How am I meant to work with this sickness!!!???

[LL308]

Hi guys,

I know I am not the only one going through this but I really don’t know what to do. I am so sick. Every day. I cannot tell you how I feel. My manager does not know about the pregnancy yet and I know he will go crazy because I am basically his right hand woman. I am Office Manager/Recruiter/HR... you name it! So it isn’t going to go down well. However, I will need to say something today because tomorrow is Monday and I can no longer do my usual 8am-5pm hours. I just cannot get on a bus or even in an uber!! How can I when all I do is throw up.

Has anybody got any advice at all on both dealing with work and any tips on morning sickness? I will try ANYTHING. Also, I haven’t been eating until around 1pm because I know it will just come up.. surly there is something I can do?! Help!!

you need to tell your manager.
and possibly see your gp, there are medications that can help if the sickness is too much.

It is really, really making me feel so low. Am I right in saying that morning sickness passes by the second trimester? Because I think it will be the end of me if I had this sickness up until labour!

For most women it eases off but not for everyone. I started medication around 8 weeks as I was so sick, couldn’t eat and was losing weight, but I managed to stop it around 20 weeks for the most part. Made a massive difference to me.

Definitely speak to your GP tomorrow and tell them you’re unable to work etc - you shouldn’t have any trouble getting a prescription and hopefully that will be enough. Are you keeping fluids down?

I was in a very similar situation. I had to tell work from 5 weeks as I couldn’t hide it any longer and of course I told one person and it got spread like wildfire. I completely get your in a different situation being so close to your boss but actually he needs to be able to respect the fact that your pregnant. I found that eating little and often sometimes helped but it’s a vicious cycle of not wanting to eat because you feel so sick and then feeling sick because your so hungry. Some days I just couldn’t face food no matter how much I tried. For some it gets easier in the second trimester but for me I had it all the way through. Even managed to throw up in labour and then the minute I had given birth it all just went away! Good luck with whatever you choose to do but I think your gonna have to tell your boss ASAP. Maybe some special circumstances can be put in place like reduced hours/increased breaks to eat small and often etc!

I mean, you can buy what I was prescribed, over the counter for travel sickness / insomnia (promethazine, marketed as Phenergan). It’s the most common first line medication for pregnancy related sickness in this country. However, I really wouldn’t advise taking anything in pregnancy without speaking to your doctor first and I’m sure a pharmacist wouldn’t sell it to you if they knew you were pregnant. Provided your surgery offers emergency appointments you should be able to get a prescription tomorrow.

I found that not eating anything made it worse so I would nibble on bland things like crackers through the day - still lost half a stone though!

Yes see a doctor ASAP

I had HG and was hospitalised 3 times with dehydration.

I ended up being signed off work with sickness and then went on to maternity leave as soon as I was able to as I was just throwing up all the time

I really feel for you because I had this but fortunately I wasn't working at the time. There's no way I could have worked. I was throwing up 5 times a day at one point and couldn't even keep water down. My hubby's aftershave and the smell of toast was enough to make me be sick. Doctor prescribed me avomine tablets which you can buy over the counter which helped a bit.

Thank you so much for your replies, I know it’s not just me but to be honest these last couple of days have felt that way :( I was once given cyclizine in hospital through an intravenous, I had an accident and felt very sick so they gave me that to help. I had a horrid reaction, heart rate went through the roof, I was shaking uncontrollably for around 2 hours and it resulted in some awful after effects. So I am SO scared to try any anti sickness meds, although right now I am so sick I think I might not have a choice! The most i’ve been sick so far is x3 times in one day, it tends to ease off at around 1pm and starts to creep back at around 8pm (then I just quickly go to bed!). I will definitely speak with my manager, the sickness has gotten so, so, sooo much worse since Friday and I just know that getting on a bus at 7am tomorrow morning will definitely encourage me to be sick! I cannot believe I might have this feeling throughout my whole pregnancy. I am so jealous of the women who love being pregnant and have an easy time.. to top it all off I’ve been reading a post on here about pre eclampsia which I never really knew of (you can tell this is my first baby!), reading that has REALLY freaked me out... how women do this multiple times, I honestly have a new found level of respect for you! Thanks again ladies, this really means a lot x

Tell the doctor about your reaction to cyclizine, there are multiple different types of anti-sickness medication (it is an antihistamine, so is the one I mentioned above but there are other options such as ondansetron). Meds from the antihistamine group may not be suitable for you but others may be fine.

I can only say hang in there, I'm on week 16 and still sick. I wouldn't have chosen to take medication but I have and absolutely recommend doing so (given your previous issues, with a prescription and dr paying attention!)

Sometimes you just have to listen to your body - I ended up not working for 2 weeks at the worst point.

Hi OP, I really really feel for you. Whet you’re describing is how my first trimester felt for me. Absolutely horrendous. I work for myself and had to take a few weeks off because I couldn’t move from the sofa without being sick or feeling like I was going to pass out.

I would definitely tell your manager and ask if you could work from home a few days a week. Also see if there’s anything that might help your symptoms on really bad days. I went through a period of starting every day off with two sweet biscuits and then having nothing until I could stomach it later in the day (normally fruit). Everyone’s different but there might be something that could help you. I was sick upwards of 6/8 times a day and luckily it eased around 10 weeks. At 22 weeks I still have days when I feel rubbish and throw up a couple of times, but nothing as bad as those first few weeks. You will get there. Keep your chin up

A few other things that might help (I refuse to take any anti sickness meds, but that’s just me): Rennie, small sips of soda water, a sweet biscuit in the morning and plenty of rest (working from home if that’s an option for you). In the first tri I also kept some fruit pastels in my handbag in case I was caught short and wanted to get another taste in my mouth/try to stop it happening again. I also, even now, eat all food really really slowly and sit down for 30 mins after eating.

I hope this is helpful OP. I really feel for you and hope that you feel better soon.

I ended up in hospital several times, with both my pregnancies. So dehydrated that I needed IV fluids for a few days. I had to keep working though, so I got a routine of going to the doctor's surgery every morning and the nurse would give me an injection of Metoclopramide , which got me through until about lunch time. After that I'd take Zofran wafers to keep the vomiting at bay. Once I forgot, and I actually vomited all down the front of a customer's suit front. It wasn't pretty . Good luck to you - you're not alone !

All pregnancies are different. My son I had no sickness but different story with my daughter

Thank you everyone - your responses are hugely comforting. Yes I will speak with my manager tomorrow and see if we can come to some sort of agreement so that I can work from home, or at least work from home for the mornings. I have managed to eat this morning and I feel better for eating - although it wasn’t pleasant I persisted. I haven’t referred myself yet to any maternity unit, I will go online today and do a self referral. I’ve read a few posts on here where people have said about having scans at 7 weeks, 8 weeks etc, but then online it says your first scan is circa 12 weeks, is that right?

Yes, first scan is 12 weeks but you’ll see a midwife for a booking appointment and blood tests before this - usually at 10 weeks

Sympathies - I had HG in my first pregnancy and the first trimester was hell! Amazon sell absorbant sick bags - I always carried several with me in case I threw up out and about, and I found that chewy sweets (Starburst type things) sometimes helped to suppress the nausea a bit.

Like you, I wanted more than just one child and wondered how I was ever going to psych myself up to going through pregnancy again. I was sceptical of people telling me "every pregnancy is different", because obviously Kate Middleton was hospitalised for HG with all 3 of hers - I figured if you're the sort of person who suffers with it, you're going to get it every time. But I'm now 32 weeks into my second pregnancy and it's twins(!) - so in theory, double the hormones - but to my surprise, my sickness has been soooooo much better this time around! So don't let this experience put you off!

OP, it does rather sound like hyperemisis. The most miserable time of my life! See your GP, there are anti-Sickness meds’ much less severe than IV cyclizine ((I know what yiu mean, I’ve had it).

I know it’s awkward telling work, but yiu will be leaving for matternity at some point, so your boss will have to get used to it. Under the Maternity Act, any pregnancy-related Sickness must be recoded separately and can not be used against you.

Lots of practical, emotional and legal advice at Pregnancy Sickness Support.

Tell your boss & get to your GP. Pregnancy isn’t an illness but the symptoms are. If you felt this ill normally, you’d take some time off sick! You are pregnant, it’s not going to change regardless of when you tell him!

I have HG & I was signed off for 6 weeks. For 4 weeks, all I could do was lie on the sofa & not move bar 3 hospital admissions for dehydration. And since 13 weeks, I’ve been working from home as I feel a bit better but still can’t face the long commute.

Cyclizine is a first line med, if you’ve had a bad reaction to it in the past, tell your doc & there are several others to try!

Hope it passes soon, for most people it at least eases off to a bearable level between 13-20 weeks! If not totally!