Can’t cope with the sickness. Please can somebody recommend anti sickness meds?

[Bumbun]

Third pregnancy, my first I spent months throwing my guts up (most probably was HG) and I was so ill.

Second followed suit but didn’t last very long, luckily it passed after only a few weeks.

This one is looking more like the first pregnancy and I am STRUGGLING. I have two young children to look after and every day is a battle. I really am so down.

I’ve heard that anti sickness meds don’t always work but I’m willing to try this time round. Will make a doctor appointment tomorrow morning but wanted to know what to ask for? I did have cyclizine (intravenously) once and had an awful reaction, so a bit nervous to try that again… although tablet form might not give me the same reaction?

helllllppppppppppp

Ginger. My mum was an old school midwife and she told women that ginger was great for morning sickness.

It showed up in the news paper yesterday I think that it is actually true.

Sorry I can't help except to say I was watching a documentary about cold water swimming and one lady said it worked wonders for morning sickness. Easier said than done with two small children of course! Hope you find some relief soon x

ginger just make my puke sting...

go to the gp. try the meds. they work for many.

Ask for xonvea. It’s very very safe (look it up) and has been around for about 40 years in the US and Canada but has only recently become available in the UK so isn’t always widely known. I got it prescribed by a lovely female GP who clearly knew her stuff and I’m 90% sure has kids of her own. It does make you drowsy which isn’t great and you can still have some residual nausea, but so much better than without. Had to go back for more as she only gave me a trial run, and the older male doctor had never heard of it and told me if I’d gone to him first he’d have just told me to eat some ginger and get on with it! Ginger has always done f-all for me sadly and I really did give it a good go. So do push if you need to, depending on what doctor you get :)

Hi I completely sympathize - I'm the same! I'm currently taking something called xonvea, it's a relatively new one but it is the only one licensed for use in pregnancy so it's very safe. I think it takes the edge off for me so it's not a miracle cure but I am only actually sick once a day now when it was a lot more before I started it. Cyclizine, promethazine etc do nothing for me. Definitely have a word with your GP and see what they can prescribe, pregnancy sickness support are really good for advising which meds and how often etc. Good luck!

I hate meds, reduced the vomiting but not the nausea. Only thing that helped was constantly eating beige carbs

had not hate

Yep, Xonvea. You can take up to 4 pills a day but you will be very sleepy if you take that many. You have to strike a balance between nausea/sickness and drowsiness and find the number that works for you.

With serious sickness, ginger and other home remedies don't even touch the sides.

Hi OP, sorry you’re struggling so much. Xonvea was a game changer for me in my second pregnancy - I avoided admissions this time whereas had several in my first pregnancy. Prochlorperazine and ondansetron also helped me (more first pregnancy when xonvea wasn’t available). Women often find that a combination of medications work better than a single one.

Omeprazole reduces stomach acid and can also help reduce the nausea in combination with anti emetics.

If you get ondansetron make sure you get a laxative too as it’s very constipating and that combined with normal pregnancy constipation plus dehydration can be dreadful.

I was on a combination of xonvea, ondansetron, omeprazole and prochlorperazine throughout my second pregnancy and was able to be mostly functional for the majority of it.

You probably know from first time but try and eat small amounts of bland food or whatever you can stomach often rather than trying to eat big meals.

Pregnancy sickness support is a charity which is really great support and has loads of info on available medications if you want to get more support from them. Their peer support service is super helpful too.

Hang in there OP, there is help available and you won’t feel like this forever.

I know this is well meaning but suggesting ginger for HG levels of sickness is unhelpful - pregnancy sickness support has this info about it on their page

pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk/healthcare-professionals/medications-treatments/

Agree with the Xonvea suggestions. But in my experience, they’ll want you to try cyclizine first. So be prepared to go back and push if cyclizine does nothing.

Hey OP

Ignore the ginger comments (I don't think anyone understands how irritating they can be until they've been through hyperemesis!).

Ondansetron was my saviour, often in combo with cyclizine. Go to the doctor's and beg... I was just given them via a drip in a hospital bed to keep them down before I could begin to keep things down... So if you're at that stage I'm sure they'll get you to where you need to be!

I'm so sorry you're going through it, as you know... It'll be SO WORTH IT XXXXXX

Xonvea. Tell them you don't want to try 5 different meds before they prescribe it. They did that to me and I ended up in hospital on fluids. You want xonvea because its actually made for pregnant people. The others aren't. Can't recommend it enough x

Another one for Xonvea! My GP said it’s the only drug specifically licensed for pregnancy sickness in the UK. They didn’t make me try others first. It didn’t really stop the nausea but it did stop the vomiting, so I felt able to leave the house!

I’d just say (because I’ve seen it mentioned on here) that Ondansetron is associated with a very small risk of heart defects and cleft lip if used in the first trimester. As I say, the risk is very small, but it doesn’t seem worth it to me if other drugs are available that don’t carry the same risk.

I was so unwell in my pregnancy I had to carry carrier bags around everywhere in my pockets, bag, car door etc to be sick in at any random moment. My GP was so cruel to me when requesting anti sickness meds saying I was dramatic, everyone gets nauseous when pregnant, willingly putting my baby at risk if I even considered it etc. She made me so scared to take anything that I struggled for a few months trying to avoid the meds until I was sick so many times one day that I started bringing up blood, my midwife took control of the situation then and prescribed me cyclizine and I'm so glad because it was a god send. I was finally able to enjoy my pregnancy from then on, it didn't cure the sickness 100% but made a massive difference. I know you mentioned having a bad reaction before so it may be a possibility for you. But speak to them about your options, no one should suffer like that and you should be able to enjoy your pregnancy.

OP - pregnancy sickness support has full information on the safety of ondansetron. There was a study showing a very slight increase in risk of cleft palate, but the study was not very robust and the comparators were not very helpful. The study compared women who had HG and took ondansetron against women who didn’t have HG and who didn’t take ondansetron which means it’s impossible to be certain any slight increase in risk of cleft palate was due to the drug.

My consultant this pregnancy who specialises in HG was happy to prescribe it before 12 weeks in cases of severe HG because there are risks to mother and baby of being so severely unwell, and the risks associated with ondansetron are minimal. She also said that by 9 weeks the face and palate are formed so any risk of cleft palate decreases after that gestation in any event.

I’d strongly encourage speaking to or contacting pregnancy sickness support if you want full information about the potential risks as they have really detailed fact sheets they can send to you.

Ask for Xonvea.
Its been a game changer for my Hyperemesis pregnancy.
I was admitted for IV fluids and antiemetics at 8 weeks as I was so dehydrated and the Early Pregnancy Unit gave me Xonvea on prescription.
This was after the GP gave me something basic.
It has literally made my sickness managable and I can function.
Some GP's wont diapense it because of lack of experience with the drug and cost (its something ridiculous like £200 for a box of 20!)
If your GP wont dispense, depending on how far along you are speak to either the early pregnancy unit or maternity triage.
They can sort a prescription. Your community midwife wont be able to help.
Good luck!

https://www.medicinesinpregnancy.org/leaflets-a-z/hyperemesis-gravidarum/

As I understand it, some Trusts are more likely to prescribe Xonvea than others. My Trust haven’t prescribed it before, but I know from speaking with friends that are midwives in neighbouring Trusts they have patients with it on repeat prescriptions.

I have suffered HG throughout my pregnancy, including a couple of spells in hospital on IV fluids and IV anti-emetics.
I now take a combination of Ondansetron (from 14 weeks) and Cyclizine. Sadly nothing I have found truly stops the nausea, but preventing the physical sickness in so far as much as possible goes a very long way to helping you feel able to cope with the days and to function somewhat like a human.

Cyclizine in tablet form is the most common anti-emetic but can be very effective. It is likely they will also offer you Prochlorperazine and Promethazine as part of the ladder. If you are reactive to IV Cyclizine (which I am too), there is a much lesser risk of reaction or allergy to the tablet form. IV Cyclizine blew out multiple cannulas for me and was excruciating at times, but I did stop throwing up!
People will offer their “helpful” opinions, such as asking if you have tried ginger. As someone who took ginger every which way and it came straight back up along with everything else, this wasn’t helpful.
you will find your own coping strategies- such as always having a thick bag for life in every handbag, coat and in the car, plus a separate water bottle and some wipes with a bucket or deep bowl made journeys a bit more bearable. Knowing I can be sick and i can manage the situation goes a long way towards managing the nausea.

pregnancy sickness and support is a great tool, and if you have an unhelpful GP, stand firm, and ask for a different one. You will be ok.

Best of luck!

That's what I took for my HG (though different brand). I took it in the evenings so the drowsiness was actually good as it helped me sleep but the anti-sickness would work through the next day. It wasn't perfect, I was still sick, but it was better than the other anti-sickness meds I tried.

Ginger Ale works a treat when I have a migraine.

Thanks all. It is really bad and I’m struggling, to the point where I’m unsure I can get through it with 2 little ones to look after. It’s debilitating.

It isn’t easy to get an appointment with the gp but I’ve put in a request online and will be asking for Xonvea. Might have to go to the walk in clinic if the gp can’t see me but dreading sitting in the waiting area like this.

If I eat I just throw up what I have eaten so at the moment I’m starving myself all day (just sipping on water) and then having a small meal late afternoon once I feel it’s subsided enough for me to eat. I don’t know if this is making it worse but I hate throwing up food.

Xonvea is quite expensive so GPs can be reluctant to prescribe. Be absolutely clear that that’s the one you want, it’s definitely worth it!

try to eat something that doesn't hurt on the way out. custart cremes or other biscuits worked for me.
still puking but eating meant less bile.