Since I couldn't sleep last night, and simply laying in bed wasn't an option (you try laying still in bed with your skin crawling and fight the urge to scratch yourself to death...), I decided to use my time to research this horrid thing robbing me of sleep. I'm now (obviously) an expert on it.
According to several different websites, the condition (Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy) shows up in 1 in 150 pregnancies, usually in the end of the third trimester (mine showed up at 36 weeks). The medical sites say that steroid creams and pills help "reduce the symptoms" but that the rash won't really go away until you just have the baby. When I told my doc about it, she ran a blood test for a rare liver disease that can show itself in a rash (thankfully that came back negative) and gave me a prescription for a cream. She said to only apply it twice a day in a thin layer, and doing just that the little tube lasted me a day and a half, without much relief. I switched to gold bond anti itch stuff and that gave me a little relief, but not enough to help me sleep. I've gone through 2 tubes of gold bond in the past 3 days.
Well, folks, putting up with this for at least the next 3 weeks just isn't gonna cut it for me. So I kept researching and came across a British site where a woman used Dandelion Root pills to treat it, and her itching stopped after 5 days, and the rash was completely gone by day 10. After finding that site, I googled PUPPPS and dandelion root, and found several more success stories. Let me tell you, I've never been more thankful for the Moscow Co-op and all their hippie remedies!
Along with the pills, several sites recommended drinking dandelion root tea and bathing with this soap called (I kid you not) Grandpa's Pine Tar soap. At this point, I'm willing
to try anything, so while I was at the Co-op looking for all things dandelion, I thought I might as well see if they had the Grandpa stuff, (although in the back of my mind I was sure someone had made it up). Sure enough, there it was right between the old-time lavender soap and Burts Bees! The soap is used for skin conditions like eczema and is supposed to help with the itch.When I got home, I popped one of the pills, took a shower with the soap and I'm currently sipping on some of the tea. The pills seem fine - they're just capsules filled with freeze-dried, ground up dandelion and it doesn't get much more natural than that!) the soap definitely seems to have helped with the itching as I've only had to put some gold bond on my left arm which has the most severe rash, and the tea tastes like chicken stock.
My plan is to watch the rash for the next 5 days and see if anything changes. Praying so hard that it helps!
You should also check with Anne Rachel. She is the homeopathic expert. Hope this finds you some relief. Love.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry about the icky itch! I had to use pine tar soap for some weird skin thing I had when I was a kid. I recall that it stank.
ReplyDeleteOK...since I evidently have nothing *helpful* to say, I'll shut up now. ;-)