very severe hyperemesis - what treatment did you have?

[tatt]

A friend had this in her first pregnancy - she even threw up during last stages of labour - and is now suffering again (and in hospital). What did other people have that helped?

Kathy- Ha! The "Ginger Biscuit" reflex - that used to really wind me up too. The best was when I was admitted for the maybe the 3rd time, I was sobbing, but as I was so dehydrated there were no tears, lying down with my head on dh's lap as I had no energy to sit up straight saying "if something awful happens and we lose this baby I don't want to get pregnant again, can we stick at just ds will you still love me?" (v that I said that as this baby is very much wanted) and a midwife said "Ah I had morning sickness too have you tried Ginger Biscuits". I would normally have given her my Paddington Bear Very Hard Stare but just nodded my head and cried harder!

Can laugh at it now I was so pathetic but at the time when you're in the middle of it is dreadful. To begin with I was scared I was going to die, then I was scared I wasn't going to die!

"To begin with I was scared I was going to die, then I was scared I wasn't going to die"

that summed up EXACTLY how i felt!!
Although in retrospect i am glad i am still alive

I agree, Minkus. There were times I really regretted getting pregnant, and I look at my children now and wonder how I could have ever felt that way.

I considered a termination in the darkest days of being told that "there was nothing that can be prescibed safely" or "its all in the mind" or "have you tried ginger biscuits ?".

I felt I wanted to go to sleep and not wake up just to end the misery of it all.

Cyclizine saved me the first time and ondansetron the second. My teeth however have suffered from all the acidic vomitting and being unable to open my mouth to brush my teeth properly without starting yet more vomitting which defeated the object of brushing teeth in the first place. The 12 montsh of free dental treatment that you get after the birth has been nowhere near long enough for me, I suspect I will be paying the price in additional dental treatment for a few years yet.

If your friend is in hospital she has made it over the first hurdle of GP's who know very little about how dangerous HG can be and how absolutely ill the associated dehydration can make you feel. When she gets home she needs friends and family to come and entertain her other child to allow her to lie down/sleep as much as possible although once I was sorted out from hospitalisation I was able to go back to work but I did fall into bed almost as soon as I got home most evenings.

Thank you all - some useful tips about suppositories and tablets that dissolve

After the last time I hope her gp is being more supportive!

I think that most people consider termination with propper HG, I know I did and I also just wanted to die to, which would take that decision away from me.

I was very lucky in that I had an understanding consultant, with a forward thinking attitude. How can you take oral tablets, when you are vomitting.

Minkus Thank you my boys are beautiful and I was really blessed with them.

I think that in my darkest days it was DH that got me through, he was by my side every step of the way, getting me anything I fancied to eat or drink.

Maske sure that you do what works for you.

My teeth too have suffered with all the vomitting, also I had to have my gall blader removed at 20 weeks pregnant with DS1, due to a major attack. I found the best time for me was the four weeks from 22 to 28 weeks. It was so funny everyone thought I was terminally ill at work, they couldnt get over how bad I looked - he he he

The first month after the birth I ate for england - it was so nice to to feel sick or be sick

Avomine and rehydration drip worked for me, but several meds failed first... it takes abit of trying to find the right one for each eprson.

Used to help on an info line for www.bloomingawful.org.uk (hyperemesis site) and zofran seemed the most universally successful, some people who responded to nothing else found relief of sorts through homeopathy though- wortha go (have a look at kerry's story o0n that website, she founded the site and homeopathy was right for her)

Your poor friend . I've had it 4 times and last threw up after delivery Monday morning- one of the best things about family now being complete, never facing that agin

hey all,i suffered hyperemisis with my 3 prengancies which lasted from 4 weeks right through to the day i had them.
last time wasnt quite so bad but i was still in hospital for 3 weeks.
i've just found out im 4(nearly 5) weeks preg again and im dreading the sickness coming back,atm i know it probably will come back,but am just putting off thinking about whats going to happen if it does come back as hubby cant take time off work,and i have a 2yo and a nearly 4yo to look after.

its so nice that other people actually suffer it too.the first time i was preg i was treated like an idiot and told it was all in my head,they didnt give me ANY tablets/medication to take when i left hospital,they just told me o drink water.
2nd time they gave me cyclazine which didnt help and told me it was the only thing i could take.
last time they gave my metaclopamide(sp) which helped a little,but again said it was that or cyclazine again,
its good to hear im not daft and other people do suffer.
if i do end up sick this time i am going to go to docs and demand they give me something that works!(even if just a little)lol

Loads of brilliant advice here . I had HG 2 out of 3 pregnancies and just want to add my experience of the MorningWell CD was NOT a positive one. It certaintly does something as after 5 mins in I was violently sick, far worse than usual, so maybe it triggers something in reverse for some people?!! Also had a horrendous saliva problem that lasted entire pregnancy - literally had to carry a glass round with me, or a tissue to spit in if at midwife appointment etc

so many familiar stores here. HG is absolute mental and physical torture.

I have suffered with HG twice. With ds, rehydration in hospital and cyclazine helped, but with dd it was so bad I had a termination booked at 12 weeks.

I had lost 2 stone, my skin was flaking off, my hair falling out, my eyes were yellow and I had thick fur all over my tounge. I couldnt wash or brush my teeth, it really did feel like I was dying.

Two days before the termination my mum put me in touch with one of the volunteers from 'blooming awful' who literally saved dd's life. She was the first person i had spoken to who understood what i was going through. She also told me to ask the gp for zofran (ondansetron) which hadnt even been mentioned to me! Luckily it helped and although the nausea remained, the constant vomiting subsided.

I now have a gorgeous dd (born 8lb 5oz and as healthy as can be!!) but there's no way I could get pregnant again.

Just having people to talk to who have been through the same thing helps enormously.

I hope your friend is getting the treatment she needs xx

totally agree about the Morningwell CD, had the same (disastrous) effects on me!
What a waste of £20+..

lol,its just nice to find other people who know what its like,my oh's family dont seem to realise its not just a wee bit of morning sickness,and they managed to convince him it was mostly in my mind,however last time,he was around a lot more as hee took time out from work to look after ds,and he reaslised how bad i was,
im just really hoping it doesnt get so bad this time,hopefully though now i know theres more than one type of medication to help,i will find something that suits.

thank you all - don't think I'll treat her to the CD then!

My morning sickness started 2 days ago, and last pregnancy I had hyperemesis till the early 20s weeks, then just a lot of sickness, then hg again from 28 weeks to the end. It was 'fine' last time because I just lounged around eating ice pops and getting up to vomit after I'd finished them, but this time I have an energetic 16 month old. Have just started acupuncture - it made me feel great while it was happening, but the feeling died about 10 minutes later. How often should acupuncture be done to have an effect? This is a stupid question because you obviously wouldn't have taken them otherwise, but how safe are the drugs people have taken? Do the drs give warnings along with them? Am praying this will just be morning sickness, but still feeling sick all day long and that is making my toddler quite sad already, I can tell. When I was sick this morning she cried. And last time around I was always fainting over the loo, hitting my head repeatedly on the seat until I snapped out of it. I'm really terrified of doing that with my child around .

dirtygertie your experience sounds so much like mine, the hair, the skin, the tongue, the eyes andI lost 2 stone too (normally I'd be delighted!)..... I have to admit to some pretty dark thoughts too, especially since my mum and my consultant thought I was just making a fuss about nothing. DH was there every minute of visiting time that he wasn't as work, that really helped and my MIL sent a very technical medical preganancy book that detailed HG enough to convince my disbeliving mum that it was it's own condition, not just a bit of morning sickness. Made me feel better too, just seeing it written up as an "illness". Then I discovered the Blooming Awful website, which really helped too. I didn't ring them, but just reading about it helped me realise that I was ill aswell as pg and not going mad. Bay is due in September - my first - bump now showing after weight loss and beginning to get exited!

EBenes oh god I'd forgotten that mine came back towards the end last time There was me feeling smug that at 27 weeks it had passed!

AHLH - glad youre starting to recover Its amazing how little effect it has on the babies - little parasites!

Good luck for the rest of your pregnancy!

Ebenes - its so much harder the second time around with another child to look after. I put my lo in playgroup every morning and was lucky enough to have family / friends / neighbours etc to help in the afternoons.

Personally i found anti-emetics a total life saver. with regards to safety, no drug is totally 100% safe, but you have to weigh up the risks - dehydration is fatal so then the benefits of the drug would outweigh the risk iyswim.

I've now taken some Avomine and think I may already feel better - I still feel sick but am not getting water-brash and am not BEING sick. Yesterday I was dry retching from the moment I did my post till the moment I fell asleep and this morning I was so dehydrated I couldn't walk in a straight line.

Yesterday a friend of my mother's came round - her daughter is pregnant - and when I apologised for having to go and be sick, she said 'Oh, my daughter doesn't DO morning sickness'.

glad your feeling a bit better Ebenes. Keep an eye on it though, if you think you are dehydrated you must see a doctor, it can be really dangerous for you and the baby otherwise.

Regarding your friends daughter - lets hope she 'does' varicose veins, piles and constipation instead!

do be careful of dehydration, its the only thing about hg that presents a genuine long term physical risk (as opposed to mental health, depression post- hg pg being not uncommon).

risk of drugs- there's no procedure for testing drugs on pg women, ethically you'd never get that past a panel, so no guarantees but so many have been used for years that they are generally considred safe if not proven to be, even zofran is a few years old now, andomine has been sold over the counter as a travel sickness remedy for years. but there are no guarantees it's true- although it has to be safer than end up unconscious and alone and going into dehydration coma....

Ebenes I do hope you start to feel better. Meds didn't stop me feeling sick, or being occasionally sick, but they did mean I could eat and drink. Second Peachy on the dehydration, you should get yourself checked out.I know going on a drip isn't appealing, but they gave me fluids, anti-emetics and vitamins all in one go and it did make me feel much better. Totally sympathise on the visitors front. The number of people who tried to tell me is was a case of mind over matter AAARRGH

my unsympathetic (female) GP tried to tell me it was all in the mind, although I later read somewhere that this is what GPs were taught about HG some years ago.

She assumed that I was angling for her to sign me off work for a couple of weeks and assured me that working would take my mind off the sickness (I don't think she actually believed I was throwing up as much as I told her I was).

When I replied that I very much wanted to go to work every day, indeed it was essential that I could keep my work going, being signed off for a couple of weeks was simply not an option, she changed her tack and said the sickness was caused by working and I should rest up in bed for a couple of weeks.

Tiredness aggravates the nausea and throwing up, she was right there but she simply wasn't interested in finding any way of helping me. Thank heavens for the reclusive GP of the practice who hardly sees any patients, he must spend all his time on research and reading about medical matters because he understood that I had a genuine problem and took me seriously.

Keep sipping fluids as dehydration is a foul thing that kind of sneaks up on you and makes you feel absolutely awful. Once you start to be dehydrated you feel sicker and the downward spiral speeds up.

It is true that HG was thought to be a psychiatric illness years ago, sadly this is still beleived by some GPs. I found that getting mothers to take in print outs from webistes such as blooming awful to theor GP helped a lot with this, but the old school ones do still exist sadly.

I may be very cynical, but does anyone else find that many 'women's complaints' were / are thought to be in the mind?