Pregnancy sickness - really suffering

[SB91]

I'm 6 weeks into my pregnancy (first child) and really struggling with nausea and sickness. I'm trying my hardest to get up for work each day but it's getting worse. It's not just morning sickness, I wake up at 2am in the morning and will be up and down like a yo-yo to the toilet. I just want to sleep and for it all to subside 😔 I've read about HG and I don't think my symptoms are as bad as others have described so I'm just trying whatever I can.

I work in HR and manage a team. Ideally I'd just stay off and rest but I have no idea how long this will go on for. We don't have a generous sick pay policy so that is also a worry. If it gets worse tonight I'll try to ring my doctor in the morning.

What do you do if you don't want to tell your company that you're pregnant but need to take time off due to sickness? A Dr's note is likely to say that it's pregnancy related?

Sorry to hear you are having a rough time. In my first pregnancy I had pretty terrible morning sickness up until early in the second trimester, but also didn’t seem bad enough to be HG. But I used to have to get up to vomit throughout the night, was vomiting at any time during the day and would need to eat several meals before I could keep one down etc. But I could (eventually) keep food down. This time round, I’ve had bad nausea but much less vomiting - and I think that’s because I’ve been much more diligent at making sure I eat frequently, have been going to bed earlier so less tired and am not commuting. Could you take a few days off to recalibrate - get well rested and well fed. And see how you go from there?

@twoofusburningmatches Thanks so much for your reply and sharing your experience. I'm going to try and book some time off today and see how I feel after a bit of a break. I really hope the sickness gets better, it's hard not to feel miserable with it as I hate vomiting 😔

Speak to your GP. There are lots of effective drugs that can be prescribed, I was like you - 24 hour nausea and vomiting round the clock. I was signed off work for 3 months! That was 20 years ago, and no one ever mentioned medication. When I started going down a similar route with my second pregnancy (and a toddler) I demanded the GP did something so that I could cope. She gave me something quite mild, and it really helped, but I know that if the first option doesn't work, it's worth going back and trying something else.