hyperemesis and general unwellness...what can I do?

[pavlovthepregnantcat]

I am sick of feeling unwell. I feel really really unwell.

I have been signed off for 3 weeks with hyperemesis, this being my 3rd week, due back to work next week.

The sickness is improving somewhat at 13 weeks (today) This time 2 weeks ago, nothing was staying down. Now I keep down more than I sick up, but I am also eating less. I am fine for fluids now, much better than last week.

But overall, I do not feel better, I feel groggy most of the time, I sleep a lot, does not make a difference. I have an almost constant headache, most food makes me feel sick/be sick, bowels feel like I am going to have a tummy bug although I do not have a tummy bug. I am moody, grumpy, snappy, feel hot although no temperature. I do not feel pregnant, I feel unwell.

I have had 2 sessions of acupuncture but what with DH being out of work, can't really afford any more right now (£35 a session). I have acupuncture bands, am trying to eat as healthily as I can, but not eating very much.

I am quite sick of it right now, I want to feel just abit more human.

Any tips please?

I decided to get some fresh air, or rather, supermarket air. I decided also, after DH told DD i would take her with me, that I would indeed take her with me. Never again. She was fine. I was not. I walked around the store like, well, like I was ill funnily enough, feeling that tight restriction in my throat the entire way, and feeling very weak .

But worse than that. I drove. I now realise, for the moment, that is not a good idea. When I stop at traffic lights, the car keeps moving. Except it does not, it just feels like it does. I therefore keep checking my handbrake, get flustered, stall and lose focus on what is around me. This happened several times. And another time, at another set of traffic lights, the cars moving in front of me made my head spin. fuck.

Is your dh being un-supportive? Can't he help with dd a bit more so you can rest. If you aren't able to eat properly you need to rest as much as you can. I'm sure the baby will be fine, but it's not fine for you to be run into the ground.

I find when the nausea is very very bad, deep breathing helps, so I could imagine the Karvol working that way.
Sometimes having something to smell helps nausea as well - generally flower smells seem to help, as does passive smoking (!) but food or artificial perfumes make it worse.

Driving sounds horrid Pavlov! I had to travel by train & bus a lot this week which I was worried about but it's actually been fine. I think it comes down to the fact that having to focus on something else actually makes you worse, whereas if you can just sit there and stare out of the window and concentrate on breathing it's ok.

Meglet - he is being supportive really, but I think it all gets on top of him too, he is not working so the housework and DD is all falling onto him. He is used to me doing it all, and well, he is not a househusband lets say that. He tries, but he is just not as good at it as me, and I have let things slip, not expecting the world. But, I do take it all out on him. Its not his fault. If I was well, it would be no problem really, and he looks after DD well, I just want him to do it all. I think he is starting to understand just how bad it is, as he is doing more runs to the shops, much more 'what can I get you to eat babe, you can have anything you like' But then, he gets fed up with it all being about me, which to be fair it is right now. And I am not very grateful much of the time

Kathy - I am making DH smoke further outside than I usually do as I just cannot deal with the smell. Sometimes, if he can't find a lighter, he would use the gas hob and then duck out. Not a chance right now, I can smell it from another room!

pavlov - Many, many women have an anti-depressant as part of the package of meds to combat HG. It's worth considering. Also, you posted you had only urinated x2 in 24 hours. Do you have ketostix? (That you dip into wee; they show if you're dehydrated and to what degree.) If not send your DP to a pharmacy asap, you sound dehydrated to me. You can buy them over the counter (or be prescribed them). You being in Ketosis (dehydrated) is actually potentially bad for the baby as well as for you.

About Avomine/also called Phenergan which is virtually the same thing - a lot of women find this knocks them out completely, and if you're sleeping you're not vommiting! A positive side effect they gave me in 2nd pregnancy was drying out my mouth. The side effects seem to wear off with lots of use though, so no longer work for me.

Just to cheer up everyone currently suffering as I am, having done this 3 times before, I can totally reassure you that having a newborn is piss-easy compared to an HG pregnancy! And I didn't find labour as painful as vommiting until my oseophogus (sorry for that atrocious spelling) tore! Within minutes of birthing the placenta you feel back to your old self again, and feel full of energy and like eating LOTS!

There is light at the end of the tunnel, really and truly - or why would I have done this 4 times?! But we have a right to medical treatment to ease our symptoms where possible, and don't let yourselves be fobbed off.

hedgiemum - I went to the toilet at 6:30am, at about 2:00pm ish. That is it since last night at, I don't know about 10pm? I went to sleep at about 10pm so before then. And it is dark. But it has also been darker .

What if I'm dehydrated? What will that mean, seeing as its the weekend? I feel more hydrated than I have done!! Should I call the out of hours gp or midwife (i have a midwife helpline in the morning every day even weekends).

Pavlov. Your home life sounds pretty stressed . At least your dh can manage the basic day to day stuff. I suppose, (trying to look in the bright side here) that at least he will soon have a very good idea of what it's like being at home with kids all day. Might make it easier for you when this baby arrives.

IIRC after a brutal first trimester my sickness got better at 16 weeks, so you might not be far off some improvement. I have masses of sympathy for you.

Hi Ladies I just want to offer my support. I to had Hg with my second pregnancy and can remember how truly awful it was. I wanted to punch anyone who said 'try eating ginger biscuits'. Obviously they have no idea how much ginger burns when your bringing it back up!!! or it will pass after 12 weeks.
Mine didnt ease till after 20 weeks and only after I got medication from my wonderful doctor who was so suportive the whole way through (a male doctor I might add) Im sure his wife must have suffered from the same thing I felt at the time he was the only person who really understood me- he was even better than my midwife who used to say its just bad morning sickness it will pass Argh!!!
Please dont go back to work until you feel 100% better you must look after yourself and concentrate on getting through each day without worrying about work. I remember being at work running to the toilet every 20 minutes so in the end was signed off for 3 months. I know its hard with a toddler to my ds was only just 2 and some days he would honestly watch cbeebies for hours as I couldnt lift my head of the pillow.
So hang on in there it will pass and youll be holding your gorgeous new babies soon xx

Meglet - it would not be stressed if I was not puking! Seriously, its not that bad, just made worse by it all being put on DHs shoulders. We have always shared the childcare, the work, I just do more housework as I am better at it! With him not working he has been able to do more of the looking after which has been great, but now he is doing it all, and the cooking (which he did before anyway, he is a great cook, I am shit).

My dinner came straight back up . small amount of plain griddled chicken and scoop of mash potato and couple sips of watered down apple juice. All back up, and some more! I really wanted it too

But, I went to loo, think the earlier convo triggered my bladder - so thats 3 in 24 hours - YEY!

pavlov I can so relate to the tight throat feeling- the feeling of someone constantly pressing on my windpipe is one of my worst morning sickness symptoms.

I go around with a kind of pained, screwed up, sour face due to the effort of preventing retching.

Do any of you get annoyed by unsympathetic responses? Most people have laughed when I have described the ongoing sickness, obviously because it is due to pregnancy, it is highly amusing. I have actually said to a couple of people 'it's not funny!'. Grrr.

PAVLOV -phone the out of hours GP service first thing in the morning, go in with a urine specimen to have it tested for ketones.

Or, phone the number you have for your consultant (I know you haven't seen them yet) and tell them what you've told me about how infrequently you are urinating, and how dark it is (plus the headaches etc..)

You may be able to get a referral to be rehydrated in hospital from your midwife, I can't though so I doubt it.

If you can't urinate for a specimen, then you are definitely dehydrated and should be in hospital asap!

I think your GP has been too relaxed about your HG, you should have ketostix to test yourself, your GP or midwife should have told you to get some.

An additional benefit of being rehydrated in hospital - it will show your DH that it really is a serious pregnancy disease that you are suffering from. It may scare him a bit - it certainly did my DH, but afterwards he was much more supportive.

Your whole thread, you sound dehydrated to me - the headaches and lethargy etc.. Please get ketostix as soon as you can and stay on top of making sure you are well hydrated - sounds like you can't rely on your medical professionals to do so for you....

Thanks Prawn - we shall add you to our Anti Ginger Avengers list, it is growing!

I am slowly realising that I might not make it back to work next week, but we shall see...the weekend might hold some miracle for us all

hedgie - oh dear, you think so? DH will have a fit! He hates hospitals at the best of times. And no, I most certainly cannot go to the toilet if prompted, not unless it has been hours already since I last went. I promise I will get some sticks first thing, and then call midwife/out of hours with a sample, whenever I can produce it.

But I am sure I am drinking more than I was . Seriously, two weeks ago I could keep nothing down at all, in fact liquid was the first to come back up. So I guess its all relative.

Charlie - it does piss me right off. at work, people acted like I was milking it, or being a drama queen, or would say things like 'you need to keep eating, that is what I found when I felt sick, I ate something' GO. AWAY.

haven't read all the posts here so could be repeating advice but if your doctor isn't taking you seriously, take yourself off to A&E and get them to test your urine. they might admit you if you're seriously dehydrated

i had chronic hyperemesis during pg leading to two stays in hospital to be rehydrated. it is HORRIBLE and i truly feel for you. for me it lasted the whole of pregnancy even though it was less debilitating for 2nd and 3rd trimester.

anyway... i went to A&E after various unsuccessful experiments with anti-sickness drugs from GP. one made me groggy, the other made me anxious. meanwhile the weight was falling off (and i am naturally underweight). in hospital they were kind, understanding and fully comprehended the seriousness (and misery) of the situation

as for the 'have you tried ginger?' brigade, i could've battered them all

pavlov, I wholeheartedly agree with hedgie's advice. You do sound dehydrated! Sorry the dinner didn't stay down. It's so disappointing when you have something nice.

I know my boss completely thought/thinks I am 'milking it'. She very flippantly told me over the phone (when I was calling in with yet another sick note) 'oh just have some ginger biscuits, you'll be fine!'. I avoided phoning her for about a month, and when I finally did, explained I was avoiding her because of what she'd said/how she'd said it. Her response? 'I don't think I said that!' Ok, fine, did I make it up? Was so angry and frustrated. Everything work-related is in writing now, I'm not having her say stupid flippant things then deny it again! Am signed off now until maternity leave starts, so luckily should not have to see her again. I don't intend to go back there.

Reading your posts has reminded me of how horrible that experience was. My little one is 3 now. I hope you all get through the worst very soon. I remember false recoveries being crushing but I did take comfort in having ANY time where I felt human and the awful periods gradually reduced.

During the worst period my partner bought me a TENS machine that you could put on your wrist. It looked like a wrist watch. It gave what felt like tiny little shocks to your wrist till your wrist went numb. This helped me feel less nauseous during "mediumly" bad days. You have to wear it for about half an hour (if I remember correctly) before you get the effect. It was only for sale then in USA but you could get it on the internet.

Swilling water around my mouth and spitting it out helped too - your gums absorb water.

Also - hypnosis helped me cope with the very worst times when I felt desperate. I was taught to self hypnotise. There is a technique where you overload your brain by thinking about several things at the same time. I don't know what I would have done without it.

I'd 3 months in bed. Movement made me wretch so I had to lie still. I got painful hips etc and ached. If I started vomiting I couldn't stop. It was almost like a spasm and felt like I was trying to vomit out every ounce of water in my body. I'd be OK for half an hour, then start again. Each time I vomited I felt worse and weaker and it was harder and harder to stop. I went to hospital once but vowed never to go unless I was virtually dying. I got an exhausted doctor who could not get a vein for the drip(they'd collapsed) and was stabbing about. When my midwife tried to take blood weeks later, I was shaking uncontrollably at the sight of the needle. I'd never done that in my life.

Apparently there has been a big increase in research in this area over the past 5 years so hopefully it might start producing results soon.

I've been googling but haven't managed to find the advice on how to treat HG that I read a while back, but it definitely said that one thing they now know is that the sooner you get it under control the less severe it will ultimately get, so drugs sooner rather than later are good. Based on that I went to my doc as soon as I got pg with dc2 and she gave me Phenergan in advance, before I was even feeling bad, so it could be nipped in the bud (and then upgraded to Cyclizine a few weeks later when the Phenergan stopped doing anything). That was easily the least severe of my 3 HG pregnancies, so my own experience supports that theory.

Yankncock, PMSL @ your boss - silly woman! Sounds v sensible to communicate in writing, you don't need any more stress.

They may not really think you're milking it though - could just be a very bad joke that misfired. I got totally paranoid before about whether colleagues thought I was skiving but tbh I think I was projecting a bit because I felt so guilty about it.

I too suffered hg in both pg's (ds1 now 4.5, ds2 10mths) and really feel for you. It's the relentness nausea that accompanied the vomiting that I found the hardest to deal with, you poor thing it is so not fun at all. I could cope with the throwing up (well, not that well as it turns out, at one stage I was being sick 50 times a day , couldn't even swallow my own saliva- not that there was any- and just breathing through my mouth would make me vomit) but the constant feeling of sickness was the hardest thing to bear.

For me, the hg lasted right up until delivery with both ds's but with ds1 it did ease a bit in the final trimester only to return in the last few weeks. Agree with other posters, rest rest rest rest it'll make you feel so much better. Get signed off for as long as you need, I only did about 4 weeks from 16 weeks onwards this time because I was so ill I could barely drag myself out of bed when I wasn't in hospital. (6 times in all).

At first I was scared I was going to die. Then I was scared I wasn't going to die . Had so many different drugs I forget them all, but recommend cyclizine (didn't do a thing for nausea but gave me fantastic psychadelic dreams and a lovely warm 4-gins-in sort of glow!) and ondansetron if nothing else works. It's normally used for chemotherapy patients to stop them hurling and I had to take it via suppository from wk 17-delivery but it does lessen the vomiting. To three times a day instead of 50 . It's quite expensive though and so not every consultant is as kind as mine

Lost 2.5 stone with ds1, less with ds2 but I had plenty of reserves (still do now oops!) and so this wasn't a real problem for me. I'd suggest seeing another dr if you can, this one doesn't sound like he's taking your situation seriously. Some gp's still think that hg is "just a bit of morning sickness" and you don't have the responsibility for re-educating yours. Get yourself to the A&E dept who will make you wee on a test stick to see if your body is producing ketones (I believe this happens when your body is burning up its own energy stores, i.e. you're not eating enough to sustain you) and is usually the point at which they say ok you're coming in.

Bear in mind that your baby will be absolutely fine, mine were 8lbs and 8lbs 11oz, so this sickness is only making you miserable not your unborn babe! He/she is nice and comfy and safe inside and will be getting everything needed, which is why you feel so rubbish. Really really really good luck!

I never realised that so many women suffered from this

I also had HG right through my pregnancy and also suffered severly from ante-natel depression. I realise from reading this thread that both things could have been managed much more effectively.

It is amazing though, that as soon as you have given birth, your appetite returns with a vengence. I was the only person on the maternity ward who relished the hospital food, after 9 months of restricted eating, it all tasted fantastic

I had severe hyperemesis in both pregnancies, but my second was far worse. I was hospitalised numerous times. I couldnt move out of bed from week 5 and was vomitting constantly (even when the bile had dried up just constant retching). I lost 2 stone in my first trimester, my skin started to peel off and my hair fall out, I was in a desperate state.

Despite this, initally, the gp kept coming to my house telling me i had morning sickness and it would ease at 12 weeks! eventually i saw a gp who phoned an ambulance stright away to pick me up. Once rehydrated they sent me home for it all to start again! I tried several drugs which had no effect at all and eventually at 10 weeks i booked a termination as i couldnt cope at all. I was just lying in bed (couldnt read or watch tv as the motion of moving my eyes or people moving in front of me made the sickness unbearable). On top of that i couldnt have visitors as the smell of people was like rotting corpses to me and after minutes of someone being in the room id have to ask them to leave!

Finally days before the termination someone mentioned ondansetron (zofran) and i tried it and it worked, i started to keepdown bits of water and eventually food. needless to say my little girl is here and healthy (8lb 6 born)

The lack of understanding or research regarding hg is pitiful, everytime i was hospitalised i was put on a maternity ward with a load of new mothers (the smells and the noise were sending me mad!)

My advice would be to anyone suffering hg to not suffer in silence, keep pushing for treatment, there are drugs that can keep it under control, its just about findong the right solution for you.

dirtygertiefromnumber30 I felt like you, got to the point were I thought 'I can't go on like this', luckily I was admitted to hospital the same day

that's terrible really, isn't it?

I've now read the thread through and realised I mentioned the G-word in my post. I do apologise - whilst I couldn't eat anything in the morning, tea made from you-know-what stayed down.

Agree with another poster that you should be checking regularly with your GP to make sure you're not dehydrated. If you are you might have to go in to hospital to get your fluids up, whether DH likes it or not.

I don't think the feeling you can't go on and would do anything just to make it stop is uncommon. I think it happens because you think how you feel is going to change and you can't see an end to it - which is quite understandable when you're feeling so ill.
I couldn't help feeling something must be wrong for me to be feeling so bad.
DH once used the phrase "it's only a bit of morning sickness" in my first pregnancy the day before I went into hospital. If I had had any energy I'd have thrown my sick bucket at him.

yappy - well terrible in the sense that the illness makes you feel so bad you feel you have no other option. I volunteer on a HG website and there are lots of people who terminate or have done in the past because they are not getting the right help.