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.

OnNaturesCourse - you sound similar to me. I hate feeling this way. Even as I write this I feel spaced. I try to get up after a long lie down and get dizzy. Such intense nausea and zero enjoyment of food or drink. Really hard to keep going. At least you're ahead of me (ten weeks right?) as I'm 7+5 today. I feel robbed of my self as this isn't me, just a shell, no energy for my toddler who I normally love playing with. My first midwife appointment isn't until 9 weeks. How did your first midwife appointment go? x

I'm 11 weeks and about 4 days or so. I have in my head that magical 12 week moment of feeling grand but alas, I don't think that's in sight for me. Midwife was okay, as soon as she knew it was my 2nd it was kinda like yeh so you've done this before... and with the nausea it wasn't so bad at the time so I didn't really press the matter.

@ChatWithMe I’m nearly 23 weeks now. I also had a spell where I drank a lot of orange juice but that seemed to be a phase. I had a bad vomit with it and then couldn’t touch it. I wonder if it is a developmental stage with the baby? I found it very very difficult to eat anything until about 14 weeks and orange juice felt almost like a food to me...! Must have been the sugar and it was sort of filling. The only other food was plain pasta with nothing on it or at most a few bits of cheese. I never finished that but tried to do a few mouthfuls a day. Crisps... I really don’t think I ate much else for a long time. Just awful. I can’t remember who said about teeth and general health/ diet concerns, I know @Pygmyseahorse has been having problems with teeth and it is a worry for first time suffers to find that you can’t eat let alone really eat healthy... but in my experience you really have no choice. I had a half hour window a day around 3pm where I rarely vomited and tried to take a gummy multi vitamin then. My midwife was very understanding and basically said if I could stay hydrated and keep the multi vitamin down, she wasn’t too worried about my diet. Unfortunately the nausea and vomiting kept me up all night and so sleep wasn’t even a reprieve for me :/ I found lying in a cool dark room helpful as I had dreadful headaches daily. I also often slept propped up on pillows as this helped to reduce acid reflux which always led to vomiting with me.

@FluffyPurpleSlippers I completely sympathise with your tears. I also cried several times throughout this journey. It is so hard and as others have said, can so easily affect mental health. It can feel like an endurance test. Honestly I do feel much better now and feel much more like myself most of the time. I hope this gives you hope. Even small decreases in vomiting and nausea can help you feel better mentally- I think if you can feel yourself improving it gives you hope that the worst symptoms will end. This is true of improvement due to correct meds and also due to time. Most HG suffers need the help of both.

@HopeWish if you feel better on meds, I think you need to maintain them. It is a fine balancing act reducing meds and maintaining good health and I wouldn’t push yourself. It may be in another 2 weeks you can go down a bit but if you can’t now, you can’t. Stay strong with the GP.

Waves to everyone. Hope all are having an ok day. Xx

HopeWish I so agree with SnowWhite2020 and others. Do ask for a higher dose where you can eat more. You may be able to reduce it later on.
OnNaturesCourse Sorry about lost post! Very frustrating. I suppose at least it is a comfort that even sufferers from ordinary pregnancy sickness often find it goes on long beyond that supposed magic 12 weeks.
FluffyPurpleSlippers Congratulations on that bagel.
ChatWithMe I hope the lemonade helps. Do you find that kids' strawberry toothpaste and a small toothbrush helps make tootbrusing less nauseating? Try not to feel guilty about LO. You will play again.
Waves to all.

SnowWhite2020 You certainly went through it in the early weeks. I am so glad it has improved a lot.

Ah ok OnNaturesCourse well guess it's good to update midwife about your nausea getting worse. I have that magical number of 12 weeks in mind but I guess it's good to expect it to carry on a few weeks longer at least. Hope it subsides for you soon.

Snowwhite2020 Wow that sounds like such an awful time you've had. That's great youre so far along. Nearly at the last trimester! Orange juice is a life saver sometimes so I must get DH to buy me some more asap. Shame it got tainted for you by the sickness.

Thanks LucindaE I don't seem to have a major problem with my toothpaste. Occasional gag when I brush my tongue but nothing I can't tolerate. I searched for sprite at the gardens we visited today but they only had pepsi and cloudy lemonade. I do wonder if it's best to avoid caffeinated fizzy drinks to avoid exceeding recommended levels. Cloudy lemonade isn't my thing but I was rushing I had gotten some by the time the opportunity was gone. Gonna get DH to get me sprite in the next couple days as he does the shopping.

Good night everyone. I hope you all get some much needed sleep and respite x

Hi everyone allegedly 7 weeks and 3 day’s still haven’t vomited yet or felt sick all very worrying for me. I made the mistake of taking a clear blue digital weeks test yesterday and it said 2-3 weeks when it should say 3 plus my anxiety about this pregnancy has now sky rocketed.

Between that and the initial faint positive I am
Awaiting bad news on Saturday for my scan.

For all you ladies suffering sending you my best I know how it feels for the the toilet the big white telephone to be the person you are most of! Hang in there it does get better and by the end of it there will be a beautiful baba.

I have a very weird tip i figured out that I was
Producing an enormous amount of saliva and that this made me feel extremely ill when I woke
Up and seemed to fill my tummy during the night, I found it really helped to get up first thing in the morning and get rid of some of this excess saliva. I found I was still sick but had a better day for it - I think the correct term is ptylism or something like that and is hormonal. Xx

My sister had excessive saliva due to HG and carried a cup around with her to spit into. She never complained though as she's a tough cookie.

@HGwarrior @ChatWithMe I had to resort to a hand towel, the saliva was constant. Really grim.

@HGwarrior I have everything crossed for you. Xx

Afternoon.

Major progress with Ondansetron. It does give me a headache but I’m on day three of taking it with cyclizine and it’s helping a lot.

Foods tolerated: scotch pancakes, lemonade lollies, white bread, watermelon juice, salted fries.

Have had two lots of Ondansetron injected in the hospital day clinic, today managed with tablets as haven’t vomited.

@FluffyPurpleSlippers this is great news ondanestron is magic stuff xx

@FluffyPurpleSlippers fantastic news- wish I had known about this additional med when I was really suffering xx

@HopeWish I haven't experienced this as my GP has been amazing but it seems like food intake and especially fluid intake are as relevant as the number of vomitting episodes - mine always asked me how many times I passed urine, what colour it was etc to get an idea about dehydration - if you are doing poorly on those key markers (dark urine, low quantities of urine, weight loss) I'd emphasise that to them. Good luck x

HGWarrior I am sorry about your anxiety. Like others, I am keeping my fingers crossed for your scan results. That is a good tip about saliva.
FluffyPurpleSlippers I am glad the Ondansetron helps, that is good news I am sorry to hear about the headache. What do the medics say about that as I know that can be a side effect and I don't know if it wears of or whatever.
Good advice from littledice and SnowWhite2020 and others.
ChatWithMe I know what you mean, and I sometimes wonder about the caffeine content of the drinks I recommend, but I suppose that it is a question with Hyperemesis of being able to drink anything being a bonus! Glad you were up for that visit. It is so nice to get out...

Yes LucindaE hydration is priority number one. I decided against fizzy drinks as I do like juice. DH bought me some tonight so all stocked up!

Quick question ladies (am suffering myself am too scared to post because I have miscarried previously and don’t want to jinx things) - is ondansetron considered safe in first trimester? And does anyone know if you can take it whilst breastfeeding? I can’t even keep dioralyte down at the moment and am in constant tears at the thought of feeling this horrific at only 5 weeks ish in.

Sympathies as I know how horrible it is. If pregnancy progresses will post properly in due course.

Hi ladies,

Hope you're all doing well. I'm at 18 weeks now and wanted to share some hope. The nausea has stopped being so constant for me with just the occasional bout during the day. It's not ideal to still feel nauseous but the relief for part of the day is nice. Hopefully this happens for all of you soon.

The actual vomiting has also abated, somewhat, though today I had some acidic throw up. That might be down to the acid reflux more than the HG though. I'm so grateful to see your supportive messages to one another. Welcome to all the newbies suffering- though I'm so sorry that you are and that you've found yourself here.

Sending hope, strength and love xxx

Fantastic news @Seeker2020. It was a similar pattern for me. I hope this gives hope to sufferers earlier in their journeys. 💖

@Pygmyseahorse how are you today? Xx

Hi Puddle, I’m taking Ondansetron at 7 weeks. First dose in hospital at 5+5.
Sent home with just cyclizine. By 6+5 I was so ill I was considering termination. Had a melt down. Went back into hospital. Now on prescription Ondansetron and it’s changed everything for me.

There is a potential risk that a minute risk of cleft pallet may increase by a further minute amount. For me, given the mess I was in, it wasn’t a choice. I needed it.

Sorry to hear that Puddlelane123. I don't have answers to your two questions about ondansetron but I hope the other ladies can answer. You have my sympathy. Are you breastfeeding another child at the moment? Dioralyte doesn't taste great. Have you tried lucozade (caffeine free variety) or orange juice?

Puddlelane, while I can't answer your question I just wanted to sympathise with how your feeling. It's hard but I always say to myself at the end of the day, no matter how hard its been I'm now one day closer to meeting baby. ❤️

Love and strength to you @Puddlelane123. @OnNaturesCourse gives excellent advice... xx

@Puddlelane123- Ondansetron is the very last line medication in treating HG. I was given Ondan after trying stemetil, metachlopromide and cyclizine (sorry about spellings) and was warned about a very slight heightened risk of cleft palate in babies, but also reminded that it can be more harmful for baby for Mum to be dehydrated and under-nourished.

I'm not sure about whether it is safe in breastfeeding- have you spoken to your doctor about it?

Just finished my 5th day in hospital on IVs with added antiemetics like zofran. They had to use a baby canula today as my veins are all collapsing from overuse. Also was taken off my meptamide and ondansetron and now have been told to take 2 tablets of pyridoxine a day instead. I really hope this helps because the other two weren't working.

I cried a little for the first time today as the nurse was pawing away with the needle trying to find a vein. I'm only 7 weeks in! I don't want to do this any more.

I really feel for you professionalnomad. It sucks so much what you're going through. I hope you can listen to uplifting music on your phone while you're there. Now that I have my son I can see that it's all worth it in the end to see him smile at me (no HG but a scary pregnancy and horrific 5 days in hospital around time of birth). I hope you get home to bed soon x