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.

Some swear by the new medication, what's it called - Xonvea. kissingthebear is one. Some are really helped by Stemitil (spelling?)

Hi - I would really value some advice please.
I've had sickness since about 6 weeks but it has gradually ramped up. I am 10+1 today and really feel terrible. I haven't been able to keep anything down food or liquid since Wednesday. I feel light headed weak and just crap I'm being sick about 10 time a day. All through the day and even night it wakes me up. The colour of my wee is very dark now and I'm only really needing to wee once or twice a day. Then to top it off on Thursday I started to get some Diarrhea I called the pregnancy advice line for my local area and they said as I am under 14 weeks they can't really help. Their advice was a&e if I think I'm dehydrated. I just feel terrible about the thought of going to a&e at the moment. My husband is in remission from blood cancer and is being shielded and I don't want to catch anything and give it to him but mainly I know how busy they all are at the moment I feel they won't appreciate me turning up and adding to their work! What should I do??

Hi Fredsgirl

Sorry to hear you are not doing well. HG is really grim, and it certainly sounds like you are becoming very dehydrated which can't go on for long.

My advice would be to call your GP and as for antiemetic (anti sickness) medication. Lots available and have been used in pregnancy for a long time. I myself have had 2 healthy babies with lots of antiemetics taken through.

I agree you may want to avoid A&E if possible, GPS can do an injection of metoclopromide if you can't manage tablets right now. But if you stay very dehydrated hospital may be unavoidable.

Fluid wise, ice lollies are often a better bet, or the juice of tinned peaches. For me salt and vinegar crisps can help the nausea enough to get my meds in. It's been a bit of trial and error, and different things help for different people.

There's also a pregnancy sickness support line that Lucina has put the number up for in her opening post I think who are very helpful.

I hope you get some help soon, x

Fredsgirl
Support line info

www.pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk
If you need help in obtaining medication, phone them on:
024 7638 2020

Fredsgirl19 Welcome. Sorry you are feeling so bad and so isolated. I am afraid you will have to go to A and E for fluids, as you sound as if you are severely dehydrated. It is regarded as a medical emergency for a pregnnat woman not to have retained fluids for 24 hours. It is very bad foryou and the baby to stay dehydrated, unfortunately. It might be an idea to phone up the department first, to ask what you should do about keeping safe, as you are in a vulnerable category yourself as a pregnant woman. They might want you to wait in a car, or something, as I saw people doing when I was collecting a prescription from the local chemists. They will certainly give you advice then about how to safeguard your OH. They are saying that people with normal medical emergencies must go in. Then they will advise Week ten is usually when things are at their worst, so don't despair. Here is my usual spiel if it is any good. Things do get a lot better for most people at some point between weeks 15-21. Even the unlucky minroity who suffer throughout almost never feel as bad as in the first tri. Do get kesostix to check for the early stages of dehydration as even though they are not the best test of it, hospitals do take the presence of ketones seriously? You can get them online. An anti acid can make a surprising difference. Here are some drinks that have helped others. Full sugar flat coke, ice lollies, the juice of tinned fruit, Elderflower water, tonic water and Elderflower cordial (eallison's tipple), Lucozade, soda water, lemonade, fizzy orange, orange squash, Iron Bru, orange juice if not too acid, ice cubes, Dr Pepper, Chocolate milkshakes (maybe soya), 7Up, isotonic drinks frozen into cubes, flat full sugar coke frozen into cubes and fizzy water. Some foods of a sort: nibbles of crisps and chips, tinned fruit, slices of melon and mango, baked potato, toasted bagel with butter, grated cheese, cheese puffs, Scotch pancakes, cuppa soup, biscuits and cheap ice cream.

IAmSeriousAndDon'tCallMeShirley Cross posted! Oh dear, I gave congtradictory advice to Fredsgirl, but perhaps yours is the most reassuring option to take. How are things?

Lucinda you are spot on with advice always! I just wondered if she could get rapid help from GP then she may be able to avoid A&E for husband. But you are 100% right- she's going to need to go if she can't get help today from community medics.

I'm not doing great, very bad day yesterday of feeling rotten all day. Meds helping with actual vomiting (hugely reduced) but nausea was just awful and my head was spinning all day.

Hoping for better things today? X

IAmSeriousAndDon'tCallMeShirley Thank you for your kind remarks! I am sorry to hear about the nausea and dizziness. In some ways, the nausea is worse than the vomiting.

I hope everyone who needed meds have got them.

Hi fredsgirl, so sorry you're feeling awful. I would definitely give your gp a call. Last week I was really struggling, couldn't keep anything down at all even with my meds. By Thursday I just couldn't take it anymore, I rang my gp and explained, she was really lovely and arranged for me to be seen by gynaecology. They tested my urine and it had lots of ketones so I was admitted and put on iv fluid. I felt so much better for it. I'm still being sick 😣 but it's not as bad - 2 or 3 times a day instead of constantly. And I am managing to keep things down. I was discharged after 2 days and I now have their number so if I go downhill again I can just ring them and be seen.
My main complaint now is really bad constipation 😳 obviously caused by being dehydrated but nothing is helping. Anyone got any tips? I'm getting desperate!
Hope you are all OK x

Just want to say thank you so much for all your advice. GP sent me to the mat ward where I was really well looked after. IV fluids and IV vitamins and a chance to play around with different drugs until we found one that worked!
I'm home now and feeling much better. Wasn't sick at all yesterday which felt like such an achievement.
Thank you again for all your wonderful advice

Hi Niffler and Fredsgirl,

Glad to hear you both managed to get help you needed from the hospitals. Hopefully you will both feel better now you have had a chance to be rehydrated and started on the right meds.

Fredsgirl if you are taking ondansetron that can make you very constipated. I think you are supposed to be prescribed a laxative to take alongside? Otherwise I always found glycerin suppositories (from pharmacy) very helpful. I think GP can prescribe these too.

Nausea is doing my nut in now, feeling a bit fed up of felling rotten and not being able to play with my girls properly. Getting a very sore lower back too from all the sitting and not being active enough.

Hope everyone else is doing ok, it's been very quiet on the thread. Xx

Hi everyone 👋 Please can I join for some support and a bit of a moan? I'm 14 weeks currently and thought I was turning a corner but sadly it seems not.
This is my third baby and my third HG pregnancy. With my 2 boys I wasn't as bad because I got early treatment but with lockdown and corona I was left to flounder and it's made it so bad.
I went for an early scan at epu when I was 6 weeks pregnant and told the midwife afterwards how bad I was and that I knew it was HG, been there before etc. She just refused to admit me (no fluids had stayed down for over 24 hours at that point either) because of covid and said to buy a packet of ginger nuts on the way home 😡
So a few days later I managed to get a gp appt but he told me it was 'perfectly normal' and asked if it was my first baby, the patronising bastard! I went mad at that point and left with a Stemetil prescription because I insisted on something. I have a formal complaint going in about him btw.
Stemetil did nothing because it wouldn't stay down so I phoned the doctors and insisted on an appt with a female gp who'd had kids. Think the receptionist thought I was insane at this point but I got an appt a week later.

The female gp was great and horrified by the state of me (my skin was peeling off in chunks at this point because of the dehydration). She confirmed I was in deep ketosis, prescribed buccastem and said if I need to go to hospital then covid or not I need to go.
The buccastem helped a lot because I didn't need to swallow it so I was able to start keeping some liquids down (I still can't tolerate plain water though) and some foods - mainly fruit and yogurt.
Anyway, now I am throwing up fruit and yogurt as well as fluids I had been able to keep down. I am bracing myself for hospital visit and know I'm going to have a fight to get admitted 😞 I am really struggling with the boys at home too. We'd planned this baby with the idea that they'd both be in school so I could rest but obviously with lockdown that's not happened. DH is trying his best to help but DS2 is autistic and very focused on me - if he wants me there's little DH can do to stop him.

Anyway, just needed to get that off my chest. I'm sorry it was such a rant and hope everyone's doing as well as they can under the circumstances.

Hi eventhecat

Sorry to hear you have had to fight so hard to be seen/listened to. I have found GP support really variable, some just don't seem to get it at all. In my second pregnancy I had an amazing GP and it made all the difference. Well done for insisting on seeing someone else.

When people suggest ginger to me it brings be out in an unreasonable rage... its HG.it's.not.normal.morning.sickness!! Arghh. Makes me want to throw ginger biscuits at them

If you are not hydrating then it sounds alike you will need to push to be seen again and admitted for fluids. What meds did you have before? Can you ask your GP to look at your previous records and re prescribe accordingly? That's I what I ended up doing with my GP...

I see for you with the children and lockdown. I have 2 myself and DH working so it's just me and them and the sickness. No one is having a great time. X

@IAmSeriousAndDontCallMeShirley thank you, HG is awful and I wouldn't wish it on anybody but it's nice to talk to others with it and get support.
I will ask about previous meds but DS2 is 6 now so wondering if they'll have the records with such a gap? 🤔 Worth a try definitely.

The ginger thing drives me mental too! I've found it's hit and miss whether you get support for HG or not. Some medics are extremely dismissive. I remember one nurse shouting at me when I was admitted for rehydration with DS1 for 'letting myself get into this state' - like I had a choice.

I'm reluctant to try Zofran despite the great things I've heard as I get hormonal migraines and have been having 2 a week with this pregnancy (I'm sure the dehydration hasn't helped).
I hope your kids are coping with your HG, mine just ignore it now 'oh mummy's throwing up in the sink again'... 😂

Hello. I posted on this thread under a different username in 2015/2016 (@LucindaE it’s amazing you’re still providing support on this thread) when I had severe HG with my first. I’m now 7 weeks pregnant with my second. I objectively don’t think I’m as bad as last time, but still feeling pretty rough and it’s so much harder under lockdown with a preschooler. Keeping enough down that I’m ok, and only vomiting a couple of times as day, but I feel really rough constantly and it’s bringing back all the miserable feelings from last time.

As I’m keeping some food down, I’m holding off on anti-emetics (I had some success with ondansetron last time) until I need, but my go to staples of apples, snickers and coke are not working on this pregnancy.

Hope everyone is coping ok. It’s a weird time to be pregnant.

eventhecathasapenis Welcome. As you are a veteran, you certainly don't need my 'have you got kesostix' and 'do you find full sugar flat coke, ice lollies and the juice of tinned fruit any good' and 'a good anti acid makes all the difference'. You have had great advice already.
I so agree, do get some more meds from the doctor who prescribed and it might be necessary to go in for fluids. From what I hear, they are being as careful as they possibly can to protect pregnant mothers. It must be really difficult with two boys, one autistic, on lockdown. I can see why you would wish to avoid Ondansetron as I gather it can make migraines worse. I had them dreadfully in the first fourteen weeks of pregnancy, and then they went. I hope yours do too, as I believe that is very common.

PetiteQuark Welcome back. Thank you for the compliment. I am glad that you are coping so far. As you too, are a veteran, you don't need my 'have you got kesostix' and 'a good anti acid can make all the difference' and 'pre-emptive treatment can really help with severity' but I attach a list of drinks and some foods (of a sort) in case it might help. Full sugar flat coke, ice lollies, the juice of tinned fruit, Elderflower water, tonic water and Elderflower cordial (eallison's tipple), Lucozade, soda water, lemonade, fizzy orange, orange squash, Iron Bru, orange juice if not too acid, ice cubes, Dr Pepper, Chocolate milkshakes (maybe soya), 7Up, isotonic drinks frozen into cubes, flat full sugar coke frozen into cubes and fizzy water. Some foods of a sort: nibbles of crisps and chips, tinned fruit, slices of melon and mango, baked potato, toasted bagel with butter, grated cheese, cheese puffs, Scotch pancakes, cuppa soup, biscuits and cheap ice cream.
IAmSeriousAndDon'tCallMeShirely Excellent advice. I hope your blood pressure is up a bit and you and OH are a bit stronger. It is very quiet on the thread.
NIfler2019 I think the laxatives called Movical (spelling?) and Lactulose have to be got on prescription, but a lot of people are really helped by the glycerine suppositories. Annoyingly, you have to get some one else to get them as pharmacists are reluctant to give them to pregnant women, although they use them in hospitals. There is fybrogel, but it is frankly hard to stomach..
Fredsgirl I am so glad you got help and are feeling better. Long may it contin ue!
Apologies to anyone rudely overlooked.

@lucindae I gave just been given Ondansetron. Is this ok? Have you/other women used this in first trimester?

@Fredsgirl19 I've never had it myself but I know it's been very widely used in the first trimester in the USA for some time now. It seems to have a good track record but I believe there might be a slightly increased risk of baby having a cleft palate. I don't mean to be alarmist, apologies if it comes across like that.

If you've got any concerns whatsoever then please speak to your doctor but I know many women swear by it and it allows them to eat and drink enough to sustain themselves and a healthy pregnancy. Ultimately I think there's risk and reward to all we do and you've got to be happy with that balance.

@Fredsgirl19 ondansetron is great- tiny risk of cleft palate but you're past that risk now as it's formed by 9 week.

@eventhecathasapenis that makes me so angry that you have been treated so well poorly, I hope your care picks up soon. I would go to hospital, dehydration makes it impossible to get on top of it. Having kids at home is hell isn't it, we planned this one so that my daughter had started nursery but now she's obviously not .

@PetiteQuark Don't be a hero if you do feel you need meds.

I'm feeling so much better now I'm back on the dose up of steroids. It's amazing how down my mood gets with the sickness. So nice to feel closer to normal again.

@justtheonethen - I knew someone would know about the ondansetron 👍 Thank you for being so kind. It's been pretty rubbish 'care' this time I'll say that much. When we decided to try for another we planned for me to have another HG pregnancy so we waited and waited and really thought 'Great! Both boys in school, plenty of opportunity to rest and avoid DS2 getting upset by seeing me sick all the time.' Then literally 2 weeks after a positive test we get covid reports argh!!! Not the best is it? 😂 I'm glad you're feeling better now. I'm waiting for the dr to phone me, she was very good and said if I was having a battle to get admitted she'd call hospital for me and insist so fingers crossed.

@eventhecathasapenis I'm glad the last doctor was good. It's made all the difference for me this time having a supportive gp. Yep all the planning in the world and then a pandemic

Fredsgirl19 Sorry, I am belated in replying about Ondansetron. As justtheone says, the risk is tiny. For ten years, there have been women taking cocktails of meds including Ondansetron on this thread, and no abnormaliities have ever been reported. But it is unsafe to be severely dehydrated for too long. What you do need to look out for is constipation! Do invest in some laxative, if the doctor hasn't given you any. Almost everyone needs them.
eventhecathasa penis I do hope your doctor got you admitted for fluids.
justtheonethen I am so glad the steroids are helping. Excellent advice.
Apologies to anyone rudely overlooked.

Hi all, sorry to hear so much suffering going on. I just had a telephone consultation with my gp and he prescribed cyclizine for me to start off with at my request, and the pharmacy are delivering early afternoon. GP is going to check in with me again tomorrow, but is happy for my Dr. husband to take blood pressure and ketone measurements and provide over the phone, rather than going into the practice. Now wondering how I’ll cope with the cyclizine drowsiness and a 3 year old. I’m feeling very sorry for myself. I vomited tomato soup through my nose yesterday and went to bed at 7pm.