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?

pavlov, that is fantastic, so glad the cyclizine is working for you!

I'm doing ok (nearly 26 weeks now!), my main problem now is that I don't like any food. Everything tastes weird or just not the same. I have real trouble deciding what to eat--never have any ideas, and turn my nose up at whatever is suggested. But I'm not nauseous very much anymore, and normally only in the morning. Did throw up yesterday, but it was really due to being angry/frustrated at a squirrel (see 'AIBU to want to kill a defenseless woodland animal' for details).

Yakked in the bushes outside the library last week---I hope no one saw!

OK, lets not be too hasty here...

what with DH clearly deciding that as I am not being sick and no longer look like I am dying, its fine to do nothing and I am clearly ok with sorting myself out with food, sorting DD out with food, sorting us all out with tea .

Yesterday he said 'i think its a good idea for you to try to eat earlier, that might help, so we should eat at about 6:30pm' great.

This evening, he has been on the computer playing a new game ALL DAY. I said to him at 6:45pm, after he did not move to sort out DDs tea, or even thank me for making it even though I have told him numerous times that I am struggling with the smell of cooking food, i said 'could you make tea soon please' ;sure' he said, not even moving.

Still not moved and I have just had to do it myself, it won't be ready til 8pm, and I feel very much like I am going to throw up. I think I have left it too late to eat . I found with DD, if I ate before 7pm I was ok, if it was later than that, it would not stay down and DH knows this, he bloody remembered yesterday. I can't even bloody say anything or else it will end in an argument - he will bang on about doing everything and can't he have a break now?

I shall will the spoonful of mash I ate from DDs plate to stay down.

I would throw a tantrum and cry. I am not being sarcastic at all, I really would. But I don't have another child to set an example for yet, so maybe not the best option.

at your DH. Just because you have kept food down for one day, it's all okay now??? I had trouble even going in the kitchen until about 16-17 weeks. At some point after that I was able to cook again, but only certain things, and I usually didn't want to eat what I'd cooked.

He really doesn't get it, does he? I reckon have some crackers for dinner and let him sort his own f*cking meal out later. Really annoyed for you.

And he isn't doing everything, because YOU are the one taking care of the baby and trying to give it the best start possible!

I had hyperemesis throughout my last pg.
It was sheer hell, I had a big cross off chart to cross off the days.
Nine months felt like a lifetime.
I did a urine test stick which showed I was 4+ keytones and had to have 4 days in hospital on a drip. They said when you are dehydrated you feel really ill, so I would advise you keep testing your urine/get MW/doctor to.
best of luck, every day passed is one less to go. X

dont worry about the antiemitics affecting the bean! They tried me on 7/8 different types, and all were fine. cycl;izine didnt work for me, but whatever is your magic drug is worth its weight in gold.

XX

I got my own back - I spilt a can of fizz that he had not removed from the computer desk all over him (by accident but was still amusing .

No he does not get it. He gives the impression of getting it, but then does something that makes me think he is just humouring me, like tonight, or yesterday, saying I could sort out my dehydration by drinking a glass of water .

But then, he will say, you got to eat little but often, I shall go to the shops to get whatever you want. I guess it takes its toll on him in different ways.

But yes I was too.

Well, I have eaten my 'meal' which DD helped me polish off, she ate more than I did, had had two teas this evening, and pudding! I am now about to take the pregnacare vits and I was going to play fable on x-box but I might just go to bed and let DH deal with DD who is not sleepy as she napped with me today!

hi everyone, pavlov- hope the meds work for you.

Yank- you are 26 weeks!
Really, the end is in sight.

Imagine how happy we will all be once we have our gorgeous babies and are scoffing our hearts out!

I have felt the depths of misery as sara described- luckily I was not as sick as her- and really doubted my ability to carry on and do this. I told dp in early pg 'if anything happens to this baby I can NOT do this again'

Been at in laws this weekend and took the opportunity to stay in bed a lot. MIL made a pointed comment about me 'Mummy's eating her breakfast,even though it's lunchtime now'.

I said 'Well, Mummy's not feeling very well' and she said 'Really?' !!

She also said 'You like to sleep a lot dont you- do you do this at home?'

charliegal, at your MIL now! WTF is wrong with people?

I was just saying this morning, I'm nearly out of the 2nd trimester, and have yet to experience this 'burst of energy' I've heard so much about. It's more like 'gradually feeling less shitty'. I am finally starting to look pregnant too (started out big and have only gained about 8 pounds, most of which happened in the last 4 weeks).

Another bout of retching this morning due to early waking and squirrel rage, but didn't actually get sick. My diet is awful. I swear when this is over I'm going to eat nothing but vegetables and lentils to make up for it.

yep 'gradually feeling less shitty' is the highest I feel I can aim for too.

Well, MIL is bonkers. She's had 4 children and probably just thinks I am being pathetic.

My Mum is sympathetic. She had 4 of us, was sick everytime and can still remember how the pattern on my dress made her sick when pregnant with db! She said the worst was when she had a miscarriage at 10 weeks and then got pg again straight away, so she was sick for about a year solid!

This is going to sound awful I know, but it's wonderful to find that I'm not the only one who feels so shitty atm... I'm 23 weeks and have been throwing up copiously since about 6 weeks. I was probably quite dehydrated (brown urine, poor output etc etc) when I first went to the GP, thankfully he was sympathetic and prescribed Avomine. It did work to the extent I could keep liquids down so I could rehydrate without a hospital admission but it knocked me out to the point where I couldn't function so I asked for something else. I've been taking stemetil for the past while and although it doesn't stop the nausea it does mean I can keep food and liquids down (most of the time). I do carry a couple of plastic bags with me at all times though.

Gradually feeling less shitty, lol, yes that is what I'm hoping for as well. I gave up on blooming ages ago and I'm not expecting to be able to stop the stemetil until after the baby's born. I do try a day off it every now and again but the sickness comes back with a vengence and I fall on my drugs like a crazed addict looking for relief

I've been to see my GP today because my ability to cope with the sickness has just plummeted in the past couple of weeks and I have had to go off work sick (again). He's prescribed AD's as my personality has just disappeared underneath this poorly person who takes it out on everyone around her. I've been on and off AD's all my adult life and part of me feels as though I should have somehow coped better and not needed to take pills to get through the day without being a mardy self pitying old moo... but hey ho... what ever gets me through to September.

SOrry I am wittering on a bit, my head is not entirely clear today.

I started a thread on HG when I was first diagnosed and someone (sorry I foret who) posted about "crying tears of vomit" which really resonated with me. to anyone who suggests ginger. I try and smile and nod, after all people are usually trying to be helpful and sympathetic, but I have a t shirt which screams "Yes I tried ginger. I tried crackers. I tried x and y and z. Do you think I would present myself sobbing and wretching at the GP's surgery if it was that easy to fix? Do you think I would be taking medication if a ginger nut would stop this? Do you think I would rather gibber for days on the sofa instead of eating a fucking cream cracker?"

Pavlov I hope you find something that helps - don't accept that the first thing you are given is the only answer, you may well find that another type of med will either work better or be tolerated better. Good luck

i'm with you all, i'm going to smack the next person who mentions the word 'blooming'. i just can't bare it. the best i've really felt is mediocre, and that's on a really good day.

Tiger, I'm actually finding this thread a godsend as well. I'm so sorry that everyone is feeling so sick, tired and generally shitty, but at the same time, thank god it's not just me.

pavlov, can i also give your dh a thwack for you? he needs to take care of ALL food related duties, including cooking, serving and shopping until further notice.

i'm so relieved that i can cook again finally. not least because dh can't really cook too many things without it taking 3 hours to do a simple dish, so i'd be eating flavourless stir fried noodles every night, probably being served it at 11pm when i was already passed out from exhaustion/hunger.

i would gladly deliver you some food pavlov if i could. i have two godsent friends who would give me extras of what they had been cooking so that i could feed it to ds with a minimum of cooking time.

i think we should definitely design a tshirt that says 'a ginger biscuit or nibbling crackers won't f*ckin fix it'.

i've had one person suggest putting my tongue on the roof of my mouth every time i felt nauseous. yeah its pretty hard to do that when your whole body is violently retching.
another person suggested never eating and drinking together.
ah, they are just trying to help, but i really hate the fact they think it's so easy to fix.
and then there's my dear male friend who still can't get his head around the fact you can have 'morning sickness' any time of the day, not just in the morning.

i'd also like to have a tshirt for all those times i was vomiting on the street/in the park with people staring in horror. something like 'i'm pregnant, not drunk or hungover'
one time i walked out of the fish shop after buying something for ds to eat that night, vomited on a pole. a lady actually stopped to see if i was alright and if i needed anything, and i started crying becuase it was the first time a stranger was actually nice about it.

rant over!

TigerFeet, PMSL at your rant...I'm so there with you!

audrey, it's amazing isn't it, when someone is sympathetic instead of jumping to the conclusion that you're drunk? I was barfing in a car park next to someone's jaguar when he happens to walk up. Was so sure he was going to glare/say something mean, but instead he went in his car, got back out and offered me a bottle of mineral water!

My favourite comment was a sympathetic 'Heavy night last night?' when I threw up in the street. I wished!

Tigerfeet, I love your line "Do you think I would rather gibber for days on the sofa instead of eating a fucking cream cracker?" - sums it up perfectly!

Pavlov I agree you deserve to have your dh doing a bit more. DH did everything when I had HG with my 2nd child. This time he would if he physically could but with 2 dcs to look after now one person just can't.
Maybe the Anti Ginger Avengers can have a sideline in haranguing husbands who don't let their wives rest enough.

my dh doesn't get home until 7.30pm most nights, so it's still all me through the week pretty much. i'm trying to get him used to getting up at 6.30/7 with ds, while i crawl out of bed at 8, but he's not a great morning person and tries to get ds to stay in bed longer, which just results in much moaning and all of us being awake!
he's pretty good on the weekend though, i got him to take ds to the natural history museum for the day while i slept all day cleared out our bedroom of junk.

pavlov, how you feeling? sorry we've hijacked your thread. there was clearly a need for a 'ranting about all the trials of HG' thread

Not read all the thread but wanted to add my bit anyway. I had rotten hyperemesis - hospital, drips, couldn't keep down even water, signed off work, the whole kit and kaboodle. Struggled with food for remainder of pregnancy - I'm a dairy lover as a rule and couldn't stomach anything that had been anywhere near a cow for the entirety of my pregnancy. Everything tasted weird and made me feel rubbish. I just kind of got used to it and worked around it. The morning after my DD was born, the hospital served up milky porridge. And I absolutely loved it. It was a miracle how quickly my tastebuds got back to normal. I really sympathise with all those going through it - the days feel really long, particularly near the end. Good luck

I also haven't read the whole thread but I thought that I would share my experiences.With DD1 and DD2 I had really bad HG, hospital,drips etc.It eased from 16 weeks and was over by 20 weeks.I went to live with my Mum as DH was at work and I was off sick.I was sick up to 20 times a day.Not nice.DD1 was 9lb 3oz !!! DD2 was 8lb 7oz.With DS1 I was sick up to 4 times a day.Life continued.It was over again by 20 weeks.I ate and ate every time I felt sick.I ate when I woke in the middle of the night to keep my blood sugar up.I payed for accupuncture 3 times a week.Also DH or my mum massaging me helped to distract the sickness a bit. DS 10lb!!!

I am now 20 weeks pregnant with DC4 (mad I know)My gp gave me accupuncture 2 times a week for free and again I have eatten and eatten.This time I have only been sick about 4 times a week.I had to go to bed by 8pm every night for weeks.However sickness stopped by 17 weeks.I suspect another boy but we will have to wait and see.

Good luck to you all it will pass but it is hell.You need help and support.Rest and no work.In my opinion you also need to try and manage it as best you can and try lots of options.Remember you will have an amazing little person at the end of it for the rest of your life.

I also haven't read the whole thread but I thought that I would share my experiences.With DD1 and DD2 I had really bad HG, hospital,drips etc.It eased from 16 weeks and was over by 20 weeks.I went to live with my Mum as DH was at work and I was off sick.I was sick up to 20 times a day.Not nice.DD1 was 9lb 3oz !!! DD2 was 8lb 7oz.With DS1 I was sick up to 4 times a day.Life continued.It was over again by 20 weeks.I ate and ate every time I felt sick.I ate when I woke in the middle of the night to keep my blood sugar up.I payed for accupuncture 3 times a week.Also DH or my mum massaging me helped to distract the sickness a bit. DS 10lb!!!

I am now 20 weeks pregnant with DC4 (mad I know)My gp gave me accupuncture 2 times a week for free and again I have eatten and eatten.This time I have only been sick about 4 times a week.I had to go to bed by 8pm every night for weeks.However sickness stopped by 17 weeks.I suspect another boy but we will have to wait and see.

Good luck to you all it will pass but it is hell.You need help and support.Rest and no work.In my opinion you also need to try and manage it as best you can and try lots of options.Remember you will have an amazing little person at the end of it for the rest of your life.

I also haven't read the whole thread but I thought that I would share my experiences.With DD1 and DD2 I had really bad HG, hospital,drips etc.It eased from 16 weeks and was over by 20 weeks.I went to live with my Mum as DH was at work and I was off sick.I was sick up to 20 times a day.Not nice.DD1 was 9lb 3oz !!! DD2 was 8lb 7oz.With DS1 I was sick up to 4 times a day.Life continued.It was over again by 20 weeks.I ate and ate every time I felt sick.I ate when I woke in the middle of the night to keep my blood sugar up.I payed for accupuncture 3 times a week.Also DH or my mum massaging me helped to distract the sickness a bit. DS 10lb!!!

I am now 20 weeks pregnant with DC4 (mad I know)My gp gave me accupuncture 2 times a week for free and again I have eatten and eatten.This time I have only been sick about 4 times a week.I had to go to bed by 8pm every night for weeks.However sickness stopped by 17 weeks.I suspect another boy but we will have to wait and see.

Good luck to you all it will pass but it is hell.You need help and support.Rest and no work.In my opinion you also need to try and manage it as best you can and try lots of options.Remember you will have an amazing little person at the end of it for the rest of your life.

I also haven't read the whole thread but I thought that I would share my experiences.With DD1 and DD2 I had really bad HG, hospital,drips etc.It eased from 16 weeks and was over by 20 weeks.I went to live with my Mum as DH was at work and I was off sick.I was sick up to 20 times a day.Not nice.DD1 was 9lb 3oz !!! DD2 was 8lb 7oz.With DS1 I was sick up to 4 times a day.Life continued.It was over again by 20 weeks.I ate and ate every time I felt sick.I ate when I woke in the middle of the night to keep my blood sugar up.I payed for accupuncture 3 times a week.Also DH or my mum massaging me helped to distract the sickness a bit. DS 10lb!!!

I am now 20 weeks pregnant with DC4 (mad I know)My gp gave me accupuncture 2 times a week for free and again I have eatten and eatten.This time I have only been sick about 4 times a week.I had to go to bed by 8pm every night for weeks.However sickness stopped by 17 weeks.I suspect another boy but we will have to wait and see.

Good luck to you all it will pass but it is hell.You need help and support.Rest and no work.In my opinion you also need to try and manage it as best you can and try lots of options.Remember you will have an amazing little person at the end of it for the rest of your life.

Can sympathise with all you poor ladies. I had what I thought was morning sickness (ha ha) with my ds1, then when I got preg with dd1, boy did I know what real morning sickness was. Only time helped. I was throwing up 5 times or more a day. I couldn't brush my teeth (and now my teeth are decaying and they will never be the same again). The highlight was throwing up in my lap whilst driving to work. I couldn't bear the snide comments of jerks (usually men) about not being able to cope with a bit of nausea (even my boss). It is all consuming. By 7 weeks I had lost a stone, and the doctor did give me something to help stop the throwing up - I had ketones in my urine (not cyclezine, but something for motion sickness which you could buy over the counter at boots). I was desperate even though worried about what it might do to the baby). Don't you hate the useless tips people say (ginger, nibble a cracker - aaarrrggghhh. I obviously have tried everything you effing moron). It is the most miserable time and I felt so guilty as at times I wished for a miscarriage just to stop the sickness and getting pregnant wasn't easy (ectopic, miscarriages etc). I hated myself but I couldn't bear it. It started to feel better at around 16 weeks and was fine by 20 weeks. What helped to be honest was reading other people's stories - there is always someone worse off ! The mw kept on saying don't worry, the baby is fine - like a parasite taking everything she needs at the expense of the mother. She was fine and is adorable and I love her so much that it hurts. Hang in there everyone, it's hard not to wish your life away, but I certainly wouldn't blame you. And guess what !? I am even thinking of trying for another. Nuts, or what. AND by the way, DH, lovely though he is, still scoffs about morning sickness under his breath, yet, 1 day of a tummy bug and he talks on and on about that fateful day when he felt really bad. Well, try feeling like that, but looking after children and trying to do housework and expected to go to work. Oh no. He's allowed to retire to bed for the rest of the day watching tv whilst I am expected to get on with everything else running the family. Sorry, just a little (large) chip on my shoulder.