That dreaded pregnancy ailment

You might be wondering what I'm gong to write about.

Swollen sausage feet?  Good one, but nope.

Overactive bladder?  Nah.

Hormonal crazy mama?  That is bad, but nopers.

Nausea?  Not that one either!

I'm talking about and documenting in hopes of helping others, one of the worst symptoms I experienced during my pregnancy.  It was worse than my edema, more horrible than the crazy preggo hormones and believe it or not, worse than the 10 months of daily nausea. 

Pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy, also known as PUPPP, or hell.  It's not that common, but once you're had it, you know how ridiculous it is.

I started getting PUPPP about a week before my daughter India was born.  The best way I can describe it is an incredible urge to tear off your skin, as you scratch yourself silly hoping that the scratching will stop the itching, but in reality, you are only making it worse.

PUPPP.  Ouch.

Several people have said that if you can survive PUPPP, you can survive natural childbirth.

Most of it's victims are first time moms, pregnant with boys and many are pregnant with multiples.  (In case you didn't know, I only had one baby, and it was a girl.)  No one has a for sure cause of this miserable condition, although threre is a lot of talk about the liver and cleansing. 

Another sad part about PUPPP is that there isn't really a cure in the medical realm (stay tuned to read about the cure I found), except delivery.  Childbirth works for most people, but some initially develop PUPPP in the postpartum period, or continue to feel it's effects for several weeks after delivery (like me).

The onset of PUPPP was quick; I went from a tiny little itch on my belly, to crying on my bed, having hot flashes as I writhed and rocked to prevent myself from scratching.  I took several yards of fabric and wrapped them super tight around my belly, hoping to cut off some of the feeling.  I was also hoping that when I gave into the urge to scratch all the layers of fabric would prevent me from clawing so hard.  I scratched until I bled anyway.  It was awful. 

I tried Benadryl and calamine lotion, hot showers and cold showers and good old sun therapy.  Clothing irritated me to no end.  I worked so hard to not scratch.  My body was sending signals to my brain to "scratch! scratch!" and if I ignored those signals I felt like I was going insane.  I was ignoring this constant, nagging instinct and was starting to become emotionally and mentally unstable, fighting all day long to stop the pain.  My sweet husband even took time off of work because he was very concerned.

I googled and read in between itching and crying, and wrapping myself up so I wouldn't scratch.  I became more and more depressed as I read horror stories of women dealing with this for weeks, sometimes months, with nothing but an antihistamine and some anti-itch gel from their doctor, which got them relief for a few minutes.  Some woman had permanent scars from tearing their skin as they scratched.  One woman took a steel brush to it until she was raw.  I understood that.  I wanted to cut my skin off.

Many women I read about convinced doctors to induce labor or do a c-section to relieve the PUPPP.  I also did some calling around, and received the same answers: delivery is the only cure.  I was stuck in my miserable state.

But I won't take no for an answer, and as I started looking for a natural remedy for PUPPP, I heard of Grandpa's Pine Tar Soap, which most people have good results with, but I didn't want to wait for it to be shipped to me.  Then I found something that everyone praised, not just as a suppressor of symptoms, but as something that would take away the PUPPP: dandelion root. 

*cue Hallelujah chorus*

I found out that dandelion root is safe to take during pregnancy and how much to take and quickly got in my car and purchased dandelion root in capsule form from my local health food store.  I took 1000mg, three times a day.  It took two days for it to kick in, but OH.THE.BLISS!!!  I cannot describe how good it felt!  It took a full week for it to get to the point where I barely noticed it.  I also upped my daily drinking of nettle leaf tea.

Starting to get better!

You could say that I am a lover of dandelion root! :-) 

I struggled with PUPPP somewhat after India was born, and I had stopped taking the dandelion root, but it was nothing compared to what I had dealt with before.

If you or someone you know is struggling with PUPPP, don't hesitate to get some dandelion root.  You'll be very glad that you did!