Severe Itchy Stress Rash
by Anonymous
I had my first daughter when I was 17 years old and approximately three to four months after her birth I was diagnosed with Post-Partum Depression or PPD. I was prescribed Sarafem and it seemed to help for almost a year until I had my first panic attack, which terrified me because at the time I had no clue what a "panic attack" was. I was then prescribed Klonipin and it was a life-saver. For the next few years I did very well on the medications and decided I no longer needed to be on an antidepressant....WRONG!
About a month after discontinuing the medications, I was doing my normal daily routine, single mother, daycare, work, etc., and I started feeling itchy mainly on my forearms, hips, calves, and in some isolated places. I noticed that I had an awful rash that covered my arms almost entirely. The rash looked measles-like and consisted of red spots. Most of them were raised and itchy while the isolated areas were clusters of red spots but not raised. I used anything and everything I thought would help soothe the itch but it was so intense, I could not help but scratch. I actually scratched in my sleep to the point where I was bleeding.
During the first few days of the rash, I stopped using makeup and made sure everything I used on my skin was fragrance free but nothing really helped. My skin began to get extremely dry. My face, back and chest broke out with acne. That, combined with the rash, which in most spots were scabbed over from scratching, made me look like I had a severe case of chicken pox or some sort of severe skin disorder. Needless to say, all of this combined, made my stress levels skyrocket. I had no idea what was going on with my skin but I was also too embarrassed to go anywhere and I was just hoping I would wake up one day and it would all be gone.
I finally got to the point where I could no longer take the itching, acne, and just how disgusting I felt and looked. During the time I was dealing with this issue, I spoke with a lot of people and I heard a million different stories and the only one that made sense, was that it was stress related. I had so many things going on in my life at the time and I knew it was affecting my mental state but never realized how much stress can affect someone physically, so much so, that my body was kind of shutting down. I have given birth to three children and I would much rather give birth, NATURALLY, than to go through that again. The sad thing is, I still don't know what triggered the severity of my skin issue, but I take my medications religiously and I try to stick with fragrance-free products and maintain a healthy stress-free lifestyle. Anyone who is dealing with a similar situation, I know it is extremely difficult but it takes a lot of self-adjusting and in time it can be manageable. GOOD LUCK!
