Marieke Elsinga suffers from extreme itching after her pregnancy: ‘Worse than pain’
Marieke Elsinga has become the mother of son Jip, but cannot fully enjoy the maternity period. She now says this in an honest message on Instagram.
“Itching is worse than pain” you sometimes hear it said. Always seemed a bit nonsense to me. Well, I’ve come back from that. In my pregnancy I discovered one itchy spot on my left leg. It grew into several spots on both legs, was labeled pregnancy itch and would disappear after delivery. Prescribed ointments and creams helped only moderately and in the first week after Jip was born it did not go away, but only got worse. It would be eczema. But the treatment failed.
By now – almost 8 weeks after giving birth – my feet hurt, I sometimes go crazy with the itch under a cold shower and my boyfriend takes me dancing through the living room to distract me (Dutch hits are my favourite!). This afternoon I have an appointment with a very good dermatologist. I’ve been counting down the nights. Today I hope for the right diagnosis and therefore the right approach. I’ll get rid of it.
Why am I sharing this? Because I think it’s part of my pregnancy story and want to tell that a body takes a big hit during and after pregnancy, physically and mentally. My postpartum period with Jip is blissful, but I also feel sad because sometimes I feel like I don’t have room in my head for the little one, because the itch takes up so much space. You only see the cheerfulness here, the happy faces, maybe the bouncing body, but getting pregnant is sometimes a f * cking heavy process. Not bad, because it’s all more than worth it, but maybe this is a heart under the belt for other (wish) mothers. Or it just scares off… 🤔
So. Took a while to tap this. Haven’t scratched for at least 13 min 😆
She receives thousands of messages of support on her message and many women recognize her problem.
