Hello,
I guess I kind of cover 2 locations....Canada and New Zealand. I am new to this website but not new to HG.
Around 9 years ago, I got pregnant (not entirely planned). We were pretty surprised but trying to deal with it and the rest of our lives (I'd also just had a promotion at work). By week 8, the sickness was so gruelling (is that how its spelled?) that I made the decision, without the support of my partner, to terminate the pregnancy. I could not stand feeling like that one more day.
Afterwards, it was about 2 years until we decided to try to have a baby. I was nervous but thought I could deal with the sickness if it came up. I also knew about diclectin by then and had been very actively involved in the birth community in my city in Canada. I have been a birth doula for the past 6 years.
We tried and tried, and basically, after about 1.5 years of trying, came to find out that the only way to conceive was through IVF. Long story short, I was able to finally get preggers in my 2nd IVF cycle in Jan/Feb/05. I was getting sick by week 5. My sickness consisted not of vomitting (thank goodness as I have a terrible phobia) but such excessive nausea that I could not function at all. I couldn't eat much but I was able to sip water throughout the day. I was put on diclectin (the standard amount of 4 tabs/day) and by week 8, I was up to 8 tabs/day + gravol. I felt awful but atleast I wasn't barfing. Sadly, I lost the baby at 17 weeks due to incompetent cervix but even on that day, I was still taking 5 diclectin and needed to take gravol to top it up.
Just before Christmas/06, I found myself preggers again from frozen embryos from my 4th IVF cycle. This cycle was done in New Zealand as we moved here in March/06. Again, from about 5 1/2 weeks, I started to find myself feeling nauseated. They do not have diclectin here, so I got a different antihistamine and B6 from my GP (so glad I have her!). It took the edge of (sort of).
Maternity services are much different here than in Canada. Everyone gets a midwife but people like me, who are considered "high risk", can also see an OB as well either publicly funded or private pay.
I knew that I was going to get a whole lot sicker. I talked to a few midwives and all they ever said to me is "some nausea and vomitting in early pregnancy is a good thing". Talk about making me feel like a hypochondriac!
***FOODMENT***By week 8, I was really feeling awful. It seemed that I could only eat something once and then never again. The mere thought of food would make me so sick and gaggy that I ate only bananas and the odd piece of toast (and had to FORCE that down). Worse, I was so hungry and I'd force myself to eat thinking it would make me feel better but it only made me feel sicker. And drinking fluids was pretty much out of the question. The very idea of water also invoked such intense feelings of nausea that it was all I could do get my pills down. ***FOODMENT OVER***
Last Thursday, just under 9 weeks, I met with my GP again. The meds I was taking were not working anymore. She put me on Maxolon (Reglan). I started that last Thursday and had a reasonable day in which I was able to consume some items-not much but I had such hopes that this would fix me. NOT!!!
By Saturday, I was worse than ever before. Couldn't lift my head off the pillow without being crazy dizzy and severely nauseaus. I had been suffering quite a bit up to this point...but I consider this specific day to be rock bottom. I couldn't even get up to let the dog go out for a pee. I was so dehydrated that I'd virtually stopped peeing. My lips were getting horribly chapped (which I've just found out is a sign of dehydration) and my headache was horrible.
Last Sunday I took matters into my own hands. I had some leftover Zofran from a surgery that I'd had and I decided on Sunday morning, after weighing myself only to find that from 6 weeks to 9 weeks, I'd lost 10lbs, that Zofran was my next step. I had a great day! I was able to get some nourishment and even to leave the house and walk the dog on the beach with my hubby.
On Monday I went to see the OB and ask her for script for Zofran. She basically told me that my body is equipped to deal with NVP. She never bothered to ask how much I was drinking or eating, how much I was urinating, sleeping etc. I never mentioned yet how the nausea was wakign me up at night and I could never get back to sleep! After some major pushing she wrote me a small (2 wk) script for Zofran.
One thing about NZ.....Zofran is not readily available. I have to do some major haggling and sneakyness to get access to it. The good news is that it is a LOT cheaper than in Canada and the US.
Anyway, bottom line is that Zofran has been a miracle for me (so far with the exception that I can no longer poop ). I"m going to be 10 weeks on Saturday and seriously hoping that I can maintain at this level. I still feel nauseaous but I am now able to eat and drink again (most of the time). Last night was the first night in nearly 2 weeks that I actually had to wake up several times to pee. I do still supplement with gravol or another antihistamine and B6 too.
Sorry this is so long. I guess I needed to get this off my chest to people who understand. It has been very frustrating that basically no health professionals have taken me seriously with the exception of my GP. It makes me sad to think of the many women in NZ who are suffering needlessly because "NVP is a normal part of pregnancy" and their carers don't bother to ask them questions about what is going on.