Help! Morning sickness is all day and 24/7

[Gracie26]

Oh I think I’m actually ceasing to exist 😂🤦‍♀️

my morning sickness if thankfully only nausea but it is all day everyday and I’m struggling more than I thought was possible.

i am basically glued to my bed and unable to do anything.

im trying to eat crackers, ginger biscuits etc but nothing seems to help.

any advice would be appreciated

Go to your GP and get anti sickness meds. Sometimes it’s the only way.

I had this. The counterintuitive trick is don't let your stomach get empty. Keep some digestive biscuits by your bed and eat one if you wake up in the night. Just never let your stomach get completely empty and it is much much more mild.

I’m tempted to phone GP tomorrow for some help but don’t want to take meds if I don’t need to.

it’s so hard isn’t it, last thing I want to do is eat or drink but only thing that makes it easier

Pregnancy sickness support - they’re a charity doing amazing work. GPs are clueless and the PSS volunteers can help you advocate for yourself if necessary. All day nausea can be just as debilitating as vomiting!

Congratulations on your pregnancy, I hope you find some relief soon and can enjoy it!

Take the meds! They have been extensively tested for safety and there is no point suffering unnecessarily. I was like you and it made me functional again. Still not normal, but sooo much better.

I’ve no idea if this is any help or not op, but if you have a helpful partner, could he make you some very plain toast or sandwiches every evening for you to eat between 3 to 4 am?

My dh did this for me and I set my alarm and kept them in a cool box by my bed. I agree with pp that never letting your stomach getting empty is key and a few carbs or a banana overnight helped me anyway have a better start to the day. And then you have to keep snacking!

Even if you do end up throwing up, overall the misery is less if you can eat something.

I really feel for you and hope you find a good or at least manageable solution 💐

Agree with this, they were amazing for me when I had hyperemesis (which sounds like you do). They were amazing.
Another thing OP, and I had it so bad I was sick 45 times in one day and my own drip at the early pregnancy unit, I lost 2 and a half stone in my pregnancy - The only meds that worked for me was a combination of Xonvea and Ondansetron.
Xonvea they will try and put you off and stick you on Cyclizine first probably but it did nothing for me and lots of others, but Xonvea is a first line medication but quite new and is the only one specifically developed for hyperemesis, not just general nausea. Do push for it because it gave me my life back.

Thanks ladies, crazy that we have to push so hard to be heard and treated. Will look into these. My husband is great he’s my own wee personal chef I just can’t stand being dead ridden and off work etc

I finished anti sickness meds about 2 weeks ago, having been on them since 8 weeks. The difference was night and day! Like a pp, I was given cyclizine which did nothing. I went back 3 days later and was given Xonvea which worked brilliantly on the full dose. It’s a combination of antihistamine and vitamin B.

Why don’t you want to take the medicine that will stop you becoming weak and incapacitated? That is literally what it is designed for!

I had it continuously for 4 to 5 months with my second. Literally felt like 24.7 motion sickness. I ate virtually nothing but white bread and plain pasta. Lost kgs.. I tried the meds and they didn't help. But you should definitely try them as if there is any chance of improvement it's worth it! Sorry that's no help but sending sympathy ast it is ROUGH!

Uurgh. It sounds like you may have hyperemisis gravidarum. It’s horrible. Been there twice. Even if you can’t eat, you need to try and stay hydrated. I
meltec ice cubes and ice lollies in my mouth..

YYY to Pregnancy Sickness Support.

Please see your GP. My “I don’t want to take drugs” is 6’3” and doing his A levels. Anti sickness drugs are what allowed me to just eat enough to keep us both ticking over for an otherwise healthy pregnancy. But they are anti sickness, not anti nausea.

Also, please know that pregnancy related sick leave, must be recorded separately to ordinary sick leave and can not (by law) be used in disciplinary action against you. But they do need to know that you’re pregnant.

Please get some anti sickness tablets. I had Hg last year and my gp kept refusing and I ended up having to terminate. I didn’t know my rights and I should have asserted myself more .

I found you got used to it. I was sick several times a day, everyday for the whole nine months. It was just something you fitted into your day, like using the loo.

Morning sickness is usually 24/7 sickness. Awfully for me, the anti sickness meds made me worse. It also lasted my entire pregnancy and the predicted 2nd trimester it goes away did not happen. Fortunately, I was not having the constant vomiting of hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) so I was able to keep enough food down to have a healthy baby.

My other pregnancies I had no morning sickness at all. Very strange.

It sounds like morning sickness which in reality is often all day. They lied!

I had HG so had severe vomiting all day and night. I took various meds. They work in different ways to reduce the vomiting amounts. Like slowing your digestion down etc

None of them touched the nausea feeling though. That annoyingly lasted for months the first time and until birth with the second.

If you’re not being sick then start eating little and often to prevent feeling sick. And finding something you like to drink. Eating will actually help.

Yeah, the name "morning sickness" is a lie.

PP's suggestion of snacking is a good one - sometimes it was biscuits, sometimes fruit worked well or cucumber/carrot. With my first pregnancy I found that DH bringing me strawberries in bed meant I didn't vomit within 15 minutes of getting up.

I feel you OP! I’m only experiencing the nausea severely, vomiting a normal amount so I haven’t gone for the meds either. I’ve got a box of crackers on my bedside table and I eat a few when I wake up. My midwife said not to worry about diet for now and just eat whatever you can stomach even if it’s just crisps. I’ve found sucking things helps, so lots of ice lollies, mints/boiled sweets and drinking through a straw. Definitely agree with PPs about snacking little and often even if it’s just one cracker. I’ve found slightly flat sparkling water easier to tolerate than plain water as well.

Definitely agree with not letting your stomach get empty! Eat something as soon as you wake up (cereal bar?), then breakfast, then another breakfast, then a snack, then lunch, then about 5 snacks, then dinner, then more snacks, then supper (cereal?) right before bed.

This got me through my first trimester and was only actually be sick a handful of times. I was sick of eating but it really helped the nausea and I'm eating more normally now I'm in the second trimester.

Brushing my teeth used to set it off as well, but switching from an electric to a manual toothbrush helped a bit with that.

I did also just spend quite a bit of time bed (had a few weeks off work). For me, the first trimester was the worst bit for exhaustion, which took me by surprise first time around

As a PP has said you do get used to it, and eventually it is like going for a pee 😂 i used to get up, get kids ready for school etc and inevitably the rushing around would make me be sick, it became “right kids are ready to go out the door- quick throw up and teeth brush and im ready to go 😂.
I found ginger bread instead of biscuits to be better dunno why? And having a constant bottle of cold water/squash with me especially when out n about so if the nausea got too much i could just sip it and it helped sooth it a bit.
I never even thought to go doctors for anti sickness tabs but if i had known i definitely would have taken them!
I found my first was definitely the worst one for morning sickness or i was just used to it by time i had my other pregnancies 😂 .

I had this in all three pregnancies. I found that the usual advice about plain food didn't help at all, but in my second pregnancy, I discovered that going to the local shop and getting something really oily and salty worked wonders, if only for a while. Bacon/cheese pastry kind of thing. I know it sounds weird but it worked immediately.

I think it may have been the salt or the fact that it took longer to digest so gave my stomach something to do.

Also I think dehydration made it worse in my case. I don't drink much and find that really difficult. But people I spoke to with hyperemesis said being on a drip helped them enormously so that made sense to me – like maybe drinking more dilutes the hormones? Probably nonsense but you never know.

Third pregnancy I resorted to strong meds (metoclopramide) as I was bed-bound for about five months. It took the edge off but I was counting the days to second trimester and it always stopped then.

Good luck x

I’m so sorry your treatment was so awful; that’s appalling.

It is ridiculous that adult intelligent women have to push for treatment at a time when they are feeling vulnerable and debilitated.

The joys of pregnancy eh.

i am strangely feeling way better today, no idea why but back at work and functioning and eating normally.

I did visit the GP for meds though that I can use as ans when needed.

thank you for the tips and tricks ladies.

I’ve only got until late January to preserve 🤦‍♀️😂

Yep. This was me first time round. Used to wake up in the night to go and throw up. I couldn’t work. Absolutely nothing helped, only time. By about 16 weeks it was over. This was over 20 years ago and no one ever suggested meds or I would have jumped at them.