Tips for surviving Hyperemesis Gravadium

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I wrote this post after having my son Trust, and now I find myself referencing this post again as I'm 10 weeks pregnant and have extreme nausea and vomiting or Hyperemesis Gravadium again. I've picked up some new tricks along the way that I wanted to add to my list of helpful tricks for surviving Hyperemesis Gravadium :)

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I had one of the WORST Pregnancy experiences known to women. 

After about a week of being pregnant I got EXTREME "Morning Sickness" or as I would call it "All Morning, Noon and Night Sickness". I couldn't see light, smell scents, see movement, hear noises, put anything in my mouth, move my body, etc without violently throwing up. It got to the point where my body was so starved and dehydrated I had to have home care and special IV nausea Medication that they give to Cancer Patients. The Doctors soon found out I had a rare condition called Hyperemesis Gravidarum. It's just a Lofty term for extreme nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. Below are some tips I got from my Home Care Nurses at Alere that literally saved my life. I have given them to MANY of my pregnant friends too! 

YOU CAN DO THIS. It may be the hardest thing you've ever had to fight for, but in the end you get an amazing gift!

Tips for Nausea from my Home Care Nurse (& 2nd time with Hyperemesis.)

-keep a mixing bowl or big chip bowl with you in case you need to vomit. Having something with me at all times alleviates my stress about making it to the toilet in time. Plus the smells in the bathroom and makes things worse.

-Prenatal vitamins can increase your nausea, while feeling sick try flintstone or chewable vitamins!

-smelling essential oils like lemon & peppermint can help with nausea! (Peppermint under my nose helps with random smells that make me throw up)

-keep a buffet of snacks & drinks with you at all times. :)

-Eat small, frequent meals. (EVERY 2 HOURS) Too much food on your stomach can make you sick. Lots of snacks! Bananas, Pretzels, teddy grahams, mashed potatoes, canned fruit and dry cereals are good. I ate a lot of boxed breakfast cereals and it got me through.

-Smoothies!!! Have banana be the main ingredient and add protein powder (I use rice protein) + rice or soy milk (dairy is hard to digest) + whatever fruit sounds good. Try to avoid acidic fruits. Maybe even add peanut butter for protien if you can stomach it! 

-choose BLAND foods! Starches are the best.

-No intense flavors like garlic, terryaki, onion, NO acidic things like tomato sauce, certain acidic fruits like orange.

-Be careful with dairy (Dairy is hard to digest) and meat (NO RED MEAT! It sits in your stomach for 24 hours and is hard to digest)

-COLD Fluids- Carbonated water like LaCroix, Dasani Sparkling, Suck on Ice, Drink Gatorade (balance gatorade w/other liquids), slushies, strawberry or raspberry Lemonade, Hawaiian Punch, Kool-aide, ginger ale, sprite, and popsicles instead of water. Also add Ice to whatever you drink! It helps for some reason! Straight Water sits in your stomach and can make you feel nauseated.

Easily Digested Carbohydrates:
-Saltines or other low fat crackers
-Graham crackers
-Bread or toast, white or wheat
-Plain Bagels, English Muffins
-Pretzels
-Vanilla wafers, angel food cake
-Ginger Snaps
-Rice, Noodles
-Baked Potato, Mashed Potato
-Cream of Wheat, Oatmeal, Grits
-Dry cereals (lucky charms is my fave)
-Canned peaches/pears, applesauce
-Ripe Bananas

-Muffins have helped me a lot this time around!

-chew on some beef jerky for protein. (if you can stomach it!) my doc suggested this but I couldn't do it 😖

-Drink Ensure if you can't do prenatal vitamins to supplement my diet with some vitamins. It has lots of good stuff in it! Like protein and folic acid.

-Keep snacks by your bed at night and munch on them if you wake up in the middle of the night, or for in the morning right when you wake up, it helps!

-lay still throughout the day, movement can make you even more sick.

-Take naps! The more tired you get the worse your nausea can get.

-If toothpaste makes you sick try brushing with just water or baking soda.

-Don't lay down right after eating, it can cause acid reflux!

-Stay away from strong smells like Cooking (someone else might have to cook and tell them to turn the fan on and open a window), cleaning products and perfumes.

-watch lots of movies, Get Netflix & watch tv series like: Pretty Little Liars, Gilmore Girls (coming to Netflix October 2014), or ones your hubby hates watching with you :)

-Find the perfect combination of medications that works for you. I switched medications MANY times until I found the winning combo. One of the keys for me was taking Pepcid to help with acid reflux. I ended up getting so sick both pregnancies that I ended up being on the Zofran Pump + Diclegis as well. Those plus Pepcid & a stool softener changed the Hyperemesis game for me! I was starting to be able to eat again in small portions & not AS dehydrated.

**You may lose some weight in the beginning because of being so sick. Don't worry! Your baby is NOT effected. They are feeding off of YOUR nutrients supply stored up in your body, so you are really the one that the doctors are worrying about in the beginning. Plus your baby is so tiny, they don't need much! 

**Just be careful with Dehydration! If you are dizzy, have dry mouth, have low urine output and have been unable to drink or have been throwing up everything you've been drinking you'll need to get IV Fluids at the ER! Dehydration is serious for you and your baby. 

**Be talking with your doctor about how bad your sickness is! There is a lot they can do! They can prescribe Anti Nausea Meds that are safe and they can prescribe Home Care where you can be monitored by nurses over the phone & get Meds through a medicine pump you stick in your leg if you can't take meds by mouth.

*** if you are vomiting for 24 hours and unable to drink or eat, Call your nurses at your doctors office and GO TO THE ER. The ER will give you fluids and anti nausea medicine through IV that will help you from spiraling down and being able to take care of yourself. Depending on how badly dehydrated you are, they may admit you to keep fluids in you! I went to the ER this week and got the fluids I needed and I have felt much better the past 2 days! (I'm still nauseated but able to maintain on my own with meds) 

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If you have ANY questions please feel free to ask me! Or if you need emotional support I'd love to be a listening ear too. 

My email is: storyoftrust@gmail.com