me in first trimester but they want to give it to me before csection so I need to trial it and see how it affects me now. I’m not sure whether to keep my other medicine at the same level as usual or reduce it so I’m not taking too much, although I know I can take them all simultaneously as that’s how it was originally prescribed. Think I might keep it the same initially so I get a proper picture of it and if I feeel worse it’s not because I’ve reduced another drug.

Eal it was Charlotte bronte. I always tell people she died from it, so they know it’s an actual serious situation not just me being a bit dramatic about my ‘morning sickness’ grrr. They always say ‘who?’
I’m sitting here on my bed looking at this huge pile of clean washing I need to put away. There’s also an equally huge pile in the kids room. There’s also two loads of laundry hanging on the airer in the kitchen waiting to be folded and there is a load of washing in the washing machine waiting to go on the airer. And another pile on the kitchen floor waiting to go in the washing machine. I used to love doing laundry but I have come to hate it since having HG, it’s such a chore. This baby already has about 3 loads of laundry too, which I have been putting off. There’s no where to put it all.

Ooh! Will have to look that up about Charlotte Brontë.
Blii I'm currently avoiding doing washing. I don't mind it but not when the dryer doesn't work.

I lost about 4lbs the other day from being sick. Maybe more but I can see it in my face and neck and sides where I'm losing it. Bump is bigger so far this time though which I'm sad about. Can still breath in and look unpregnant at least if I feel like it for 5 seconds.

Very tired today. Feeling better but still need to sleep more.

I've been lurking the last week or so, the metoclopramide has really made a difference to me. I almost feel like I now have "normal" pregnancy sickness. Still sick once or twice a day and have that horrible hangover feeling but so much better than I was and I even took my 3 year old out this morning to a playgroup. I'm 7 weeks today so still got a long way to go but I'm feeling much more positive.

@Eallison sorry to hear you're back in hospital, hope this is a short stay and you're back home soon.

Mother Hen is back until the 13th before going off again for a few more days. Lovely beanhunter has been doing a wonderful job, and the splendid Reastieand others too, and lovely SeaEagleFeather looked in.
I am sorry that eallison had a disappointment and wasn't discharged for long. I hope the new set up for treatment does the trick soon.
norbert's comment about Anuerin being all set for Ibiza. norbert did you say that you had had no vomiting in two and a half weeks? That is good.
Reastie As beanhunter says,Mother Hen is highly pleased that you are taking it easy.
Pinkspring bili Reastie and others , I believe the tragic irony in Charlotte Bronte's case is that the Hyperemesis was on the mend, but by then poor woman's constitution had been weakened by it and then the TB which had killed both her sisters took hold and that was the end of her .

It is dreadful to think of women who had Hyperemesis suffering through multiple pregnancies; lets hope their OH's were expert at coitus interruptus so as others say, they spaced them out a lot.
Clare That is good news.
DeadDoorPost I am so glad that you are a lot better after that dreadful day.
Teddyreddy I hope the iron drops Reastie recommends help.
avocadoo I will be so relieved when you can go on ml, as this employer is dreadful. I am really on your behalf.
Pinkspring About that ttc, it is ineresting when, if you stop focusing on something you have been eager to happen and start thinking about something, else, that is when it happens. I have noticed this repeatedly. I don't know what it is.
bili Ah - I have somehow missed this forecast. I do hope it doesn't happen, for your sakes. There was a heatwave like that when I was expecting my daughter, back in 1994. I haven't forgotten it!
I hope everyone is coping today....

I'm not convinced.of the efficacy of the pad thing has on... He always responded really well to the overhead lights, but he hasn't really come down very much today. So we've got another night in. The nurse is going to talk to the doc about lights as well.

eallison My DD had the pad thing only by way of treatment. Obviously, it can be a bit worrying for the mother but it sounds as if they are keeping it monitored well. You must be so eager to leave: much sympathy.

I'm just so exhausted with it. And I've realised that I must have missed the dinner announcement, and this dinner. Which means no dinner! No one told me what time dinner was, and I think I must-have been asleep for the announcement (there was an announcement for lunch). Oh well.

Hi all

sorry haven’t been on for a while and apologies haven’t managed to read the thread through. I had gone a day without throwing up only to spectacularly empty all stomach contents incl fresh blood, only after having attempted to comb my hair! I am due to be 11 weeks tomorrow and honestly can say fingers cross I pray this pregnancy goes well and I manage to have a healthy baby but i will NEVER EVER do this again.

I have no life and haven’t had one in over a month now, I am beyond petrified of throwing up and it makes everything so much harder. I can’t get rid of that vile taste in my mouth no matter what I do and when I do throw up I can’t stop shivering and crying.

My husband and I have been having more rows recently as I think we are just both sick of this whole situation, my gp’s are of no help and the house is an absolute tip I am beyond embarassed. I honestly feel sometimes that surely death would be better than this constant nightmare

composed it's hard, isn't it? DH and I have high tensions at the moment, but I remember with DS the sickness was so bad I was in such a low mood that we argued about silly things. Once the sickness becomes a bit more manageable it helps though. I'd also suggest speaking to different or moving Drs.

eal hope you don't mind me asking, but how did your bleeds start? Only I've just wiped and had the tiniest amount of blood, which is most likely from friction etc but I've also had some mildly weird pangs and I never had this problem with DS. I'm going to keep an eye on it but would rather err on the side of caution. I can't even tell if it's fanny daggers I'm getting or not. I've forgotten most of the sensations I experienced. Not the pulled muscles though... shudders

deaddoorpost initially bleeds were only on wiping, and I only went when it was fresh red blood (Brown or overly mucusy and they weren't particularly bothered). I always had pains with them - like really bad period cramps. If it wasn't for my blood type requiring an anti d jab with every bleed incident, I wouldn't have gone in for all of my my bleeds, only the actual "drippy" ones.

My boy is very unsettled tonight. He's struggling tonight. I am too. I'm running out of energy with this, now. Not with him, but with being in hospital.

Sorry I’ve been absent, have read through to try and catch up - lots going on so my apologies that I will probably miss specific mentions, but a lot of empathy from me to those in the first trimester battle of HG, and likewise those crawling through 2nd and 3rd tri!

Big hugs to eallison and little one

avacadooo not all that important but I’ve now got coke float on the brain haven’t had one of those in years, I remember when they were on the menus of most chain restaurants!

Weirdly I was also remembering recently how we used to have smoking and no smoking sections in most restaurants. As a young teen it was my main dislike of going out for a family occasion, as my hair would stink of smoke after and I’d have to wash before I went to bed if I didn’t want the aroma of an ashtray following me into my dreams... I realised just how much smoking and attitudes to smoking have changed in a relatively short time, I see threads about how you couldn’t possibly have a child in a house where someone smoked even if they didn’t smoke around the child, whereas I think my parents and all of my friends’ parents smoked when we were young. Obviously for the better but just intrigued me when I thought about it.

Anyway sorry for the tangent

I’ve been a bit absent as I’ve just been feeling meh. So tired, nauseous etc. At least my UTI has cleared up. Had FBC and random glucose test at MW appointment this week so we’ll see what that turns up, but so far my iron has been fine. I think my body is just drained. Spoke to an acquaintance on the school pick up, they said I looked drained/colour’s dipped (they said this in a nice way asking how I am, not just randomly telling me I look peaky! They know I have HG). It was weirdly validating, like “Yes, I am sick, I even look sick, it’s all true!”. Funny thing being that today was my ‘good day’ so this is the best I look right now, hence I was doing the school pick up!

24 weeks nearly. Still signed off for two more weeks, struggling to see how I’ll be fit to work within a fortnight not worried about that as such, just thought I’d be different at this point. I’m definitely better, but also still quite nauseous, low BP so get dizzy etc, very weak, tired. I struggle to focus on things, I couldn’t even work from home for a day, I can’t do a full day of anything, I can just about manage a half day of non taxing activity, and not every day! Today was my first good day this week, I had a good Saturday last week although I did wear out eventually and had to go to bed in the afternoon. All of the other days I sleep a fair bit, manage to eat a bit, maybe move to the living room, if I can I try to do the school pick up, I then usually go back to resting in bed...

DeadDoorPost Do get it checked by phoning out of hours; it's probably nothing , or a UTI or some such, but you don't want to be troubled about it.
eallison Oh no about missing yesterday's dinner. It is certainly tough that you have to adopt the attitude of 'This Too Shall Pass' now that baby is with you while you have to wait to be realeased.
composed Poor you. Things will get better. Most people see a big improvement between 15-21 weeks, and even those unlucky ones who suffer throughout almost never feel as bad as they did in the first tri. Ten weeks is an all time low for most people.
beforeihit30 I hope you can extend your sick note as it doesn't sound as if you are anything like recovered enough to return to work.
I can't remember the ingredient of coke floats. Can you make them at home? What I do remember - I'm far older than anyone on this thread- is my mother coming into the bedroom of my sister and I when we were little and waving her cigarette about in the dark to entertain us with the glowing tip. That seems incredible now.
I hope everyone has a better day today.

Coke floats? Were they cola with ice cream in? Dh likes this but I find th concept bizarre. He also likes cream soda with squirty cream on top. I’m not sure which of us is the mutant, him for liking it or me for curling my nose at it!

Lucinda what a naughty girl you were sneaking a cigarette at home without your mum knowing!

Before fwiw I’m still not working. I never even made it back to attempt work. For me activity is such a trigger that just the act of getting to and from work would be enough to set me off. I made the decision it wasn’t worth the effort knowing myself and my body that it wouldn’t end well. I learnt that lesson last time. I feel bad at myself but mainly because I feel I will be perceived by others at work for being weak at not attempting it and letting my students down. Which I know is ridiculous and work are the responsible ones for getting a replacement for me, not me, but it’s hard not to feel guilt. Just see how you go.

I remember smoking and non smoking areas in restaurants. I remember you coukd be sat literally at a table right next to the smoking area and so have people practically smoking at you despite being in the non smoking area. How things have changed. I remember getting trains and having a smoking carriage (although that may have been in holiday in Ireland rather than in England).

Eal I hope you get things sorted soon and they get the proper disco lights on him. Can you get dh to bring in a stash of food so that you always have something to hand if needed? I know I felt really hungry a lot when bfing.

Composed I remember feeling exactly like you. Exactly. I’d lie in bed and wish I were dead. Not in a suicidal way necessarily but in a ‘I feel so awful and there is no way out of this withiut a termination and I feel so awful ai can’t even get through the next minute let alone wait to get an appointment to have one of those I just want to die’. The only way I got through was by rest, medicine, and taking each minute at a time. Don’t think about the months ahead, focus on just surviving the afternoon, then the evening, then you’ve ticked off another day closer to the end. It’s the way I’m still doing it. And although I still feel sick pretty much every day even now a 33 weeks, in general it is more manageable and a lot better than it was in the first trimester. Before I couldn’t leave the house for weeks, I had to decline my NHS 12 week scan because I couldn’t get to the hospital, at least nowI can get to the hospital and can even manage to cook dh and dd dinner most days now. I still struggle, I still hate this and find it tough, but things have improved from where they were. I thought I coukd never reach this point and I’ve managed it, I just need to keep going for another few weeks. You can do this and we’re all here and understanding what you’re going through.

Yes Lucinda it was also very normal for us to be allowed a sip of something alcoholic, really just a tiny sip (I think our parents did it to show us we wouldn’t like it!), I remember having sips of beer and G&T from my parents long before I turned 10. I also remember ordering white wine spritzers for my mum in the local pub at a similar age (so she didn’t have to get up!). I’m seriously not even that old, times have just changed so much so quickly. BIL is only 10 years younger than DH but when we talk about stuff from childhood he sometimes thinks we were born in a completely different era.

I also make my parents sound crazy, they’re really tame people! My mum wouldn’t dream of having one of my young DCs get her a drink (or even take them into a pub really, not to a proper boozer); it was just socially normal back then where we lived, I was going up to the bar with company too, my friend would get a spritzer for her mum and a lager top for her dad! It was in summers, these were the summer tipples apparently

Oh and yes, as Reastie says, a float is a fizzy drink with a scoop of ice cream. Most typically Coke with a scoop of vanilla. Very common when I was a child but I don’t think children today are really familiar with them on the whole. The best bit is the foam it makes. The combination of ice cream and coke makes a thicker, vanilla, fizzy Coke foam. I used to eat it with a spoon or just sort of inhale it from the edge of the glass. And here I am restricting my boys’ intake of orange juice... haha.

Thanks Reastie, quite a few things you have said have resonated with me throughout the threads (like how HG has changed activity, exercise, diet etc). Activity really is a trigger for me, even on a good day I can only do so much - and it’s so little compared to normal me, like doing some laundry, or popping to local shops. And I still need regular breaks! To think only 6 months ago I was whizzing around, working, travelling, exercising, cooking, low carb, all sorts. Now it’s all, “Yay, look I got out of bed before 10am and had a crumpet!”.

But hey, a little over 15 weeks until induction...