Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Feb
1
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“Why Don’t You Just Try Eating Some Saltines Or Dry Toast.”
“Why don’t you just try eating some saltines or dry toast?” – OB to mother suffering from severe hyperemesis gravidarum in her second trimester.
There are 25 comments to this post.
Grrrr…
This has happened just about every time with a friend of mine. She gets HG with each pregnancy, and if she catches it early, she can keep on top of it, so it basically becomes normal morning sickness and she live a fairly normal life until it dies down in her second trimester. The times when she’s had to deal with dolts like this one, she ends up hospitalized. Repeatedly. Until they pay attention to her and give her what she’s been asking for since her FIRST appointment. Usually after they say something ridiculous like, “Well, don’t you realize how dangerous this is? You’re starving your baby to death! You need to be on anti-nausea meds so you can eat, because you need to be feeding your baby so it can grow!” Um, duh, that’s what I’ve been telling you for six weeks.
[Reply]
One of my closest friends had HG with her twins and was hospitalized on IV Zofran from 28 to 34 weeks, when she finally had to deliver because she was malnourished (lost 25 lb from conception to delivery) and was having trouble with her liver. Saltines my butt.
[Reply]
Crittersmom had this to say,
Feb 1, 2012 @ 7:24 pm (Quote)
I was told the same thing at 16 weeks. This was with pregnancy number five. I had desperately tried every natural remedy I could think of with each of my pregnancies and after losing 35 lbs I really needed medical help.It is rude to keep giving out that kind of advice well into the second trimester, and if I had the energy I wish I could stuff crackers in the mouths of any medical professional with such advice.
[Reply]
Heather P had this to say,
Feb 1, 2012 @ 7:42 pm (Quote)
This was my submission. I can’t pink it from my phone.
This was after not being taken seriously at every appointment. All my concerns kept being brushed off. I was never given any warning advice about at what point was too far. Finally I called on a weekend after I had been unable to keep down any food it water
[Reply]
This was me.
At 6 weeks I said I was feeling sick. OB said that was normal and to eat crackers.
At 9 weeks I had lost 10ish pounds and asked for help. Nutritional or otherwise. He told me to take Vitamin B6 and Unisom and it would be over soon. At this point I was throwing up at least 4 times a day.
At`12 weeks I had lost 15 or so pounds and could not recall the last time I was able to keep food down at all. Since I threw up after every meal. I stated that the Unisom/Vitamin B6 combo was not working and I felt weak all the time. He told me it should be over soon.
At 15 weeks I called on a weekend and got the On Call OB. I told him I couldn’t eat without throwing up and had not been able to keep food down for more than four days straight. Then the OB came out with this gem. Yeah, I hadn’t thought of that, thanks doc. He ended up giving me a prescription for Zofran. The Zofran reduced my vomiting to around four times a day. This was an improvement. I took it for 8 weeks. After stopping it I continued to vomit between 3 and 6 times a day until the day I went into labor at 38+4 weeks.
[Reply]
Kristin Reply:
February 1st, 2012 at 8:36 pm (Quote)
I hope that with any of your future pregnancies, you are able to have doctors that aren’t giant sandy butt holes. My doctors freaked when I lost 10lbs during my first trimester, and I only threw up once…
I don’t think I would be strong enough to keep going the way you did. You must tough as nails!
[Reply]
abba12 Reply:
February 1st, 2012 at 11:30 pm (Quote)
I also had HG that doctors refused to treat. I got to 16 weeks before I took matters into my own hands heh, at which point I was nearly fainting every time I stood and I’d lost near 20lbs, an even more notable loss because the sickness didn’t really begin for me until week 7 or so. In the end I found some medication available over the counter that all the research I could find said was mostly safe, and definitely safer than starving myself and baby any longer. It improved, I got it under control, and by the third trimester felt like what a woman with normal morning sickness probably feels like in her first trimester, in other words, really damn good lol.
I’ve found with research that nipping it early, starting medication at first signs and knowing what helps YOUR body to cope well and acting on it early all help to stop it getting worse. Untreated it spirals out of all control, as happened with both of us, but it can be managed.
I don’t know how much you know about HG, you obviously know the name which is a start, I didn’t know that much until after I delivered. Anyway, there’s some infomation out there, try http://www.helpher.org/, it’s a great website and has a support forum.
Next time I hope you can find a doctor who knows about HG, but if you meet the same resistance at the start, the website I linked to has a decent list of medications that various women use, and some are available in various forms over the counter, look at the travel sickness medication your chemist has available. Obviously I’m not advising you just take anything you can find once you get pregnant! And preferably you’ll take something under medical supervision, but doctors don’t always want to help, and with some research you can find lists of the risk levels of all medications and medical reports on their trials, enough to make a decision which is just as informed as your doctors would be. I don’t generally support medication in pregnancy, but I would not have survived HG without it, sometimes the benefits far outweigh the risks.
Congratulations on making it out the other end with a baby!
[Reply]
Heather P Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 6:32 pm (Quote)
Thank you for posting this resource. I’ve seen it since, but this pregnancy was in 2004. I looked for help online at the time and this site was not there until later. My second pregnancy I had no HG whatsoever and miscarried. My third was immediately after that in 2007 and I had what I would consider bad morning sickness (Not HG). Meaning that I would only throw up a couple times a day and I felt better after eating or even throwing up. My first I felt just as bad after throwing up. We will not have any more children. HG was totally a factor in our decision.
[Reply]
Man, I don’t get this at all. I had an ER doc offer me zofran a few weeks ago. I haven’t lost enough weight for me to worry(7lbs in 5 weeks). It drives me bonkers that women with HG aren’t even offered actual help. I’m sorry for anyone who has to go through that. <3 <3 <3
[Reply]
My hubby dragged me to the ER when i threw up every hour or less for 24 hours and could no longer keep water down. i managed with a combo of Zofran and unisom (B6 was too many pills and i threw it back up until i stopped trying to take it) … unisom due to insurance issues…..
so with #2 i mentioned this and they just wrote the prescription for zofran at my first appointment. seems i got lucky!
it was my mother who kept spouting that crap. hey, mama, i threw up after more than an hour in the car when i was a kid- same spot in my brain tells me to throw up now. so the solution will be the same, and its not crackers.
[Reply]
Jennifer had this to say,
Feb 2, 2012 @ 6:01 am (Quote)
My OB, on the other hand, asked about nausea and was about to give me a prescription when I said that yes, I felt nauseous and had thrown up once. I didn’t take it, my nausea was manageable without. Why can’t they give it to people who need it and not those who don’t?
[Reply]
My OB gave me Zofran when I was still sick during the second trimester and losing weight, no questions asked, no lectures. It made me finally feel normal again. OP, this sucks that you were brushed off like that. There was a teacher at work that had HG and she had to wear a food tube at all times because she was so sick.
[Reply]
Uuuuugh. Sounds like my first pregnancy. At each of the first several appointments, I’d complain that I couldn’t keep food down and was barely functioning for all the nausea, and every single time I was told “Oh, that will go away soon.” Then at some point in the 2nd trimester I was told that if I didn’t start gaining weight they’d have to put me on an Ensure shake diet. WTF? I can’t even keep down food I *like*, and they thought the answer was a nasty vitamin shake? I’m *sure* that would have stayed down… And it did not go away, like they kept saying it would. I continued vomiting, up to and including the day my son was born. On the operating table for my unnecesarean, I even threw up the stuff they give you to keep you from throwing up. I’m so glad I found great midwives for the next two babies, and thankful I did not get HG again.
[Reply]
Dear Doctors,
A woman who throws up 5 days out of 7, only once a day and is gaining weight has morning sickness. A woman who throws up multiple times a day, almost every day and is losing weight needs help.
I hated morning sickness with a passion. I once threw up on myself while driving my car. (major yucky) But I never had a month when I didn’t gain weight. Never in 3 pregnancies. Pay attention!
Thank you,
Everyone
[Reply]
Emily G. had this to say,
Feb 3, 2012 @ 6:58 am (Quote)
I was diagnosed with HG when I showed up at the ER for fluids during a bout with the stomach flu. They basically disharged me telling me it would be over in another month or so. I can’t imagine being treated like that if I had actually HAD HG. I’m so sorry, OP.
[Reply]
Add Your Comment.
Because that totally works for HG….
And like those suffering with HG haven’t tried literally *everything*….
[Reply]