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/topics/nausea-vomiting-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.

Yes with DS1 I think week 9 was the peak. With DS2 I was in hospital from the start of week 7 until week 14 almost continuously (!) so it's hard to say but I don't think the condition itself really got worse after about week 10 it just didn't stabilise for ages because I was in such a state and all the drugs themselves were causing probs. So grateful to be having such a different experience, especially as have just moved abroad. A long admission would have been so hard on everyone.

My annoying PC has seized up. I am typing this on a laptop.
LittleMG I am sorry to hear that. I think it would be a good idea to phone the NHS healthline for advice about the bleeding.
FateHasRedesignedMost Poor you,.what an awful routine.
Ednadidit I am sorry that you and kalidasa had to deal with the loss of a parent and Hyperemesis.
thingymaboob Oh dear, that sounds bad. I hope it goes off.
abbs1 kalidasa and everyone, great advice as ever.
Waves to all.

I'm not even wretching anymore. Vomit is just travelling up to my throat in big lumps then I have to make the sick happen. I feel absolutely terrible

@thingymaboob you sound really unwell. Can you take a bit more of one of the drugs as a one off to try to get it under control? I bet you're not on the max dose of ondansetron.

thingymaboob

Sorry you’re feeling so ill. Night vomiting is the worst, especially that constant retching when you think you’re choking. 😞😞
I remember in my first pregnancy I was like that for hours one night, and DH got so worried he tried to feed me (wait for it) mini iced doughnuts while I was on the bathroom floor gripping the loo 🤦🏻‍♀️🙄

Have you tried an ice lolly when you’re retching like that? Sometimes I find the cold breaks the cycle. Chewing ice does the same if you can face it.

Last night was awful as I woke at 1am to be sick, came downstairs, discovered DH in his study playing a VR game, sent him to bed (he has work today!) Tried peppermint tea with metaclopramide then suffered the side effects of metaclopramide (another dash to the loo)! Finally drifted off on the sofabed in the lounge around 3:30am only to be woken at 4am by my screaming 6-year-old! He’d wet the bed and was drenched so had to strip everything, shower him then he wanted to come down for breakfast 😬 So that was the end of sleep!

I have a coaching session straight after school run today (on Skype) that I can’t really change as it’s work-related and my coach is being assessed on his coaching skills. When I volunteered to be his coachee I was working and fine, then had an endo flare up, then a lap&dye, then a kidney infection and straight after a formal sickness review that clashed with me discovering the pregnancy. So the poor guy has been used as my mentor and sounding board rather than a work coach. He’s incredibly patient but I need to perform well today so he gets a good grade after all I’ve put him through!

How’s everyone feeling now?

Kalidasa I can’t remember when mine peaked last time but I think it was around 9-12 weeks. But I was in hospital earlier for a ruptured cyst, and vomiting a lot then too, so it’s all a bit blurry. I remember being violently sick at work at 15 weeks (the one time I tried to return!)

I remember a definite shift in the type of sickness once I had a bump, around 20 weeks. Went from that dizzy/vertigo sickness to only being able to keep tiny amounts of anything down, especially liquid.

thingymaboob This sounds awful. Askalidasa says, is there no increase in meds that you can have to help?
FateHasRedesignedMost Goodness, what an awful night and what a thing to have to face with the reassessment! I hope it went OK.
Cheering everyone on. This is a short message as I've still got technical problems (well,not me, as I don't think I am a robot, but my pc).

Hiya@kalidasa I've upped my drugs now to 3 cyclizine, 16mg ondansetron and 3 stemetil. Have vomited all day. Called in sick. I work from home currently, but couldn't even hold my head up to use the laptop so phoned in and slept 3 hours this afternoon. I've drank and kept down about 2 pints of water today. I just feel like my oesophagus is full all the time.
@FateHasRedesignedMost sounds like you need a good nights sleep! It's so hard with another child, isn't it? My daughter was waking up 4-5am this month but it's all sorted now we bought a grow clock

Hi
Holding out hope here, did everyone who suffered with hyper emails in their first pregnancy, have it in their second. I’m currently 5 weeks pregnant. Found out before my period was due, due to dizzy spells I tested, started being sick 2 weeks pregnant. Struggling at the moment and holding out hope it won’t be as bad as first time round 😰😰

Hey guys!

I hope you're all managing to keep well, the horrid weather definitely doesn't seem to be helping either

I've noticed a really weird almost metallic taste in my mouth and even when throwing up this is the same taste, is this something you guys have noticed or experienced?

@theconfused yes, I've had it for 10 weeks. Awful metallic taste, accompanied by frothy foamy saliva.

@KLOR91 many people on this thread do better second time around but normally due to having meds sorted early. Are you taking anything?

@thingymaboob aw I hope so! Yes I’ve been prescribed cyclizine today, it didn’t work for me last time but going to give it a try and hope it works 🤞🏼

Hi all,
@LucindaE I was on here a couple of years ago under a different username and your support was simply wonderful. Thank you so much for all that you do running these threads.
This might be the wrong place to ask but we are about to start trying for number 3 (I know, I know!) and I was wondering if anyone has any success stories in taking any vitamins or anything prior to conception that helps alleviate the HG at all?
Sending to all those in the HG trenches at the moment.

KLORI91 Welcome. I hope the Cyclizine helps. If not,do ask for Xonveda, as it has really helped some of those who have previously suffered on here. As simple as thing as an anti acid can help a lot, but as a veteran you don't need me to tell you that or about ice lollies etc and kesostix.
buntywindermere Welcome back. I am glad the thread helped before. You and some others on here are brave to go for it again. As others say, pre-emptive meds -in abbs1's case, Xonvea, have helped, plus lots of rest and support from family/friends.
thingymaboob That sounds a horrible feeling. Poor you, what a dreadful time you and some others are having. What does the surgery say? Will they give stronger meds as you are a fair way along now?
I hope kalidasa and everyone is coping.

Hi everyone, sorry for not replying individually. I have a headache that’s not exactly a migraine but is affecting only one eye and one side of my head, my eye is watering. Maybe a sinus headache I don’t know. I remember having these weird one sided headaches in my first pregnancy too. 🤕

Or could it be caused by ondansetron? Last night I swapped my metaclopramide dose for ondansetron as I was tired of waking at 2am with sickness.
I woke at 4am instead with this headache and intense nausea! Haven’t vomited today (yet) but feel on the verge of it.

Oh and DH appears to have developed ‘Cauvade’ syndrome and is complaining of nausea, GI issues, a cough, insomnia etc. I know he has a cold, and that pregnancy can affect men too (their hormone levels can change in response to a partner’s hormone levels etc) but I can’t help feeling cross with him! It’s like competitive ‘I feel worse than you’ 🙄 Reminds me of when I’d just given birth the first time and DH declared ‘I’m EXHAUSTED, I’ve been standing up all night holding the gas&air!’

Anyone else’s partner have Cauvade syndrome?

FateHasRedesignedMost That is tiresome of OH. You say that is not a migraine headache you have had, but you can get mild ones, and I think that it's being one sided is very indicative. Hormones can make women who don't have them normally suffer. How many weeks are you? My migraines were purely terrible in the first 14 weeks, then went off completely until my cycle returned.

Thanks Lucinda. X

@abbs1 would you mind if I please messaged you about this?

@buntywindermere

Thanks Lucinda. X

@abbs1 would you mind if I please messaged you about this?

No problem at all. I will keep a look out for your message x

LucindaE

Thanks, that’s good to know yours only lasted the first trimester. I think mine did too but I can’t remember much from my first pregnancy, it was just a blur of suffering!

The headache/migraine briefly got better but is back this morning. The area above my left eye is tender and it hurts when I bend forward so I’m leaning towards sinus headache but you’re right, it could be a migraine. Yesterday afternoon I had to lie down and keep totally still as any movement was unbearable!

Does anyone want to hear my eventful school drop off experience yesterday? Feel free to laugh (I’m sure I will in time, I’m just still too raw with shame 😬😂😳)!

So I decided to drive to school rather than walk. I had a sick bag on the front seat (Prosorb if anyone needs the name of the gel ones that turn liquid to solid). Just before we got there I realised I was about to throw up (as in I couldn’t hold it) so had to pull over in a side street, accidentally kerbing the car. Threw up in the bag. Realised I’d hit the kerb and the car was flashing up tyre pressure warnings 😳😬

So decided to leave car where it was as school is only a few mins walk away. Dropped son in playground, got stopped by teacher who wanted to discuss why we’ve taught son his times tables in year 1 (we haven’t, NumberBlocks on the TV has 🤦🏻‍♀️). Tried to explain this then rushed back to car.

2 policemen standing by my car looking at it in confusion. Asked me how I’d managed to kerb it on a straight road. I explained about HG but I’m only 7+5 so haven’t even got a bump yet. They insisted on the breathalyser test 😳😳😳 which of course was negative! (Do people actually drink drive on the school run?!)

When I went into the glove compartment to get my licence my early scan photos fell out, so I showed the policemen the photos and they believed me about HG! One of them even apologised.

So the long and short of it; I walked home and poor DH had to go and retrieve car and get it to the nearest garage 😳

I’ve decided to give up driving until HG settles down (or probably until I’ve had the baby!)

Anyone else have driving problems with HG?

KLOR91

It started earlier for me this time, but I seem a bit better than last time (maybe because I’ve gone straight to the meds that I couldn’t get until late pregnancy last time, ondansetron and metaclopramide). Are you on meds? I’ve found once doctors realise you’ve had HG once they take it more seriously the second time instead of trying to pass it off as ‘normal morning sickness, it will stop in a few weeks dear!’

I could be speaking too soon though as I’m only 7.5 weeks. I think it peaked around 9-12 weeks last time and I remember 16-20 weeks being terrible.

thingymaboob

Glad your daughter’s sleeping through now. My son has a gro clock but unfortunately it fell off his shelf and now only glows (the digital display doesn’t work).

He keeps waking up with a wet bed (3x this week) although he’s been dry at night for over a year. I don’t know if it’s the stress of an impending sibling or me being ill or just one of those things. I’m so tired of having to strip the entire bed at 4am and wash everything from duvet to pillow to mattress protector then fit in an extra bath/shower before school! I’ve run out of dry duvets.

@fatehasredesignedmost Ive read your school drop off story. I can totally relate and Im sure you will see the funny side at some point. Just glad your ok.
I had the same thing but on my daily trips to hospital that were 6 miles down the road. I'd be sick then jump in the car and make the 10min dash to the hospital praying I wouldn't throw up. On really bad days Id have to get a taxi as there was no way I could make it even 10mins. Looking back now I realise how silly I was as I was so weak and hardly able to drive I could have crashed or caused one. (Not saying you crashed as you didnt)
If you can avoid driving for now I definitely would.

In terms of the police, I have heard stories on the news of parents drunk on the school run from the night before but it does sound like they were completely over the top breathalising you. I'd probably just have been sick in the street 😂

Sorry for silence all, have had a run of really bad days, but still clinging on at home. Tiny bit better today thank goodness, really needed a brief reprieve -- can sit up in bed for a few minutes for the first time since Monday. 10 weeks on Monday, I reckon I have about another week or two of the absolute worst bit to go. Hope everyone else is hanging on. Amazed you can still do the school run @FateHasRedesignedMost that is good going! I haven't been out of bed since the 7 week scan.

Goodness @FateHasRedesignedMost. That does sound dramatic. Glad the police apologised. Did they offer you a lift home? Definitely had sick issues driving too. Mostly just sick down myself in car. We use to keep a quality street tin in car in first pregnancy for such events.

@kalidasa so sorry to hear you've got it bad. Glad you're a bit better today. You're definitely at the worst part now. Week 10 is horrific, isn't it?

Had a scan today - had to have another look at heart and spine as not right position last week. Bumped into my consultant obstetrician in hallway and told her I felt like shit, so she's seeing me Wednesday in clinic (she was clearly working in the central delivery suite today). Took an Uber to hospital and threw up outside hospital (not in Uber) so decided to walk the two miles home which has totally done me in! 22 weeks now. Urgh