Sickness at work but it's complicated...

[Shahhhh]

Hi guys!! Bit of a long story. I had a miscarriage in April, I was off work for 8 weeks and have no more sick days left.

Im now 6 weeks pregnant and oh my goodness, the sickness is unbelievable. With my last pregnancy, the only symptom I had was slightly sore boobs. This time it's like I've been hit with a truck 🥲 I don't have any sick days left so I'm really trying to push through. My job is amazingly understanding but I'm finding it hard to concentrate because of the nausea. I could be STARVING but soooo nauseated and not able to eat although I do force myself to get some bits down. It's waking me up at night, just feeling so sick constantly. I'm not complaining because I know there's a beautiful reason and such a blessing behind why I'm feeling like this but I'm struggling to not feel like I'm dying at work ha!

Any tips on sickness? I do work from home which is a huge blessing but my job requires a lot of constant concentration and I'm struggling. Thanks guys 💛

Ginger biscuits? Lemon and ginger tea?

Try sucking on ginger biscuits. I had them by my bed, in my bag, in the car, pretty much everywhere in reach. As soon as the wave hit, even when I couldn’t face it I’d start sucking on a ginger biscuit. It really helped.

So sorry to hear about your miscarriage. When you say you have no sick days left, do you mean you won’t get sick pay if you take more time off?

If you will get sick pay but are worried about triggering too many days off, sick days in pregnancy don’t count towards your sickness record.

I had extreme nausea for 16 weeks or so. Don’t be afraid to get medication from the GP (cyclazine worked well for me). I also used travel sickness bands 24/7. Ginger biscuits etc didn’t work for me and I wanted to throw a packet of them at anyone who suggested them!

If it’s that bad then you could get signed off by a doctor so you are off sick officially ? Your work can’t say you have no sick days left surely if signed off by a doctor ?

I don't think pregnancy related sickness counts as sick leave in the same way. I was signed off for 2 weeks when the nausea was too much.

Travel sickness bands helped a little. Eating when i felt hungry and going by exactly what I felt like, i loved mashed potato, or strong flavours like salt and vinegar crisps.

It doesn’t…..but if you don’t get paid for sick or only a minimal amount , then you left to manage on SSP…..doesn’t matter that you are pregnant

If the OP has used all of Her sick pay she won’t get it for pregnancy related absence. It just won’t count towards any triggers.

Just wanted to add my sympathies and that as strong salt and vinegar crisps were one of the few things that didn't trigger my nausea.

If it's really debilitating, do have a conversation with your GP about medication. There's several your can try and there's no way I could have worked without it. Like a PP I also wanted to throw the biscuits at anyone who suggested ginger or sickness bands to me. I think that can help mild nausea but some pregnancy sickness just needs proper medication.

Thank you all so much! I'm gonna try the ginger biscuits first, I've had that recommended before but I hate them 😂😂😂 first world problems, I know. I'll try them and if not successful I think a trip to the GP is needed!

Have you tried sucking mints?

Just to add, eating ginger biscuits like a normal biscuit didn’t seem to work for some reason and I rarely felt like eating biscuits when nauseous or first thing. But I found if you break them up and just suck on them like a mint, that worked for me.

Try some mints (I went through bags of them). But do go to the doctors- I had HG throughout my pregnancy and I suffered mentally because of it too.

Hope it eases soon for you OP x

I've been struggling with nausea - I've personally found ginger tablets (anti nausea ones from Amazon) somewhat helpful but even more so, eating a dry plain snack like a cracker or some plain salted crisps every 2 hours reduced the nausea which seemed to get worse as my stomach got emptier (as much as I'm off a lot of food atm!).

My midwife also recommended anti sickness wristbands but I haven't given them a go yet.

I've also found sparkling water helpful and so has a family member going through chemo currently. And very mild herbal tea like chamomile or mint especially after I've been sick

I wouldn't waste time with all the ginger/mint stuff. Just go to the doctors and get anti sickness/nausea tablets. Ask to wfh if you can.