First there was Victoria Beckam, Kate Moss, Catherine Zeta Jones and most recently Gwyneth Paltrow. A constant reminder that pregnancy should be a time when most women blossom, looking and feeling absolutely fantastic, in a state of sheer and utter bliss. Skin looks fuller, smoother and oozes radiance. Or so many magazines would have you believe.

For many women, pregnancy is fraught with difficulties - from morning sickness to tiredness and fatigue, but imagine walking in to your doctor's surgery with your body looking as if boiling water has been thrown over you. A horrendous, all-over body itch has set in, and is wreaking havoc with what should be the last few relaxing months before the impending birth. And worse still, your doctor tells you it's just a little pregnancy rash that is there to stay until your baby is born! In fact everywhere you turn nobody knows anything about this horrendous rash!

Now let's not get carried away. Most expectant mums know only too well that itchiness is part and parcel of pregnancy. After all, it's expected as your skin's expanding rapidly trying to accommodate the newly acquired belly that seems to march ten yards ahead of you before the rest of your body catches up.

But there's the occasional itch, and then there's the 'climbing the walls, I-can't-bear-this, I-want-this-baby-out NOW type of itch.

PUPPPs

Well, it's a condition known as pruritic urticarial papules and placques of pregnancy, otherwise known as PUPPPs (or just itchy skin bumps). PUPPPs is a benign, harmless skin condition but nonetheless a thoroughly annoying one, and is often very distressing for the mother-to-be. Typically characterised by a rash which appears in the later stages of pregnancy, it tends to develop on the abdomen near the umbilical area and spreads to the arms, thighs and extremities. Often, the itching becomes very intense. It can, and usually does, spread to the rest of the body but rarely involves the face. Many women compare their appearances to scalds. Others remark how the itch becomes so unbearable late at night that they must tape gloves to their hands to ensure they won't scratch themselves to the point of bleeding while they sleep.

So what is this rash and what causes it?

Research in America, suggests that it's mostly common in first pregnancies and is triggered by your body's reaction to the growing foetuses' cells. In other words, you're allergic to your own baby! It's also worth noting the condition is hereditary and can be traced through the father's side. In most cases,PUPPPs disappears within a few days after delivery and rarely reoccurs in subsequent pregnancies. However, there have been exceptions to this where women have experienced PUPPPs in second, third, and even fourth pregnancies!

Possible remedies

When all is said and done, what can sufferers do to ease the terrible discomfort caused by the endless itch?

• Wear loose cotton clothing. Tight lycra has a lot to answer for!

• Itching may be soothed by dissolving a cup of bicarbonate of soda in your bathwater.

• Try dabbing calamine lotion onto itchy skin - especially soothing if you keep the bottle in the fridge.

• Treat sweat rashes by washing frequently in cool water, and dabbing cold flannels on the rashes.

• If a rash does not improve with these simple measures, consult your doctor. Specific anti-fungal or other treatments may be appropriate. Alternatively, she or he may prescribe antihistamine cream or tablets.

• Many sufferers have reported complete elimination of the rash by taking Dandelion root herbs - either as tea or in capsule form. Dandelion root is a herbal remedy which acts by cleansing the liver and ridding the body of bile acids (often the very cause of the itch). Sufferers have taken up to six capsules per day (three in the morning and three in the evening) and reported how the lesions have completely disappeared within five to seven days. However, as with all medications, please consult your doctor before taking such remedies, as some women may suffer adverse reactions to Dandelion. Please note Dandelion contains a high level of vitamin A and high levels of this may be harmful to your growing baby, particularly in the first trimester of pregnancy. Once again, please consult your doctor.

A personal perspective

One researcher describes a day in the life of PUPPPs:

PUPPPs started up when I was 34 weeks pregnant. It was by far the worst part of my pregnancy, including labour and delivery. The eruptions started on my hands, spread to my stomach, thighs, calves, feet, but never on my face or neck. It seemed to be very similar to hives and started to develop from underneath the skin. I saw two different dermatologists who told me it was the worse case of PUPPPs they'd ever seen.

I was climbing the walls for a good 18 - 20 hours a day, seven days a week. I tried lotions, moisturizers, creams, powders, peppermint, and other brand names - yet nothing helped! I concluded that doctors must have stocked up in all of the above products and were making pots of money on us women with PUPPPs, buying and trying absolutely anything they could get their hands on. The itchiness got particularly bad during the night where I would awake form my sleep scratching myself in a violent frenzy. Anyway, one night I awoke at 3 o'clock and was itching so bad that I thought that I was almost losing my mind; I mean I was scratching myself raw, over and over, and over again. I got up at and told myself I had to find a cure. I marched over to my computer, logged onto the internet and started searching for information on the condition. What a sight for sore eyes was I, sitting in my shorts and t-shirt, draped in cold flannels and ice packs, all to control the itch.

I was horrified, yet at the same time almost pleased, to discover there were many others like me! Infact there were message boards dedicated to discussing the condition where women were tearing their hair out trying to find a miraculous remedy. Like me they had been raiding the chemist shelves, only to find the itch returned with a vengeance within minutes. But suddenly I stumbled across a rather interesting post from one sufferer which mentioned a possible cure. Cure?! There's a cure, I hear you ask. Are you ready ladies? I must say it cost me a good fiver but it was worth my soul because it worked! It stopped my itching within days, and my rash had completely vanished within the week! I was in heaven - I didn't itch! I lay in bed night after night just waiting for the itching to start, I just knew at any moment I would be scratching like a dog infested with fleas, but it didn't happen. In fact, I actually felt kind of weird not itching. Okay, okay, you're thinking tell me what you used. Ready for it? It was Dandelion root herbs! Yep, that's right Dandelion, both as a cup of tea and as a capsule (well three in the morning and three in the evening to be exact). It's a herbal remedy, one which most medical doctors knew nothing about. I forwarded a lot of my internet research onto the dermatologist who was shocked at my level of knowledge but seemed grateful to finally have an answer. I only hope it triggered discussion about the condition so that in the future other mothers are able to enjoy the rest of their pregnancies, at least without itching!

On a brighter note, it could be worse...

Now if this wasn't severe enough, if you experience even more itching, particularly on the palms of your hands, soles of your feet as well as your arms, legs, and the rest of your body, consult your midwife or doctor as an emergency and ask for a blood test. It could be a symptom of a rare liver disease called obstetric cholestasis. Other symptoms of the disease may include loss of appetite and feeling poorly. Left untreated the disease may cause preterm birth or (more rarely) stillbirth. If obstetric cholestasis is diagnosed, you will be given drugs to control the condition. You and your baby will be closely watched, and your doctor or midwife will probably recommend that your baby is delivered early. What can I say, ladies, although PUPPPs is distressing , we should perhaps, thank our lucky stars it's not a harmful and serious condition as this.