Morning/ALL the time Sickness

[ohsouthlondon]

Hi All,

Just after a bit of advice if I may.

My Mrs (Fiancee but from here on out referred to as The Mrs) is really suffering hard with morning sickness, although not usually in the morning.

She went far enough downhill that she had to go into hospital for the IV treatment last Monday which perked her up, and she's been on the anti-nausea pills since then, but she's going downhill again despite the pills.

She doesn't keep anything down, food, water, vitamin pills, literally nothing. All I'm doing at the moment is firefighting her urge to vomit, based on the thinking that the longer it's inside of her, the more chance her body has of benefiting from it.

My question is, is there ANYTHING that I can do? I've trawled the internet and done the ginger, peppermint, lavender, sea sickness bands, everything that I could find. She doesn't want to rely on the hospital IV treatments and I'm worried for both her and the baby, especially as she's not even getting enough nutrition for herself. The doctors don't seem particularly interested in being helpful (I will admit to being a bit biased, but I'm enough of a realist to recognize when we're being pointed towards the door to make room).

I'm just worried about where this is leading and I have to work so I'm not with her as much as I'd like and with the maximum due respect her support network consists of a few people who have trouble negotiating the complexities of a television control. She's ten weeks today and the midwife was really helpful in pointing out that she may well be this way for the entire nine months.

Ultimately I'm spending way too much time holding her hair and rubbing her back, when I feel like I should be feigning interest in her six billion choices of similar looking buggies. I just want to do whatever I can to ease her sickness to the point where she has the energy to be that annoying again!

Apologies for the ramble, but I really would be grateful for any pointers or scientific explanations on how I can help her.

Thanks!

 

[lisey]

Hi. So sorry to read your fiance is suffering so much. I have been the same. 24 hour nausea, sicking up every drop of water. I am on sickness meds and whilst they don't stop the nausea feeling, they do stop me being sick as frequently.
If the meds are not working then speak to the doctor and see if they will change them to something else, maybe some stronger stuff if she is unable to to keep anything at all down.
I don't have any tips for relief as absolutely nothing has worked for me. I would say to have drink separately from food though, would wait at least half hour to an hour in between and small sips, even from straw. Very cold drink is better than lukewarm.
I hope it starts to ease off for her soon as I know how awful it feels x

 

[ohsouthlondon]

Hi. So sorry to read your fiance is suffering so much. I have been the same. 24 hour nausea, sicking up every drop of water. I am on sickness meds and whilst they don't stop the nausea feeling, they do stop me being sick as frequently.
If the meds are not working then speak to the doctor and see if they will change them to something else, maybe some stronger stuff if she is unable to to keep anything at all down.
I don't have any tips for relief as absolutely nothing has worked for me. I would say to have drink separately from food though, would wait at least half hour to an hour in between and small sips, even from straw. Very cold drink is better than lukewarm.
I hope it starts to ease off for her soon as I know how awful it feels x

Hi Lisey, thanks for taking the time to reply. The meds have slowed down her nausea, but she still goes for it almost hourly. The thing with the meds is that google doesn't really like them around babies (and when I say google, I don't mean mumsy sites, I mean actual medical documentation) - even her doctor said that the maths between conditions like ADHD and anti nausea drugs doesn't fill her with confidence.

Ice cold water is her staple diet at the moment, which is great but it builds up to the point where I end up with a fistful of her hair again while she spills it all. I'm wondering whether or not it's worth her just gulping down a glass and holding onto it as long as she can - I mean if she's going to vomit anyway, why not give her body more volume to take from while it's in there right?

 

[Eryinera]

Hello. I've suffered through this as well I'm now on odansatron which they use for chemotherapy. I too had the iv drip and felt so much better and you may find having the odd iv is essential.

Now. Drugs companies don't test on pregnant woman it's considered "unethical" so no drug company will ever say it's safe in pregnancy. Except certain pregnancy related ones like heparin but even then it will cone with a disclaimer I'm sure. I find I'm slightly better at night so I take my pills at midnight. ** edit to add (I will add I'm trying to take mine only as and when essential as there is a slight risk of some things but again no studies it's all circumstantial and could be a child with add is more likely to make mum sick than taking X makes a child with adhd if you get me) **

Good news is baby won't be affected by all this it will take what it needs from mum's body so if it needs calcium expect mums teeth and nails to go without etc. I find I struggle with fluids the most but I've found one drink... pineapple orange and lemon cordial from tesco that I can handle anything else is very risky. Water for me cones straight back up. It may be trail and error to find the magic drink. I'm just over 10 weeks and starting to feel a bit better but some women have it the whole way and end up hospitalised. Some women feel better around 13 -16 weeks. I find food wise at my worst it was a case of I had a 30 min window of feeling OK ish to eat whatever my body craved usually it was ice cream and ice lollies (ice pops were my only drink for a good while too) or ready salted crisps. I find I was very sensitive to smells so I had a joff lemon I would squeeze some out to sniff.

It's hard and your Mrs has a bad case I'm more mild but look out for danger sign's like sever abdominal pain (that's why I was admitted) really dark wee or not peeing in (well they say 8hrs but I've been going about every 12 hours seems fine) oh and movement is terrible for me so dark and still places is good.

 

[becsybabe]

Hi I'm also one of the unlucky ones with 24/7 nausea with occasional vomiting I have been prescribed three different anti sickness tablets and so far they haven't helped Iv just got some new ones today so hoping they kick in and help I wear the sea bands 24/7 (except in the bath/shower) no idea if they work but not willing to not wear them incase I feel worse. I have found 1 thing that gives me some relief for a short time and they are sugar free barley sugar sweets. Also the oasis drink and some fizzy drinks. I'm 11 weeks tomorrow and my doctor today said you should feel an ease hopefully in the next couple of weeks. I really hope your partner starts to feel better soon. Lots of rest lots of sleep and fingers crossed for the next few weeks to get better. Unfortunately there isn't much more you can actually do than you are doing already just being around will be making her feel better. I would definately see the doctor again for some anti sickness tablets therecare lots out there that are fine to use. Good luck xx

 

[JD.Deedee]

I threw up hourly like this for 9 months straight but refused anti sickness tablets due to bad experience with them in the past. I also didn't take pregnancy vitamins as they have to be swallowed and I can't swallow tablets, I chew them where necessary but that's not allowed with the vitamins. I did gulp down a glass of water prior to vomiting and this did help as I've never been admitted to hospital kept weeing and noticed I didn't throw up as much that I drink even taking the water when I felt when I was going to vomit, I only ate what I fancied or craved as anything else would come straight back up. I vomited on myself in public, on the floor at working had been signed off work as not only did I continuously throw up, I was also tortured with migraines every other day!

My baby had a healthy birth weight and is now 3,5 years old so all is fine.

I didn't take anti sickness tablets as in the past they left me nauseated which I find worse and I fainted whilst on them, I did not want that whilst pregnant.

 

[JamsMom]

My sister had Hyperemesis gravidarum, it may be what your Mrs is suffering from, unfortunately (you might not want to pass this bit on, and not everyone is the same) she suffered through the whole pregnancy and like your partner was in on drips often, if she isn't keeping anything down as much as you said she doesn't want to rely on the hospital she will need to as otherwise she will become severely dehydrated which is very dangerous for herself let alone the baby. There might be some useful info on here for you.
https://www.pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk/help/women-suffering/hyperemesis-gravidarum/

I hope she gets better and really sorry she's suffering so much

Edited to add, that website on looking at it a bit more also links to a forum for women who have suffered with this, so even if it's not HG your GF has (fingers crossed!) then I'm sure there will be lots of info from other people who have had severe sickness on how to alleviate it. It's a shame the ginger didn't work, have you tried pepto Bismol? I can't drink a lot as I get extreme hangovers (I know, very different!!) but I will throw up constantly for a good 24 hours and I find pepto helps enormously with the nausea.

 

[BunnyN]

Honesty it does sound like HG to me. It is also possible that she is just worse short term becuase of a bug or something. Although HG does tend to last longer than normal morning sickness it doesn't last the whole pregnancy for the majority of sufferers. So although it is a possibility try not to panic about that just yet. With HG I think you just have to take it one day and week at a time.

I was very ill this pregnancy with HG but thankfully it began to improve at 12 weeks. With my 1st pregnancy I improved a lot at about 14 weeks. This ime I ate very little for weeks on end and it got to the point at my worst that I couldn't eat or drink anything at all. IV became very important for me. Thankfully we managed to arrange to have that at home but that is not always easy to do.

What did help? Honestly nothing made me all better but some things helped a little to manage it and kept me from living in hospital. You have to experiment with what works and any small thing that helps is a good thing. Here are some things that helped me:

Rest was very important for me. Trying to do too much always made me worse. It got to the point that I could hardly move my head without being sick but when I wasnt as bad I could do some things as long as I didn't push it and lay down in between. When not at my worse a gentle walk in fresh air was also helpful.

Not letting my stomach get empty. This only worked in the begging before the sickness got too bad. Eventually my stomach reacted violently to anything I tried to put in it. But to start with eating a small something plain, dry and starchy every hr or so helped to settle my stomach. Try something like, rice crackers or toast. For me strong tasting, greasy or acidic foods were bad.

Dont mix liquid and food. This was a big one for me. Food on its own is much easier to keep down. Eat something then wait half an hr to drink. Small sips usually work best.

Eat what feels right. Of course it better to avoid too much junk food and eat healthy options as much as possible but there is no point in stressing over a balanced diet. I mostly couldn't touch fruit or salad which are usually foods I love. I found I wanted extra salt on my food and nothing with sugar. Again bland food like boiled potatoes or porridge oats tended to work best. Small portions as often as possible were the way to go. When I started to feel better all I wanted to eat for about a week was scrambled egg on its own with plenty of salt and dried apple. I thought I should be eating more variety so tried eating a more balanced meal and promptly thew it up. I learned just to listen to what my body was telling me!

Give priority to liquids. If you cant do both dont worry too much about food. You can live fine without much food for quite a while. Not enough liquids will land you in trouble real quick. The only time I could keep down much water was at night so I would get up in the middle of the night to drink. If I could I would eat something too but I gave priority to drinking. I put a large bottle of water beside my bed and tried to finish it by morning. It was a nuisance but I knew I was going straight to hospital if I couldn't do that.

Medication - I am not a person who takes medication, especially while pregnant but I realised that there comes a point where the benefit outweighs the risks. In general any medication they will give during pregnancy has a good history of being safe for the baby. They cant do proper trials on pregnant women so the lack of information is fustrating but there is a pretty long history of use with most of the drugs so any major side effects would have been spotted by now. I still believe in avoiding drugs in pregnancy if possible but there comes a point where it can be the best option. Common drugs for morning sickness often wont help HG so dont be afraid to pester your doctor for something stronger.

How can you help her? It sounds like you are doing a good job. Just being there and being sympathetic is a big help. Feeling sick all the time really gets you down. Having someone who is understanding makes a huge difference. Laying in bed all day also gets boaring and lonely so taking time to talk and look at prams with her etc when she is up to it helps more than you think . On a practical level, when I was able to make food I usually couldn't eat it by the time I finished so having someone else hand me small appealing meals on a regular basis really helped. Dont be offended if she suddenly cant eat the food she craved 20mins ago.

Dont worry too much about the baby. Especially in the 1st tri it gets what it needs from the mother. I lost 2.5 stone in tri 1 and baby is doing fine and measuring large. In my pregnancy with DD I also had HG and she was born healthy at 9lb 5oz.