by Keelar

Created on: September 30, 2008   Last Updated: November 14, 2008

Sorry this is really long, but I think people need to know.

When I was about 30 weeks pregnant I started to itch all over my body. I didn't think anything of it; I just thought it was one of the many side effects of being pregnant. Gradually the itch got worse and I would spend hours scratching the same place over and over again but getting no relief. Night times were the worst and I was driving my husband (and myself) insane with the constant scratching.

I was not getting any sleep and really thought I was going crazy, but even though the itch was driving me nuts, I never thought to mention it to my midwife or my Doctor. Until the day my Aunty looked it up on the internet. She found me a diagnosis, Obstetric Cholestasis. I had never heard of it before, but some of the symptoms listed were exactly what I was going through, for example, severe itching all over the body especially hands and feet, & worse at night, sleep deprivation and lethargy. Other symptoms listed included nausea and jaundice, thankfully I wasn't experiencing those as well.

On reading further into the condition I became aware of how rare and potentially serious it could be, especially to the baby. It only affects a small number of pregnant women and can lead to a premature birth, or even a stillbirth if left unchecked. It usually occurs in the third trimester of pregnancy and in most cases the baby will be delivered early (37 weeks) to reduce the chances of stillbirth. In a small number of cases it can cause the mother to haemorrhage after the birth.

The condition is caused by the liver not functioning correctly and causing a build up of bile in the blood (which causes the itching). Not a lot is known about the condition and I think there is ongoing research into causes and treatments.

Anyway, after reading all this information I immediately made an appointment to see my Doctor because by now I was 34 weeks pregnant and panicking that time was running out. The Doctor did blood & urine tests straight away. These came back saying I had high ALTs (I was still unsure at this point what ALTs were) and high acid levels in my blood, so I was referred to the antenatal unit at the hospital where further tests were done.

I spent 4 hours in hospital having more blood tests, urine tests, baby monitoring, and a lot of waiting around for the results! Once they finally had the results they prescribed me an antihistamine to help with the itching, URSO to help regulate my acid levels, and vitamin K to

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