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?

Oh dear Pavlov. Sounds like you need to see the person who signed you off in the first place. You definitely need to find out if you've got ketones - from what you said, the GP you saw didn't seem sure.

I had Buccastem under my tongue, and I think that was the one that worked - but not all the time. I certainly wasn't given stocks of any drugs to take home - and I was in hospital for a month in total (just a week with Dd1), lost over 2 stone and was off work for three months and still vomiting daily when I returned.

Resist Gaviscon if offered it, btw - it comes up in big pink lumps . I think knowing I Wasn't the only one would have helped me - when I had it,until I went to hospital noone I knew had heard of HE and it was assumed by my family (but not DH) that I was attention seeking and just not dealing well with morning sickness...

Your doc sounds like an idiot quite frankly. The drugs they use are well approved for pregnancy apart from one - which wont harm the baby but can cause mental probs - cant remember name but begins with m if I remember rightly. I am dying with the same thing but havent to work through - violent and awful. They will hospitalise you for weight loss - 5 % or more indicates a serious concern. Also you need to constantly get your ketones checked. Its so serious. Have you a sensible midwife - havent read all your answers but docs can be so ignorant of this condition. Pregnancy is not an illness - he and hg are.

buccastem is what I was taking - I was taking it twice a day (first pill at 5.30 to give it time to take effect before getting up at 6.30), second early evening.

I took on tablet, chucked about about 20 mins later but clearly must have absorbed some as I went to bed and slept like a baby for 2.5 hours.

I am going to see my real Dr again first thing on Monday, while he is not an anti-emetic fan, he will resign himself to the fact I have them, and he will check me thoroughly, I trust him a lot to be thorough at the very least.

istolesamspony - did it work?

Yes - as long as I was keeping on top of them and taking them at the right times (it needed the hour or so to dissolve enough to make me functional - if I tried to take it when I was feeling sick then the dissolvey taste made me sick).

I was on them for about 8 weeks, then tried coming off them (want to go onto antidepressants but don't want to mix the pills iyswim). I got really sick, have tried to go back on them, but just get a pounding headache and stay sick now I don't know if it was the coming off them, or just a natural progression. 8 weeks without sickness is heaven though!

Hi Pavlov just came across this thread and omg can't believe that little S%&!£ of a doctor you seen
I am on your "due in november" thread, having twins . I was also dignosed with HG at 7weeks pregnant (I'm 15 weeks now) and ended up in hospital twice for a drip, thankfully my sickness seems to have settled a little bit now, its still there just not as overpowering. Just wanted to say you can buy the little strips used for checking your ketones in a chemist. Really think though you should go back and see can you get an appointment with a doctor you have more confidence in and will have the good sense to sign you off work until you are good and ready to go back. HG is hard enough to cope with without some stupid doctor idiot making you feel like you are moaning about nothing

hope the meds work and you start to feel better soon xxx

Fingers crossed it will work Pavlov.

The thing is with hyperemesis, the definition can be circular anyway - people often define HG as MS that's severe enough to require medical treatment, but it only gets treated if someone decides it's HG rather than MS. If you see what I mean.

One sensible bit of advice I read on one of the HG sites was simply 'Don't get hung up
on labels. What matters is getting the treatment you need, not whether what you've got is HG or severe MS.' The bottom line is what you have got is way more extreme and has gone on far longer than people with 'normal' morning sickness experience.
Although it is fab talking to people on MN who really know what it's like, you also don't want to fall in the trap of thinking 'All these other people were in hospital for months and needed constant rehydrating, I'm not as bad as them so I must be a wimp/making a fuss.'

pavlov, i hope it works for you. was the sleep good? i laughed that you said 'slept like a baby' as i don't really know any babies that slept so well!

I agree Kathy, about the labels, just think he made me feel like there was not much wrong when I have felt like shite for so long.

Piper - yey! on the twins! glad you are feeling better, when is your due date (nearer or end of Nov?).

Guess what, I have eated cuppa soup and bread, and it has stayed down! O.M.G. I feel nauseas but not like it is just sitting there iyswim. To be honest, rather than eating it, it was more like 2 slices of bread dunked in the liquid then sucked but it has stayed down. I also had no drink at all with it, as that always^ makes me vomit. I will sip a little in a minute. Don't know if its the drug which I thought I had brought back up, psychosamatic (sp) or just on a change for a bit anyway, but still, its something and I feel very pleased. .

eated? did I really just write eated? oh dear, have really lost my brain haven't i?

Cool! Let's hope it stays there.

I'm very glad that you eated!

here's to more eating tomorrow ...

My tea continued to stay down! I did not tempt fate and eat anything else that evening, just in case. Slowly does it I am thinking. But I slept again from 9pm although not very well, woke up lots with a dry throat and DH had to actually get me a drink at midnight which I tried to to glug for the first time in months. It felt good, and it stayed down too. I have had 3 small glasses of watered down juice since midnight and all is feeling better.

I have taken a tablet, feel a bit sick, and wondering now how long before i attempt some breakfast.... I feel soo much better for keeping a little bit of food a liquid down, its unreal.

My nurse friend came around last night for an hour, and she said cyclizine is one of the most commonly used and most effective anti-emetics and also reassured me its ok, as did my diabetic friend who has just had a baby, so feeling less anxious about doing harm to little bean.

Thanks all for helping me through the last week of hell x

Yankncock and Charliegal and those still suffering, how are you feeling this morning? [hugs] to you and feelings of wellness being sent.

Aw so glad you're feeling better! Here's to a smooth recovery.

I have successfully eaten the following:
1 cyclizine tablet at 7am.
Banana at 8am
1 Slice of wholemeal toast and peanut butter at 9:30am
Small handful of yoghurt covered raisins at 10am (bit touch and go)
Another handful of yoghurt covered raisins at midday
about 6 forkfuls of tomato pasta salad at 2:30pm
4 small wineglass fulls of 50/50 apple and water mixed after I woke up from sleeping, feeling like I had not drank for days (had not really!)

It has all stayed down.

I have dozed from 9am - 11am and slept properly from 12pm - 2:30pm. Done nothing all day. My body feels like a dead weight.

DH said I have gone from looking like I have not slept in over a week to looking like I had a very late night last night. The difference in my appearance is unbelievable.

Fantastic, Pavlov. Long may it continue!

that's amazing pavlov. so glad you can eat and drink something. i'm sure it will make you feel sooooo much better each progressive day.

thanks you two. I know its just a start, and the food is not going down quickly! So I am taking it slowly, not eating much as I don't want to tempt fate. But it is significantly more than I have been!

I still feel neuseas, but its not that inevitable 'i will be sick in a minute^ feeling. I should be able to cope with this feeling, I just need to sit down a lot at the moment!!

i've heard that most of the drugs available, take away the vomiting, but not so much the nauseous feeling unfortunately. it's so great to be able to eat though, however small, however slowly.
for me i kept clinging to the fact that people 'recovered' at different points in the pregnancy. at first i clung to the hope of 12 weeks, 13 weeks, then 16 weeks, then 20 weeks. however at about 18 weeks i begin to like food again and reduced to vomiting 3 or 4 times a day, but not necessarily after food, so i started to eat and put on weight, albeit with random vomits behind trees and in street drains in the day. at some point the vomiting reduced even more.
there's hope. i'm so glad you've got some medication to help you through. and when you finally give birth to that gorgeous bub, i imagine you will eat and eat and eat. xx

Audrey - lol at vomiting behind trees and in drains! - we went to stay in a yurt few weeks back and I was sick in the bushes, mainly as it was preferable to vomiting in a compost toilet, for some reason! I covered it all with sawdust though!

Glad you're feeling better Pavlov, long may it continue.

Are you taking your pregnacare vits again? (you know what I'm going to tell you to do for the nausea don't you?! )

I do know what you are going to say mum, and I will take them mum on my to do list after the evening meal.

Good good, make sure you do. [stern]

And that you can actually eat an evening meal.

I say evening meal - i mean 2 small scoops of mash and half a portion of fish. It would normally be 5-6 scoops of mash, 1-2 portions of fish, carrots, peas, AND pudding! Oh those were the days [sigh]