NOT MEDICAL ADVICE – ALWAYS CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE TRYING ANYTHING!
When I was pregnant with Lauren, I suffered from Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy (PUPPP). It is a debilitating hormonal rash so itchy you’d think you had sand flies underneath your skin biting their way out. All day and night. You wouldn’t even wish it upon your worst enemies. So I’m going to share a simple PUPPP relief method, for the good of all womankind. NOT MEDICAL ADVICE! [space]
Table of Contents
What Is PUPPP?
PUPPP is uncommon, but not rare, and apparently has a reported rate of 0.5% in single pregnancies. In other words, 1 very unlucky woman out of 200 will get this. So 199 women can thank their lucky stars that I was the chosen one, 天煞孤星. How do you know if it’s PUPPP? It comes during the last trimester and spreads everywhere, excluding the face, palms and soles. That’s right, you’d even get the rash on your armpits and butt crack. Nasty right? For me, it started from my belly stretch marks. The rest is history. I was only 36 weeks and according to the doctor, the only PUPPP cure was to deliver the baby.
I know right, if men could get pregnant, I’m sure there would be a PUPPP cure. Heck, there may even be a vaccine to prevent it from happening. Just take a look at this monstrosity.
PUPPP Rashes and How It Looks
As you can tell, the rash is unlike any other rash. They are like college cheerleaders, forming cliques and all.
Another tell-tale sign that you have PUPPP, if it’s not obvious enough when you are losing your sanity from scratching, is the rash has a halo effect. Yea, nothing beats being mocked by an angelic rash from hell.
So, many women opt to induce birth so they can be freed by the shackles of this PUPPP rash. Others try oatmeal baths and pine tar soaps that make you smell like you were roasting boar at a campfire. Many others just scratched till they bled. It’s so tragic! So how did I manage to get through this without a single scar on my skin?
Hot Water or Hot Air
That’s right, I used hot water. *DISCLAMINER: This worked for me and does not necessarily mean it will work for you. Execution is key. Try at your own risk! AND BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO BURN YOURSELF!
As mentioned, execution is key. Hot water has a wide range and the hot water I’m talking about is like onsen temperature hot water. Almost as hot as you can accept and yet, not scald your skin. For me, I turned down the water outlet to the right temperature and used the shower head to focus on the PUPPP rashes.
I am not sure about the science behind it but in simple layman’s terms, the hot water actually manages to agitate the excessive histamines store (we don’t know why we suddenly produce so much!) all at once, i.e. getting to the root of the itch and it feels as though you scratched the crap out of it but you didn’t! So you are gratified without damaging your skin! And since it takes time for our bodies to build up the histamines store again, before we start itching like mad, it’s time for us to get some sleep! Finally! And this method is good for relief around 8 hours! Only issue is, the rash will look very freaky friday.
Recovery Phase
Oh yeah baby. That’s what I’m talking about. It looks horrendous but the hot water provided me relief of up to 8 hours at a go! In fact, the hot water felt so good, I recall looking forward to it every time! Hahaha! I kept it up for about 1 week or so and by then the rash had pretty much stopped itching and my skin was on its way to recovery. Isn’t that fast?
You have no idea how victorious I felt overcoming something that was told to me, “Sorry no cure”. Take that, b****! Self-censorship there.
Update 7 Feb 2019
I’m now pregnant with my 4th baby and getting rashes again at 22 weeks. The hair dryer works just as well and has less possibility of accidentally scalding yourself. You just have to be extra careful and hold it further away first to get a feel of it. You will feel as if you’re scratching but you’re not. Turn the hair-dryer away once you feel the itch has been “scratched” and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT burn yourself!
The rash was totally gone before Lauren was 1 month old. No scars, no sweat. Thank God! Well, if you are dealing with PUPPP and can’t even sleep, hope this helps. If you’ve had another way to deal with PUPPP, share with us!
***Update: So although Lauren is already 20 months old, the rash still comes back, in small patches like under my belly button. So due to the “strategic location”, I can’t exactly scorch myself anymore. Sigh! Haha, so thankfully I’ve got the Baby Miracle Balm cos it stops the rash and dries it up overnight. Doesn’t have the ooomph factor but works.
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183 Comments
Shannon
Hi, I’m currently 26 weeks pregnant and at about 22 weeks I noticed a little rash starting on my legs now its spred to my arms and starting to see a little on my belly and back. I’ve been using lotion and oatmeal bar soap.. so far it only helps for a little bit. I have tried hot showers but it seems to make me wanna itch more… I might try using a cool compress and see if that helps. It’s awful and to think I still have many weeks left into my pregnancy!
Jolene Liow
I’m sorry to hear that, hang in there!
Martha E.
Hi Jolene! I’ve been dealing with PUPPP for the past 3 weeks and I was absolutely miserable until I found your blog! I started the hot water treatment yesterday and I finally got a good nights rest last night (I was only getting about 3 hours of sleep every night before then). I tried it all. The lotions, powders, pine tar soap, V8 juice, Benadryl.. nothing worked. The hot water has restored my sanity. Thank you so much for sharing! I was just wondering, how long after did you begin mosturizing your skin again?
Jolene Liow
Hi Martha! Glad it helped! I recall just wanting to sleep (the night I discovered hot water, I had been up ALL NIGHT until 6am, I almost lost my mind!), so yea can’t quite remember when I started moisturizing. I suspect I did try to moisturize my skin a couple of days later, but it caused the rash to start itching earlier than the 8-hours of relief I got, so I ditched moisturizing altogether until the rash was completely flat and no longer sooooo itchy. But between dry skin and itchy skin, I chose dry skin for maybe a week or so until the PUPPP was under control. You gotta try and see what works for you, all the best for your delivery!
Jim
Grandpas pine tar soap in shower and sarna lotion after drying off, no joke this will help
Jolene Liow
Thanks for sharing~
Kelda Roe
I had postpartum pupps really badly (didn’t even know you could get it postpartum). Apart from oral antihistamines (prescribed by Dr so safe for breastfeeding), the hot water was the only thing that helped when rash was at its worst – and I tried everything suggested by the Dr and online forums with the exception of oral steroids. The steroid cream from the Dr helped once the rash was abating but in the hell phase hot water was wonderful. I sincerely hope I never itch that much again. Baby now 8 months and I’ve just got one tiny patch of rash on my knee. Sharing to help out those who are suffering as my GP, midwife and health visitor had never come across this.
Jolene Liow
Hi Kelda, thanks for sharing! Glad it helped!
Jy Lim
Hi Jo, thankfully I found your blogpost on the PUPPP rash, I had it for 1 week now and I’ve been using your methods for 2 days and so far so good for me on my limbs but my inflamed thick stringy rashes on my belly is looking v red and bumpy, how do you cure that? I don’t think I can use hot temp water to scorch my belly too? I don’t want to leave scars on my belly 🙁
Jolene Liow
Hi JY, glad to hear it helps! Yes, can be done on belly briefly, I believe one of the mummies did ask her OBGYN and said it’s perfectly fine. You wouldn’t leave scars using this method UNLESS you used way too hot water, ie scalding yourself or you scratched the skin and broke the skin. I have absolutely no scars or trace of the PUPPP, roughly 1 month postpartum. Hope this helps!