Itching in third trimester - what to do??!

[happynappies]

I'm 36 weeks pg now, and have been itching for over 8 weeks. I saw my GP, have been prescribed steroid cream, antihistamine tablets, an oil to put in the bath, an antiseptic emollient cream... I've had three lots of blood tests to screen for obstetric choleostasis - all clear. I've been averaging about an hour sleep a night now for the past 2-3 weeks and feel on the edge of sanity here. I've seen a consultant dermatologist who said it was pregnancy pruritis, and prescribed more of the same steroid cream and the bath oil. Saw her again a week later and she said my skin looked better - but the itching still no better. I was bordering on hysterical, and she suggested 'something to help me sleep'. She prescribed Zopiclone which the pharmacist refused to give me as it could be hazardous to the baby (and I'm glad he did). She has now revised this prescription to Temazepam - but I'm still reluctant to take it, as although I'm desperate for sleep I really don't want to harm the baby in any way and the drug can cause dependency, and breathing problems etc as well as transferring to breastmilk...

The itching begins in the mid-afternoon but is at a kind of manageable level. I can't sit still or lie down though, or it becomes worse. When I go to bed I generally get an hour of sleep then am woken up with intense itching that starts to make me feel sick, and gives me horrendous heartburn. Its as if there is a chemical in my body after the intense itching that makes me feel generally 'ill' and then I just can't get back to sleep and go round and round in circles scratching my stomach, arms, legs, back, hips, chest etc all night long.

Sorry this is long... and well done if you're still reading! People have suggested all kinds to me - calamine lotion from the fridge, cold flannels, cold showers, lavender oil etc - tried them all, nothing stops the itch waking me up. Then people suggest things like hypnosis etc - suggesting to me that they think it is psychological. Surely this is a physiological thing, and attempts to treat either (a) my anxieties or (b) my skin are pointless as there is some reaction under my skin (which causes raised bumps like nettle rash) - I don't know whether this is hormonal, or what... I've also tried Dandelion Root to no effect, and have cut everything out of my diet at some point to assess whether it had any noticeable effect (e.g. wheat, citrus, caffeine, etc etc).

I'm sure no one knows the answer, but if anyone does please help!!! Should I avoid taking the sleeping tablets? Should I try taking antihistamines again (I only took them for three days because they made me feel so drowsy in the day and I have a two year old to look after so didn't feel I could continue to take them). Although I'm calm now, in a few hours' time no doubt I'll be sobbing hysterically again and losing the will to live!

My sympathies, I had horrific itching during pg too. Were the antihistamines Piriton? I had these and they really helped. I only took them at night, and they were brilliant, I slept really well and wasn't drowsy during the day. They won't harm the baby. Apologies if the ones you had were Piriton, I'm afraid I don't have any other suggestions...

I totally sympathise, I had this with pregnancy #1 - it began at 38 weeks so I didn't bother taking the piriton i was given, but i would have done if it had started earlier. You need some sleep!
AFAIK there's nothing else you can do until you give birth - i literally watched the lumps and bumps disappearing in the hours after having the baby. No consolation though when you haven't had any sleep! If you google "PUPPP" it's what the americans call this condition and apparently it's an autoimmune response caused by some ofthe baby's cells getting into your bloodstream. I also read that 2/3 of women with it have boys - I did, but i don't know how scientific this is!

feeel so sorry for you, I have had itching too, but somehow |I manage it not to let it go too far.
Gosh, readinbg your post makes me wanna itch!!
I hjave mine on outer sied of hands and it is unbearable sometimes.
I use aloe vera, sometimes helps sometimes irritates it even more, and turmeric. which always helps. it is indian spice, yellow colour, powder, they put it in curry.

just mix it with olive oil into the paste and put it for half an hour on the most affcetd areas.
Turmeric is the best, as earlier on last year i had CIN 3, precancerous stage of erosion of cervix. never had children before, so when the doctor said to me they need to do hot wire treatment on me, I panicked ( as this will increase the chance of miscarriage later when I am PG), and I started using home made tampons ssoaked with oil + turmeric at night. In 6 days I brought CIN 3 down to CIN 1 and then later they did a swab 6 months later, I was clear.
so try this, it will help

happynappies, yuo have my utmost sympathy, it is miserable. I had this for the last 6 weeks of my pg and am dreading getting it again.

Can suggest acupuncture? It was the only thing that took a bit of the heat out of the itching; i too used to spend countless hours awake at night crying, with dh mopping me down with ice packs and cold flannels. The acu didnt cure it but it was definitely more manageable. I also took piriton and it gave me a few hours sleep at the start of the night.
oh ,and i had a dd so i must be in the other third!!

good luck.

Oh, happynappies, I could have written your post! I am at 31 weeks with EXACTLY the same symptoms and stresses. I see the dermatologist tomorrow for yet another "sorry, we can't help you sleep, but try this ointment." Add to that the fact that I have gestational diabetes, and the doctors just keep shipping me around -- the OB insists it's a diabetes issue, but the endocrinologist says no, it's a pregnancy issue. No one seems to understand that this is not just typical pregnancy belly-itching, but that it's some horrible internal thing that makes me want to scream! I itch from the top of my head to the soles of my feet, all night long. I wish I could help but right now I am just so glad that someone else is dealing with the same feelings! I was beginning to think I was just going completely insane.

I do hope you're feeling better by now, and as you get closer to delivery I hope you'll come back and give us an update.

Oh you poor thing. I had this too with my first pregnancy. It was awful. I was scratching myself so much that I had bleeding sores all over my body. GP was useless...kept congratulating me on not having swollen ankles .

The only thing (of the 2 zillion that I tried) that worked was this oriental itching powder called Snake Brand Prickly Heat Powder. Here's a link to an ebay listing for it.

The good news is that it goes away pretty much overnight after you give birth.
I too had a boy. And when I was pregnant with my dd, I did not have this itching...interesting.

acupuncture?

Hi there, I had exactly the same thing. I tried a number of things and the only thing that gave me some consolation was the steriods but as I say after a couple of hours the itchines was back. It was a nightmare. My baby was early so I was given a good dosage of steroid to help his longs and boy it helped my itchises. As a consolation is goes within hours of the birth. It's amazing. I suffored with it so bad as it was not diagnosed for ages as most doctors, even the hospital did not know of it. I would love child number two but I really don't to go through it again. I am scared. Anyone has a second child without going through it again. Is there something we can do to prevent it. Sorry happiness if I am intruding on your thread. Very interested too on this. One thing I did was cold baths, not quilt on the bed. Anything hot would make me worst. Would be good to see what other suggestions people have.

Boblina...I did not have even a whiff of it with my second pregnancy.

Do you actually have a rash? I had a hprrible rash with dd and I used medicated talc, witch hazel in a spray bottle and witch hazel gel. The important thing is to keep the rash dry and not to moisturise and keep cool (quite easy at the mo)

It's all hormonal and as soon as you have your baby the itching will stop....honest!

Prob a stupid question, but have you been tested for Obstetric Cholestatis?

I had itching a few weeks ago, and my hospital did blood tests to check how my liver was functionings - as itching is the main symptom of this.

A friend is suffering similarly; I've edited the folowing from her e-mail to me - I hope she won't mind (don't know if she's on MN or even has already posted here!).

"I started to get raised spots all over my stomach ? very very itchy! The lumpy rash spread all over my chest, my hands, my neck and parts of my arms, legs and back, and between my toes! Bio oil had no effect. Piriton antihistamine tablets ? absolutely no effect. Was prescribed steroid cream. I spent ages leaving prescriptions into pharmacy until I persuaded them that 30g tubes (even spread thinly as instructed) were only going to last 2 days given that it had to go over my entire body! They are now giving me 100g tubes. I managed to get an urgent referral to see a dermatologist and was told I had PUPP (Pruritic Urticarial Plaques and Papules of Pregnancy). Bad news is you can do nothing about it. Apparently goes when babies are born! He gave me another steroid cream.

I?m now coping by having 3 baths a day ? in theory to sooth and wash off one layer of cream before applying another. In practice an opportunity to have an all over scratch. Don?t tell me not to scratch! Best thing I?ve got is aqueous cream with menthol in it. Cost me £25 for a big 500ml pot but worth it. I can use as much of this as I want and it sooths and cools at the same time".

if the antihistamine tablets make you drowsy maybe it would be a good idea to take them before you go to sleep?

I feel your pain - I have had 2 pregnancies with this condition - it was called polymorphic eruption of pregnancy by my dermatologist. it started at around 15-16 weeks in my first pregnancy. I found my midwife had never seen anything like it and kept suggesting bicarb of soda in my bath - i was ready to kill her after a while.....

Eventually got referred to a dermatologist which helped a lot.

I was given an absolute ton of different antihistamines - piriton (about 10-12 a day from memory) + a bunch of other ones + steroid cream.

The tablets helped a little but I think once the scratching has begun it is very difficult to stop. I used to get a body brush to try and avoid using my nails as my skin got badly infected from the broken sores.

I had this for almost the entirety of my first pregnancy and i was left pretty badly scarred by the infected parts of the rash and got the most incredible stretch marks which I was told were part of the condition. Oh Joy.

Second time around it was much much milder and i was given the mega doses of tablets a lot earlier and it kept it at bay. I had talked it through with my gp before trying for the baby. I found it much more bearable and didn't have anything like the same amount of itching. It started earler at around 12 weeks but by the time i had my daughter it had been almost completely driven away by the gazillion tablets with just small patches of rash left that the creams kept the itch away from.

The thing I found that helped the most was a mixture of calamine aqueous cream and menthol. The hospital pharmacy made it up - one of those old fashioned recipes. I found it took the itch away which allowed me to sleep = which in turn gave my skin a chance to heal and the tablets to work a little......

I was also induced early as my dermatologist recommeded this to my ob/gyn as it was clear I was in one hell of a state. Immediately after giving birth the condition started to calm down and was gone within weeks.