[TillyTake2]

Hi all,

After experiencing extream sickness with my son (vomiting to the point of dehydration, losing weight etc till 17 weeks) I have done a lot of research on managment. I ended up on zofran with my son but didn't take any medication until 11 weeks (when I started on maxalon) for fear of harming the baby.

After seeing the toll that pregnancy took on me my approach & plan has been different this time. I've been taking vitamin b6 200mg at night every day since finding out we were pregnant. So far so good, got to 7 weeks with barely a whiff of nausea. Baby is well, strong heartbeat & all going well (bar a subcutaneous heamatoma which I'm told should be ok, I've had no bleeding etc).

Anyway, at 7 weeks 2 days the vomiting started. I added restavit 1/2 tablet at night to my routine (12.5mg) with no improvement so far.

I'm planning to up it to 1 tablet night & 1/2 morning (as per RWH recommendations). The next step is adding another sedating antihistamine. How do you function if taking that many "sleepy" drugs.

Is the restavit likely to work? How long until I'm likely to see effects?

Next step will be maxalon again & then I guess zofran but I'm hoping to avoid it this time if at all possible due to cost

Thanks

This post has been edited by TillyTake2: 27/01/2013, 07:15 PM

[Lishyfips]

I don't know anything about restavit, I'm sorry, but I'm 20 weeks and still need to take a 4mg dose of Zofran most days. I feel guilty about it as I never needed drugs for morning sickness in my two previous pregnancies. That's when I think about my good friend whose twins are now seven. She had such severe HG that she was on 4 x 8mg Zofran wafers per day from six weeks preg (and an IV drip as she still couldn't keep food down) till she gave birth at seven months. Those babies had a tough start but you'd never know it now - they're the tallest in their class, articulate, advanced reading and maths groups, popular, sporty, the works. If the big doses of Zofran they received in utero affected them you'd never know it. If it takes a bit of Maxolon or Zofran for you to function, don't be too hard on yourself!
My other consoling factor was that I told a friend who is an obstetrician (not mine) that I felt guilty taking Zofran and he just laughed and said it's fine, they even give it to kids with gastro who come into Emergency. He was so relaxed about it that I figured it must be pretty commonplace now.

[~Jot~]

It helped me. I was still nauseous but it enabled me to function. I only took restavit at night, I would have been too sleepy if I took it during the day. I tried Maxalon but it seemed to make me feel worse! It took a few days to start working, and after a week it was as good as it was going to get.

That said, my ms was nowhere near as bad as yours. I never actually vomitted, I just felt like I was going to all the time. I hope it helps you but I suspect you'll need stronger measures.

[Sunshiney]

OP I've been through the range of drugs and ended up on zofran when nothing else worked. But saw a midwife at RHW last week who is a big believer in accupuncture and thought it would work for me despite the HG. If you wan't to try to avoid the drugs, she said you'd need 3 sessions a week for about 3 weeks. Maybe worth a try?

Other non-drug things I tried were accupressure wrist bands (buy them from a chemist for $15-20), avoiding fatty foods and sugar, and eating protein regularly to keep your blood sugar levels stable. I also had a problem with too much saliva constantly running into my stomach and found that using listerine all through the day helped to dry out my mouth. I also had problems with dehydration due to the constant vomiting and my doc said that keeping up my fluids was more important than eating, so try making ice cubes and breaking them up into chunks and sucking on them to combat the dehydration.

I really didn't want to take any drugs and tried so much to avoid them, but in the end I had to accept that I had no choice because I got too sick, had really low BP, kept fainting, kept vomiting and my vision went blurry. So I had to accept that it was best for me and my baby to take zofran. But I'm only small built and found that after a few days I could take a smaller dose than the doc had directed.

[Corella]

It's widely used in other countries and is pretty safe but made me very sleepy so it was a nighttime tablet.

[futureself]

I took it at night, eventually in combination with Zofran during the day after 12 weeks. I tried doing half in the morning as well as full tablet at night before going on the Zofran but was so dopey I couldn't function. I think it helped - I was vomiting in the middle of the night and the restavit seemed to help wit that!

[zaacaa]

I couldn't use the restavit during the day as it put me to sleep, so I took it at night so that's wasn't waking up to puke constantly. I've had 2 HG pregnancies and this time I took maxalon, zofran, B6 and restavit together and it helped a bit but honestly without the zofran I wouldn't have made it out of hospital. I'm almost 22 weeks and down to only one zofran a day now and no longer need the restavit. Honestly they won't harm you or the baby but will help keep you out of hospital and hopefully functioning. Do what works to make it through each day! There is also a great support thread here for HG sufferers if you're interested, the women are amazing!!

[TillyTake2]

Thanks girls. I have increased the dose to a full tablet at night, 1/2 in the morning & 1/2 around 3.30pm. It does make me a little sleepy but I can function better sleepy than with my head in the toilet!! I have heard the sleepiness wears off with time. No more vommiting yesterday or today so it's helping. I have the luxury of being able to nap most days so that is also an enormous help compared to last time!

This post has been edited by TillyTake2: 29/01/2013, 11:33 AM

[TillyTake2]

I just thought I'd update. I'm now 9 weeks & taking 1 restavit at night, 1/2 morning & most days I also take 1/2 afternoon. It is working very well & I'd not vomited since 7 weeks & barely feel nauseaus. I'd highly recommend it!

[~Jot~]

Thanks for updating, I'm so glad it's working for you!