Hyperemesis without medication???

[sageandrose]

Hi, I’m just wondering if anyone has managed to successfully get through hyperemesis without the medication?

this is my third pregnancy with hyperemesis, but first in the U.K. (I’m British, but had my oldest two in the US). In the US I was offered medication many times, but when I said I didn’t want it, they always understood. Instead I was placed on a programme of regular IVs. Obviously, I felt horrific, but I got through.

However, now that I’m in the U.K. I’m experiencing things very differently. Drugs are again being pushed (more than in America?!?!), but nothing else seems to be available. I was sent to hospital yesterday for rehydration as I had very high ketones. I felt like the nursing staff weren’t listening to my desire to try and do this without medication and made me wait 13 hours before giving me the IV. It was as if they were punishing me/keeping it ransom until I agreed to the drugs.

im not saying the drugs are terrible and I know they do so so much good for so many. It’s just that any kind of medication always makes me apprehensive and as I’ve managed it twice without before, I thought I could do the same again (I also have a ridiculously high sense of fairness, so I feel guilty medicating this baby when I didn’t my previous two - sure that sounds ridiculous).

has anyone else managed to successfully do this without drugs? Or successfully advocate for different treatment in the U.K.? I feel like I’m being bullied into drugs or nothing :(

Thanks in advance x x x x

I'm not sure that the nurses would have been deliberately making you wait because you're reluctant to take drugs. My daughter was recently admitted with HG and she waited ages despite begging people for drugs!

It would have been impossible for her to manage without medication, she's now on a cocktail of three different meds and is doing much better, but her experience was very different to yours - she really had to battle for drugs and felt people were reluctant to prescribe them.

If you think you can manage then of course you should try. I have huge sympathy for people with HG, even more so when people have little ones already. Good luck 💐

I had HG in my previous pregnancy. Due to covid I saw no one and probably (definitely) should have been admitted for fluids.

I was prescribed medications however some I could smell before even opening the packet, yet alone swallow, and others did not work. I gave up asking.

so I’ve done it in the UK but had absolutely no support from anyone. The midwife would just ask if it had stopped yet and it would soon and that was it.

I doubt they deliberately made you wait. Sadly this is the state of the NHS now. People die who could otherwise have lived, purely because of delays being seen in hospital or even having an ambulance show up in time.

I expect you will be pushed towards drugs as this is cheaper for the NHS than regularly admitting you for a drip., It’s your right to decline medication, but you may find you need to go in and wait hours and hours to rise to the top of the pile to be seen for a drop each time.

I’m guessing you’ve tried alternative approaches like acupuncture and hypnotherapy?

You're entitled to make that choice but fluids are only ever going to be a short term fix. The medications won't cure the sickness but the right combination will help. Medication will come with some risk but regularly allowing yourself to get in to ketosis is dangerous for you and your baby.

I had 8weeks where I went in to hospital every other day for fluids. By the end of those 8 weeks my veins were absolutely shot from cannulas. This was alongside cyclizine and ondansetron.

Talk to pregnancy sickness support (charity). They are brilliant and will help you advocate for yourself.

Do you really thrill that they deliberately left you because you declined meds? That's insane. No of course they didn't go 'oh sage and rose doesn't want any medication leave her Til the end of the day, that'll teach her' the vitriol towards nhs staff is insane at the moment. More likely they offered you medication, you declined and then they had to get a dr to change the plan of action. They're busy. They have multiple patients. Not just you. I doubt they could care less if you don't want medication, your pregnancy your choice and all that

To suggest that they deliberately left you is offensive.

More likely that they had to find a dr to put a cannula in your arm to give you iv fluids

Pay for private care if you want regular iv fluids on tap and at your demand

I’ve had hg 3 times and the 3rd was the worst by far, there’s absolutely no way I could’ve got through without the many medications and fluids. I was still suffering until my emcs and there’s no way I’d ever do it a 4th time.
each to their own but I don’t see the point in being so ill when it can be helped

I have to say I agree that if you are declining the standard recommended therapy that are known to be safe and effective (medications), then sorry but you don't then have a right to demand an alternative less effective therapy (IV fluids) from a state funded health service and expect it to be delivered in a timely way.

The NHS is there as a safety net and has to prioritise the most unwell patients first. If you let yourself get so unwell that you then need IV fluids to protect you and baby from dehydration then of course the NHS will step in, but don't expect it to be your private healthcare service.

You need to prioritise your baby and take the medication. Your guilt is very misplaced.

@SouthwestSis I was on three different antiemetics and I still needed to be admitted for an IV. It’s not always a case of “letting yourself get so unwell that you need them”.

OP - I totally understand where you’re coming from, but unless you have the money to deal with this privately you’re going to have to work with the system you’re in. I was very reluctant to take medication for my Hyperemesis but was eventually persuaded to when a doctor explained that I was putting my baby at risk by not doing it. I simply wasn’t getting enough goodness into my body to look after him. In an ideal world all of your babies would be treated the same way, but even if you were still in the US you couldn’t guarantee that as no pregnancy is the same!

Wishing you lots of luck with it all. I’ve never felt so sick as I did when I was pregnant so I’m in awe that you’ve done it three times!

I'm so sorry, HG is just the worst. I've only had one child so far. I went on medication because I couldn't stop vomiting, I was completely helpless. Then at 14 weeks I started to feel a bit better so I came off them.

Within a few days it hit me, I have never felt so horrendous and ended up back in hospital because I couldn't keep the medication down long enough to stop being sick, just to drink something.

It was only when I got to around 30 weeks that I could manage without it anymore.

I truly understand the aversion to taking drugs, but for me, I couldn't have managed.

You know what you can and can't manage. You need to weigh up what is the lesser of the two evils and go with your instinct.

I had read that HG can get worse with subsequent pregnancies. Please don't feel that you are letting your child down if you take the medication, you aren't.

Anecdotal but me and my daughter are both healthy, we have a lovely drug free birth at home and we have also experienced a positive breastfeeding journey (still ongoing).

Have you looked at the site Pregnancy Sickness Support?

Also, I have read that the earlier you take the medication the better it can work to control the vomiting.

They way I stopped taking it at 14 weeks was a mistake and it actually made it significantly worse. But I didn't want to take the pills and I couldn't have known what would happen.

Got through it with no help during covid (2nd pregnancy. No sickness at all with 1st so it was a surprise). It started before my booking appointment so they refused to see me as I wasn't "officially" pregnant yet and then I couldn't see a midwife in person until I was over 30 weeks and it had calmed down slightly. Fobbed off over the phone and told to eat ginger biscuits in between. We were both ok but I wouldn't wish it on anybody and if I ever do it again I'll be banging on the doors and refusing to leave until I'm medicated into next week. Up to you OP but I think you're crackers.

I could never have gotten through HG without meds, it has genuinely been the worst time of my life (33 weeks and still get bad days!) never ever ever will I have a baby again and this is my first! Totally up to you but managing on IV fluids alone would be pretty time consuming for you being in A&E all of the time.

Unfortunately I couldn’t have gotten this far (29 weeks) without the licensed medication Xonvea.

I too went to A&E at around 12 weeks for IV rehydration and had to wait 6 hours. Sadly it’s nothing to do with the fact you didn’t want meds, it’s just A&E are understaffed everywhere. So be prepared to wait for that amount of time every time you need fluids :(

You could try taking vitamin b6 - it’s meant to massively help with sickness and is one of the excipients in the antiemetic I take!