Going mad with itching - pregnant

[BigCuteBaby567]

I've posted in pregnancy before and peeps advised me to go get tested, which I did, but all bloodwork keeps being fine. AIBU to be going mad??? The whole "it will go away once you have the baby" is NOT helping as that's 7-8 weeks away! Help!

It is NOT cholestatis and NOT iron deficiency - repeated bloodwork 3 times all normal. It started at week 29, I am now 33 weeks.

I slather myself in anti itch creams every night but it gave me prickly heat - apparently being always covered in thick cream plus being hot and sweaty do not mix well (I live in a warm climate but in aircon almost 24/7 really as I run so hot atm). Prickly heat now gone and still itchy.

No rash whatsoever, itches all day but worse at night. Not itchy on hands and feet.

I haven't had a good night sleep in 4 weeks. Dr gave me piriton which does nothing for the itch. It knocks me out to sleep for a few hours but I am so drowsy the next day, I am totally useless. And it only gives me 3-4 hrs of sleep anyway.

Calamine lotion does v little. Aloe vera helps but very short lived, for like 1-2 hours.

This is making me really depressed, I'm SO tired and itchy all the time, it's driving me mad.

Please, any tips?

Constant bathroom breaks in the night don't help as I obviously wake up and feel the itch so can't go back to sleep.

I had PEP (?) Polymorphic Eruption of Pregnancy, I think! So itchy and awful and I had a rare case that got worse after birth 🙈 This might be worth a try: amzn.eu/d/0fcltnwo this helped me a lot whilst pregnant but afterwards I had to start on steroids. Best of luck, miserable for you! Xxx

So sorry to hear that 😞 my eczema exploded when I was pregnant, and none of the usual meds were allowed. I got some herbal stuff, it cooled me down but didn't clear it up. It did disappear overnight once I had the baby though if that's any consolation.

@herbygarden thank you and my commiserations, that's awful. PEP/PUPP has been ruled out, I have no rash whatsoever. And my belly is a bit itchy but it's actually worse on my arms, forearms, thighs and legs.

Strange…that was how I discovered I was pregnant 50 odd years ago…went to GP who was also obGyn and he suspected straight away!

I had a similar problem with unexplained itching. Aveeno lotion and bath products helped, but only for a while, then the infernal itching would start again.
In the short term(because you probably dont have instant access to a range of lotions), have you tried oat baths?
In the last couple of weeks I was

Sorry, posted too soon.
In the last couple of weeks I was given antihistamines, which did help.
You have my sympathy, it was torture! Thankfully, it only happened with my first baby.

@HarpieDuJour have not tried oat baths, looking at it now my first thought is that it looks a bit messy, does it clog the drain?

No, I wrapped the oats up in some fine muslin and hung them over the tap while the bath was running(so the water ran through the oats). Then I used the oat bundle to dab at my skin where the itching was worst.

@HarpieDuJour thank you, oat bath tonight it is!

Or tights iirc.

Yes, tights would do it.

I had this, it's crap.

I found cool baths helped a bit (even if it's a couple of inches to sit in at 3am)

With oats, I used a coffee grinder to get oats to a fine powder then put a few teaspoons in the bath. It basically dissolved.

Because of itching, they had me on daily checks in last week or so of pregnancy - sitting in bed with a heart rate monitor strapped on, surrounded by other pregnant women having horrible things happen to them. Hope you avoid that!

Hello! No great tips but I had itching all over at night from about week 28-36 and then it abruptly stopped I think! In case you need a positive story
I was monitored bloods at least once a week in case there was a latent liver issue
I don’t think it was quite as bad as yours though :( I think baths, e45 etc got me through but I was able to sleep

I had this, like you all blood tests were fine and I wasn't given any explanation for it! My feet were the worst, especially at night. I'd run an ice cold bath to numb my feet then hop quickly back into bed in the hope I'd fall asleep before they got bad again.

It did disappear before I went into labour but I know that's not much comfort when you still have quite a few weeks to go. You have my sympathies it was horrendous!

@haveatye cold baths at 3am?? How do you go back to sleep after that?? Hats off to you but I'd be unable to snooze after that 😅 although I guess me staring at the clock until 6am when I need to get up for work isn't any better lol

I had this in the last weeks of pregnancy, the only thing I found helped at all was Sudocrem but even that didn’t relieve it fully. You have my full sympathies!

I honestly feel I'm going to lose my performance bonus and my job over itching. Which is making me more stressed. Which probably makes the itch worse! Since this started, I haven't had more than 3 hours of sleep per night except last Thursday when I got 6 hours of sleep total (yay).

Oats and ditch anti perspirant deodorant, I got allergic when pregnant

With DS1, I had PEP on my stomach and what I think was dyshidrotic eczema on my hands and feet. The only thing that helped was cold; I'd wake up itchy and run my feet and hands under the cold tap and hope I could get back to sleep before it started again.

Pupps- it’s genuinely the most distressing thing I’ve ever had. Giving birth was a doddle in comparison to it. It was like torture !!! When I had my second pregnancy I was prepared with the soap below and my GP
gave me some kind of tablet the second time. Just thinking of it now mentally scares me !!! It’s horrendous- I’ve had so many weird illnesses and pains etc in life and none so bad as that, including bed bound Lyme disease but pupps was worse!!

theres a soap grampa pine soap I think it is on Amazon x

Try to get some Derma Cool menthol cream. I was like this during my pregnancies and it was awful. Went away within half an hour of delivering though.

Omg same. 29/40 with twins, been itching since 24/40. Antihistamines help a bit but agree with you re side effects. Am an obstetrician by trade and have been swearing by mentholated aqueous cream which your GP can prescribe. I'm also anaemic so hoping starting iron helps!!

With the cholestatis blood checks, have you made sure you have eaten before having the test? To get accurate bile acid results (which change very quickly) you need to have food in your system. Not fasting bloods.

These should be repeated weekly if the it hing persists, even if you are subclinical as your bile acids can spike very quickly (and often do after you have been itching a while).

There's some great advice from the charity ICP support on this.

Are you in the UK? You cannot be treated unfairly in terms of performance bonus if you have been affected by pregnancy complications. Make sure your HR/ manager knows you are suffering from complications even if you are still working!

@EsmeSusanOgg I actually had to push to have blood tests repeated, my consultant just said results all clear after the first set and was going to leave it at that at week 29. And I said I read online that the itch can come first and then the bile can spike later, can we please re-test. But 2 more sets of bloods show nothing and I think they won't test anymore.

And yes, I had eaten.