38 weeks and itching like mad

[Pelly8]

Hello

I’m 38 weeks pregnant and I have been itching like mad for the past few days. I’ve had itching on my belly for weeks now but over the last couple of weeks it has spread to my arms, legs, wrists, ankles, tops of my feet and tops on my hands. I wake up itching. It was worse at night now it’s all day.

I spoke to the midwife earlier in the week and she didn’t seem worried because it’s not on the soles of my feet or palms of my hands. I’m not sure what to do!

Any advice?

You need to speak to your midwife again and you need to be seen. This is not something that should be dealt with over the phone.

Hi; I had icp. It’s not just the soles of your feet/palms of your hands and if it’s worse at night/ consistently occurring i’d go in and insist on a blood test ASAP. As in today. Depending on where you are midwives and doctors aren’t always up to date with ICP. Mine wasn’t always on my palms or soles but was consistently happening each night and was unbearable/ different to any other itch I’ve had. And I was scratching my skin off. But it’s different for different people.

www.icpsupport.org/myths.shtml

If in the UK iCP support is full of good up to date information and has a helpline if needed.
Hope this helps and you get checked properly to get either the drugs you need/ baby induced or to rule it out.

You need to be seen. If no luck with midwife I’d go to A&E

I had this in my first pregnancy, but was checked for Cholestasis first, which was ruled out (blood test) so I would go back to your midwife about this. I was told that the itching was "just one of those things" that can happen in pregnancy, even though it was driving me mad! The only things that helped were keeping cool as I found being too warm (especially at night) made it worse, I used Aveeno (extra soothing blue one) to try and help protect the skin from all the scratching and I think I remember I had some calamine cream (got this after speaking to the pharmacist, as so much you can't have when pregnant, helped a bit I think). I know it can be pretty miserable, but it did go away after I had my baby, so hopefully you won't have too long to go! (And thankfully it didn't happen in my second pregnancy)

I had this in all 3 pregnancies - getting successively worse. It is worth being checked out in case it is an indication of something more serious but otherwise it is just a pain. I considered acupuncture on the third one. It stopped dead once I delivered if that is any consolation (along with the heartburn)

I had this, too. You do need to be tested for cholestasis. I found baths with Aveeno colloidal oatmeal powder helped a lot. I had to order it from the pharmacy. Until you cam get some, put some porridge oats in a popsock and swish it around in a bath. Aveeno cream is good too.

Thank you all so much for your responses. I’m going to insist this gets checked out today!

I developed itchy legs in my 2nd pregnancy, turned out to be an under active thyroid. Should def get checked out.

Piriton is great for itching too