All Rainbows & Unicorns
With my daughter, I had the easiest pregnancy (and birth) ever. It didn’t even seem real until I started showing. Each day I would wake up in a surreal daze, wondering if I had dreamt it all. It was wonderful having so few issues. That is, until these rashes started popping up.
The only problem I had of any significance during my entire pregnancy was mild itchy rashes that started on my hands and elbows at around 7 months. I brought them to my doctor’s attention & she waved them off.
I had had a few rashes during my previous pregnancy also, which had also been waved off by that doctor. They were mild enough and lasted into postpartum, which I had chalked up to an allergic reaction to something in the hospital. They went away about three months after my son was born.
Doctor’s Dismissals
“Rashes are just one of those pregnancy things.” Both doctors told me. “We don’t really know why or what to do about it.”
And that was it. That was literally all of the help I received. Or, non help, shall I say. So I went home with no answers and no relief. At this point, though, they were merely a mild inconvenience.
Then, the rashes began to creep up my arms & face, they were beginning to turn into an incredibly distracting problem.
Again, I brought them to my doctor’s attention at my next appointment (This time a different doctor in the same practice). Again, they were waved off but she told me to use some cortisone cream. She said, “We COULD send you to a dermatologist but it would probably be a waste of time and money because they’re just going to tell you to get some cortisone cream too.”
So I left and immediately went and bought some cortizone cream. Only, after using the entire tube, it hadn’t worked. Not even in the slightest.
They continued to spread, now reaching my back & belly. My husband brought me benedryl cream and some sort of other natural anti itch cream. Neither worked. I was miserable. Constantly on the verge of tears from the itching. I couldn’t sleep at night because of it, waking up at all hours scratching and unable to fall back to sleep. I was clawing myself to death, leaving scratches that bled. My husband told me constantly to stop, that I was going to scar myself, but I was starving for relief so badly that I didn’t care.
A Deadly Diagnosis
Desperate for help, I posted my story on several Facebook groups. A group for natural remedies, a group for mothers and babies, a group for essential oils, everywhere I could find to beg for help.
Instead of help, though, people took to scaring me to death with cholestasis diagnosis. Every group suggested it. Multiple times. If you’re unfamiliar with cholestasis, it’s a condition of the liver that could result in fetal death that presents itself as itchiness.
My anxiety and stress were high. I was miserably itchy & unable to sleep. All terrible things for a mother in her third trimester. At this point, the rashes covered at least 80% of my body. Including my face and the palms of my hands.
I was trying everything for relief, both natural and medicinal. Nothing was working.
A cold wet rag would provide temporary relief but only while I held it to me. As soon as I removed it, it would come back full force. Oatmeal baths worked at first but then the heat from the water began to irritate it even further. I was in hell.
After having daily panic attacks over this, trying desperately to convince myself that it wasn’t this rare and deadly diagnosis, I called my doctor. After waiting on the phone for thirty minutes with a nurse who berated me for asking Facebook for help, I was once again told to use cortisone cream & “go to the hospital & have them evaluate you if it’s THAT big of a deal.” I cried upon getting off the phone. They made me feeling as though I had wasted their time and inconvenienced them.
A pregnant mother should NEVER be made as though she shouldn’t call her doctor for help or peace of mind.
PUPPPs and Dr Google
The next morning I woke up and the 1st thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was that I could see my face. Like, WITHOUT A MIRROR. It was swollen.
I called my mom in a panic because at this point, I didn’t know what else to do. I had exhausted all of my do it yourself grown up stuff haha. She had me talk to my cousin who has been in the medical field for his entire adult life who insisted I go to the hospital (which was the validation I needed to get myself up there).
So to the hospital I went. Finally getting my doctor’s attention.
She came in and looked at me ever so briefly (like, legit less than a minute), ran zero tests and said it was just pregnancy hormones and dry skin and would go away after delivery. We told her that, based off of our own research, we thought it may be PUPPPs (Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy). She insisted it wasn’t, even pulling up images of PUPPPs from Google on her phone and showing me how it was different (I kid you not).
After making me to feel like an idiot, she gave me some prescription cream for my face (which she thought was different from the rest of my body), told me to change my lotion & soap and sent me home.
The cream did clear up my face but did nothing for the rest of my body. I suffered like this for another three or four weeks, waiting desperately for labor to commence so that I may finally find relief to this itchy waking nightmare I was in. After all, it was pregnancy hormones and once I wasn’t pregnant, it would be fine. Right?
I had the easiest delivery ever. It was short, sweet & to the point. Less than 5 hrs from start to finish, she was born 45 mins after we got to the hospital. It was everything I had hoped for and It couldn’t have gone better.
Only, the rashes didn’t go away. Instead, they spread down my legs & onto my feet. Now, the only place on my body that wasn’t covered in an itchy, hive like rash, was my face. Only, I could feel a faint hint of itchiness there too.
“It’ll go away soon.” My doctor told me.
PUPPPs: Ima just cheese grate my skin off..
After another week of this torture, with a newborn to care for, I called a dermatologist. I pleaded my case to them. Explaining how miserable I was, how it was interfering with my abilities to care for my new children or function at all. How I was physically and emotionally distraught and drained. They said they could get me in six months from now. SIX MONTHS. That was the soonest available appointment they had for me. I couldn’t wait that long. I was going to peel my skin off with a potato peeler if I had to wait even another week!
After looking around at some other dermatologists (and crying hysterically for a while), I finally found one that could get me in the next day. He took one look at me and said it was PUPPPs. As the words rolled out of his mouth, I felt a wave of both relief and irritation. The cream & steroids he started me on that day had my itchiness significantly better the next day. THE NEXT DAY.
My dermatologist was flabbergasted that I was never sent to a specialist. He was possibly just as upset as I was that no one had taken me seriously. I was heartbroken that I had to deal with these PUPPPs rashes for months when they could have been helped so easily. He said I had altered the way they looked and made them worse by trying to self treat. Something he didn’t blame me for, as I had been left with no options.
A standard PUPPPs rash usually originates on the stomach and works it’s way out from there. Since mine had done the opposite, starting on my extremities, working in and since I had distorted the way they looked, my doctor thought that it was something different. She didn’t know WHAT, mind you (and didn’t care). She just didn’t think it was PUPPPs.
With this new cream and the steroids, my hives cleared up enough to where I no longer looked diseased but they never completely went away. My dermatologist was left with nothing more he could do for me.
Don’t be dismissed
About 1 in every 200 women get PUPPPs and since it poses no harm to the unborn baby, little to no research has been done in ways of helping a mother who is suffering through it. As someone who has suffered through it though, I assure you it causes great emotional stress which is harmful to both mother and baby.
I should have never had to go through such lengths to merely get the attention of my doctors. THREE OF THEM, mind you, that all waved it off. They should have never disregarded my ailments or concerns and should have never made me feel as though I was bothering them. Women die every day from serious conditions because we’re more prone to ignore our pains, discomforts and concerns so as to not bother anyone.
We should feel free to express our concerns with those who we are trusting with our health and well being. Too many women stay silent and pay the ultimate price for it.
Trust your intuition and what your body is trying to tell you. Voice your concerns no matter what and if your doctor doesn’t take you seriously, find another doctor who does! You should never feel belittled or patronized by your healthcare provider.
I’m four months postpartum and my skin is crazy sensitive. Nearly everything my chest and back come into contact with causes patches of itchy rashes still. It’s a lot better than it was, but there is still healing to do. Both physically and emotionally.
Best Vibes Always,
S.S.Blake
Other articles that may interest you:
- Essential oils for pregnancy, labor and beyond
- My natural, hospital birth plan
- Preparing your body for a natural labor and delivery
- My minimalist hospital bag
- My castor oil experience
Author
S.S.Blake; Spiritual Life Coach, Yoga + Meditation Teacher and Founder of Earth and Water
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Source: [https://www.thebump.com/a/pupp-of-pregnancy]