Growing up I’ve always had issues with my skin, mainly eczema that can get pretty severe at times. However back in March of this year I was in my first trimester of pregnancy and my eczema was the worst it had ever been in my whole life.
I lived off Benadryl so I wouldn’t rip apart my skin from scratching during the day but somehow at night, even when I took my Benadryl I would claw at my arms in my sleep which resulted in the insides of my elbows being severely cracked. That’s when things went from 0–100 in the span of a day.
The day before my birthday I noticed these insanely itchy pus/liquid filled bumps on my arms which in hindsight should’ve been my first clue that something was really wrong but I just though “oh I’m pregnant and pregnancy can do funny things to a woman” so I asked my husband to pick up some sterilized wraps and wrap my arms up to which he obliged.
Fast forward to the next day, my birthday. I woke up and I just felt like complete shit. My arms hurt, my face hurt, pretty much everything hurt. After stumbling into the bathroom I started to unwrap my arms and to my horror the gauze was stuck to me because of all the liquid seeping from my arms. After I was able to get it off I looked in the mirror and saw the bumps and swelling had progressed to my face and pretty much my whole upper body. I had swollen lymph nodes which told me I had a pretty serious infection. I showered because I wanted to get the stuck gauze off and to try to calm down. It didn’t help. I got out of the shower and just sat on my bed and cried in my husband’s arms.
He then took me to the hospital who said I had cellulitis. Boy were they wrong. The next day the pain and the bumps were worse. It was like someone was holding a blowtorch to my skin while simultaneously poking me with red hot needles. I couldn’t even feed myself the pain was so bad! Again we went back to the hospital because we were told if it gets worse come back. They did nothing for me besides watch me cry, give me IV Benadry, steroids and some Percocet (yes I told them I was pregnant and I felt like utter shit taking it because I know it’s a narcotic but I was in agony.)
Finally 3 days after all of this I get in to see my dermatologist. His assistant was the first to see me and upon seeing me she immediately said, “I’ll be right back, I’m gonna pull the doctor out of surgery. You need to be seen by him now.” Maybe 5 minutes pass and my room is full of doctors with books and magnifying glasses to inspect my skin. After several articles in books and phone calls with my OB it was determined that I did not have cellulitis but instead had something much worse.
Eczema Herpeticum. Basically I was one giant cold sore. The team said that sometime during my horrendous eczema flare up I had come into contact with someone who had a cold sore and the virus had gotten into my skin and because I’m immunocompromised and pregnant. The virus, plus the secondary bacterial infection in my skin from scratching so much just exploded causing my misery.
Luckily it was treated and gone in about a week, though I do have some scars from the ordeal. My baby is perfectly fine.
