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Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Hyperemesis Support

997 replies

LucindaE · 01/09/2020 21:15

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.

Hyperemesis Support
Hyperemesis Support
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LucindaE · 07/11/2020 19:23

WishingMatilda Sorry I missed your post. I don''t know how I did that. Welcome. Is this your first Hyperemesis Pregnancy? I see you have LO's. Here is my normal spiel just in case. Most sufferers find that they improve a lot at some point between weeks 14 and 20. Even those who are unlucky enough to suffer throughout generally are not as ill later on as they are in the first part. A good anti acid can make a surprising difference to the sickness. Kesostix are worth buying online or from a chemists, as while they aren't they best test of dehydration, hospitals take them seriously. Some drinks that have helped others: full sugar flat coke, ice lollies, the juice of tinned fruit, Lucozade, apple juice, Ribina, Dr Pepper, soda water, Elderflower water, tonic water, ice cubes, Iron Bru, lemonade, lemon squash, orange squash, orange juice (if not too acid), fizzy orange, 7Up, isotonic drinks, sips of chocolate milkshake (maybe soya), fizzy water, apple juice, Robinson's fruit drinks, Rubicon sparkling mango drink , raspberry Lucozade sport and frozen ice cubes of flat Lucozade sport . Foods of a sort include tinned fruit, cuppa soup, nibbles of crisps and chips, cheap ice cream, Scotch pancakes, bagels and biscuits. Sorry you have had to be admitted, and you have other problems. Everyone is very supportive on here.

OP posts:
Jlw2020 · 07/11/2020 20:25

@Doughnut100 Tried PALS and my midwife, they both tried but the powers that be said no. 2 more sleepless nights until the scan on my own 😭 thanks tho, I tried. You have to have a special circumstance to allow it and apparently 2 previous MCs don’t cut it 🤷🏻‍♀️

3scompany · 08/11/2020 07:48

@LucindaE thank you. I've got kesostix now. And my ketones aren't amazing. But they are awful either. I am still getting very sick and getting some side pain so before the working week starts (where I attempt to function) I'm tempted to call the EPAU. Try and get some bloods on the go and some more effective meds. But if they say "no" I'm unlikely to be able to argue! So I'll just wait. I may well call the pregnancy sickness helpline.
In a&e I had a (very well meaning) nurse tell me that she "suffered from morning sickness".... and that I should try ginger and travel sickness bands 🤦🏼‍♀️ why do they do this!? 😂 xx

Doughnut100 · 08/11/2020 15:00

@Jlw2020 oh no, well done for trying, sorry they wouldn't bend. It's different at every hospital I suppose. When they don't let a partner in they usually relax rules about bringing your phone in so you may be able to take a quick video for your partner if you ask nicely. I'll have everything crossed for you. It really is so terrifying when you're used to bad news. The odds are on your side but I know how little that helps... odds mean nothing to me any more. Really hope you manage to get some sleep and I'll be thinking of you x

WishingMatilda · 08/11/2020 16:28

Does anyone find that taking their pills makes them more sick? I'm on ondenostron and stemetil and just swallowing them makes me have and sometimes I just throw it up straight after before it's even had a chance to work Haloween Sad

WishingMatilda · 08/11/2020 16:28

Makes me *heave

Doughnut100 · 08/11/2020 16:58

@WishingMatilda I have a pill crusher, add a tiny bit of water to the crushed pill and you can barely taste it. You can try crushing it between two soup spoons to see if it works for you before buying a crusher

LadyPenelope8 · 08/11/2020 17:22

Hate to join in, but this is such a good support network!!

6 weeks today with second, and cursing how you forget what constant nausea feels like. Currently on cyclizine which isn't helping, much as I expected.

Does anyone know if 6 weeks would be too early to skip straight to ondansetron? I have some left over from my last pregnancy which would save fighting with a GP for a while but I'm scared it's too soon, if the facial features haven't formed yet.

WishingMatilda · 08/11/2020 17:45

@LadyPenelope8 I hope not as I'm 6 weeks and on it! Just make sure it's still in date.

@Doughnut100 that is such a good idea, thank you x

Wingingitatlifesincebirth · 08/11/2020 18:35

@WishingMatilda you can get melt in mouth ondansetron strips get on to gp ASAP they are expensive but you sound very much like me when it comes to tablets

LucindaE · 08/11/2020 18:45

LadyPenelope Welcome. As a veteran you don't need my 'have you got kesostix , as while not the best test of dehyration hospitals don't take them seriously' and 'a good anti acid makes a surprising difference' and 'do you find flat, full sugar coke, ice lollies and the juice of tinned fruit any good' spiel. I'll leave your Ondansetron query to those who have been on it, like WishingMatilda. As you know, the risks are very low and doctors seem to have to do a juggling act betweeen the dangers of dehydration and those minimal ones from the meds.
WishingMatilda Really useful advice form Donought100. You can Ondansetron in drop form and Stemetil in the melt in the mouth form; though some find the melt in the mouth form more nauseating than swallowing pills.
Jlw2020 Poor you, I do sympathise. While as Donought100 says the odds are greatly that all will be well this time, I remember how nervous I was after only one missed miscarriage. It spoils everything.
3scompany That was so annoying of that nurse!
Apologies to anyone rudely overlooked.

OP posts:
LucindaE · 08/11/2020 18:46

Wingingitatlifesincebirth Cross posted. Mother Hen waves one wing...

OP posts:
SweetpeaOrMarigold · 08/11/2020 19:00

@LadyPenelope8 I would try and wait a few more weeks as the biggest risk is (as you know) cleft lip and palate. The Royal college of obs and gynae recommend cyclizine then prochloperazine and metaclopromide first. I was started on ondansetron at about 11 weeks after working through the others.
Good luck and worth looking up the RCOG green top guidelines on hyperemesis as that is what everyone is supposed to follow.

Today I restarted my cyclizine on top of my ondansetron at midday. Ate some mashed turnip (was ok) then slept from 1-6. Woke up and feel ok, had some soup and 2 chocolates from the celebrations tin. That's a first for a long time! Maybe this is the way forward 🤞🏻

MyBabyBoyBlue · 08/11/2020 19:28

Hello everyone, I thought I'd join in as am absolutely miserable and at the end of my tether.

I had HG with my first and now 8 weeks with my second and since 6 weeks have been just as sick as the first pregnancy. I'm managing a few sips of Dr. Pepper a day but otherwise cant eat or drink and am bedridden but this time with a toddler, a v busy husband and a full time job. It's all such a nightmare, I'm perpetually retching at the slight smell of anything, from bathroom cleaner to toddler's food to husband's coffee. I don't know how im going to get through this again :( :( :(

LadyPenelope8 · 08/11/2020 19:29

Thanks Lucinda.

That's what I thought, wait it out a few weeks but i haven't even seen my toddler today cos I've been stuck in bed, I feel so guilty and don't know if I can face another few weeks of that.

Are you worried about cleft lip @WishingMatilda ?

IGottaGetThroughThis · 08/11/2020 21:06

Hi all, I’ve not been on for a very long time and wrote anything. I found myself really struggling, I didn’t realise how badly this had all affected me (well I did) but I had to speak out and get help.
That mixed with some late bleeds I’ve been having I’m now under fortnightly monitoring.

On another note though, I am now 4 weeks away from my due date.. and for how horrendous it’s been and after feeling I would never get through it in those first 22 + ish weeks.
I’m now at the final hurdle. I just want to say hang in there ladies, it will ease.. I can’t promise everything goes away completely but it will get better for you all.
This thread was brilliant for me in the earlier days, it really helped with support from others going through the same.. I saw women saying they were in the last few weeks and I felt like getting to that point was impossible.

Just remember, you’re stronger than you think. Anybody who suffers with this is an absolute warrior.

Stay safe. And speak out when you feel you need to 🧡

WishingMatilda · 09/11/2020 09:26

@SweetpeaOrMarigold @LadyPenelope8

The risk of cleft Palette is very low, even with ondansetron. Instated on cyclazine but it was awful so now on stemetil and ondansetron. I mentioned it to various doctors before I went on it but each one said that the risk was far outweighed by the benefits and damage to me and baby if I continue like this.

SweetpeaOrMarigold · 09/11/2020 09:57

@WishingMatilda yes my obstetrician and GP agreed kidney failure in me is worse than cleft lip/palate in the baby.

Anniemabel · 09/11/2020 12:31

Has anyone found that metachlopromide has worked if cyclizine didn’t? I’ve just spoken to my GP who wanted to prescribe Ondansetron but I mentioned the cleft palette risk in 1st trimester and he said that he didn’t think that was a problem but he said he’d prescribe metachlopromide instead but that he didn’t think it would work if cyclizine hadn’t worked.

It’s worried me a lot because I thought they only prescribed ondansetron if the risks of not doing so were significant - e.g. dehydration. I’m able to drink water and eat toast so I’m not at risk as such. But the GP implied that there were risks with all the medication. Now I’m worried that I’ll be taking metachlopromide but that won’t work and/or will carry risks. The GP was really abrupt on the phone, I think we spoke for about 3 mins max so I didn’t really get any reassurance on any of it. Could someone who knows more help me?

RadGlags · 09/11/2020 12:43

I don’t have time to find it now but I saw an interesting article a while back arguing that the association between ondansetron and cleft lip could actually be due to malnutrition in mothers who suffer from HG (and therefore are prescribed ondansetron).
Pregnant women cannot be used in drugs studies so it’s very difficult to make any definitive links.

I think that also, from my reading when I was in the throes of HG, there was only a correlation found between a hare lip and ondansetron. That is not to say everyone with a hint of sickness should be downing the ondansetron but there is a VAST difference between a ‘hare lip’ and a cleft palate.

Apologies of any of the above is out of date etc, this was all from research two years ago, and like I say, during the fug of HG.

Wingingitatlifesincebirth · 09/11/2020 13:06

@RadGlags I have to second what radglags has said really sensible if you watch the video I posted earlier in the thread from pregnancy sickness support it explains these studies really well. And pp said most of this could be caused by malnutrition which is thought to have worse affect.

For anyone on ondansetron do not panic this is my third pregnancy on this drug and the risk does really outweigh the benefit.

I think the statistics are in any normal pregnancy 11 in 10,000 children will be born with cleft pallet and those on ondansetron figure goes up to 14 in 10,000. Ultimately dehydration and malnutrition is much much worse x

Wingingitatlifesincebirth · 09/11/2020 15:30

@IGottaGetThroughThis thanks for this lovely positive message I hope your birth goes well and look forward to hearing your news xx

LucindaE · 09/11/2020 18:04

MyBabyBoyBlue Welcome. Sorry you feel so bad. What meds helped in your first pregnancy? It is very miserable. At what stage if at all did you improve in your last pregnancy? Can you get help from friends/relatives as surely the lockdown rules don't apply to your situation? As you are a veteran you don 't need my 'have you got kesostix, as while not the best test of dehydration hospitals do take their measurements seriously' and 'a good anti acid makes a surprising difference' and 'do you find full sugar flat coke, ice lollies and the juice of tinned fruit help'. I so agree about Dr Pepper !
IGottaGetThroughThis Thank you so much for posting your encouraging message. Sorry to hear you have had the anxiety of bleeding. So glad that you are being closely monitored and thank you so much again for letting us know how things are going.
Great advice on the very low risks of cleft palate and Ondansetron from studies from Wingingitatlifesincebirth RadGlags and everyone.
Anniemabel So far as I know, though Cyclizine has been used for about four decades, no study has ever found a connection between it and birth defects. What the risks are with Metaclopramide I don't know, but they would have to be tiny or they wouldn't prescribe it in pregnancy at all, with the strict guidelines. It might be worth phoning Pregnancy Sickness Support for advice on that on 024 7630 2020. There are also the links to advice websites which advise on safety of meds in the introductory post.
Waves to SweetpeaOrMarigld and WishingMatilda and everyone.

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WishingMatilda · 09/11/2020 19:52

Thanks Lucinda Flowers

Does anyone else find they get really restless/agitated on anti sickness drugs? Specifically restless legs?
I'm not sure if it's the stemetil or ondansetron and obviously a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things but GAH it's annoying!!

consideringachange · 10/11/2020 16:26

Hello everyone. I was on here twice years ago through two horrific pregnancies in 2012 and 2014 -- I was kalidasa back then (might go back to that name!). After a very long and involved period of discernment, DH and I have finally agreed to try for, or at least stop preventing, a third baby. I am 40 now though so might not happen. Anyway, I'm getting my coil taken out tomorrow. I have cyclizine prescribed already and have agreed a plan with my consultant that if a pregnancy looks like it was going the same way as DS2, they would proceed to steroids at an earlier stage than last time. I won't be on here regularly unless or until I actually get pregnant, but just wanted to check in and thank @LucindaE again for all she does for women suffering from this horrible condition.