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Pregnancy

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Original poster

Morning Sickness in an office enviroment...

30 replies

mumtobe23 · 15/01/2009 09:40

Morning ladies! I have a question, how have you or did you deal with morning sickness whilst working in an office? I have just started to suffer and work in a quiet office thats quite far from the loo. Has anyone else sat at there desk and felt like throwing up but not wanted anyone to know? I am about 6 weeks and have had to tell my boss as I keep dashing out, and have nearly thrown up in the corridor!
I HATE the taste of ginger so does anyone have any other good tips to keep me feeling better whilst at my desk??

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

VinegarTits · 15/01/2009 09:48

Oh yes, i remember this feeling, awful isnt it? i actually had hyperemesis all through my last pg and worked right up until the day before i gave birth, looking back i dont know how i did it!

There is a point on your wrist, and if it is massaged correctly, it relieves nausea, i found that helped me, you can also buy pressure braclets (cant remember what they are called, someone else might know) that do a similar thing.

Other than that i just muddled through as nothing really helped me

If it is really bad, your GP maybe able to suggest something

lulu2 · 15/01/2009 09:48

i altered my hours so i started slightly later in morning when the sickness had subsided a bit. I also hate ginger but did find that nibbling on a ginger nut helped.

thisisyesterday · 15/01/2009 09:49

not been in an office, but worked in a restaurant and also in a shop where I was expected to be on my feet, out the front for an entire shift. very hard!

I found fruit pastilles helped. actually, boiled sweets in general were good, sucking on them seemed to help a lot, but I needed something I could eat quickly on account of talking to customers lol.
but you'd be able to do any kind of sucky type sweets.
I def found that eating little and often helped, even though I didn't feel like eating I was usually a bit better once I had (had to force myself to though)
so, keep some snacks at your desk and some sweets to suck on.

try some different teas, if you don't like ginger trhen how about lemon? or peppermint? peppermint is supposed to soothe the stomach

mrsmortenharket · 15/01/2009 09:50

hi sweetheart ((((((((((())))))))))
first, congratulations!!
second, i used to work in admin office for large supermarket (not tesco's ) and had to start work at 6. plus i had the smell of the newspapers to deal with as that was 'my' job. yuck.

anyway, the best way i found of dealing with morning sickness (it may not work for everyone tho) was to snack little and often, (perhaps have a fruit box? a little ice pack in the lunch pack will help keep them cool if there is no fridge nearby) i also had shares in gaviscon and ginger nuts but as you said you don't like the taste, perhaps you could ask you doc for gavsicon on prescription? like i didn't - i spent a fortune before someone told me!!!

hth xxx

MrsSeanBean · 15/01/2009 09:50

I drunk a lot of sparkling water. Oddly, eating also helped, lots of toast.
I also wore the acupressure Travel sickness bands / bracelets - Boots sell them - if you can't find them just ask at the pharmacy counter.

HTH, it's an awful time.

mrsmortenharket · 15/01/2009 09:53

can i add a warning about herbal teas tho please? don't drink raspberry leaf tea until the last couple of weeks as it may cause uterine cramping , peppermint tea helps ease the digestive system. some massage oils are contra-indicated for early pregnancy and for certain other conditions too, so please be careful and consult relevant practitioner.

VinegarTits · 15/01/2009 09:53

Sea Bands, thats what they are called

I didnt try them, but the rubbing the pressure point on my wrist definately worked for me

VinegarTits · 15/01/2009 09:53

Sea Bands, thats what they are called

I didnt try them, but the rubbing the pressure point on my wrist definately worked for me

AliceTheCamelHasGotTheHump · 15/01/2009 09:55

It was utterly utterly awful. I had to dash along a long corridore with everyone sitting in their office watching me thunder past, my shoes making a racket on what seemed to be a hollow wooden floor. And the cubicles weren't cubicles, they had a foot of gap around the bottom and 3 foot at the top. AND my collegue had Krones (sp?) disease which was awful for her and I don't blame her, but it did mean I got to do most of my chundering into a loo full of skid marks and poo smell. AND there were only 2 cublcles for the entire floor so it was always really busy. On more than one occasion I quietly vommed into a tesco carrier bag under my desk.

Get some travel sickness wrist bands. They help.

Also a big bowl of popcorn is often a good way to stop being sick.

CookieMonster2 · 15/01/2009 10:02

I had this problem with my first pregnancy. I suppose I was lucky in that I was only actually sick once, although spent all day feeling as though I was about to be. I just had to spend most of the time desperately convincing myself that I wouldn't actually be sick and just trying to get on with work to take my mind of it. If I was in a meeting though I always made sure I sat near the door in case I needed to leave in a hurry, and if I went to visit another office I always asked where the toilets were as soon as I got there, people probably thought I had a bladder problem or something .

Original poster

mumtobe23 · 15/01/2009 10:41

Lol about the busy, un-clean toilet Alice!! I have to use a very busy loo aswell which is a bit embarrasing seeing as I haven't yet mastered heaving quietly!! HEHE! As for being sick in a bag, I think the whole office would hear me but a good idea as I nearly chucked up in the corridor!
Thank you all for your advice, I shall pop out at lunch and try to get some peppermint tea and gingernut biscuits, I'd rather nibble something that i didnt like the taste of and not be sick then feel ill all day!

OP posts:

Picante · 15/01/2009 10:44

Oh you poor thing. I'm just about to have my second lot of acupuncture - the first lot last week definitely took the edge off - I'm no longer being sick during the day, I just feel sick.

There are things that the gp will prescribe although I haven't found any of them to work. Just keep eating and drinking and don't be ashamed to take the time off sick if you need to.

AppleAndBlackberry · 15/01/2009 11:21

I have been being sick since 7 weeks, which was just before Christmas but I don't always have a lot of notice before it happens so I wasn't willing to go back in after Christmas and risk the possibility of being sick in my open plan office. I spoke to my manager on the phone and he was happy for me to work from home for the next few weeks, but if he hadn't been I would have asked the doctor to sign me off. Not sure whether you have the option to work from home in your job, but I'm sure you could get signed off if you felt you needed to.

I have tried lots of things to help with the sickness - I think the main thing is to not let your stomach get too empty, but keep trying different things until you find what works for you. Sipping a fizzy drink helps me a bit, other than that I'm pretty much eating something every hour.

P.S. Congratulations on your pregnancy

insywinsyspider · 15/01/2009 12:12

I think everyone has suggested everything I tried, not sure how affective sea bands where and I found I couldn't wear them with certain clothes as people would wonder what they were all about, useful for other times tho. Fizzy drink def helped.
I also found lunch time hard as most people eat at their desk had to take walk then and try not to spend too much time round tea and coffee smells - yuk

when I eventually told my team my manager confessed he was relieved as he was starting to wonder if I was having too many heavy nights out as I did leave every morning meeting to go and be sick prob a good idea to tell someone in your team so they can be a bit understanding, I have donw for my subsequent pregnancies and asked my line manager and a few colleagues to keep it to them selves till my scan

xxhunnyxx · 15/01/2009 12:59

I found it helped to just tell my colleagues that I was pregnant so at least they understood what was wrong with me and could give me lots of sympathy which was nice. I know a lot of people like to keep it quiet but because I was so ill I had to tell.

All I could do to ease the sickness was eat, constantly graze! Personally I didn't find that ginger biscuits actually helped any more than normal biscuits. Prepare yourself a little bag of snacks to keep u going, anything u think u may be able to face, toast, biscuits, crumpets, sweets, fruit etc.

Unfortunately there's no miracle cure but the good news is that it wont last forever

BabyBump2B · 15/01/2009 18:44

Congrats on your pregnancy!

I found carbs were the only thing that helped and constant dry crackers and popcorn were brilliant. I was also able do identify things that made it worse (like oranges or orange juice).

Luckily it subsided slightly at around 10 weeks so I've been able to hide it but it is hideous! Good luck!

jennylindinha · 15/01/2009 18:53

Congratualtions! And yes, this is a particularly bad time... I am lucky enough to have my own office, but with lots of people coming in and out. Luckily I felt sick more than I actually was sick.

I found that fizzy water, boiled sweets and oatcakes really helped. Nibbing constantly did keep things at bay and when I got my craving for Haribo Tangfastics that was it - I was constantly stuffing then in Oh and potatoes were good. Plus cheddar cheese, bizarely.

I found it far harder to keep private the random bouts of crying that I kept having! For literally no reason, or else anything could set me off, not finding my stapler, someone saying hello, you name it I blubbed! Best of luck.

EyeballsintheSky · 15/01/2009 19:00

Congrats

Yes it was awful. My boss knew but no one else did (or so I thought) until 12 weeks. Ginger makes me feel ill even now so I couldn't face anything like that. I drank lots of full sugar lemonade and lots of chocolate milk, the thicker the better. They're about the only two things that got me through it.

In desperation I tried Sea Bands on a day when I wore a short sleeved top. That was when people guessed!

The crying was hard. I spent most of the time in the disabled loo (it's the only loo within a 10 minute walk and there are no disabled people around). I went back to work last week one day for a catch up before I start back next week and it was quite emotional. In that loo I got my Clearblue preg test result (no patience!), I sat in the corner of it and cried at least once a day, I lay on the floor when I felt sick, I lay on the floor to have a 10 minute nap when I was knackered and I lay on the floor trying to get dd to move during a period when she wasn't.

Will be strange working there again...

jennylindinha · 15/01/2009 19:04

Oh god yes, I'd forgotten all about the tiredness! Must confess to a couple of naps in the disabled loo too... And lots of nodding off on the sofa at home! Not much chance of that now DD is 3 months old...

bunsen · 15/01/2009 20:17

I found the smell of everyones coffee sooo offensive, also garlic/fag breath which I am normally not bothered by, repulsive. I work on a mac where I have people bending over my shoulder to look at the screen so was always bombarded by bad breath. Yeugghh! I found chewing gum helped, satsumas for some reason, and lots of iced water. I think you'll find something that becomes a 'crutch' and hammer it, but finding out that crutch is the tricky bit. My first pregnancy I just ate all the time, put on wads of weight! This time, I found eating made no difference and a 'cleansed palate' worked hence cold water or minty chewing gum. Good luck, it feels like a battle doesn't it?
x

BikeRunSki · 16/01/2009 23:00

Seabands didn't work for me. Ginger a little(you can buy capsule tablets of ginger powder from Health Food shops if you hate the taste). Boots Shapers Cloudy Lemonade quelled the nasty for a little while, and ice cubes (it was February!) but I was hopsitalised with hyperemisis, so I am maybe not a great expert on these things!

I do hope for you that it passes soon. Despite hospitalisation, my sickness dispapeared totally at 15 weeks.

lauraloola · 16/01/2009 23:40

Salt and vinegar rice cakes helped me when I felt ill in work.

Could you ask to moved nearer the door??

Dalrymps · 16/01/2009 23:49

Congratualtions

Just wanted to add my bit. I can't stress enough that keeping hydrated really helped my nausea. I became addicted to chilled sparkling water, had to be sparkling though, somehow, when the fizz hit my tummy and it made me burp i didn't feel so sick anymore. My sickness definately got worse when I didn't drink enough water.

Hope it passes soon, i rememeber it well...

frazzledoldbag · 17/01/2009 18:07

Don't get dehydrated. Snack a lot. Carbs of any description worked a bit for me. Fizzy drinks (left open to go slightly flat). Lots of sleep. Cross your fingers it goes away soon. You have my sympathy - I know how awful this can be. But on the bright side - Congrats on your Pregnancy!

Oh and I found taking Vitamin B6 supplements reduced my nausea a lot. Lots of info if you google for it. Also ginger capsules (if you don't like eating ginger) has a similar effect.

Best of luck.

Gentle · 17/01/2009 21:15

Anoter vote for B6 - in my 3rd pregnancy with "morning" (for me, more evening) sickness and the B6 is the only thing I've done differently this time. I still feel nauseous but in an "oh well, let's just try and take my mind off it" way, rather than a "PLEASE DO NOT MAKE ME MOVE OR TALK" way.

Also - not nutritionally good, but I have always found that a swig of full-fat coke (which I don't normally drink) can quell that "I'm about to honk!" feeling. Just a swig mind you, not a pint - caffeine in pregnancy and all that.

It does pass once the placenta starts taking charge of producing hormones and your entire body isn't pumping progesterone any longer - 12 weeks 3 days for me in my first pregnancy, that was an air-punching day! Good luck!

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