Itchy Rash During 3Rd Trimester

I developed PUPP the last two weeks of my pregnancy - they say it is more common in first pregancy's and if you're having a girl. I tried every lotion available to help the itching, but they only provided temporary relief. Cetaphil seemed to be the most soothing, but the only real "cure" is delivery. I finally agreed to take Zyrtec, which also helped some. I think my case was worse than most - it was on my hips, covered my stomach, was on my arms, legs, etc. I was bleeding from scratching so much in my sleep.

I don't like taking medicine, especially during a pregnancy, but if you need to, Zyrtec should help.

Good luck!

My sister and I both had PUPPs. My sister suffered horribly (her doctor didn't know much about it and wouldn't let her take anything) and even has some scarring left from the really bad places on her legs. My doctor let me take oral Benadryl when it started spreading all over and that stopped it immediately and it went away (Thank God!!!). Check with your doctor and see if you can take some Benadryl. My sister's lasted until her baby was several weeks old since she was untreated - get help NOW!

It's probably just a pregnancy rash - olive oil after oatmeal baths helped me a lot. PUPP - itchy rash of pregnancy - almost as great as morning sickness.

Be aware that an itchy rash over your abdomen can be a sign of HELLP (the liver issue that the earlier poster mentioned.)Other signs include edema, blurry vision, high blood pressure, and headaches - which don't occur with PUPP.

When I was preg. I got a rash theat covered everything from my neck to my knees and amazing as it is that is what the doc called it but said there was a long medical term for it. He gave me a cortizone cream to apply to help with the itch and told me to take cool bathes to help it did pass after about a month.

Ok, first of all, I totally know what you are going through. It so sucks! I was diagnosed with PUPPs in my 37th week of pregnancy. My Dr. told me it was PUPPs and that I was allergic to the baby's lanugo (skin covering) and it was being sluffed off and coming through the placenta. He said it was very common in women carrying boys for the first time. It was horrible! I tried EVERYTHING...and I'm not kidding. EVERYTHING! I seriously had my husband go to Walgreens and buy everything there was for an itch. I tried it all. NONE of it helped. I was scratching so hard I was bleeding. The Dr. was concerned I would get a secondary infection from the scratching so he prescribed prednisone....very low dose. It helped a TINY bit. It went away about 2 weeks after I delivered the baby. I am so sorry you are going through this. It is awful! I remember being at BabiesRUs and going into one of the bathroom stalls and just scratching. There was just no relief. I ended up scratching for over 30 min. in there. My husband sent someone in to check on me. LOL
I hope you are able to get some sort of relief. I took a lot of Aveeno oatmeal baths and slept with a fan blowing on me....naked. (TMI?)
Anyway, I hope you are able to get through this without much trouble. Best of luck!

I developed a similar rash with all 3 of my girls. My dr. finally diagnosed it as PUPP this last time but I'm not convinced thats what it was. Anyhow, the cortisone creams didn't work after the first few days. My only relief came from Gold Bond Ulimate Lotion. I'm not sure that's the exact name but it comes in a white with black and gold lettering pump bottle. It costs a little more than your average lotion. Best price I found was walmart, too bad it didn't come in a 50gal drum! I would also suggest a 2nd opinion. In the mean time I hope this brings you a bit of relief.

I had the same thing when I was pregnant with my daughter (now 5 yrs old). We discovered it I had become allergic to tea tree oil. Before that the Doctor gave me a prescription for Zyrtec and that helped clear it up. My dermatologist though it was PUPP at first glance, but after she took a sample and tested discovered it was NOT, that is why she gave me the Zyrtec script. So Maybe go get a 2nd opinion.

I would be inclined to go along with the liver function thing. The only way to end it is to have the baby. Do try to research it and do push your doctor into do more teting to help you because there can be risks. I am not trying to scare you just want you to be aware. I wish you a safe delivery and a healthy baby. The other S.

C. -- Have you tried Arbonne skin care?? We have a terrific cleansing gel, and body lotion that I swear by. It has helped so many people. Your body is changing, more than in girth, and you need to adjust for it.

E-mail me at ____@____.com, and I'll fill you in on the details. If you aren't happy with it, I'll refund your money -- no questions at all.

Arbonne is a bontanically based product, no animal products, pure, safe, beneficial. I really like it!!
A.

I just had a friend who delivered twins this week who had a rare condition call PUPP ( http://dermatology.about.com/cs/pregnancy/a/puppp.htm ). It is not harmful to you or the baby and resolves after you deliver, but can be very annoying in the meantime. I don't know if this is what you are experiencing, but it sounds like your symptoms are very similar and it is much more common if you are carrying a boy. I know that it took my friend a while to finally get this diagnosis, so I thought I would throw it out as something for you to ask your doctor about.

Good luck and God bless,
K.

Oops- I didn't read carefully- looks like you've already considered this! Maybe the link will help give you some more information ...

Hi C.,
I gave birth to my second girl on October. During my pregnancy, my skin was very itchy and my OB said that it always happens because skin gets very sensitive. Actually, she said that nothing really could help me. I tried very rich skin butter and it kind of helped me. Try to put very rich, oily butter. Hope that would help:)

C., I had this toward the end of my twin pregnany 2 years ago, and doctor told me it was a pregnany rash, associated with pregnancy, and theres not alot that can be done to cure it, other than delivery; used aloe to help soothe it, but then a couple of days later, it was getting really bad, looked like my skin was burned....I ended up being admitted for an emergency c-section and the nurses couldn't get over how bad the rash was, and doctors and nurses kept telling me it would get better after the delivery. Well it got worse....I can't remember what they called it, but I ended up being a teaching tool for the interns and they kept bringing them in to look at me. Ha, ha! I can laugh about it now, but it wasn't much fun at the time. It took a couple of weeks, but it did eventually start getting better. Hang in there and know that it will all be worth it in the end.

I would insist the doctor check your liver functions. If your liver can't get rid of toxins, they will come out through your skin. The skin is the body's largest detoxification organ. I had that problem and the doctor dismissed it. However, I ended up spending two extra days post-partum in the hospital due to elevated liver functions. I didn't learn until a decade later that that was actually due to undiagnosed celiac disease. Few doctors have a clue about this - i.e., the connection of the elevated liver functions and celiac. And, since the doctors don't know why the liver functions go up, they don't have anything to help you with it, so they just ignore it.

not sure what your rash looks like but with my first pregnancy, i broke out in a red ichy rash everywhere my clothes touched me. It turned out that I had become allergic to my laundry detergent and since we had hard water it was not rinsing the soap out of my clothes good enough. We installed a whole house water softening filter and the rash/hives went away.

the thing that helped me more than anything (I know it sounds crazy)was AD diaper cream not the white kind but the clear kind.That helped relieve the itching and after a few days the rash was better also.

of course don't know if it is the same but i had a very similar thing when i was pregnant. I had been using cocoa butter cream to try to prevent stretch marks. The doctor told me that the cream was clogging my pores and to stop using it.

:( The same thing happened to me. I wasn't sure if it was just my skin stretching and leaving it dry/itchy, so after a bath, i'd put on tons of lotion to "seal" the moisture in. I also tried over the counter cortisone ointment. But, I'm pretty sure I had the exact same rash after I had the baby, and by then, it had moved to my chest. My OBGYN originally told me to use a cortisone cream, when I told her I tried that, she decided to prescribe an antifungal + cortisone cream and it got rid of the rash. The generic brand is called Clotrimazole and Betamethasone Dipropionate Cream (i think she said "Lotriman" or something like that was the name brand).