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?

Audrey - don't apologise about hijacking thread! Not a hijack, a chance for all us poorly mummies/mummies to be to get together and support each other.

This thread has helped me LOADS. Keep posting, especially all those suffering right now.

I had Drs appt yesterday morning - called them at 8:45am, they said come in at 9:30am. that is 45 mins to get myself up, eaten, showered, out the house - did they know how hard that is right now?!! (I had to shower, I stank, or that might just be my oversensitive nose but i could not bear it!). I took my drug, ate a bagel, had a shower, got dressed, dried my hair - threw up. I threw up as quickly as I could so I would not be late, DH drove me, I was 5 mins late. I have been there on time before and had to wait 45 mins to be seen (that is normal). On this, one fucking typical day, they had called me - dead on time. The receptionist said 'sorry, the next person is in, you are too late' 'I was being sick' I said. 'well, he is seeing the next person now'. 'well, I said, that next person has my slot, so why don't I just have their slot?' it won't delay anything' 'i will have to talk to the Dr but you will probably have to wait til everyone is seen (about midday!!!). 'I have hyperemesis, I am sick a lot, especially if I rush, I had 45 mins to get ready when it usually takes me 2 hours, I was sick, I am only 5 minutes late' luckily another receptionist looked up when 'hyperemesis' was mentioned and she spoke to Dr who saw me after the other patient. I was almost in tears as I had an entire waiting room full of people staring at me!

Dr told me that I have to take cyclizine an hour before I eat. He said in situations such as a gp appt I should take the buccastem as it is more effective more quickly. now I get told that!!

Anyway, after that session of vomiting, I held down a small lunch, some nuts for a snack in the afternoon, a banana, and then...here it goes...a proper small meal of macaroni cheese and about 6 chips!!! It gave me serious heartburn and a horrible headache as it digested, but it stayed down!!!!!

Hi Pav, Ive found a bit of information that your DH might like to read about what he can do to help here

Hope the meds are still keeping your sickness under control..

Can I add a celebratory post? I have not been sick so far today!!!!!
Up till now I have been sick first thing in the morning every day since 22nd Feb, so it is pretty fabulous.

Of course, staying at my friend's house and not getting up till 8am may have helped.

I'm prob goin to get a huge amount of stick for this but i don't care i've found my cure. cannabis. shock! been vomiting for past week and kept nothing down. no crackers, ginger beer, porridge, fruit blah blah blah.
i used to smoke weed as a teen and have friend who still do who said i should try it. i had 1 pull on a joint and nausea and sickness vanished- ALL DAY. I have since researched online and found alot of research to suggest that this is a valid method to control morning sicness. in fact in the 19th century it was widely used for period pain, morning sickness, and labour pain- Queen Victoria herself used it for pain relief during labour!!!
There is no need for a large amount, i am not drinking cannabis tea all day. just one small dose in morning and i am fine. risks in doin so are linked to low birth weight but this is attributed to the smoking of it and also the fact that most users are heavy users and also smoke cigarettes, i do neither.
i am glad i have found my cure and am able to eat and function like a normal person at last. i would much rather use cannabis than drugs from dctors as these are not as widely tested and not as much known. cannabis is natural and has been used for centuries. its not ideal but it works.

That's interesting Rookie.
You are probably less likely to get stick on this thread than elsewhere. A lot of us would probably have tried what you did if we had had the info/opportunity.
I would not necessarily be confident that because something is natural and has been used for a long time that it is necessarily safe, but given that there is so much we don't know about the effects of HG and of other ways of treating it, it seems to me a reasonable risk to take.

no stick from me. i say go with what works. i don't think any of the drugs (prescribed or not) are ideal to take in pregnancy, but we take them because we need to maintain a semblance of day to day functioning.

Thanks guys,exactly- i would rather not have to take anything and as soon as symptoms go (i wait with baited breath for magical wk 13 when all will be well i hope!) will stop. Apparently for significant harm to be caused you would have to injest 1000 times the usual intake of the drug. i am injesting the most minimal amount which i feel i must stress.

hope everyone finds their cure. it is an awful thing to deal with and people have NO sympathy whatsoever!

i'm probably doing more harm with my one espresso a day, rookie, but it keeps me going! i tried giving it up for 2 weeks, but made no difference to the nausea/vomiting and made me miserable, so i resumed my guilty pleasure.

i have to say with my first pregnancy, i was super good about food and nutrition and no bad stuff. this time i've indulged in coffee, smoked salmon, mayonnaise and the odd packet slice of parma ham. i just can't get all evangelical about it anymore.

Rookie - funnily enough I was talking to a friend yesterday about that - a good friend of mine who smoked cannabis before she conceived suffered severely with sickness and was adamant that the only thing that stopped her sickness/kept it at bay was cannabis - she gave up smoking cigerettes completely and smoked pure herbal cannabis. She is a nurse and also knows of the research that has been done into cannabis being an anti-emetic or at least good for reducing nausea. There is research I beleive looking into the benefits of it with cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

I still know the odd person who smokes it, and personally, I cannot stomach that to be around the smell of that or cigerettes right right now, but I certainly do not intend to give you stick for your choices...at least it is not ginger

Kathy YEY, how you feeling now? Have you managed to keep food down since your last post? Was it a cure you found (you must tell us if so...now!) or just a day where you felt better, a possible turned corner? Hope it has lasted.

dirtygerty - he would not even read it if I showed it to him. I am supporting you fine thanks is the response I will get. I tried this already, he said I read too much shite on the interntet I am just letting him get on with it, but not doing what I can't do, and not cooking what I can't cook, resting when I need, whatever he does. I am not going to fight it, or argue about it any more.

Oh and rookie - you said about the risks of low birth weight - there are links between severe hyperemesis and low birth weight too.

You know what, I bet by the time our dds are grown up if they get this they will get prescribed special medicinal cannabis and will listen with horror to our stories of how we suffered back in the Dark Ages

Pav - haven't been sick ALL DAY, it's amazing! The only thing that's different is my getting up later today and not having dcs around early in the morning; no miracle cure sadly (unless someone in my friend's house is smoking something they shouldn't and I just haven't noticed ).
I'm coping pretty well with work - I had to leave a seminar early because I felt so sick but was able to come up to my office and get on with other stuff, so at least I'm being productive.
I wouldn't be surprised if it's a turned corner - I don't tend to have ups and downs, just a steep decline followed by agonisingly slow recovery.
How about you? Is cyclizine still helping?

kathy, i notice that tiredness is a major factor in how sick i am. unfortunately with a toddler (and being pregnant), the tiredness is mostly unavoidable. i reckon if i could doze all day in front of the tv/with book, i would hardly vomit at all. such is life.

I agree with tiredness and sickness being worse. The only time I felt able to manage it even vaguely before the drugs was when I stayed in bed. As soon as I got up, I was sick. Within the hour.

Having a toddler certainly has its impact. I had sickness with DD too, all the way through, sick around 3 times a day, but it felt more manageable, and I wonder if it was because I could rest more. I got my hours at work adjusted to cope with it and did 10-4 instead of full time, I also went to bed when I wanted, stayed in bed much later at weekends, had afternoon naps when at home, went away for breaks a bit more. With DD, this is not so easy and perhaps is why its harder to manage ?

kathy Drugs working a treat. Getting a bit of indigestion, still feel neuseas (i cant ever spell it right, whatever combination I use!) all day (and yes moosy mum been taking my vits!!!!!) but its a vast improvement. DH now thinks I can eat anything and threatened using garlic in dinner tonight!

liz great about a good sized baby and I pleased the love of chocolate has returned, as I have not been able to eat it/look at it for months and I miss it! I really want to want a bar of it, but I just can't!!!

Glad you're taking your vits young lady Have you added any extra B6 or is it just the pregnacare ones?

Have discovered soup to be good at the moment, nice and easy to digest and looks the same if it does bounce. Also danish pastries are going down a treat which is great as they're soooo calorific

moosy no extra now given that i am only just keeping food down, but I would be quite happy to start once I get a routine of food staying down!

I found cuppa soup ok! But can't cope with any sweet stuff apart from those hard boiled lemon sweets with the fizz inside oh, and mcdonalds milkshake last week.

re hyperemesis and low birthweight - I was in for regular scans because they feared low birthweight because of hyperemesis. DD turned out to be a whoppa with a tricky delivery to prove it(another story!) She is now a nice average size aged 2 so low birthweight didn't turn out to be a problem. Food that worked for me - salads , chick peas, bits of chicken (if I disguised it - good practice!), stuff in tomato sauce. It's just a question of keep trying to find stuff that is manageable. Luckily (?), my love of chocolate, crisps and other major food groups has returned. You feel like it will never end and everyone around you, even those who love and support you, get a bit fed up of hearing about it from you. It WILL go away.Hang on in there.

I have the cinnamon danishes, they're not too sickly and taste strongly enough to cover the constant bleurgh taste that I have.

I tolerate sweet food much better than savoury atm, I think my body is crying out for calories! This baby is made of jelly beans, haribo and jaffa cakes . Cinnamon danishes sound wonderful

TIredness definitely a factor for me too. I want to sleep A LOT and if I don't, I feel particularly rough and am sick far more often. If I have a busy(ish) day it can take me a couple of days to recover. The drugs work fine as long as I'm resting. Trouble is, I just feel as though I'm being lazy. I'm fortunate in that my dd started school this year so she's out most of the day and I can MN sleep... the flip side of that is the school run which can be hideous, especially in the morning.

That's interesting re: cannabis... it's been a very long time since I last had a smoke. I would have no idea where to get hold of any now [middle aged emoticon]

Another morning of not being sick!
It's funny how the same foods come up over again in different people's experiences - I did the McDonalds milkshake thing the first time round, and this time I've been fancying sherbert lemons (but couldn't find any, grr.)

Good luck with today, everyone else!

Kathy - oh that is the only sweet thing I can eat!!! I have had an entire bag of them...do you want me to buy some from you and send them on? I am happy to do it, just CAT me your details. They are proper ones, from this stall in our shopping centre which sells all the old sweets like an oldie woldie sweety shop! Well done for not being sick! Long may it last!

Grrrr....DH now thinks cos I am eating I should be enthusiastic about it all! BBQ this evening for a friend's birthday, and he is planning so much, salads, this that and the other. Just give me a small plate of potato salad please.
Gosh its going to be hard work!

it's a long haul. there's a bit difference between being able to eat a bit, and being excited about all different kinds of food.
i am so exhausted because i went to the shops. god, is this what life is like? ds home in 40 mins, must have a quick lie down!

Dh has just gone out shopping with friend's wife for food and birthday present for said friend. He has taken DD with him and I am going to go have a sleep too!

good result! hope the rest is good. am willing ds to have a long nap.
this morning as i overtook an elderly lady walking down the street, I thought about how you must really need to slow down as you get old. it's probably not going to be easy is it? it's pretty hard to slow down right now, that's all i know.

But at least when you're old everyone expects it, whereas when you're pg you mostly get 'You're supposed to be pg, not ill' etc.

Pav I'm really sorry to hear all the trouble you're having with work. Mine have been brilliant. I hope silly manager woman can be brought into line.