panic mode...need advice

[halgal427]

hey all,
i have just hit panic mode. i feel hg knocking at my doorstep. i am barely hanging on to functional life. the nausea has begun but its not too bad yet. i will be 6 weeks tomorrow...d-day for me. i think the b6 and unisom has helped so far and my dr will call in zofran for me as soon as i need it. i'm getting so scared now.

this whole thing has been such a nightmare. first a surprize pg, then we get used to the idea, then we line up my sil to babysit full time, then a blood clot shows up on the u/s...50/50 of m/c then my sil tells us she already quit her job (we offered to match her salery). i have another u/s next monday and we will know so much more then. i would have had her wait to quit until then. everything is so crazy and i am so torn...

i want this baby more then anything now. i hate that i have to have hg but this time will be better because i will have full time care for my 3 kids. my ob is willing to work w/ me. i was all ready to tackle this and now i have this blood clot to worry about. i may go through weeks of hg and end up m/c. that would be horrible. i mean, m/c is bad enough but if i have to m/c i don't want the hg. i know that sounds so selfish. i think it just because i am ill now and hate the feeling.

i do have a few questions about Vistral and Meclizine. what are they and do drs perscribe them? i am willing to try it all. i will start zofran soon and i'm already doing the 50 b6 3/day and unisom 3/day (1/2 pill in the day and 1 at night). any other advise would be great. i set up babysitting, froze meals, got house cleaner. let me know what i'm missing,
thanks so much

[cv2004]

KIm,
Oh your poor thing. That is too much to deal with! I am at the same stage as you -- about 6.5 weeks -- and am also in panic mode about the pain and suffering that is to come. And I don't have a blood clot to deal with. I can totally understand your feelings about the mc. I would not want to deal with this hg for the pg just to mc. I hope your Docs can give you more info/us on the blood clot but really I guess there is nothing you can do except wait.

I am now starting to feel my HG. Nausea was really the bad thing for me in my last two pgs. I could handle the vomiting - it wasn't too often and really after I vomitted I felt better. But the zofran kept the vomitting away so I really never felt better, kwim? I am now on the b6/half a unisom but only have done it at night. I already feel guilty about giving my "baby" these meds. But what can I do? I think the guilt is why I don't take it around the clock like this board recommends. Maybe when I'm really bad I will do anything.

Good luck.
Clarissa

[kitty_doc]

Hi, I'm Julie and I have had three previous HG pg. My most recent pg resulted in DD#3 who is 26mo. With that pg, I had my worst HG which lasted until 34 wks. I have been worrying about this pg and how I would cope and I do not feel too bad at all. I am taking Zantac 75mg twice a day, B6 50mg 2-3 times a day and Unisom 25mg at bedtime and most days, I take one 8mg Zofran mid-day. Today, I have not needed it and my nausea is about as bad as it is when I take it. I have to be honest and say that I have not vomited once this pg and while I have felt yucky and tired a lot, I have been functional almost every day. I can't believe I have made it to 9wks without being sicker than this, but it's true! I pray it doesn't get any worse than this and will think I have died and gone to heaven!LOL I think the main thing for me is using the medications prophylactically instead of waiting for the nausea and vomiting to begin and that I am getting a lot more rest than I did with any of my other pg. If I had to say so, I would say that so far, this is NOT a HG pg which is almost unheard of after three of them! I pray that by being proactive about your care, you will not be as sick as you have in the past and that you will enjoy your pg. best wishes!

[Ivydragon]

Kim, sorry I haven't responded sooner. Crazy week. I keep hoping things will settle down around here for a while.

Anyways, from what you wrote your u/s is tomorrow, and I really hope the news is good. How are you feeling now? You asked if you were missing anything w/ prep, and if you're still feeling up to it, get everyone in for a hair cut, so there will be no worries there for a while.

I totally get how you feel about having to face HG and then possibly miscarry, too - we all tell ourselves it's worth it in the end, it's how we endure, but how do you endure hell "knowing" you will be robbed of the reward? It makes it much more difficult.

Huge hugs, Andy

[Ivydragon]

Just remembered you asked about Meclizine. I don't know much about Vistaril, pretty sure it's prescription. Meclizine, however, is available over the counter. It is the ingredient in "less drowsy" dramamine, but you can get it far more cheaply by simply asking any pharmacist for a bottle of 100. It'll cost you about $10.00, and you do not need a prescription. The max dose is 75 mgs per day. It seems to help with HGers who are more susceptible to motion sensitivity during pg, like moving their head makes them dizzy and nauseas, or seeing things move quickly (like anything on TV) making them feel worse.

Meclizine is not as well known, and thus not nearly as well tested as Unisom is in pg. Doxcilimine Succinate (the ingredient in Unisom tabs) is known not to increase the risk of fetal defect, and is probably the safest drug that is not a vitamin for use in fighting nausea in pg. It's been tested more than Tylenol has. So, Unisom is always the first line of defense in my book, and should be ruled out before Meclizine or other comparable drugs are tried (Meclizine, Phenergan, Reglan, Benedryl, Compazine, etc.). Ruled out meaning ineffective or an adverse reaction. I'm pretty sure that Meclizine has a pretty good safety rating, like most of the drugs that are used around here there is a risk ratio that has to be considered - where there is a higher risk to NOT use drugs than to actually use drugs in pg. You always have your Dr. and pharmacist in addition to this web site and other internet resources to help you determine what the best treatment choices are for you and your baby. I discussed all my options w/ my Dr. early in my last pg, and he ok'd my plan. I felt best knowing that my Dr. and I were on the same page with my treatment, and him knowing everything I was doing to fight the HG.

Personally, I tried the Meclizine with early nausea in my last pg (unfortunately miscarried) and compared it to Powdered Ginger Root (about 1,000 mgs per day). I found the Powdered Ginger Root capsules to actually be better than the Meclizine in that they helped longer before having to take more (I took a 500 mg capsule am, 500mg pm). I tried the Meclizine because I needed to be awake and not zonked out during the day. Meclizine certainly did help w/ my nausea w/o making me really tired. I used B6/Unisom successfully in my first two pgs mixed w/ other meds, so I'm really familiar with those, too, and was on B6 w/ the Ginger or Meclizine. I can't remember if I'd started the Unisom only at nights or not. I think I had, but made sure that my Meclizine had worn off long before taking the Unisom. You'd definitely want to check to make sure everything you're on is ok to take with each other. You don't want any drug interactions. I really don't know how well my combo last year was helping because I wonder if I was fighting as much nausea as I would have had had the pg not been ectopic, which we discovered at 7.5 wks.

Andy