Horrendous indigestion in first trimester

[justamum1988]

Hi all. I don’t post often but find MN so useful.

My DS is 4.5 and I’ve finally bitten the bullet and am about 9wks pregnant with no.2. First pregnancy was relatively easy, I was mobile, didn’t suffer too much with anything so I have been super unpleasantly surprised by how tough this gig has been so far.

From the moment I hit wk 6 the problems started - 24/7 nausea, indigestion and awful constipation. I got prescribed anti-sickness tablets which I try to keep to a minimum (have taken one or two a day for the past 3 days) and started on lactulose 4 days ago.
First two days I took 30ml in one dose before bed and couldn’t sleep from gas and bloating, then I took about 10ml on the third day and about 15ml today earlier in the day and on both days (probably unrelated to the lactulose) have suffered horrific indigestion in the evening - belly is massive, semi-hard, painful and with bubbles of gas gurgling inside and insane flatulence (today’s bout started around 3pm after a small bowl of yogurt with milled linseed and 5 dry apricots). Even with the lactulose, I’ve been to the loo once since I started it and the movement itself it didn’t help my abdominal pains and bloating.

I have been trying to stick to foods that aid digestion although food is a struggle so I’ve mainly been having a bowl of yogurt with fruit and half a tsp of honey or bland toast with butter and sometimes a plain ham sandwich with dinners a bit more nutritious e.g. had steak and salad yesterday, bit of lasagna today, fish before etc but keeping quantities down so I don’t overload my digestive system and keeping it as simple as possible.

I am despairing here - after years of getting over myself and finally deciding to have a second I feel like I’ve made a mistake and it makes me feel like a terrible person. I feel so debilitated, tired, useless and in pain that it is really bringing me down.

After all that, I think all I’m looking for is advice on managing things but more importantly to hear that this won’t last the whole pregnancy and I’ll soon feel normal again - I need that straw to cling onto...

Omaprazole. I was crippled in my second pregnancy. Had indigestion with my first but managed it with gaviscon. Second pregnancy it was so bad it was indescribable, one of the worst things ever. Couldn't sleep, eat, move, talk... was loudly belching constantly like a navvy from morning until night. If I did t let it out I was writhing in pain.

Prescribed these again now in menopause as I have a hiatus hernia that's probably been there since pregnancy but was manageable until recently.

I think they are ok once past a certain point of pregnancy. Stopped it in its tracks. The symptoms stopped within a day or two of giving birth.

Thank you. I’m due to speak to doc soon and will ask - it’s agony and it happens after any amount of any type of food and like you say, I can’t move, can’t do anything, all I can do is lie (well sit) in bed and suffer.

I really hope it stops after first trimester, can’t imagine doing 9 months of this...

Following this to see how it turned out, I'm at week 14 and also having the most terrible indigestion, burping, flatulence, and now a bit of heartburn in the mix! Was hoping it was going to start going away by now, bit still very much here.. One thing that helped when it git unmanageable was eating only porridge and rice for a few days. Did yours continue the whole pregnancy??