PUPPPs Update

Saturday I had another appointment at the acupuncturist. He asked me how I was feeling, and I said still itchy, but not so bad. Not sure if the improvement was due to the steroids or his treatment. He had me lay down, and put the jar with the concentrated allergen in it in my right hand, and did the thing where he had me put my left hand up in the air with my thumb pointed at my toe. Again he asked me questions (this time silently in his head) testing to see if I was still allergic to that sample in the jar. I am not (woo hoo!!). He then had me put my bare hand on my bare tummy and see if I am still allergic there. Boy was I! He then repeated the treatment he did last week where he did acupuncture needles in the pressure points, and then massaged each pressure point going in a clockwise direction around my body. The whole time I had to keep my hand on my stomach, and he instructed me to think about the baby. Envision what he looks like, what we will do together, etc. Once he finished the treatment, he left me in there for about 20 minutes, hand on stomach thinking about the baby and with the acupuncture needles in. Afterwards I was instructed to not touch my stomach for 25 hours, and to do the homework where I massage the 10 pressure points in the right order. He said if I did all that, I should be cured, and we can move on to treating my other allergies if I wanted.

Meanwhile, I went to my OB last week for a checkup on the baby. She thought it was a good idea I was trying the acupuncture. She has never sent someone to an acupuncturist for PUPPPs, but has known patients to go for pain and have found relief. She thought it would be good to stop using the steroids for a bit to see if the acupuncture or if any of the other things I have tried are working. The goal is to not need the drugs. Hopefully SOMETHING I am doing will help!

I took my last dose Saturday, and by Sunday evening into Monday, I was MISERABLE! Oh boy, did the PUPPPs come back with great force and vengeance! Shame on me for thinking holistically!! I couldn’t touch my skin without it burning and crawling. I called my doctor immediately and begged to get back on the Prednisone. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait too long for it to build back up in my system, so today I am much more comfortable. I will probably stay on the meds for the remainder of my pregnancy. It was a bummer, because I really thought I was tough enough and smart enough to find a way around this, but it just is what it is and I need to be comfortable with my body’s limitations, and just take the damn drugs already. I could go back and try another round or two of acupuncture, but I don’t think I will. I did 2 rounds of treatment, and the doctor declared me cured and I clearly wasn’t. And, I don’t know if any of you acupuncture folks out there had this experience, but that stuff made me SUPER emotional! Both times I went, within 24 hours of the treatment, I was crying about nothing in particular, and I couldn’t stop. I would eventually get it out of my system and move on – it wasn’t lasting, but man that stuff messed me up!

As of this moment in time, I think I can safely say that I have tracked down every available alternative to taking the steroids and have had no luck. I have tried all varieties of soaps, creams, ice packs, vitamins and yes, acupuncture. None of it worked. Maybe for some women out there that don’t have it as severe as I do can get away with doing the acupuncture and have it work. For me, not so much. I did get Chris to take some pictures of my rash last night before it really started to heal up and go away (I look MUCH better today!). I can’t believe I looked like that! I don’t think I will post them publicly here on the blog, but if you want to see what it looks like, I will show you individually. Or, you can google it. It is pretty rotten!