Nausea - ask for help or just part of being pregnant?

[Foxtrotbeta]

I'm only 6+4 but I have felt nauseous 24/7 for more than 3 weeks, even before the positive test. The only respite is when I'm asleep. I have only been sick 3 times but the nausea just lingers constantly. I am trying lots of different techniques but nothing works for more than 10 minutes or so.

Is this just what to expect in pregnancy and put up with it, or worth asking my GP for some medicine? Do those medicines work for nausea or are they more for when you're actually vomiting?

Ask for help. I didn’t want to in my first pregnancy and the sickness ramped up and I was really sick for months. Now 36+6 with DC2 and I’ve been on anti-sickness and ompephrozole from around 6 weeks. Nausea, wrenching and sickness are all awful. I found ice lollies, ice cold fluids (water or full fat cola for me) worked. Also eating little and often, I know this is really hard!

Ask for help! I had awful nausea although the vomiting was never problematic. Saw my GP and got meds - they didn't take it away completely but definitely allowed me to function

I actually think the nausea can be worse than vomiting (I've had both). Constant nausea is not normal morning sickness and its worth contacting your GP to discuss trying some medication. I tried everything and unfortunately none of the medications or hone remedies made any difference to the nausea..only reduced the vomiting slightly.
Have a look at 'pregnancy sickness support' website they are a great charity and have so much advice. Also maybe check out the RCOG nausea and vomiting in pregnancy guidelines (easy to find on google) which have just been updated - the appendix at the end are helpful to gauge how serious it is.
My tips would be as much rest as possible, very cold drinks or hot (sipping hot ribena helps me), sour sweets, ice lollies, flat full fat coke and chewing gum (I chew the spearmint sugar free gum any time I'm not eating or drinking and it suppresses the nausea slightly). I really hope you get some improvement soon - I really empathise with you, it is absolutely awful!

Hi I’m currently 17weeks and have had 24/7 nausea since 6/7weeks, however since 11weeks it’s really ramped up that I felt really unwell with it. I was on prochlorperazine 1st but found it helped at the start but then didn’t, last week got moved onto cyclazine. The 1st couple of days I was that drowsy I thought I can’t carry on with this it made me feel so rubbish, however I managed to just take 1 in the evening before bed and I’m feeling better than I was and managing a bit more sleep. It’s an awful feeling so I know exactly how you feel, please don’t worry about getting help though, it’s best to start early to get them in your system x

Ask for help- but be prepared there might not be much they can do.
I was sick 24/7 until nearly 20 weeks and nothing really helped. In hospital due to dehydration. Lost weight. I'm now 29 weeks pregnant and loads better, and piled extra weight on haha.

I got annoyed at people constantly telling me it'll be better by 12 weeks, then 14, 16 and so on.

But it'll be worth it in the end. Good luck xx

Hey! If you feel you are unable to do daily activities I would contact the doctor. I ended up in hospital on an IV. I was sick 24 7 and it came to a point I felt like I was dying. There is plenty of difference anti sickness mess that can be prescribed. Some worked for me and some didn't. I'm due in around 4 weeks and I do still get a bit of morning sickness but it eased off around 30 weeks.

Thanks everyone, I've contacted my GP and have a call booked at 3pm.

Hyperemesis is so debilitating there's a dedicated charity for it. Please don't suffer if you can get suppprt x

I'm having the same thing. It's a horrible sensation that's making me feel like I can't determine whether I feel sick or hungry. I'm tying to eat little and often but it only brings temporary release. I'm 6+4. I didn't experience this with my first so all very new.

Update: I spoke to the GP. I felt like she wasn't sympathetic, telling me sickness is just part of pregnancy. She prescribed me cyclizine, but with a very mixed message, suggesting they aren't recommended In pregnancy and I should only take them if nothing else is working.
I think she wasn't as worried because I'm not actually vomiting, but I was trying to explain how debilitating the nausea is, feeling like I will be sick 24/7.

@Foxtrotbeta sorry to hear you've not really got anywhere. It's really debilitating when it's constant. The only respite I'm getting at the moment is when I'm asleep but if I wake up for the loo it kicks in again.

Speak to Pregnancy Sickness Support charity if the Cyclizine doesn't help. I don't think it will to be honest from experience and also they are highly sedating for most people, I hope the GP warned you of that! I couldnt function on it at all.

I had the same experience with quite a few of the doctors I spoke with. Almost like they didn't really want me to take the medication. I think they just genuinely don't understand hyperemesis unfortunately. It's really poorly understood. The PSS charity is very reassuring in terms of the safety of medication so please be reassured by them. I really hope you feel better soon.

GPS hate dealing with this in my experience. However cyclizine did work for me for a while. But I had to get it from a hospital.

I collected the cyclizine this morning, the pharmacist said it's absolutely fine and very reassuring. Pointed me to the reference on NHS website.
I took it at 10am and then pretty quickly felt drowsy, slept 3 hours from 12-3!

It does seem to have helped the nausea but sleeping in the day is a difficult trade off!

I'm pretty nauseous at 7 weeks, but not enough to take anything, and I cannot sleep all day... hot water with lemon is really helping!

Sorry you had such a pants experience with your GP :( Mine also prescribed Cyclizine at 6/7 weeks and was very kind, explained how it worked and said to come back if it's not strong enough to try other things. For me it did a great job of knocking the worse of the nausea on the head and combined with seabands and snacks has seen me through to nearly 13 weeks.

I’m really surprised that you’ve been prescribed anything just for nausea without actual vomiting! I’m 32 weeks pregnant now but had horrific nausea early in pregnancy and was being sick a couple of times a day and when I spoke to the GP & midwife about it was told that they wouldn’t give anything unless I was actually being sick a minimum of 4 times a day! Hopefully it helps you

Currently pregnant with third. Back on the cyclizine at 6 weeks. Had to graduate to something stronger with second child but so far ok at the moment. I don't have much actual sickness, but GP has always been amazing at understanding the mental health effect on constant strong nausea day and night. It's sometimes called dry Hyperemesis Gravidarum. And I literally could not have coped without the drugs each time, it is so debilitating.

I agree about the mental health. I was starting to feel very low, I could not think about anything else because I felt so sick all the time. And couldn't do my job. I actually had a few moments at the beginning of this week where I wished I wasn't pregnant so I could just stop feeling nauseous for 5 mins.

Giving you my sympathies! It is awful and such a very long time when you are in it and suffering 24/7. The nausea is definitely worse than the vomiting. I was literally just in survival mode for 12 weeks which is a looong time. I didn't take any meds because I couldn't risk the absolute exhaustion due to work commitments that I just suffered thru. I considered abortion so many times. Truly it was awful and someone who hasn't been there cannot understand. Hugs!!

For anyone who doesn’t know whether their nausea/sickness counts as mild, moderate or severe, I got this from the Pregnancy Sickness Support website and it’s a really simple way of working it out.