Cholestasis of Pregnancy (pruritus)

[mummy929]

Just wondering if any mums or pregnant women out there have had this condition during their pregnancy.

I was diagnosed with cholestasis of pregnancy last week and have been told that it can cause stillbirth. I suppose i'm worried about this and am just wondering whether any mums out there have had this condition and can shed some light on it for me.

I had an ultra sound today (after my doctor appointment) and was told that the baby hasn't put on much weight in the last 2 weeks (less than 100g). I'm really starting to freak out about this. Please help........

[JanetF]

Hugs to you. It's scary when something happens out of the blue. This is a link to how a Sydney mama dealt with it on her own.
http://gentlebirth.org/Midwife/obchol.html

[brockandblakesmum]

I suffered this horrible condition from week 14 with my twins born on australia day this year.
All my advice is, is to stay on top of the doctors and hound them till you get what you want. I self diagnosed it, all the doctors told me it was hormonal itching and normal until I begged for a LFT. Then they acknowledged I had it but did not know how to treat it.
Basically I had blood test for LFT and Bile Salts each week, followed by weekly ultrasounds. I was on Ursofalk ( the only thing that slightly dropped my LFT), Polaramine and Phergan (not sure of spelling but they are antihistamines), they also put me on Dexamethsone (steriods which helped the itch, but I did not want to take them for long). They also put me on vitamin K to help the blood clott when delivering.
I went into labour at 34.2 weeks. Brock was born naturally, but Blake was in fetal distress and born c-section.
My liver is still not right and I have a specialist app on friday.

I totally know what oyu are going through. I got to the point where I was not sleeping and sitting up in the middle of the night crying, scratching the soles of my feet with a metal nail file, stressed out about losing one of my babies.

All I can say if arm yourself with knowledge and hound the doctors cause most of them dont know about this condition.
I hope this has helped. Please let me know if I can help further.

Take Care Theresa
Mum to Brock and Blake 9.5 months :p

[mummy929]

thank you so much for your responses, i have spoken to my ob today and armed myself with a list of questions (which surprisingly he gave me answers for). I found out that my ob is very educated in this matter as i am the third person he has treated for this condition this year. He is doing everything in his power to help me through this but has recommended that i deliver at no later than 37 weeks, which i am happy with. I am 35.5 now so not much longer to go. He is monitoring my bile salts (bloods every 3 days) ultrasounds every week and fetal monitoring charts as well as medication and C.T.G readings. In total i am at the hospital no less than 3 days a week but it is a small price to pay for the well being of my unborn child.

It is really nice to know that my ob cares about both the baby's and my wellbeing. I don't think i will have any more children after this one as it gets worse with every pregnancy and the risks are too high.

But thankyou for your responses they have been much help and i really feel for anyone who has suffered or is suffering with this condition. Please feel free to contact me if you need someone to talk to.

holly929@bigpond.net.au