Drugs for morning sickness & tiredness

[CycleGirl20]

I'm on my 3rd type of morning sickness drugs. All so far have been like taking sleeping pills. The second and third time I explicitly asked for non-drowsy because I have to work leading a team, look after my 1 year old and drive my car. For some reason they keep ignoring me and giving me drowsy ones. I was kind of expecting it this time so at least I took them on Saturday night so DH could look after DD if it happened again, which it has.

I had no morning sickness with DD, but this time I'm throwing up and nauseous a lot. I've been avoiding eating so I'm not sick in front of people and now and then I've made myself sick to try to fit it in between meetings or calls.

Is this what pregnancy is like for everyone else? Was I just lucky with DD? I have to start early and work 3/4 time and then have my daughter 4-5 hours after that on my own, so I really can't fit in throwing up or having to sleep 😞.

I'm only 7 weeks so too early to tell my work.

Yes unfortunately, you were lucky you had no sickness with your previous pregnancy. Anti sickness tablets can make you drowsy, it’s not that the doctors were ignoring your request for something non drowsy. They also don’t work for everyone. Hopefully by 12-16 weeks you should be over the worst, although some do suffer for the whole pregnancy.

Yes you were probably lucky. No drs don't ignore you for the fun of it, unfortunately most of the anti sickness meds that are safe for baby are sedating, we don't prescribe stuff to annoy you, more to keep you/baby safe.

Cyclizine,ondansetron, metoclopramide, domperidone are the only non sedating ones. Rest sedate (albeit variable between people, hardly any sedate me) so you'll either have to see which sedate you the less or decide if nausea/sedation is worse unfortunately

https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/nausea-vomiting-in-pregnancy/

Thanks. I think I might be quite sensitive to the sedative effect. I've had to go back to bed today twice already.

Anyone got any tips for managing the sickness without drugs, other than ginger, which doesn't seem to work too well for me

It depends how sick you’re being but for me if I was avoiding eating it would be making my nausea 10x worse and make me more likely to throw up so if you’re able to eat with out immediately throwing it back up I would really recommend trying to eat little and often to help the nausea. same with keeping hydrated (hard when you feel so sick I know) but I found that if I could be more hydrated it helped a little.

When you’re in the thick of it there isn’t tonnes you can do to help it and different foods and flavours work differently for different people but I think bland carbs are usually quite safe, and fizzy drinks can help take the edge off it too. Sorry I’m not sure if any of that is helpful, you will probably have to ride it out a little bit but hold on to the hope that the worst of it does pass for most people. I’m 16 weeks now and whilst I’m still a little nauseous it’s nothing like what it was in the first trimester. I hope it eases for you soon

Also if you’re really struggling take a couple of weeks off work on sick leave, with another child to look after and working it really leaves little time to rest and resting could also help ease the nausea a little. I have a toddler and work too and it’s been so much harder to get on top of the nausea and sickness this time round for that reason! I tried the meds too but the drowsiness was too much for me so I chose the ride it out route and I’m lucky that the nausea has reduced now

I was so sick (Hyperemisis Gravidarum) that the only drug that really has any effect was IV cyclizine, which had to be administered in hospital, but this has the side effect of bring very "trippy".

If sickness is affecting your ability to work, then you do know that pregnancy related sick leave must be recorded separately and can not be used against you?!

Thank you @New22iht . I feel like I'm going crazy being so exhausted this time around. But this time having a toddler already is making it so much harder. I used to nap on my lunch break last time too because I was WFH due to Corona. This time, I only work 6 hours so don't even have a break.

@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads I'm worried about telling my work and then losing the baby or something. I'm only 6.5 weeks, although I did see a heartbeat at 6 weeks. But still

@CycleGirl20, I do understand that, I really do, but if your pregnancy is having that much of an impact on you, it might be best to tell one or two people in confidence, so your work can do a risk assessment. Then you can also take sick leave, and have it recorded as pregnancy related. No need for big announcements.