oda.com

PUPPP Relief

I’m moving into my 26th week and found out I had PUPPP (Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy) in week 23. I’m lucky that half way through my 25th week, it started to not itch as much, and I’m hoping that it will stay that way. I think if I watch what I eat, and stay away from shellfish, it’ll keep me less itchy, which will make me and Henry very happy.

But in the weeks where I was super-itchy and red, it slowly spread all over my stomach, to my back, my forearms, part of my thigh and I think most things I read said it wouldn’t go there, but it did form on my breasts and chest. I tried most of the things on Naomi’s PUPPP Page to try to ease the itch.

While looking at a gazillion web pages, I found out this usually forms in the stretch marks in the abdomen, except I don’t have any there, yet. It also may form in multiple-births, but I only have one fetus. They’ve found that PUPPP seems to happen more to women that have boys, which could be why I have it.

One “treatment” that helped that wasn’t on anything I read was to have Henry rub my belly when I was trying to sleep. It really helped a lot and helped me fall asleep. But it would weird Henry out when the baby would move around and kick.

What did I try and did it help?

• Benadryl Topical Itch Stopping Spray, Extra Strength: only gave me relief for about two hours.
• Cortizone-10 Plus Maximum Strength Hydrocortisone Anti-Itch Creme Plus Moisturizers: gave me relief for about four hours
• Caladryl Calamine Plus Itch Reliever Lotion: worked for about 3 hours, but since it’s pink, it could only be used when I was at home
• Benadryl Dye-Free Allergy Liqui-Gels: I would take one before going to bed. The first few nights, I was able to sleep for about 3 hours, but then it didn’t help to keep me asleep. After the first few nights, I would wake up after less than an hour itching everywhere, so I stopped taking them.
• Arm & Hammer Baking Soda Paste: I mixed baking soda and water to form a paste. Before you actually try this, make sure you really thought this through and are prepared. When I tried it, my whole stomach/belly area was itching like crazy. What I should have done was probably put newspapers under me, or sat in the tub when I did this, but that didn’t happen. Instead, I sat on my leather couch and slathered it on my belly because all I could think about was relief. But as it started drying, the baking soda started flaking off on me and the floor. Henry was not amused. We did the best we could to clean up most of the baking soda before I took my mad dash to the bathroom to wash it all off, while leaving a trail of baking soda behind me. Henry had the fun task of vacuuming up my mess. I got temporary relief from the itch while the baking soda paste was on me, but once I washed it off, I was itchy again.
• Sarna Original Anti-itch Lotion: This was a recommendation from a co-worker’s friend who had PUPPP. She also recommended Respite. I would recommend it too. I was able to sleep for about 3 hours when I put this on before going to bed. The bottle says to only use it 3-4 times a day, so I would try not to use it during the day when I was at work since the itching is worst when I’m sleeping.. I would put it on once after I showered in the morning and it did keep the itching away when I was in the office. It does smell a little weird to be wearing it in the office. I would sleep with it next to me so that when I would wake up itching, I could rollover and smear some more on my itchy parts. I think part of why it would help is because it was very cooling when I put it on. But I found if I used it more than 3-4 times, it would be less effective.
• Noxzema Deep Cleansing Cream: I slathered it over my belly and the coolness of the Noxzema felt really good. But after about 20 minutes, my itchy belly warmed up the Noxzema and it didn’t help anymore and I had to jump into the shower to wash it all off.
• Vitamin A&D Original Ointment Tube for Diaper Rash: It felt good for about 10 minutes and then felt like it was starting to burn so I washed it off.
• Oatmeal bath: I found a “recipe” online to make my own oatmeal bath. I sat in it for about 40 minutes and it felt good. But when I got out, the itchy areas were all bright red and very itchy. I may not have ground the oatmeal finely enough.
• Gold Bond Medicated Extra Strength Powder: It felt good for about 2 hours before I would itch again.
• Baby Powder: It really didn’t do much, but before I knew what was safe and wasn’t safe, that’s all I tried.
• Palmers Cocoa Butter Massage Stretch Mark Cream: I tried to keep my belly well moisturized with this, but it really didn’t help with the itchiness.
• Aveeno Baby Lavender & Vanilla Calming Comfort Lotion: I used this to keep my belly moisturized and was hoping it would keep some of the itchiness at bay, but didn’t do anything for the itchiness.
• Aveeno Anti – Itch Cream Natural Colloidal Oatmeal: This works pretty well. I kept the tube at work for when the itch flared up.
• Aveeno Overnight Anti-Itch Cream: I tried putting this on before bed, but it didn’t help.
• Rainier Soapworks PUPPP Relief Soap and Cream: The soap and cream are supposedly made specifically for PUPPP. I ordered it to try but by the time it came, my PUPPP seemed to be dying down, but I still used it for the itches and use the soap when I shower. Both smell kind of pepperminty.

What didn’t I try?

• aloe vera gel
• myconozole (myselex) (yeast infection treatment)
• Band-Aid Anti-Itch Gel External Analgesic: I couldn’t find it at any of my local Duane Reade’s, but it’s supposed to be very effective.
• Grandpa’s Pine Tar Soap: It’s supposed to be pretty effective too.
• Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Soothing Relief Anti-Itch Moisturizer: Also supposed to be very effective, but I couldn’t find it at Duane Reade.

5 Responses to “PUPPP Relief”