Pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy (PUPPP), also known as polymorphic eruption of pregnancy, is the most common rash in pregnant women. It normally occurs in first pregnancies during the third trimester with an average onset of 35 weeks. Thankfully, PUPPP does not usually affect subsequent pregnancies
This is NOT my stomach, the picture was taken from a website online, but I want to share it because I too had a rash like this....
The rash started at 36 weeks, and lasted 10 L-O-N-G weeks post-partum. Is that not inSANE? I tried everything to get rid of it. I did one full week of antibiotic steroid to get rid of it. That didn't work. It stayed on. They wouldn't give me another week of antibiotic prednisone, because it's bad for your system, so I decided to go to a dermatologist.
She, too, was hesitant to prescribe me another round of meds, also I was breastfeeding, so she recommended a cream.
I used that for about 2 weeks and then begged for more prednisone. I had literally not had any relief. She decided to put me on a 30 day taper of prednisone. It was literally hell! The only relief I got was when I would shower. I would use a product called oatmeal bath, and that would work wonders to temporarily stop the itching. The rash was anywhere from my neck to my ankles, but mostly on my tummy, boobs and thighs.
The 30 day taper worked extremely well, until the last maybe 10 days, when the rash CAME BACK! I never heard of such a terrible thing. I don't know anyone who went through this, and honestly, cannot imagine anything worse! I wouldn't wish PUPPPS on my worst enemy. It is like the chicken pox that lingers and you can't do a thing about it.
I also was a brand new mommy with it, and sleep deprivation!! You cannot imagine! I was already low on sleep ANYWAY, the only way I could get to sleep was to take Benadryl, or to get to the point of total exhaustion and fall into bed that way.
I can't even say why the rash finally went away. Just one day, it inexplicably left as strangely as it came.
This is not my stomach, but this is exactly what PUPPPS looks like. It starts on your stretch marks---if you get any. The crappy part, for me, is I only got stretch marks the last week or two of my pregnancy. And I chalk that up to the pre-e and all the swelling that happened.
This is the hilarious part. Towards the end of going to the dermatologist, she had me do a skin allergy patch test.
She wanted to see if it was a contact reaction. She put about 200 allergens on my back and then made a graph with a marker around all of the substances. I looked like a walking science experiment, and essentially I was!
Two days later (you keep this on your back), I returned to the derm, and she removed the dressing on the back to reveal what was reacting in the little boxes. Mind you, this is mid-February. She said out loud "oh that's weird, do you sneeze a lot in the spring when the dandelions come out?" I said "yeah, why?" she said, "well all that's really showing up is dandelion. But that wouldn't be causing it, right?"
I said deadpan: "So I should stop taking dandelion root then?"
She said, why are you taking that? And I said "because it is a homeopathic cure for PUPPPS rash!"
According to American Pregnancy "dandelion root has been reported to be beneficial to women with PUPPP, it is rich in Vitamin A, calcium, and iron. Dandelion Root has been known to help relieve mild edema and help provide nourishment to the liver."
Read more at Suite101: PUPPPs - Pregnancy Skin Rash: Pruritic Uticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy http://pregnancychildbirth.suite101.com/article.cfm/puppps_pregnancy_skin_rash#ixzz0njbHcq2u
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