Seven Star Hammer Test!

Well, PUPPPs, you've gone and made me feel crazy again. This time, it's for poking myself repeatedly with itty bitty needles. Need a little explanation for that statement? You can read up on my Seven Star Needle journey here: Seven Star Needle Posts. Anyway, I finally had a patch of rash that deserved some extreme attention. So, I pulled out my "hammer" and gave it a go.

I documented the process, so you all could follow along with the crazy. 

Here's the before picture of a lovely little patch of rash on my hip. Red, raised, and SO itchy. I tried not to scratch before this picture to keep it from looking too inflamed. 

And here's what I used in the process. Cotton balls for sterilizing my skin, the torture device (aka the seven star needle or plum blossom), and some isopropyl alcohol. 

Here I am sterilizing my skin. You need to give it a good long, vigorous scrub for the alcohol to be effective, at least 5 minutes. 

All clean and ready to commence!

Sterilizing the hammer. I let it sit there in a capful of alcohol for 5 minutes. 

Then I went to tapping! I did a little video, but my internet connection is sketchy right now, so I'll have to upload that later. I tapped until there were little spots of blood all over the patch. Yes, it hurt! Let's see, how shall I describe it... Well, it felt like seven tiny needles pricking me over and over and over. I found that the faster I tapped, the less I recognized the pain. I also tried it on a patch of skin in a more "sensitive" area that I didn't feel comfortable photographing. It hurt a lot more there.

Here's the skin right after:

And here it is about an hour later:

And this is a full day later:

Pretty well healed up from the pricks. The hives are less obvious, and I will say that this patch has not bothered me at ALL since the treatment. Unfortunately, the patch in the more sensitive area is still crazy itchy. CRAZY itchy. It could be that I didn't tap as hard, since it hurt more. I even tapped that area for a second time today without success. It still itches!!

I will continue to monitor the patch on my hip to see if the itch returns. I'm not sure what to make of this PUPPPs treatment. It seems very effected for the patch on my hip but hasn't improved the patch in the sensitive area at all.

I guess I would recommend giving it a try, provided you understand the risk of infection and consult with your doctor/midwife ahead of time! I'll let you know if my condition changes in the near future! I'd be quite curious to hear if any of you try it and how it turns out! Please be careful in your efforts!

UPDATE: It's been roughly a week since I tested the hammer, and here's the status...The patch on my hip has disappeared. There is no itch in that spot. However, two patches cropped up right next to that patch. I don't know if it's related to using the hammer, but they sure do itch. I'm considering trying the hammer on them too. Now, the patch in the "sensitive" area is just as itchy as ever, maybe more. I don't understand why it appeared to work in one place but not the other. Very strange. I will post an additional update if I decide to test it again.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Roughly two weeks after the first hammer test, I decided to give it a go again.  I had developed two additional patches on my hip, right next to the original patch. I pulled out the hammer and followed the same steps as before. It's been 3 days since I did this, and those patches are nearly gone! You can tell there used to be rash there, but there are no raised hives, and they do not itch. I'm more and more convinced that there might be something to this remedy! 

A laugh

They say it's the best medicine, right? Let's see what it does for our itch...

So true, right?

Pretty much how I feel. Allergic to my own self. 

When you get the spot...

And last but not least...this is so accurate...

(click here to see it bigger)

Polls

I realized that everyone who views my blog via the mobile version misses my polls! If you scroll to the bottom and click on "view web version," you'll be able to see my polls on the right hand side of the page. I have a couple of questions about PUPPPs there, and while they aren't scientific, the results are really interesting! Thanks for stopping by!

The Delay & My Current Treatment Routine

I'm sorry for the delay in the Seven Star Needle test! I've had the wonderful problem of not having a good enough patch of rash to try it on! I anticipate my rash flaring up again in a week or so if it sticks to it's previous pattern. I will be testing it as soon as that happens!

In the mean time, I'm so pleased that my current rash routine is helping! I will soon need to write baby #4's story and tell you all about it! In case you can't wait (and I know what it is to be in a desperate place!!), here is a quick list that I'll elaborate on later.

• Dandelion root capsules: 800 mg 1-2x/day (Oregon's Wild Harvest brand)
• Daily probiotics (Biokult brand)
• Daily superfood supplement (Dr. Schulze brand)
• Magnesium supplement (Professional Formulas Note: I haven't ordered from this website. I buy from a relative, so I am not endorsing this seller. I just wanted you to have a link where you could read more about it.)
• Liquid chlorophyll supplement (Nature's Sunshine brand)
• Topical essential oil treatment that I came up with recently.

The probiotics, superfood, magnesium, and liquid chlorophyll are not specifically for PUPPPs. Those are just my normal vitamin routine, but you never know what is helping! 

The dandelion root capsules and the essential oils are the only things I'm doing specifically for PUPPPs, and they really seem to be helping!

A more detailed post is in the works. :) 

Worldwide Web of PUPPPs

I'm often surprised by the variety of places in the world that visit the blog. I thought you'd be interested to know as well. People all over the world are suffering from PUPPPs! Thanks for stopping by, far away visitors! I hope you find some relief for your rash!

United States

Canada

United Kingdom

Australia

New Zealand

Finland

Guam

Poland

Germany

Ukraine

Hungary

India

Philippines

Norway

Taiwan

The Netherlands

Pakistan 

Saudi Arabia

Ireland

France

Slovakia

Mexico

Japan

Sweden

Switzerland 

Bosnia

Egypt

South Korea

Seven Star Needle Has Arrived!

All the way from China! And a full week before it was expected! Way to go, Amazon!

Here's what the box looked like upon arrival. Anyone know what that says?

And here's what was inside the box...

Um, yikes!! This may prove to be my craziest PUPPPs remedy yet!

Ok, now I must seriously commence research on how to do this right! I can see a big potential for infection. Plus, I only have one, and I don't want to mess it up and have to wait another 2 1/2 weeks for the slow boat from China! I'll get right on that research and hope to post about how it went soon! 

Essential Oil Journey

I'm embarking on a research journey. 

Actually, I've been on the journey for a little while now. I started getting into essential oils when I was pregnant with my first. I made a stretch mark belly butter with lovely smelling oils to prevent scarring. To this day, I've never gotten a stretch mark, though I suspect that has a lot to do with my genetics. 

These days, I use essential oils on a daily basis in my homemade baby wipes and in my homemade deodorant. 

My handy, 2 inch thick reference book. 

It was only recently that I thought of using essential oils for PUPPPs. (How that escaped me for the first 3 bouts with PUPPPs, I do not know...) A reader recently commented that she was finding a little success in small tests with tea tree oil. This inspired me to let you know that I have been in the process of developing and testing a blend of essential oils for my rash. I'm still researching the safety of all the oils, as I want to make sure I know what there is to know on that subject before I start promoting the idea. I'm also testing, testing, testing. I've gone through a LOT of oils! 

Through all my looking, I've only found 2 essential oil products for PUPPPs. The reviews are compelling! (Although, I bet the ladies that it doesn't help aren't as likely to give a reiew at all.) 

I'm guessing that as essential oils are kind of an up and coming thing lately, a lot of people don't even know to try them. 

I'd love to hear your feedback...have you tried essential oils for your PUPPPs rash? Any luck?

Black Cherry Juice Update

I've been testing the Black Cherry Juice remedy for a couple weeks now, and I DO feel like I'm seeing some positive results!

Here's a little info link about why the highly anti-inflammatory Black Cherry Juice is helpful: Black Cherry Juice Info

And here's the gist: Black Cherry Juice contains anthocyanins, a type of antioxidant that helps to block enzymes that cause inflammation. As well we know, PUPPPs is quite the inflammatory process. So, there does seem to be some science behind why this tasty remedy may help!

And boy, is it tasty! Tastes just like eating the canned cherries from my Grandpa's farm when I was a little girl.

I've been drinking 8 oz a day for about 2 weeks. I wasn't consistent at first, due to traveling, but I have been very consistent this last week, and my rash looks quite a bit better. The itch is less severe as well. Unfortunately, it's hard to say whether that is just the natural pattern of my PUPPPs taking its course or the juice really helping. But I'm pretty sure it can't be hurting, and it tastes so good!

I would highly recommend giving it a try!!

This is the brand I'm drinking, in case you're curious.