diff --git a/prometheus_es_exporter/__init__.py b/prometheus_es_exporter/__init__.py
index 6d8c233..2b5f15b 100644
--- a/prometheus_es_exporter/__init__.py
+++ b/prometheus_es_exporter/__init__.py
@@ -68,6 +68,11 @@
     return metric_dict
 
 
+def unregister_collector_by_metric(registry, metric_name):
+    collector = registry._names_to_collectors[metric_name]
+    registry.unregister(collector)
+
+
 def update_gauges(metrics):
     metric_dict = group_metrics(metrics)
 
@@ -76,7 +81,11 @@
             (old_label_values_set, gauge) = gauges[metric_name]
         else:
             old_label_values_set = set()
-            gauge = Gauge(metric_name, '', label_keys)
+            try:
+                gauge = Gauge(metric_name, '', label_keys, registry=REGISTRY)
+            except ValueError:
+                unregister_collector_by_metric(REGISTRY, metric_name)
+                gauge = Gauge(metric_name, '', label_keys, registry=REGISTRY)
 
         new_label_values_set = set(value_dict.keys())
 
diff --git a/prometheus_es_exporter/parser.py b/prometheus_es_exporter/parser.py
index 9ec59fe..f978cf2 100644
--- a/prometheus_es_exporter/parser.py
+++ b/prometheus_es_exporter/parser.py
@@ -80,7 +80,10 @@
     result = []
 
     if not response['timed_out']:
-        result.append((metric + ['hits'], {}, response['hits']['total']))
+        hits_total = response['hits']['total']
+        if isinstance(hits_total, dict):
+            hits_total = hits_total.get('value', 0)
+        result.append((metric + ['hits'], {}, hits_total))
         result.append((metric + ['took', 'milliseconds'], {}, response['took']))
 
         if 'aggregations' in response.keys():