I
am going to start this out by stating I am not a medical professional
nor am I instructing anyone to do anything.
This
is my personal account of what I did when I had postpartum hives.
 |
| This is my eyes a few days after a reaction. They are not swollen shut so this is not the best image of how bad they got. I just never took a picture when they were at their worst as it was very depressing. |
I
had my first experience with pph about six months after my first son
was born. It started off innocuous enough. I woke up one
morning and my eyes felt gritty and were a little puffy. Within the
next few hours they went from being a little gritty to incredibly
itchy and the skin around my eye started to burn. The burning felt
like really bad sunburn. Soon, the skin was super wrinkled and it
looked as if I had aged about 40 years overnight! Almost every lotion
or cream I tried burned like fire when applied and the skin always
felt dry and hot to the touch. At this point I did not think it could
get much worse. I was so wrong! The next morning my eyes were so
swollen I could not even open my eyes. At the time I did not have
insurance so I did not see a doctor. After about a week my facial
swelling was gone but I would get a random and weird red ring around
my mouth. I lived off of benedryl as again no insurance and in
those hellish months some days were better than others. Finally, one
day it just seemed to fade away. I lost the weight that I had been
carrying since I was pregnant and I felt like myself again. Two years
later I give birth to my next son. Within a month of his birth my eye
symptoms have returned and they are 10 x worse. I was very upset this
had started again as I had not made the connection between my
reaction and the first pregnancy. I started a regiment of Zyrtec
and Zantac taking both twice a day and supplementing benadryl when
needed for itching but it was not working. I spent tons of
time pouring over the internet, reading blogs and questions trying to
come up with ways to ease my itching and burning. Finally, a family
friend suggested I go gluten free. I scoffed at her as I did not see
the connection. However, I had reached my limit and was willing to
try literally almost anything just to stop the
itching. Going gluten free was not fun for me as I love pasta,
bread and cereals. Within two days I started to see results. I was
not as itchy and some of the swelling had gone down. A week after
starting the diet that was HUGE improvements. I was skeptical and
thought the rash had gone away by itself so I indulged in some fresh
bread and pasta. The itching started again within three hours but it
was not bad. The next day was a different story. I was back to where
I started, with eyes swollen shut and skin burning. So far it has
been three months and I follow the gluten free diet exclusively. I
have not gotten a reaction as long as I am very careful about what I
eat. If I deviate even a little bit I start the whole process over
again. If I get some cross contamination and am exposed to gluten I
have a prescription for Atarax and that makes an outbreak so much
more pleasant. This is a temporary solution and I still take the
Zyrtec and Zantac. My quality of life has vastly improved and I hope
this works for me till my body gets everything sorted out.
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