Itchy skin

[Gemtubbs]

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone's pregnancy is going really well!

I am now almost 33 weeks and last week I started to get itchy skin. Apparently, itchy skin is quite common in late pregnancy due to stretching skin and hormones etc. However, I had persistant itching all over, particuarly my hands and feet. I told my midwife and she sent me for a blood test.

Any way, it turns out that I've got an uncommon pregnancy condition called Obstetric Cholestasis. I understand that it is when your liver does not process bile salts properly and it can potentially make your blood toxic for mum and baby. The itching is caused by salts being deposited under the skin. No one knows what causes it or why it happens.

It is likely that I am going to have to be induced at 37 weeks, as the risks may be more significant if I carry to full term.

Once the baby is born, the mum's liver usually returns to normal and the baby is not affected. I would advise that you tell your midwife if you get any itching so that Obstetric Cholestasis can be ruled out.

Has any one else had this or got this? Sorry for the long post btw.

Love Gem.xXx

Very quickly, because I've got to go to work, but yes I had it twice, and have 2 beautiful children to show for it. One born at 37 weeks, one at 36.

There IS an OC support group, with a lovely lady, Jenny Chambers -
jennychambers
oc
at
aol
dot
com

(join it all up, replace at and dot, no spaces to get her email). I would recommend getting in touch with her ASAP.

Are they treating you with anything? UrsoDeoxycholic Acid (UDCA or Urso for short) helps reduce the bile salts. Also Vitamin K in the week before birth, to aid with blood clotting.

There is also a facebook group I think its called "itchy feet".

Hope this helps - will be back later! There are a number of other ladies who have also had this, so you are not alone!

Hey Gem, weirdly enough that was the first thing I thought of when I saw your post title. A good friend of mine is in exactly the same situation; she's had obstetric cholestasis in all of her three pregnancies. 'Fortunately' (ish) it's just presented itself (she's about 35 weeks), enabling her to get the consultant to bring the c-section forward to Boxing Day, when she'll be 37+1, rather than 39+5 as he was intending. When she pointed out the chances were she'd go into labour before then he said "oh well, we'll just do it as an emergency then". Nice

She's had no complications after the other two pregnancies, so hopefully all will be fine for you too. I did read that newer research is questioning the need to induce early but I think that's the standard policy for the time being.

Good luck!

I was lucky enough to have obstetric cholestasis and severe pre-eclampsia together, but fortunately they picked up the OC very quickly because I was having so many blood tests for PE, gave me urso straight away and I never had any itching. Ds was born by cs at 34 weeks but that was due to PE.

My consultant said if I had OC in subsequent pregnancy they would just give me urso again and it wouldn't be a problem - not sure if he meant that he wasn't in favour of inducing early or if he thought I would be having another prem baby due to PE anyway so the OC would be immaterial!

Best of luck with the rest of your pg. Hope the itching is under control.