Well, here I am again, I'm sorry to say. I have PUPPPs again. I made it to 29 weeks this time! I was hopeful that this might be my first pregnancy without PUPPPs! But sadly, I'm 33 weeks now, and I've just reached the keeps-me-up-for-hours-at-night, scratch-til-I-bleed, red-itchy-patches-everywhere, I-might-go-crazy Stage. You know that stage? I'm sure you do. I'm sorry you do.
For all of you wondering if my oil blend is helping this time (See here for my Cooling Relief Oil Recipe), sadly not enough. As before, it does bring temporary relief. But the rash just keeps getting worse and worse, spreading more each day.
I'm strongly considering trying topical steroids again this time. You do what you gotta do to stay sane.
There is a strong aspect of the mental game this time. I know what's ahead. I know how much time I have left. It's simply depressing.
The nights are the worst. Hours and hours awake, scratching with my trusty hairbrush (this fella here), trying not to wake people with the noise and the crying. I know I could bring my cooler of ice packs to bed again, but that is depressing too. To get to that point. After functioning so well last time!
I know you come to this blog looking for answers and hope. So I'm sorry for this little venting session. When I get over the grief and accept that I need to deal with this, I will let you all know what relief I find this time around.
In the meantime, you once again have my fresh sympathy. Fresh and acute. I say this as I discover a new patch in my HAIR. Sigh.
Signing off for now.
PUPPPs Mom
I've been wondering how you were doing! I'm so sorry to hear that it's worse this time. You are such a brave and strong mama (even if you don't feel like it), and I admire you. I'll be praying that you find relief again.
ReplyDeleteThank you, thank you! It's hard to take!
DeleteOh no! I was recently diagnosed with PUPPPs and came across your blog. You were the positivity that I needed during the 'struggle'. I'm even using your blend of essential oils and it has helped me so much. I'm sorry you're going through this again and I hope you find some sort of relief. I was also using topical steroids but stopped when I started using your oil blend and drinking dandelion root tea at night. I'm almost feeling normal'ish and that's in most part thanks to you. You're in my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad the oil blend is working for you! PUPPPs is so mysterious. I wish there was more understanding. It's maddening.
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ReplyDeleteI had PUPPPs at about week 30 in my pregnancy. I tried a lot of different things. Even the topical steroids, but they did little to help as well. The only thing that actually worked was hot water therapy. I don't know if you've come across it. I read about it on a blog. Basically, every night when I showered, I would take my regular shower, and when I'm done (before getting out), I would turn the water temperature up to as high as I could stand it and take the detachable shower head off the handle (works best if you have one of the detachable ones) and spray every inch of my body slowly with the scorching hot water. It burns at first, but once your skin gets used to the temperature, it feels so good! It will actually feel like you're scratching yourself, and will help relieve the itch. The first time I tried this, I slept thru the night for the first time in weeks without waking up from scratching. When I first read about it, I was skeptical. But after trying everything else, I thought, why not? It doesn't cost as much as all the other treatments. It's just hot water. I ended up looking forward to taking a shower every night! Of course, it doesn't help relieve the itch all day long, but I found that with the hot water routine plus the topical cream, it really helped me get thru the nights. Hope this helps. Best wishes and a healthy pregnancy!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! I have found this helpful too. It only relieves it for a couple hours, but those are a nice few hours.
DeleteI hope you are starting to come out of the horrible stage! I'm at 20 weeks now, and thanks in large part to you, my days are almost normal and my skin looks like a normal person's (diagnosed at 16 weeks). The rash still keeps me up at night, but there's no crying and I'm not scared to go to bed. I really hope you can get away from this stage soon. I think I mentioned this before, but one thing that helped me a good deal was a homemade Benadryl spray. I crushed up 3 tablets into a fine powder and put them in a tiny spray bottle of just water. Other things that have helped a lot have been: (1) increasing my fish oil- 2,000-3,000 of Carlson's Elite Omega 3's at every meal, (2) all the stuff you're probably already doing, like dairy elimination, probiotics, cleanse diet, dandelion root, nettle leaf, etc, (3) having this drink every night before bed: coconut milk, fresh ginger slices, turmeric powder, cinnamon, black pepper, and stevia, and (4) reflexology. I will be thinking of you. Stay strong, mama!
ReplyDeleteAnd... (5) drinking a large glass of water with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar as soon as I wake up. I know what works on PUPPPs is different for every mom, but I know how when you are suffering you just want to find something-anything-to make it stop. I hope some of this helps.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Maura!! I sure appreciate you sharing your healing regimen! Just in the last two days, I am starting to feel less crazy. It still wakes me up at night too, but much less so. My oil blend soothes it enough to get back to sleep easily. I did start triamcinalone cream (steroid) again. (I used this in my 3rd pregnancy.) It tools about 1.5 weeks to calm it down, but it is such a relief. It's like coming back from the brink of insanity! I know you know! Thank you for your caring comment!
DeleteReally glad you're getting some relief. No one should ever have to go through this!
ReplyDeleteI have suffered from PUPPPS for about a month, and just "cured" myself after much research and the help of these various blogs. Thanks for this blog, it was awesome.
ReplyDeleteI did Pine Tar soap, Black Cherry Juice, and Dandelion tea for the 1st 3 weeks. Nothing really helped much. Bought the oil blend, the PUPPPS relief cream off etsy, took oatmeal baths and epsom salt baths. All these things helped little, but here is what really did the trick.
I took a week off work. Did Acupuncture EVERY DAY for 5 days. Ate the foods my acupuncturist told me to... bitter melon soup, lots of melons, chinese herb concoction I got from her, electrolytes, dandelion root tea. She wanted "cooling foods" for me and did things to "release heat" from my suffering body. I have to say, the difference is amazing from just 6 days ago and I"m about 85% cured. EVERY MORNING I marvel in the change in my skin from the day before. Please try acupuncture if you can. it worked for me.
That sounds like an awesome experience with accupuncture! I think you really have to find a practitioner that knows what they're doing. I tried it twice, with 2 different practitioners. Neither of them helped, but I think I just didn't find the right person. Thank you so much for sharing!
DeleteHi! I just came across your blog and I am so sorry you had PUPPPs 5 times. That is crazy! I got the rash when I was 38 weeks and spread at 5 days PP. My baby is now 9 months and am just now getting a flare up in my stomach. I've had occasional flare ups mainly on my elbows but first time it's coming back on my stomach 😔. How are you doing now? Did your rash ever go away after each pregnancy?
ReplyDeleteHi there! Sorry to hear about the flare up! It's amazing, isn't it!? My baby is 10 months old now, and I've been without PUPPPs for about 3 months now. (Woohoo!) My rash did completely resolve between pregnancies. However, I will say that I have very sensitive skin now. Any little irritation makes my skin angry. It was never like that before babies. I have wondered if something permanent has taken place in my skin due to this rash. Hard to say. But I'm back to normal and thankful to be free of it!
DeleteTo anyone with PUPPPs reading this, know that I keep tabs on my blog every day! If you need an ear or some advice feel free to comment or email me at pupppsmom@gmail.com