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.

@Guineapiggiesmalls Hello. Fellow veteran here. I have a three year old too but had absolutely no choice but to have 6 weeks in bed (6-12 weeks). I hope you don't go down that route. I am 16 weeks now. Still vomiting daily but in evenings. Still take about 8 tablets a day (cyclizine, stemetil and ondansetron). Hope some drugs give you some relief. Good to get them in early.

I went back to work this week. It was a disaster. I did 3 half days. Half my office weren't wearing masks despite it being policy then I got a snippy remark when I asked someone to wear one. I was so exhausted and spent all the evenings vomiting. My manager said that based on my occupational health assessment, I shouldn't be in the office. I agreed. After a very difficult discussion about Hyperemesis, covid and various other things, we decided I should work from home for the rest of pregnancy.
Saw my obstetrician who I actually know from training her as a registrar. She said she's seeing women in the second trimester who are very ill with covid and it was reasonable for me to work from home if I can. Also means I can take regular breaks and eat and drink regularly. I didn't drink anything at work on Thursday and my medication regime has been in flux which might have contributed to the evening vomiting sessions.

Sorry, I long rant from me!

Hi everyone it's been a while since I've posted and I'm nearly at the end now 36 weeks yay!! This pregnancy have definitely been harder than my first symptom wise but I've kept myself in better shape by accepting all the help going. I've seen quite a few of you have toddlers too, the only way I survived was my MIL came over every afternoon to have my then young 2 year old. And she would also bring me food and snacks. I had ten weeks off work and was pretty much bed bound for 8 of them. Sickness was much more up and down this time overall too and I would definitely back up what someone else said about taking the max meds even if you have a better day as every time I forgot or decided to try to cut down it would be a day or two later that it would hit and the climb to get back to where I was before was hard.
@Guineapiggiesmalls definitely have a look on pregnancy sickness support there is great info on there about preemptive meds. My GP was really hesitant but then within a couple of days they were no longer preemptive anyway and I just got a prescription as early as I could. I think this helped me to stay out of hospital this time.

Still getting nauseous every day but fleetingly now like I'd expect normal 1st trimester morning sickness to be. And I've only been sick a couple of times in third trimester as I've learnt to manage it so much better and not over do it.

Be compassionate with yourselves ladies and accept all the help you can. And if you aren't happy with your care make a nuisance of yourself and carry on going back. It didn't help much in my case as I was apparently managing too well as I had no ketones and only lost 7lbs but I did manage to fight and get omeprazole which made a huge difference to my nausea. Sending strength your way!

RockinRobin Lovely to hear from you, and congratulations on reaching 36 weeks. I am so glad that you are feeling so much better in the third tri. It is so nice of you to give this encouragng message to those suffering badly. Excellent advice.
thingymaboob Poor you. It was very brave of you to go in. I am so glad that you can work from home from now on. It's so bad that people wouldn't wear masks at work (by contrast, my daughter, who's a vet, had to wear that awful spaceman PPE in the earlier heatwave).

I hope everyone is managing.

Hiya. Hope everyone's having a good bank holiday. My days seem to be of two different halves at the moment. Morning and early afternoon I feel fine. Today I took daughter to a park and we had a pub lunch. Then this evening I couldn't finish dinner and I'm lying in bed crippled with nausea and vomiting. It's like this everyday now. Plagued by severe nausea and vomiting from about 4pm until I go to sleep, if I can sleep.

Hi everyone I haven't popped on in a while, I'm doing ok i've had more better days whilst on cyclizine. However still not a huge fan of food and still have my bad days, like today threw my breakfast up and couldn't eat MIL dinner.
Still stressed about work and I am debating about whether to return or not. I wish I could just be ill in peace and not worry about work.

However feeling much more positive now and I know things will be ok in the end.

@thingymaboob I’m sorry to hear about your evenings. Great you’ve been able to do a bit more. Do you find doing more makes the evenings worse? I know I’m finding if I do more it lands me in a mess. Xx

@ohihateithere could you take more time off? I can imagine the stress of feeling you need to get back to work isn’t helping. Xx

Well I had an awful day yesterday. I spent Saturday night in agony with tummy pains and round ligament pain. I then couldn’t keep much food or liquid down all day. It’s the worst one I’ve had in ages. Is anyone else finding they wet them self when they are sick? It’s just horrible. My midwife said to keep up pelvic floor exercises as the hormones affect the pelvic floor strength. I’ve also not long had ds so my body is probably still recovering from carrying a big baby.

Thankfully today feels a bit better. I’ve not been sick yet so I’m hoping I get a bit of rest.

I hope you all have a sickness free bank holiday. Xx

So I haven’t actually been vomiting for nearly 2 weeks since I was hospitalised for iv fluids and medication.. medication is obviously now working properly.. but I still feel completely awful, I’m exhausted all the time, dry wrenching and just feel horrid in general.. I’m 14 weeks tomorrow and hoping to get a break soon 😓 meant to be back at work next week.. literally spent all day today sleeping because I feel so awful 😕

I found these in Lidl and they’ve been helping my persistent low level nausea quite a bit! Thought I’d share X

Thanks @Lzgs I’ll get some of them.

I ate an entire roast dinner tonight so feeling really pleased with myself. Even the vegetables went down well. I’m really hoping it stays down. Xx

thingymaboob Sorry to hear about those awful evenings and nights. I hope it gets better soon. As others say, perhaps being active earlier in the day is making it worse?
ohihateithere I am glad Cyclizine is helping. Don't rush back to work if you can help it. You need time to recover.
catconfusion Lots of sufferers wet themselves retching violently. It's misereable. Congratulations on the roast dinner.
Ttcbn2 Can you extend your sick note? You don't sound as if you are ready to return to work.
Lgzs Travel sweets - of course: they helped me, particularly barley sugar ones I used to get at a local chemists. I should have remembered that: completely forgot about it. Good suggestion.
They can help with that awful taste in the mouth, too.
I hope abbs1 and everyone is coping.

Hi everyone. Still in shocked as just found out pg with n 5 today. Only 5 weeks and already nauseus. Had hyperemesis, or something very close to it last time and i am so so stressed at going thru it again😖

@LucindaE I think I’m going to have to extend my sick note which obviously I didn’t want too but don’t have much choice.. although I’m not vomiting all day every day now I’m still struggling to eat and drink normally as I still feel so sick 😕 honestly thought that once the sickness was under control that I’d be able to return to work x

@LucindaE I'm doing ok. Got terrible sleep insomnia so I'm exhausted. The nausea seems more bearable atm. Ive got my 12 week scan tomorrow which im very nervous about so hoping it all goes ok 🙏

I emailed my resignation letter in today, feel abit sad about it but I wasn't really happy there anyway. And the thought of going back into such a toxic work environment whilst being ill kind of made me realise that now was probably the best time. I feel like I can finally relax now and stop thinking about work.

I'm planning on working for FIL company from
home a couple of hours a day.

Going for an early scan today so very excited to see the baby first time.

Hope everyone is doing ok xx

Just a thanks to everyone who suggested preemptive meds. Spoke to my GP today who went straight for a short supply of ondansetron, telling me to come back when I needed more. Not looking forward to the inevitable side effects but knowing I won’t have the battle I did last time is such a relief!

Scienceisnotanoption Welcome. Congtratulations on your pregnancy, much sympathy over your misgivings. Do try and get pre-emptive meds. What meds, if any, helped you last tme? Have you got childcare or family and friends who can help? As you are a veteran, you don't kneed my normal spiel about 'have you got kesostix' and 'a good anti acid can make a big difference' and 'do you find that flat full sugar coke, ice lollies and the juice of tinned fruit help'. Everyone is very helpful on here.

abbs1 All luck for the scan. The chances are overwhelmingly in your favour.
ohihateithere If there's a toxic environment, it certainly seems a good idea to leave rather than suffer that. I hope all went well with the early scan.
Guineapigsmalls I am so glad you got given pre-emptive meds in Ondansetron.
Waves to all.
Apologies to anyone rudely overlooked.

@LucindaE scan all went well. Baby is doing good. So nerve-wracking as our childcare for our little boy fell through as no kids are allowed so my husband had to stay home with him and I went on my own. Just relieved bubs is all happy and growing well.

@ohihateithere you must feel such relief. It's good that you can do some work at home. I'm working at home at the moment even though I have a teaching job. Bit weird but better for health.

@Ttcbn2 good idea to get your sick note extended. I found it awful going back.

@abbs1 hope the scan was alright?

Sorry to see some new people on the thread. Hate to think of anyone suffering. The first trimester is so hard. Virtual hugs.

abbs1 That's happy news, and a needed boost for you.

Hello everyone and sorry for all of you in the absolute worst stage. I was on these threads years ago during my epically awful pregnancies with DS1 (8) and DS2 (6), @LucindaE might remember. I've been trying for a third off and on for a few months we took a break over the spring/early summer because my Dad was dying and then we moved abroad a few weeks ago just after the funeral, so it's all been quite intense. I'm 41 now and having had no luck after a few months I thought it might not happen anyway. But I've just got a really strong positive at 15 dpo. Obviously this is great news but I'm a bit worried, perversely, because I really don't feel that ill yet. I'm very dizzy and a bit nauseous, but with DS2 I was already stuck almost entirely in bed by this point and already taking cyclizine (I ended up hospitalised with him for 7 weeks and on steroids for months). I really don't know whether to feel glad that it might just be a bit less bad (but I thought HG usually got worse pregnancy to pregnancy rather than better?) or worried that weaker symptoms at this point mean an early loss is likely. I do appreciate that my chances of miscarriage are really high at this age anyway. Does anyone have any relevant experience with multiple pregnancies did weaker symptoms = miscarriage? I also have mild period-like cramps which are worrying me a bit but I know that can be normal at this stage too. It's just been ages since I did all this and we've just moved abroad, I'm not even in the health system yet (though should get my registration soon). I did get cyclizine prescribed in the UK before we ditched the contraception, though, so I have that to fall back on.

kalidasa I remember you well! You had one of the worst cases on this thread, but were brave enough to go for it again. You are married to a Frenchman, I recall. Then you had a possible early loss a little while ago.
I had two pregnancies - one ended in a MMC, but only one that went to term. I do remember the cramp like pains particularly in the second, successful one - I do recall I heard later about 'implant pains' so it might be that? I am glad you have got Cyclizine. From what I have seen on here, it doesn't always follow that each pregnancy is worse. Oddly, some suffer terribly and then have normal m/s in the next pregnancy, or they find that it is more controllable. Wishing you all luck: everyone is very supportive on here.

Thanks @LucindaE yes that's right. Actually I think I probably had several very early losses earlier this year, it was only obvious because I start feeling queasy so quickly. But I think that's par for the course anyway when you're older as a lot of the eggs are not good enough any more. Fingers crossed this one hangs on.

I am definitely a lot less ill than I was with DS2 at this stage but perhaps it is a bit more like it was with DS1 I was very shocked how bad it was the first time because it was so unexpected (and DH and I had only been together a few months) but it wasn't as bad as DS2, and definitely kicked in properly a bit later. You're right too that DH is French, in fact we have just moved to France which is a bit of a complicating factor; I registered with the social security system (which allows you to access healthcare) after we moved but it hasn't come through yet, hopefully it will soon! Anyway, it's great to hear that it won't necessarily be as bad as the second one you've been running this thread for so long you must know more about the variety of trajectories of this condition than practically anyone else! I will catch up properly with the thread. Best wishes to everyone suffering.