intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP)?

[NinaMimi]

Anyone had this? How bad was the itching? How were you diagnosed? Had you ever had previous liver issues?

It’s probably a bad idea to google symptoms but for past two weeks or so I’ve felt itchy all over my body and it becomes more noticeable in the evening. I’ve got a midwife appointment in a few days so will bring it up then but just curious to hear experiences. Apparently hormones can also bring on itchiness so hopefully just that.

Hi OP, yes I've had this - it's vile. How far along are you as it usually presents quite late in the second or in the third trimester. The itching is awful - literally unbearable, and usually starts near the hands and /or feet and spreads from there. I had it particularly badly on my ankles and have scars there from constantly scratching until I was bleeding. I also found it particularly bad under my breasts, along the bra line, and yes it does get worse at night to the point where it will prevent you from sleeping. If you present to your midwife with severe itching she will send you for a simple blood test to diagnose and you'll get the result the next day. I had no previous liver issues but I think that long term use of hormonal contraception can be a predisposing factor. I've certainly been told not to ever go on it again. I did get my liver scanned late on in my pregnancy to make sure it was starting healthy and it looked fine. Hope this isn't the case for you as it's really unpleasant!

@SamoyedFan123
Thanks so much for your response. It’s helpful to hear your account though sorry you had to go through that.

I never get itchy enough that I must scratch or can’t sleep so maybe it is just hormones. Though I thought it was strange that it’s worse in the evening and that’s part of it. I’ll still mention it to midwife to see what she says.

I didn't have ICP but I had itchy feet and ankles and phoned the midwives who asked me to go in next day for a blood test which came back fine, then the GP prescribed a cream for me to help with the itching as I couldn't sleep because of it. Depending on how busy your GP surgery is, it might be worth booking a doctor's appointment for a couple of days after the midwife in case it isn't ICP, so you can get treatment asap. If you weren't seeing the midwife this week I would definitely encourage you to call them, I felt like I was being ridiculous but they said I did the right thing calling in asap.

Something else that it can be is dry skin, with all the stretching your skin is doing and being indoors way more than non-covid times it can cause itchiness - have you tried moisturising just in case?

I had a blood test yesterday so will find out today if it is any serious.

I’m now thinking it’s not as midwife said it was most prominent on palms of hands and soles of feet and they aren’t that bad.

I did think with stretching that it could just be dry skin so have been trying to moisturise but sometimes it’s my whole body which itches so it’s hard to cover it all.

Thanks for replies.

Hi OP, I had this too. It wasn't unbearable in my case, but it was flipping annoying. Glad you're getting it investigated promptly, it can be very serious. Definitely lots of moisturiser (skin is drier in pregnancy anyway I find) and the other thing that helped was putting on a long sleeved cotton T-shirt still damp straight out of the washing machine - calms the itching down like magic. Don't get hung up on the palms/sole thing, any itching should be checked out - those were never the worst places for me, mine was legs and ankles.

ICP Support are an excellent charity run by the key research group on the topic - Prof Catherine Williamson, Dr Jenny Chambers and others at St Thomas's Hospital, London, lots of good advice on the website. It's worth getting in touch to see if they have any clinical research going on at the moment too if you're in London. www.icpsupport.org/index.html