About to scratch my skin off please help

[NotDoingThat]

I'm nearly 21w with my first.

Over the course of the evening I've gone from a couple of itches to being so itchy almost everywhere I'm beside myself.

I don't have any other symptoms or rashes or anything. The nhs website says this could be a liver problem and what to expect says calling a doctor can wait till the morning- so I'm not too concerned from a health point of view.

Does anyone have any ideas what I can do to prevent me peeling myself over the course of the night? I'm going spare.

I spoke to the unit, they said to get my bloods done tomorrow. But are happy for me to leave it for now (they were talking about bringing me in for a bit  then she spoke to someone else and changed her mind).

So that's a relief though sadly not a relief from the itching! It really is miserable. I may get back in the cold porridge bowl that is my bath at the moment!

Sounds miserable. If you rub the oaty tights on your skin so it leaves the milky residue that might help a little bit. Have you any 24 hr supermarkets nearby and someone who could get you some antihistamines?

I had choleostasis. I found that e45 bath oil helped.

Hi OP, another here who had choleostasis. The itching is localized to the hands and feet in most cases, and much worse at night - is that what you are experiencing? If so I reccomend the Facebook group ICP care/itchy moms, which has loads of great advice in it, especially regarding the tests you should be having.

I wish my choleostasos itching was localised to hands and feet, it’s literally whole body (hence lying awake at 3am posting on here) and in fact not initially having it on hands and feet put me off telling the midwife for about a week, could have started treatment sooner. So even if yours has a different pattern I’m glad you are getting tested.
Pretend I’m so glad you and your triplets came through that OK, it really is all very worrying.

Go see your midwife op; if it's the liver condition then it needs to be carefully monitored and managed.

My sister had PUPPS. It seems not many drs are aware of it and she was totally dismissed on many occasions until one finally listened to her. There's a Facebook group, maybe you should check it out?

How did your midwife visit go OP?

Well I went from being told by the unit that 'you'll probably need to come in but I'll just double check' to 'we'll just get a midwife to take some bloods in the morning' to (the midwife in the morning) 'you're fine, just itchy, you don't need a blood test' :(

She then told me (when I pushed a bit) just to pick it up at my 25w appointment, and when I pointed out the midwife told me I didn't need a 25 week appointment (despite it being my first) and I didn't have any more contact for 7 weeks, she just said 'well just ask for another'.

So all told I'm feeling no more clued in or reassured (I've actually gone from not too bothered to incredibly anxious about this). And still itchy, though not as bad as that first night- e45 is helping a little as at the oat baths.

That’s immensely frustrating. I think you really need to either contact your midwife again and say you are concerned and you really want the blood tests to rule out any underlying cause, or if you feel you aren’t getting anywhere with that try to find out how you can contact the supervisor of midwives or some other way to escalate it.
Glad you are finding ways to keep the itching under control though.

Hey how are you now? I would keep pushing to be tested icp can appear this early, itching can be anywhere. I was diagnosed at 32 weeks induced at 37. Icp causes increased risk of still birth with medication levels can be monitored and induction recommended before 38 weeks, I had weekly blood tests. Itchy mums/icp support on Facebook have good support.

You do, definitely, need a blood test. You need to push for one (although you should to have to).

I am so angry on your behalf! Itching in pregnancy shouldn’t be dismissed!

Hi OP. Just wondered if you’d had any more luck getting checked out yet?

I hope you've managed to get checked out. I remember a poor woman on One Born Every Minute (I think?) who had a liver condition that made her so unbearably itchy she had to be hospitalised and was giving serious consideration to a termination. She developed jaundice too, she was so yellow and unwell looking! IIRC she ended up having to be given a chemo drug to stop the itching. So it can be infuriating but harmless, or a serious condition - either way, best to get checked!

Hope you are doing better OP. Not sure if this would help but I had PEP rash in pregnancy, polymorphic eruption of pregnancy I think it was called, awful itchy rash on my bump and I had a severe case that worsened on delivery and spread nearly everywhere, it was bloody miserable. In my second pregnancy the symptoms began and I tried Grandpa's Old Pine Tar Soap, by Amazon Prime, and it seemed to work! The symptoms vanished in a few days. Check out the reviews on Amazon - it might be worth a try. It smells like bonfires but I was so grateful that it worked. Just hope it might for you or anyone suffering... Xxx

@barleyreed I'm using pine tar soap for PEP at the moment- absolute god send!!! It's the only thing that's given relief!!! Doctors should really prescribe it or even recommend it to those suffering!!

@KB07 it's amazing isn't it! So glad it is saving you too