Going Crazy!

Going Crazy!

I figured I should write about my miserable itching few weeks because I can't sleep anyway and I'll want to remember this happened after this baby.  I'm also hoping writing it all down will help me figure out what it happening, which symptoms are related to which intended treatment, what I should do next, etc.  After each baby I seem to get some random problems.  I've been doing so well until this started.  I feel like I might be going crazy with this itching.  I have tiny hives mostly covering my stomach and back, but most places it just itches with nothing there.  I feel grateful that I am healthy and that Lucas is such a good baby, but all over itching is making me want to crawl out of my skin.  I am on week 3, and each week I think, how much more of this can I take?  I'm on the third week, four doctor's visits, three different allergy medicines, blood tests, a strong anti-itch lotion called Sarna that makes Matt have to use his inhaler when he comes to bed and me have to shower to go anywhere in public because it's such a strong smell, 2 steroid shots, and a prescription for steroid pills that I'm too scared to take.

It's five in the morning and I can't sleep.  I was itching until 1:00 am or so when I finally fell asleep, and slept until 4:00 am when Lucas needed to eat.  I haven't been able to get back to sleep again.  This has been common lately.  I've hardly slept the last couple of weeks between having a new baby and the constant itching that gets much worse in the evenings and night.  It started in my torso area, worse on my stomach and back, the second week it has stayed the worst there, and added my arms and legs, and now the third week I have added my hands, ankles, and scalp.  I tried benedryl at first, but was worried it was drying up my milk.  Second, Allegra, which didn't help at all.  Third, Zyrtec, which seemed to be slowing down my milk supply so I stopped.  Turns out it wasn't really making a difference anyway.  Nursing makes treatment a little more complicated.  My baby doctor said I might need to choose between nursing and stopping the itching.  That is a horrible choice for me.

The first week I went to see the PA at my regular doctor's office who frustratingly told me it was eczema and gave me a steroid cream and suggested the Allegra.  Dr. Kristin, as I like to call myself sometimes, could have told you that it wasn't a sudden onset of all over eczema.  Went in a few days later for my postpartum visit with my baby doctor and he did blood tests to see how my thyroid was doing, but said he didn't think that would cause this, and also checked my bile and liver levels to see if that was causing it.  The liver came back a little off, but he didn't seem worried, he just wanted to get it checked again in a few weeks.  The bile level was normal.  Then he sent me to a dermatologist.

The dermatogist said I was having some sort of severe histamine response and that sometimes this happens.  We will probably not know the cause, but we will treat the symptoms.  It will probably last six weeks.  SIX WEEKS!!!  Not what I want to hear.  Even at six weeks, it doesn't mean it will be gone, just that if it is still there, we will do more tests at that point.  He scratched my back to see if it welted up.  It makes huge marks when you do that so he said that is an indication that it is coming from the inside out, some reaction my body is having, possibly from having a baby, not from an outside source.  He suggested the Zyrtec and to just watch my milk supply, the smelly Sarna lotion (it suggests 3-4 times a day application max, and I apply more than that just at night, it's like an icy hot sensation and gives relief from the itching for a short time), and gave me a steroid shot.  That was my worst night so far, but I wasn't sure why.  The itching spread and I couldn't sleep.  I was miserable again all week, so I called the dermatologist and went back in yesterday.  We tried another shot and he also prescribed me the Prednisone oral steroid.  The pharmacist was telling me about all the possible side effects, he said only a small amount would get to the baby nursing, but it still worries me, along with sleeplessness and insomnia, anxiety and a general feeling of unrest and stress, like I need those things with a new baby.

At the pharmacy I also picked up my new thyroid prescription.  They lowered my dose for hypothyroidism because once I wasn't pregnant anymore I didn't need as much.  I've been feeling great considering the amount of sleep I've been getting, so I was reluctant to give up that higher dose.  After talking to the nurse and pharmacist and reading the steroid side effects and now googling the shot's possible side effects, I'm not sure what is causing my symptoms.  Dr. Kristin is now thinking that my thyroid turning more hyper instead of hypo on the extra medicine could definitely be causing the itching.  The doctor didn't seem to think so but after looking up some things on the internet (I know that can be dangerous), it seems like a very strong possibility.  I'm hoping with the lower dose I might get some relief.  Also I thought the itching was what was making me go a little out of my mind, which it probably is that too, but I realized the steroid shots are probably causing the anxiety and sleeplessness (even though I'm exhausted) along with the itching and my thyroid being off.  I also can't get my brain to turn off, it just keeps turning things over, showing me my to-do list, etc. even more than normal!  I'm not sure what to do next, but I'll go with my own theory and hope that getting the thyroid under control will help the itching and wait on the steroids so that I don't add to my side effects anymore.

I'm pretty sure Matt wants his non-itchy, emotionally stable, sleeping at least a little, wife back so I'm really hoping this ends soon and I can get back to enjoying my cute little family and finally get some sleep.  Now that everyone else will be getting up any minute, I guess I'll go try to sleep again.  Maybe after a little more Google research!