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.

Hi everyone,

I’m 6 weeks with baby #3 and feeling terrible. I got meds straight away when I became pregnant as I’ve had hg before (I’m on cyclizine with stemetil) but the last 48 hours have been awful and I can’t keep anything down at all I’m off to the doctor in a minute and thinking I need rehydration. I’m concerned that my meds don’t seem to be helping any more

I hope no one is offended by this but I just need to get it out there that today can go fuck itself right off a fucking cliff. I've got relentless nausea and heartburn which nothing is helping, a non stop headache and I just want to curl up into a ball and cry....

Your midwife would have a meltdown at my diet avacado! Still just potato, McDonald’s or some other junk. I try to stomach broccoli when I can. I’m looking forward to saving money when the baby is here, not wanting McDonald’s every other day . My bank statement came through... it’s basically a list of different McDonald’s in the area. I’m ashamed put on just over a stone this pregnancy if we go by my pre pregnancy weight.
Norbet I am also looking forward to binning the Gaviscon!
Imagineit Welcome, sorry you’re feeling so bad, ask for ondansetron, it’s trial and error mostly to see what Ned combinations work for you, but most ladies do need a couple of different meds working together.
sprite25 Rant away! No offence taken here! I hope you have been able to rest today. Does paracetamol help your headache? If you can keep it down hope tomorrow will be a better day for you.

Well today was d-day and nothing! i was not ever expecting to go over my due date as my other two were early! Obviously this little one is too comfy in there. Sorry tmi warning, did the deed last night to try and move things along and I think I may have just lost my mucus plug. No contractions or even any little pains or anything. The only time my bump hurts is when I’m being sick!
Hopefully next time I’m on will be to update on baby’s arrival... probably not at this rate

Hope everyone else is doing ok.

Not checked in for a while. I’ve had a very good week. Probably the best week I’ve had! The ondansetron is really working for me. I’m now only sick in the morning and at night time. During the day I feel ok, not 100%, but so much better than I was feeling! I think it’s all to do with the ondansetron though.
We have a gender scan booked for tomorrow so really excited for that.

Things are looking up! To everyone that is still really struggling I sincerely hope you all get some relief soon xx

Good luck @Blii hope you have some news v soon!

I hope you ladies might be able to help me, i've been prescribed metoclopramide and ondansetron so i can keep down food and fluids, but i was out of it when the doctor at the hospital spoke to me so i'm not sure if i should take both at the same time? I was on meto anyway so i've stuck with just that, but even taking the most i can per day they seem to be becoming less effective. They gave me the odd good day, but now I mostly sleep and try really hard not to throw up.

This only started being really bad at about 25/26 weeks. I'd been able to barely cope without meds with the nausea, vomiting, dizzyness, breathlessness, etc for the first few months. I tried everything on the speil! At various points some worked. Nothing works now. I have no idea how i get through 2/3 more months of this. Nobody has mentioned HG to me, but reading this thread makes me feel i'm not crazy

Imagineit and Ibbizzababby welcome.
Imagineit. I am sorry you are feeling so bad. A good idea to go the GP's with suspected dehydration. as you are a veteran, you don't need my spiel on ''have you got kesostix to check for the early stages of dehydration' and 'do you find full sugar flat coke, ice lollies and the juice of tinned fruit' any good. I hope that you can either get fluids and or effective meds.
Ibizzababby With that level of vomiting last time - I'm assuming you mean separate sessions and not heaves? - that sounds like Hyperemesis. For some reason doctors count each heave as a vomit, which most people don't, so that they end up underestimating how debilitating the vomiting is for most people. Do ask for another or extra meds, as there re still some that they can try. A good anti acid can make a huge difference. As above, as you are a veteran you don't need my 'have you got kesostix' and 'do you find flat full sugar coke ice lollies and the juice of tinned fruit any good' spiel. You were very brave to cope without any meds last time. I am glad it did improve for you at week 23.
beforeihit30 Excellent advice as ever. Cheering you on.
Bili Cheering you on too. Sorry Baby Day has passed uneventfully.
DeadDoorPost Congratulations on finishing your first draft. Very exciting.
Marshmallow I am so glad to hear about a good week, and the scan to look forward too.
Spirte25 Poor you. I do feel for you. It is very hard to bear. The headaches or migraines are awful in the early stages.
Advocadoo Much symapathy over having a migraine.
Waves to norbert. Apologies to anyone overlooked.

CassiopeaAndromea Cross posted. Welcome. I am sorry you are suffering badly late on. It might be an idea to phone out of hours to enquire about that, but maybe someone on here knows better than me whether there should be a gap between doses of different meds. They really should have the instructions on the packaging about if you should leave any length of time between taking them both. Have you got a laxative as Ondansetron does give awful constipation? An anti acid might help.

I’m sorry to hear you’re feeling so poorly @Imagineit hopefully your GP can try some other meds with you?

@sprite25 I hope you feel better soon too rant away.

@Marshmallow1992 good to hear it’s been better for you lately

@DeadDoorpost totally missed your update on the move! Congratulations!

Good luck @Blii hope you get some movement soon!

Think my OTT nesting caught up with me today we got some groceries this morning, got home, had lunch, I was just feeling so tired, ended up in bed in the mid afternoon for a 3.5 hour nap! Taking it easy this evening and tomorrow now, reminding myself I don’t need to keep trying to do stuff (and then I can’t hack it anyway!).

@CassiopeaAndromeda you can take them together, or alternate them during the day, so Metaclopramide first thing then 4 hours later an ondansetron etc depending on how many of each you're to take. I had to do the same and as long as you remember it can make a massive difference.

@CassiopeaAndromeda I’m sorry its so bad. As mentioned above definitely get a laxative. I take lactulose. I forgot the first 2 days when starting Ondansetron and wow did i regret it. I’d space them out so a Met at 8am, Ond at 11, Met at 2, O at 5 eat my tea at 6 then go to bed before its all starting to wear off. Although with ondansentron I find a week in when its built up in your system its not as up and down as the first few days where you feel it wear off. Really hope it helps xx

Thank you, i won't forget laxatives!

Has anyone had a bad reaction off Ondansetron? I started it today and immediately realised my doctor hadn’t mentioned any interaction with my SSRI tablet citalopram of which I’m on 10mg. Googling brought up serotonin syndrome and it got me a bit worried but a bit of reassurance from further reading helped ease my mind. However, I took my third dose at midnight and have been awake since, I’ve been feeling so anxious, I’m not sure if it’s the meds the sickness the pregnancy or what but I had a full on panic attack about 2am and called 111. They listened to my symptoms and my concerns about a drug interaction and I got a callback to tell me to go to the walk in centre in the morning. I was reassured that they obviously didn’t think anything bad was happening but I’m still awake and still anxious. Also on my mind is that I think I’ll have to come off Ondansetron which gave me my first relief in ages and allowed me to eat as im sure it’s contributed to my anxious state.

Just an update from me. Went to the walk in today, doctor said yes Ondansetron and SSRIs can interact and cause symptoms. I’ve had to come off. I now have metoclopromide to add to the cycline (he also said I can take the stemetil I have also if necessary) anyone on a concoction of these? I’ve not really eaten anything substantial in over a week 😫

@Imagineit rotate the tablets and try as many of the options mentioned by @LucindaE in her opening posts, such as mango slices, elderflower cordial/water etc. Don't worry if you can't stomach anything. Last pregnancy, I didn't eat anything proper for about 8 weeks. DS is fine, healthy, and a total troublemaker. It won't do the baby any harm. Sometimes the body just can't cope and it takes a while to settle down until the placenta kicks in etc.

Hi all - just back from a fun 24 hours in hospital! But much more helpful this time! Had loadsa fluid & IV Ondansetron & Metaclopromide.. I felt OK over night bar the fact I literally didn’t sleep. The ward was like a train station, so horribly noisy! Poor 18 year old next to me with an ectopic pregnancy So young to deal with an unexpected pregnancy let alone one requiring a tube to be removed

I’m finding Metaclopromide a revelation so far, it’s made the nausea reasonably tolerable! Before, it was all consuming & I couldn’t eat. Now I actually feel ever so slightly hungry..! Fingers crossed it’s not just a fluke from the IV and the oral meds help too..

Hi all, hope you are all doing ok and hanging in there. I am 32 weeks now and the heartburn is awful. Anyone tried over the counter ranitidine or omeprazole and have a view on which is better? I'm taking ranitidine, about 225/300mg a day but it is become less and less effective.

@Bol87 hope you’re feeling much better now. Poor 18yo being on wards antenatal and postnatal seem especially emotional, to me, I guess because of everyone being pregnant or postpartum but inevitably there will be women on either ward with difficult circumstances/health conditions and such.

My GP prescribed omeprazole which I take once a day, and I have Gaviscon Advance after each meal. That has helped a lot, from around 32 weeks I was also getting it really badly (especially when sleeping) but the combination has helped a lot. I also bought a wedge support off of Amazon, I have to sleep on my right because of a nerve problem means I can’t sleep on the left but sleeping on the right can make heartburn worse in that the position makes it much easier for acid to travel up the oesophagus (bleurgh).

Meant to tag @ElkieMacjibe on the heartburn comment!

Oh I didn't know that @beforeIhit30 I sleep on my right loads - I'll try to switch to the left more as my indigestion is killing me. Nothing like the worst times obviously but at this stage everything is annoying me more than it would do normally! In fact I'm back on nesquik as it's quite soothing 😃

I'm glad you got the support and treatment you needed @Bol87 let's hope you can eat something and get some sleep x

Has anyone taken metoclopromide alongside stemetil? I was prescribed this by my doctor and told I could alternate those two with cyclizine if necessary but a friend just told me her doctor said never to mix stemetil and metaclopromide. Cyclizine and stemetil were helping me but since 6 weeks it feels like I need something stronger as I’m sick all day long. I have the stemetil 4mg (buccastem melt in the mouth) twice a day and wondered if anyone had been given a higher dose than that as I do find this med helpful but it only takes the edge off.

Imagineit I am no expert on this, and not medically qualified,but off the top of my head, I think the problem may be that sometimes Metoclopramide can give the mother twitching symptoms (not the baby) and that's a sign to come off it. I think I heard somewhere the combintation may increase the chances of that. But I do have the feeling that some women on here have been on them combined. I suppose they must have been warned to watch out for those side effects? Sorry you had to go off Ondansetron. I am sure someone will give good advice about combining Metoclopramide and Stemitil very soon.
Bol I am sorry you had to have fluids. It's good you feel better. A lot find that a good combination.
beforeiit30 Mother Hen says - for a wonder - do take it easy! Excellent advice from you as ever for poor ElkieMacjibe with that dreadful heartburn.
...And from DeadDoorPost and HarryPotterandtheSAHM.
Waves to norbert and everyone.

@Imagineit not been on metaprochomide but was on the Stemil and cyclizine combo (those melt on the gum ones are brutal because I lack decent gummage 😂) I ended up in triage at one point and they gave me prochloperzine 10mg because my doctor was being a dick and refusing to give me anything else at that point and it worked quite well, actually squirrelled some away for a bad day which has been great the past couple of days.

@Blii I had a McDonald's breakfast today delivered to my door...that midwife can suck it.

So the midwife phoned yesterday and I really struggled to even be polite to her, finally got an induction date of Wednesday and got told to think positive again (the rage of being told this as medical advice) honestly I don't know why she keeps banging on about it because I'm oddly not nervous about giving birth because I just want my toast reward at the end. Phone call lasted a minute where she said her student midwife will phone Monday to talk through induction and then offer me a sweep on Tuesday which is pointless cause it takes up to 36 hours to work. I really hope I don't have to see this woman again!
However baby seems to be of the same opinion because I've been have pain all day coming and going (it keeps waking me from my nap!)) so I'm hoping this is the start and I might go to triage tomorrow just to check if it's early labour or not and make sure everything is ok! Here's hoping 🤞

@Imagineit I am on stemitil can take up to 6mg twice daily - alongside cyclizine. I’ve found it only takes the edge off. I tried metoclopramide (alongside cyclizine) and although it reduced the vomiting, the Nausea got worse for me and I had other side effects (restless, anxiety, constipation) so had to stop it. Not sure about stemitil and metoclopramide together though. Realise that’s not massively helpful to your question!

Fingers crossed for you @avacadooo