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.

Cheering everyone on...

Due Dates

alpinia 4 April (provisional)
kalidasa 4 May
FateHasRedesignedMost 16 May
Melleebacca 3 June
HopefulJ2018 14 June
Starbeach 17 June
BuffyFanForever 19 Jun TWINS!
PopGoesBang 7 August
FarmWife 12 August
rainbowzebra05 15 September
ChloeHel 5 October
ohCARP 16 October
tigger2022 18 November
fumedup early December

Not posted in a while.

Still taking cyclizine, not actually vomiting anymore - just constant heaving, which although isn’t great it is bearable

Frustratingly I now have a kidney infection too, unsurprising I guess when I can still only sip liquids and have points where I’m heaving as doing so

I’ve lost half a stone in the past few weeks, and my energy levels are zero

Any advice on how to get work to understand how debilitating this can be? I’ve been WFH but my manager keeps putting meetings in my diary for in the office, which I really can’t face as it’s either a long train journey or a long drive - the cyclizine makes me too drowsy to drive, and I can’t face the smells and heaving on the train

Worst case scenario I could get signed off, but I’m reluctant to do so when I can get a lot of my work done from home.

@Trying81 the best comparison is that you have a serious stomach flu. You could also mention that all the advice you have received says you should be signed off completely, so any WFH should be seen as a bonus.
My GP and midwife kindly followed my lead, I was given a doctors note for “reduced hours of only 2hours a day if manageable”, and told to ring immediately if I wasn’t coping with that and would be signed off completely.

@LucindaE thanks for the updated due date list. I’m slowly climbing to the top, but the end still feels very far away. Nausea is pretty stable at a few hours in the morning, and a few hours in the evening, unless I do something silly like have something sweet in the middle of the day, and then I’m nauseous all day.

Tigger2022 Thank you for updating the list.
Melleebacca You are near the top now! I so agree that Trying81's workplace are lucky about the wfh.
Trying81 Might it also be worth attaching advice from websites such as that of Pregnancy Sickness Support?

I don't have much of an update, only that it's 7am and I'm already having such a bad day of it! My doctor messed up my prescription so I've been without tablets since Saturday. Hopefully they arrive today, and until then... survival.

@tigger2022 if you have been prescribed those tablets before then you can request an emergency supply for the pharmacy!

@tigger2022 *from the pharmacy

It’s too early for me 😂

ChloeHel Good advice.

Re: getting signed off, I also didn’t want to be fully signed off as I can work from home. My GP did a ‘fit to work with accommodations’ which included working from home and regular breaks when needed for sickness and vomiting.

Hi all.

Anyone got any advice for a strong metallic taste? The last few days it's constant and it keeps triggering my gag reflex. No idea where it's come from, everything I look at suggests it's common first trimester for at 23+3 I'm well outside that. Not even cleaning my teeth is helping.

Along with that today it's just a general I'm struggling day. Wfh as well, and had the last 2 days off with DD and had a wonderful time but so tired, and just meh, if it wasn't just me and one other working today I'd 100% be calling in sick.

@tigger2022 hope the meds got sorted and today is being a little kinder.

@PopGoesBang can you stomach milk? Milk, sour cream and ice cream help me with funny tastes. I never eat so much dairy as when I'm pregnant!

@ohCARP I'll give it a whirl! I remember having loads of milk with DD - I forgot that. Actually as a household we avoid milk on its own because the cat is like a magnet to it and you can't put it down without a cat head in the glass!! But I can battle with the cat if it takes the taste away!
Thanks.

@PopGoesBang I'm really enjoying the strawberry flavour milk from Asda or sainsburys. I don't think it's been near a strawberry but it tastes so good

PopGoesBang Did sweets - I used to suck old fashioned barley sugar, or those travel sweets in a tin, and some swear by Palma violets - help before? Ha Ha about the cat. My cat used to be the same, and vocal.
Worryant I hope it's a gentle schedule worked out by the GP?
ohCARP Glad the strawberry milkshake is helping. I must add that to the list of drinks: i've got chocolate milkshake, but not other flavours.
Waves to Mellebacca,Tigger2022 and everyone.

@LucindaE it's really good straight from the fridge. I just have to try not to drink too much because milk is fickle and can turn on you when you don't expect it...

@ChloeHel how is your daughter? And how is your conjunctivitis? Bad nights are so hard and the tiredness is even worse when your body is barely coping as it is. My daughter keeps waking at 4am. I think she's having nightmares because she wants to be cuddled back to sleep. I don't mind but the broken sleep hurts the next day!

Hope everyone is well and you all have something nice planned for Easter 🐣

@LucindaE thanks for checking! To be fair my boss is fantastic and would never push me to do anything. He’s really understanding and so far I’ve done work from my bed when I can and that’s been enough.

Am feeling a bit low, I had improved a bit but today I was really sick and nauseous all day. Has anyone encountered real negativity about taking medication? When i said I might start I had real judgement, from parental generation, lots of comments like ‘in my day we got on with it’ and ‘maybe the medications have improved then, it’s your choice to take that risk at the end of the day if you think the medications have got better since my day’. Just feel like if I take them and something (totally unrelated) went wrong it would be held against me forever.

Sorry haven't checked in for a few weeks. Just wondered how you all count vomits? If you vomit 6 times in 1 session is that 1 or 6? I've got covid and feel terrible with an unrelenting fever and it's making my sickness worse, trying to work out if I need to get seen.

@ohCARP I’m much better thanks, DD not so good, think she’s teething again so she’s been very hard! But I’m currently home with my parents for a week for them to help us! Sickness hasn’t been too bad for me, only in the evenings does it ramp up! So I’m praying this is a sign of good things to come! How are you holding up??

@Lou2022 I count just one session no matter how many times I’m sick as just one! I wish I was just sick one time during one session haha, it’s usually about 20 heaves 😂 have you contacted your midwife about the covid? If your aren’t able to to keep any form of fluids down then you may need to go to A&E for IV meds and fluids!

Anyone else find their sickness seems to get worse when you haven't slept great? Or have a million things to do? Ugh. I'be had an awful day today, my uni dissertation is due tomorrow and all I've done is be sick all day. Feeling miserable

@LucindaE You're right sweets did help in the early days, and I found some last night while clearing the paper mountain off the table.

@Worryant I think some of the issue is they forget you aren't just dealing with 'a bit of sickness' and yes, generally the meds have improved. Even in the 9 years since I had my dd. And a mum that can keep enough down to help baby grow and have some energy to function (even at low level) is so important.
Only you can decide on meds, but I've found the GPs really reassuring to talk to and here of course.

@veryberrie Yep. Lack of sleep and being busy are awful for making it all worse.
Stress and emotional moments too. I had an awfully emotional day Sunday. Monday I felt sick all day. I've been awake since 1.30 tonight, tomorrow will be a struggle no doubt. The age old advice - rest as much as you can really is important. Not always practical but important when you can.

@ToCaden I'm getting milkshake tomorrow when I pop to the shops. Essential buying to survive a work day I think!

@veryberrie only 6hrs sleep here, a huge final day at work before Easter, plus hubby is working overtime before he flies out to the states. I’ve been nauseous all day - usually I get a few hours in the middle of the day nausea free. Stress, lack of sleep, not enough rest, all make the HG worse.

@PopGoesBang and @ohCARP so jealous about the milkshakes. They’re so good for HG as they help get good calories and fats into your system. My midwife and nutritionist both encouraged milkshakes. I can’t stomach them this time around, the thought makes my stomach roll, even though I know they will be good for me.

@Worryant oh yes! Im quite vocal about the fact that I’m on medication to keep me alive while pregnant. Im fortunate to have a background in biochemistry so no-one really fights me on it. However people tend to shut up about how I’m not that sick when I say it’s because I’m on meds they give to cancer treatments. I do find older generations to be less sympathetic, but they also weren’t the generations that were trying to work while also raising kids with HG.

Very glad it’s Easter weekend here, and I’m off work for 2wks. Less glad hubby is in the states for the full 2wks.

@Melleebacca oh bless you, I hope you are getting some well deserved rest over the Easter break?

@PopGoesBang oh goodness that sounds horrible, I'm the exact same as you. Please take care. Yeah I've had no sleep basically the past few days due to university commitments, my body is telling me to stop. Going to try and sleep all weekend if I can.

Hope everyone is doing/feeling ok.

Lou2022 Many doctors count each heave as a vomit, so it's best to describe both the separate sessions and the number of heaves for there to be no breakdown of communciation.
ChloeHel That looks hopeful.
worryant I'm glad about the boss. I think the reason for the judgemental attitude among elders is the scandal of 60 years ago about Thalidomide. That would never happen now, with the amount of checks they do on meds for pregnant woman. After it, for many decades, women with Hyperemesis were treated inhumanely because they went too much the opposite way. and were reluctant even to prescribe meds for the most serious cases.. Despite the tiny risk, doctors only prescribe them if they've weighed up the dangers of your having severe, prolonged dehydration against the very small risk from the meds. That's their job; the elders have no right to be judgemental, but I supoose it's based on ignorance. They might do a bit of research!
PopGoesBang I so agree. I'm glad you found sweets.
Mellebacca Sorry to hear OH has to go to the states.
veryberrie Definitely, fatigue makes things much worse. Can you get an extension for the dissertation, as you have a real reason, not the lame excuses people sometimes make to be late with handing in work? I hope your tutors realise how debilitating Hyperemesis is.
I am going away for Easter and will be back on Monday. I have asked someone lovely to call in and help out if she can, but haven't heard back yet. It's been a b it diffcult to get someone, but everyone on here is anyway very good at supporting each other with great advice.

@LucindaE i hope you have a lovely break. Don't worry, we'll look our for each other and look forward to having you back next week.

@Melleebacca Yey for break from work and uh, Yey for screen time to make sure you get some breaks while DH is away?! Hope the balance is ok and you don't over do it.