Morning sickness vs HG?

[Sazzles169]

Struggling to understand what would class as bad enough morning sickness to get medication / worry about potential HG.

Can anyone share advice?

7 weeks. GP does not know im pregnant yet so I have no midwife yet. Am throwing up about 3 times a day but mainly spit, not food. Dizzy/nauseous pretty much whenever im awake. Even a 5 min car ride sets me off :(

Firstly, congratulations!!

Secondly, at 7 weeks I would be informing GP/midwife services so they can get your booking appointment sorted.

Thirdly, regardless of whether it is "just" morning sickness or progresses to HG, medication is a legitimate request if it is affecting your ability to function in your day-to-day life! In which case, you need to inform the GP.

For what it is worth, my personal experiences of HG (2 pregnancies) are that it is thoroughly debilitating until the right medication combination is found. Even after finding a decent medication regime, I'm nearing the end of my second pregnancy and still reliant on it to function daily. I have the occasional day where I feel normal but most of the last 8 months have left me feeling ill and unable to eat as normal.

My first pregnancy I was treated for HG and I was sick a lot less than you. Maybe once every other day? But I was completely unable to function, eat any food or drink fluids and ultimately I was becoming dehydrated with ketones in urine. I tried my hardest and I could not drink any fluids, water smelt and tasted like what I imagine public toilet water would taste and smell like. I lost 5lbs between weeks 6-12 (I was skinny to start with!) The nausea was THAT bad. I had fluids, steroid injections and they put me on anti sickness meds. To be honest nothing really felt better until I got to 14-16 weeks. Currently 11 weeks into my second pregnancy, and I would definitely say this time I have morning sickness and not HG. I still feel like death all day every day, and I am dry heaving feeling sick. I’ve been sick 4 times over the last 4 weeks (mainly when I overdo it) but I am able to eat food daily, I have an appetite even though it’s small, and I am drinking normally with it staying down. I still think if I requested anti sickness meds I’d be given them to help the nausea. That’s just my personal experience between my 2 pregnancies with the first one having been diagnosed with HG. And that’s also not to dismiss “morning sickness” because that’s definitely what I have now, and it is still absolute misery 😂. A midwife told me when I was in being treated for HG to literally clock watch and survive every hour until bed time. Weirdly it did help? Even so, there’s loads they can do for sickness and nausea now so if you’re feeling like absolute turd, advocate for yourself and get treated! You don’t need to be at a point of dehydration and needing a drip with HG to have some help x

I had hyperemesis in 3 pregnancies and normal levels of sickness in the fourth.

For me the distinction was being able to function, two of the pregnancies was the vomiting everything between 9am and 4pm mostly able to keep down dinner. The third I was fine as long as I didn't move. There was one day when I was sick 5 times at the GP surgery when I went to get antiemetics but once I got home and lay very still on the sofa I wasn't sick for the rest of the day and had only low levels of nausea until I had to move again

The fourth pregnancy I was nauseous on and off, sick if I exerted myself but I'm between times I could mostly function as normal. This was not possible with my other pregnancies. Just in case I was on antiemetics in this pregnancy too as I had had two pregnancies with hyperemesis in the previous 6 months and it has taken its toll on my body. They took it to nothing and if I forgot a dose I was then nauseous and occasionally sick in the afternoon

For me with HG, I was vomiting all day every day (up to 30 times a day)and couldn't keep anything down, even water. Might pay to check in with your doctor.

By 7 weeks you should have already self referred to local midwife services and they should be arranging your booking appointments and putting things in place for your first scan and bloods etc.

I have had 2 HG pregnancies.
Both very different.
Pregnanvy 1 i was sick roughly 10 times before work in the mornings. Nausea lasted the majority of the day and eased up around 5pm. Then all I wanted was a mcdonalds cheeseburger!
Ibwas medicated for this pregnancy but only from 20 weeks because my midwife kept telling me the sickness was normal and to be expected. I knew no different but lost 2stone by this point because i just couldnt eat much.

Pregnancy 2 the sickness started immediately but was mild in the mornings and severe from 2pm onwards. I would vomit continiously until my stomach hurt. I was medicated from 6 weeks this time and ended up on the highest dose of medication possible.
I stayed nedicated for the whole pregnancy and the sickness stopped as soon as my son was born.
10 days post birth i weigh 6kgs less than I did before i got pregnant so had a rough time again on the eating front.

If your nausea/vomiting is impacting your life, get treatment. Dont be a hero. Do what makes you feel more human!