Pregnancy Sickness and HG Support Thread

[Hotchocolate4]

Many years ago there was a lovely lady that had an ongoing pregnancy sickness and HG support thread which was amazing. It really helped me through some of my darkest months.

I wanted to start this thread incase there is anyone who needs support or help with any level of pregnancy sickness to horrible HG level.

An amazing UK charity is: https://pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk

Medication
If you go to the GP you should be offered a first line medication (there are then second and third line moving up the ladder if other medications aren’t helping). Medications can be combined and if you aren’t feeling better in 4/5 days go back to the GP and ask for something different.

Urine / Ketones
Most hospitals use to only admit when your ketones are 4+ (severe dehydration) but luckily most have now changed to how you feel as a patient.

General Tips

• pick foods that are easy on the stomach
• don’t worry about nutrition - any fluids / food are winner (words from my consultant)
• ice lollys are your friend
• rest as much as possible, tiredness makes sickness worse

Disclaimer
There are lots of women who terminate a wanted baby due to HG, there is no shame or judgement here, if an additional support thread is needed for this I am happy to set this up.

Anyone struggling mentally or physically please join for support and knowing you aren’t alone 🥰

Hi. Heartbreaking to read that many of you are still not being listened to by medical professionals. The previous HG thread got me through 2 HG pregnancies in 2017 and 2021. Was it a “Lucinda”?
I am a seasoned veteran. I took ondansetron, cyclizine, promethazine, metoclopramide and prochloperazine most days throughout both pregnancies and was also on steroids in my second pregnancy - I went from a size 14/16 to a size 10/12 in pregnancy. Lost 2 stone! Xonvea was only getting started towards to end of my second pregnancy but that sounds like it is really helping people. You have to find what works for you - getting fluids in is so hard. There’s a lot of good advice on here. The only thing that helped me was eating the old fashioned potato side “smash”. It has a really high water content so although I couldn’t drink fluids, I would keep a bowl of made up “smash” next to me in bed and spoon it in at regular intervals and even if I vomited, the vomit was pretty OK due to the consistency. I think “smash” + anti sickness meds saved my life. The mental and physical toll of this is like nothing else. Keep asking for help! Keep pushing and get those meds!

Thank you so much for this thread. I am unexpectedly pregnant again (7w), my youngest is 13months and i had awful HG with him.
i have been had an early scans and im ashamed to admit that getting the “everything looks great” at today’s scan has filled me with fear as i don’t know if iv got it in me to go through HG again with a 13m old.
so far iv only had all day nausea no vomiting, but can feel symptoms ramping up.
10 days until my booking in appointment.

You don’t have to feel ashamed about your emotions about it. Pregnancy after HG is so complicated. I also had very complicated feelings on finding out I was pregnant second time, not helped by everyone else just being thrilled and not ‘getting it’. I told my parents at about 8 weeks and just dissolved into tears and they were quite confused because they knew I wanted a second.

There’s some evidence that getting medication early rather than waiting until symptoms get bad can stop it getting quite so severe - it might be worth a trip to your GP to ask about that? Mine was super unhelpful and just told me ‘every pregnancy is different’ and that I might not be so unwell second time. I was. But I got cyclizine preemptively and then I was lucky to have a really good team who prescribed stronger medications immediately as I felt things worsening and like that we were able to keep it manageable. I say ‘manageable’ in the sense, out of hospital, I was still off work for two months and bed bound for weeks.

Do you have support with your eldest? On days I had mine at home I used to go to my parents’ house and sleep a few hours while they looked after her.

Hi all you superwomen. I am a bit of a HG vet too, currently 25 weeks with number 4 (5th pregnancy as I had 1 MMC). It was the wonderful Lucinda who got me through my first two in 2017 and 2020. It was BLEAK back then!!! There was so little support and the doctors and midwives were so clueless. I was in and out of hospital having to fight for a drip but those threads really helped. This is my first time on xonvea, and it has made things so much easier. Thankfully I was able to begin it within days of getting a positive test and it hasn’t been a battle to stay on it.

Thank you so much @Hotchocolate4for starting the thread. I’m so sorry you are having such a terrible time. The baggage of emotions is heavy, hoping the support from mental health/rainbow teams help to ease it even a little.

I will try and check in here too. Love and strength to you all xx

Xonvea is defo making a difference for me, but GP didn’t give me much so not been able to go up to full dose as will run out before I can get more! Still housebound but down to 1 or 2 bouts of vomitting a day, and nausea eases more in the afternoon. Praying I can get more next week and then might be able to consider returning to work at some point in the future 🤦🏻‍♀️

Don’t feel ashamed at all. I was so scared with mu pregnancy I started having panic attacks. Don’t underestimate the mental toll HG has on the body and mind!

Second what’s been said, if you aren’t on meds yet speak to the GP. My consultant recommended taking them from a faint positive test which I have done and so far it’s not been too bad.

Thank you, I’m going to get in touch with GP on Monday as the vomiting has now started and I’m a mess.
I didn’t think we would ever be having another and i clearly put the HG trauma in a box.

I just wanted to leave a supportive message for those currently going through hypermesis.

I had hypermesis with DS (second baby) and vomited upwards of 15 times a day for 4 months. The nausea was so awful even colours/light/sounds made me feel sick (hard to explain).

The only thing I could stomach was full fat freezing cold coke from a can, and plain boiled pasta with nothing on it. Even then, only in very small quantities. I couldn’t keep vitamins down. I also have type 1 diabetes so it was a nightmare.

I worried endlessly about DS and the effect such a diet would have on him. I’m happy to report he’s now a healthy nearly-3 year old who I am currently lying next to as he’s refusing to sleep (he keeps saying ‘there’s a ghost in here mummy, I can’t sleep!’ LOL).

I will never have any more children as I can’t face the hyperemesis again. But it was all worth it for DS. Wishing you all lots of luck and sending support.

Also, I took ondansetron 3 times a day since week 6 of both pregnancies and both children are completely healthy and thriving!

I have a son who stopped growing properly and IUGR which can be a side affect of HG. Happy to report he was born on the 3rd percentile and now he’s on the 95th percentile in primary school and above average in most of his subjects.

How’s everyone doing? I feel like pants today. Mild ketones / proteins in urine and thrown up a few times. Everytime I get a cold it seems to make the sickness worse. Absolute nightmare in winter. Just hoping I can keep down enough so I don’t have to go to the hospital tomorrow 🤞🤞

@Hotchocolate4i too feel like pants today! Didn’t make it out of the bedroom without throwing up 5 times 😂

My lovely DH let me sleep in so I felt ok on waking, even hungry I might dare say. But then threw up 30mins later. Got back into bed and slept for another 2 hours and recently woke up. I could manage this. Sleep, eat and play the game of chunder or no chunder. But unfortunately I do really need to get out of bed.

@missmoosh hope you have a better day! 🥰

Hiya, I’m so pleased I’ve found this thread. I feel completely desperate at the moment. I’m currently 11+1, sickness started week 6 for me. All day severe nausea and occasional vomiting and got progressively worse. I started on Xonvea week 8 and it was helping, I could just about function. Week 10 I felt fantastic I thought I was through it even managed to go for a run. But since yesterday it is back with a vengeance. I can’t drive as it makes me sick, the thought of my kitchen makes me sick, just about everything is making me gag. I’m exhausted, my stomach hurts, my throat hurts, my head hurts. I don’t know what to do, I feel so helpless. I am so so so happy to be pregnant but I just feel defeated.

Sorry to hear you’re struggling, especially after hoping you’d got through the worst bit. Are you on the max dose of xonvea? If not, can you increase it? What about any other medications? Combinations often work better than just one.

Also I know it’s so tempting to do more when you start to feel better but rest is so so important with HG as doing too much can really knock you for six again. So if you do have some better days try not to overdo things and rest as much as you can.

Thank you! I am on the max dose yes, I also have bucchals (?) that I can take twice a day but I’m not convinced they do much.

@kw1091 im sorry you still feel rubbish. I am 19 weeks and still have days where I feel awful!

it’s very tempting to do more but I have found the more tired I am the worse the sickness.

how you feeling today?

So sorry I didn’t see your comment! Omeprazole definitely worked well for me. My issue is that (sorry tmi) but it then made me so constipated! It was awful and I was chucking up anything I took for it. I’ve had to stop taking it and have noticed I’m being sick more often but maybe a lesser of two evils. Hope you’re managing ok.

Hi @kw1091 - there is a really handy pdf from the HER foundation to help work out a combination of medicines. They all actually do different things and so most women I think end up on a combination! I’ll try and find it and link it in the group. As you are almost 12 weeks, I would definitely suggest asking your GP for ondansetron to take alongside Xonvea. I have never been back in work before 20 weeks but this time round thanks to the combination of Xonvea and ondansetron I was back at 16 weeks. I am now 27 weeks and still on the max dose of both, but functioning!

https://www.hyperemesis.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/HER_Algorithm_2023-2-sided-v1-1.pd

Hope this helps xx

100% agree with @dinosaurghostcat. The UK charity PSS talks through different drugs and it’s definitely worth looking into combinations. And definitely reco using a second line med like ondansetron. Esp after 10 weeks. The reason is there is a mild increase from 11 in 1000 to 14 in 1000 for clef lip…..so realistically it’s worth the risk for a lot of women in the worth trimester. Post first trimester the lip is formed so risk is very low.

pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk/get-help/treatments/

Just popping on as feel so low. Finally got xonvea last week after trying various combinations but I’m still breastfeeding so was delayed starting it until spoke to pharmacist as leaflet said was contraindicated.
Anyway iv managed to get my 13month old down to just bedtime feeds but i feel just rotten so took the Xonvea on Friday. Then increased dose to max…
The actual vomiting is less but i feel so tired and “off” and have a (tmi) really upset stomach that is no fun.
only 10weeks and feel no end in sight 😭

@fourtunate1 how are you feeling now? Xonvea one of the medicines is actually classed as a sleep aid so it can make you super drowsy. I found after a week my body seemed to get more use it. Hoping you are feeling a little better. It’s so hard mentally and physically!

I have finally made it past 20 weeks and just weighed myself….ive lost 1kg in the last few weeks and I thought I was eating quite well. So feeling a bit deflated

Thanks @Hotchocolate4 for the reply. I’m definitely getting more use to the Xonvea now and it does help but still having some really bad days. Iv lost 6lb in just under 3 weeks and i dont have a high bmi anyway.
Have my 12weeks scan in a week and hoping that gives me a boost.