PUPPPs Rash: Survival of the Itchiest

Oh. My. God. I don't know who thought it's acceptable to not have a cure for this, but they need to be tried for this crime. If you've never had PUPPPs rash you probably think I am being dramatic, if you have then you understand. IYKYK. This rash is one of the worst parts of my pregnancy experience. Imagine a sunburn with hives on top, it starts on your stomach in your stretch marks then very quickly spreads and the only cure is delivery. In my case, within a week I had it on 90% of my body. Including every crack and crevice. I was MISERABLE. I think about this time is when I started asking my OB to deliver me at every appointment.

Generally, I think it's a bad idea to get medical advice from the internet. However, since PUPPPs rash is pretty rare many OBs don't have any good suggestions for how to cope with it during your pregnancy. Some tips, tricks and remedies work for some women and other's do not. Here's what I found that worked and did not work:

What Didn't Work for Me:

- Cortisone Cream - Don't even waste your time with this unless it's prescription. My OB called me in a mild cortisone and even the prescription version provided only minimal relief. The best version I found was the aveeno cortisone.

- Aveeno Oatmeal Baths - helped the itch while I was in the bath but once I was out of the tub, the itch returned AND I had to clean the bathtub. Not fun.

- Aveeno Baby Exczema Cream - This worked in the early stages of the rash, but quickly became useless.

- Pine Tar Soap - Some people think this smells horrendous, I am one of the weirdos who liked the smell. Many PUPPPs rash sufferers swear by this soap. I found it to be much like the Oatmeal baths, it worked while I was in the shower but once I was out of the shower the relief subsided and my entire bathroom and myself smelt like Pine Tar.

What Did Work for Me:

- Cool and Luke Warm Showers - the key is to not get it too hot or too cold. Just kind of mediocre water is what you want.

- Ice Packs- My OB gave me this tip, it worked like a charm. Put Ice Packs on your itchiest areas. I made my own ice packs with sponges and kept a supply on-hand in the freezer at all times.

- Caladryl - This cream saved my life. Without it, I don't think I would have made it to 33 weeks before delivery. I discovered the week before I delivered that Target and CVS both have a spray version that is a godsend for pregnancy and trying to apply this mess yourself.

- Wearing only 100% cotton - I know this sounds weird, but I swear different materials of clothes and sheets would set this rash off with a rage. I only wore 100% cotton.

- Do not get Hot and Sweaty - Getting hot and sweaty basically was the worst thing I could do.

- Low grade antihistamine - After all else had failed and I placed another desperate call to my OB, he told me to ask my MFM if she had any additional ideas. She prescribed 10 mg of Hydroxycine HCI, also known as Atarix, a low grade antihistamine. With this and the Caladryl I was able to suppress the rash enough to not be miserable all day long and make it another few weeks until I went into labor.