Zofran?

A place where partners, fathers, friends, and family members can discuss experiences and difficulties regarding loved ones' Hyperemesis.

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Zofran?

Postby garrett » Aug 10, 2005 4:10 pm

My wife is going through here second hg pregnancy. The first ending in TA. We have had difficult time getting the doctors to be aggressive with their treatment. We are looking for any advice that may help the Dr's step up treatment before we have to play the catch up game. They have often said that Zofran in the first trimester is a big gamble due to lack of research. We are also look for others experiences with Zofran in that 1st trimester. Pro and cons/ any problems.
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Postby AmberWest » Aug 10, 2005 9:18 pm

Hi Garrett,
Welcome to the boards, though I'm sorry your wife is so ill that you need to be here.
I personally am on zofran and so far the Dr.s have noted no complications and I find that if I were not on this drug things would be far worse for me. There are many options of treatment, some you can do yourself, others that require a dr. I would suggest trying first off the b6/unisom combo that you will find information on at the top of any trimester folder. Also, I know many women on this site have used zofran and have gone on to deliever happy, healthy babies and have yet to hear of anyone having zofran complications to the baby. This is just what I have noted however, so please contiune your own research.

There is also a large medication section that breaks down most common drugs used in HG and gives a list of benefits as well as risks you could print out and discuss with your medical team. The link is below.
http://www.helpher.org/mothers/treatments/medications.php

I hope this helps you. Good luck, and you're a wonderful man for showing such concern for your family. :D Please keep us updated as you are able. And if possible, have your wife come to the boards. We will do our best to cheer her on and support her. If she's too ill, read her some of the posts in the humor sections etc. to give her hope and help take her mind off this horrible suffering if only for a moment.

`hugs`
Amber
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Postby bibliojo » Aug 10, 2005 9:42 pm

Hello Garrett,

You will find in Canada that doctors are very reluctant to try Zofran even though studies done by motherisk show that there is no increased incidences of birth defects and doctors will only try it after going through the whole gammit of other drugs that are usually prescribed for HG in Canada. You will unfortunately have to go through them all before getting the Zofran. However, if you show how ineffective the others were in your wife's previous pregnancy, they may not wait as long to see if it works or not in the second pregnancy. The only other suggestion I have is going directly to a OB who has experience in treating HG and is known to be agressive in treating it. Remind your doctor continually of what did and didn't work in the first pregnancy and maybe eventually they will listen. I hope for your wife's sake it will be sooner rather than later.

Btw, would you happen to be Carla's dh?? Is so, how is she doing? I've been thinking of her.

Best wishes to you and your wife,

Joanna
2 HG pregnancies
Lukas - February 2003
Katya - October 2006

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Postby bibliojo » Aug 10, 2005 10:08 pm

I thought I may add this link to an article on the safety of Zofran in pregnancy. http://www.helpher.org/downloads/Mother ... active.pdf It wouldn't hurt to show it to your wife's doctor!

Good luck,

Joanna
2 HG pregnancies
Lukas - February 2003
Katya - October 2006

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Postby garrett » Aug 10, 2005 11:37 pm

Hi Joanna,
I feel like I know you already. Yes, Carla is my dear suffering wife. We are very happy to have conceived again without difficulty, but oh no, here we go again. This time, our new OB seems much better, he has givin us a Zofran perscription, just incase. He also seemed to understand that our last try was tramatic, therefore he seems willing to do a lot more. Carla he been on the max X2 dosage of diclectin, and tonight we have added gravol. I think she is feeling better tonight than she has all week. :lol: I do have to force her to try drinking more. Other than that, I have told her that she can not go back to work and must sleep until noon every day. :lol:
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Postby bibliojo » Aug 10, 2005 11:46 pm

Hello again!

Nice to "meet" you Garrett now that I know who you are! :D

I'm glad that Carla has a Zofran prescription on hand. I think that getting Zofran in Canada is one of the biggest battles you'll face. Watch that she doesn't get dehydrated as in your heat, it is likely to happen fast and when it does happen, her meds probably won't work as well. So when she is dehydrated, make her go to the hospital for some fluids right away! And yes, no work for her (my orders too! :lol: ) and with her taking that gravol now, she'll be sure to sleep into noon and even past that! :lol: Give her my love.

Joanna
2 HG pregnancies
Lukas - February 2003
Katya - October 2006

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Garrett

Postby carla » Aug 11, 2005 11:16 pm

Steve,

I love you so much. Thank-you for being so supportive in my times of need. I could never do this without you. You truly are my soul mate and my best friend.

Joanna,

Thanks for keeping steve in line. When I am too ill to type I know he will be on researching. Thanks for sending your love and I return it with all of my love for a successful and happy conception. How is Lukas doing lately, any more news on the "autism" thing?
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Postby bibliojo » Aug 11, 2005 11:39 pm

Awwwww...how sweet!!! You guys are too cute! :D I will add that as horrible as HG was, it did bring my dh and I closer together. It tested our marriage vows to love in sickness and in health but my dh was such a support to me and ultimately got me through the terrible times. I hope for the same for you two.

No word on the autism screening....it'll be 6-7 months to get an appointment. :roll: Right now, I'm working on trying to find a speech pathologist for Lukas now that I have benefits through work, but would you believe I'm having trouble finding someone?! You'd think that at $100-150 per hour people would be jumping at the oppurtunity to make that kind of money! So far I've only had two people return my numerous calls/emails and one couldn't give private speech therapy because of a conflict of interest (she works at the same place where Lukas is on the waitlist for speech therapy) and the other is on holidays until September 12. :roll: Alot of good that does me. I'll keep trying to find someone else I think! Thanks for asking!

Joanna
2 HG pregnancies
Lukas - February 2003
Katya - October 2006

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speech therapist

Postby carla » Aug 12, 2005 6:27 pm

Joanna,

you may be able to find some speech and language help through the school that Lukas will attend in the future. The governement put out a huge grant for a program called "Ready, Set, Learn" to help prepare preschoolers for school. THis was done all over BC. I ran our program at our school and part of it was to have a speech path on hand. The school may be able to refer you to their speech path for early screening. Just a thought. I have a close friend who is a speech path here. I will ask her for some other suggestions. Just a though anyway!
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zofran

Postby Tim » Aug 13, 2005 7:02 am

Hi Garrett,

My wife had a Zofran pump attached to her picc line for practically her entire pregnancy and our daughter was fine. Zofran worked better than anything last time (She's pregnant again with HG) but it wasn't enough to keep her out of the hospital entirely. She still had bouts of uncontrolled vomiting and needed TPN. This time unfortunately, Zofran - even IV Zofran hasn't helped at all. The only thing helping now is Droperidol with Benadryl. These are given together IV form. The Benedryl is for the side effects of Droperidol which are were similar to Compazine (facial ticks muscle spasms and heart arrhythmia).

I've become almost completely convinced that nothing works very well at all after the vomiting and dehaydration have been allowed to occur. Thats why we hear so much about being aggressive EARLY with the treatment. The electrolytes and everything else the body needs to function normally are depleted and have to be restored. TPN would always bring her back to a place where she could get enough relief to eat and drink at least a little and from there things would improve even more. The vomiting, if it ever began, always seemed to trigger a downward spiral which would end her back into the hospital for a few days.

I hope your wife gets what she needs this time. Zofran worked for my wife except for the pill form. Protonix, which is a antacid also seemed to help her a lot too. Most of all, make sure her doc is taking this seriously. Because we moved, we have a new doctor. He is very nice and takes it seriously but even he has underestimated the severity of her condition and didn't get it under control soon enough. Even though she has had a picc line in since the vomiting first started and was started on IV Zofran, it was too late. She hasn't eaten anything for 11 days and vomits bile several times a day. My wife went through hell with our daughter and it took everything she had physically and mentally. She had a lot of support from friends and family which I'lll be forever grateful for. I do know that without their help things could have been a lot different and our daughter wouln't be here. Despair can be overwhelming and it has to be overcome with the opposite, hope. There doesn't seem to be a shortage of negativity these days. My wife had those people too(luckily not many). They appeared to be supportive but not in a manner which supported our daughter to be born. God also gives us strength. Surround her with positive, loving people that will pray for her and keep her in their hearts.

Take Care,
Tim
round 2
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Postby IslandDreamer » Aug 14, 2005 2:29 pm

So good to see the hubbies around :D . And good to meet Carla's beloved. I'm so happy you two are expecting again.

One thing to consider with Zofran is the dissolvable. I tried the tabs this time and with Hope and would puke immediately. The dissolvables are gone before I can yak them out....and when it was really bad, I took them vaginally :oops: .

Carla, what a sweet dh you have! I still have your wristbands and they are packaged, but I'm being queen of the relapses and haven't gotten to the post office. I know you understand. Love you.
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Postby carla » Aug 15, 2005 2:54 pm

Thanks Suzanne,

of course I understand!! I couldn't make it to the mail box anyway sweetie!

Just a quick question about the ODT's for zofran. If you were throwing them up you could take them vaginally?? This is very interesting and something I didn't know. THe DR asked me what I would prefer tablet, syrup, or ODT. I opted for the odt thinking I would have to swallow anything. I still have some IV zofran left from last time that I may be able to use if I get the picc line put in. So far though, I am managing to keep the vomitting to 1-3 times per day, it is the nausea that is killing me. YUCKY! Well, I am thinking of you, and of course wishing you well. I hope the HG lets up soon,

Love Carla
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Postby IslandDreamer » Aug 15, 2005 2:57 pm

Yup, Zofran via hootch. Not an often recommended site but the meds didn't hurt the area in any way. Dh always wanted me to check with the doc, but I was too embarrassed and was afraid he'd say no and I'd be on a pump.

Maybe you can ask your doc and share the shocked expression. :shock: :lol:
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