So I was diagnosed with prurigo of pregnancy. My midwife has never dealt with it before despite the approximate occurrence being 1 in 300 pregnant women.

It typically occurs in the extremities though they can spread to the trunk, I have a bit on my chest and on my back right behind my arm pits.

It is complete MISERY. It is so itchy and the more you scratch it the itchier it gets.

There is very little information about it, the cause, the treatment, etc.

My doctor (that my midwife asked me to see related to this) said that he believes it’s an autoimmune reaction to the pregnancy hormones but there are a lot of theories. Basically, my body is acting like it’s “allergic” to pregnancy. The only treatment he could really recommend was cool oatmeal baths, topical steroids, and antihistamines. I’m only 17 weeks pregnant and already on a daily antihistamine, benedryl might be “safe” for pregnancy but it’s really not safe for any human to use daily. And topical steroids are category c, meaning unstudied in pregnancy, so I refuse to slather them on my body for the next 23ish weeks.

So with my midwife’s help and my own herbal knowledge, we came up with a salve.

Her suggestions were frankincense, helichrysum, and lavender EO’s because she knows they work well on puppps.

I know that plantain (plantago, not the banana looking food) is a good antifungal/antibacterial and promotes skin healing (I have lots of sores currently).

It grows literally everywhere in the UK (and most of Europe) as well as all of North America. If you don’t want to hunt it down, you can buy it on amazon.

or

Calendula (English marigold) tends to help with itching and has similar qualities as plantago.

Cocoa butter and olive oil help nourish and protect the skin.

I use this which I also use to make flavored white chocolate for handmade candies 😂

Beeswax helps it all solidify and also protects the skin.

First, I infused the herbs and oils into the olive oil. I filled the big jar about half full with olive oil, the essential oils (frankincense and helichrysum), and the herbs (calendula, plantain, and lavender). I put that in a pan of water and let it cook on low for a few hours.

Then I strained the herbs out.

After that I added the beeswax and pure cocoa butter (all three little beeswax bars and a handful of cocoa butter wafers, I eyeball things so don’t have an exact measurement) and headed it until they were all melted together.

Then used a turkey baster, added it to jars (one travel size for my purse) and left it to cool.

THE RELIEF IS REAL!!!

When I want to scratch, I grab the salve and rub it in instead and it calms my skin pretty quickly. I’m hoping I can heal up some of these sores now because it’s spring and I’m embarrassed to go out with short sleeves and capris right now!

I just thought I’d put that out there for anyone feeling as desperate as I was. I was literally in tears some nights because I couldn’t stop scratching my skin raw 😭

I’m also alternating between milk thistle and dandelion root tea to try to get my gallbladder and liver to function a bit better and filter out some of the excess hormones a little better.