Rash and Miscarriage

[voicegrrl]

I am in the middle of a missed miscarriage. Not sure if this is all related just yet. Today I noticed that some spots I had been seeing on my upper body were spreading. I noticed the first lesion just a day before the U/S that revealed my baby didn't have a heartbeat. I have no idea how long the lesion had been there. I even meant to show it to the CNM but was too upset by the U/S news to remember. I chalked it up to my bra chafing my skin but noticed after a week it wasn't changing appearance or developing a scab. This week several more have popped up on my torso, hip, and back. My husband was concerned it was staph and told me to go to the dr. Not wanting to deal with a 2 yo at the dr. office tomorrow, I went to urgent care tonight. The doc diagnosed me with Pityriasis Rosea which is a seemingly harmless, self-containing rash EXCEPT in pregnancy. Some of the research (there's very little) says women can have miscarriages if they contract PR in the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. I was 9 weeks when my baby died.

So now I have to wonder if this is what caused my baby to stop living. Maybe it's just a coincidence. There's no way to know and there's very little information about the rash, but it seems to be brought on by severe emotional stress and boy was I ever stressed out when it happened.

Anyone else have experience with this or have it while they were pregnant and have any problems? Anyone have a mild case? At this point I only have a few but do I need to expect it to get pretty widespread over the next few weeks?

[annamama]

I don't know about the rash, but wanted to offer a hug for the loss of your baby. ((hugs)) Take care.

[manchild]

Hi Voicegrrl

I was diagnosed with Pityriasis Rosea at the beginning of my pregnancy, and also miscarried 2 weeks ago at 6 weeks. I'm not sure either if the miscarriage was caused by the skin condition or not. It started with the 'herald patch' on the bottom of my back and spread all over my stomach and boobs. I was so worried but my doctor said it wouldn't harm the baby. I started bleeding heavily so went to the hospital where they did a scan and showed me the baby's heartbeat! They told me the embryo was 'peeling away' from the wall of the uterus and that it could end in miscarriage, but they gave me an appointment to have another scan 5 days later. When I went back they said the baby had died. I have no idea if the pityriasis rosea contributed to the miscarriage, but I'm scared to try again now in case the rash comes back and I have to go through this again. As for the rash, it started to clear up very soon after the miscarriage and there's hardly any evidence that it was there, so I'd say all in all I had it for maybe a month.

I'm sorry for your loss too, it's a terrible thing to go through, and I hope you're ok. x

[voicegrrl]

It took two weeks for my miscarriage to happen after the ultrasound, but as soon as I passed the baby the rash went away. I feel strongly that my miscarriage had to do with the rash or possibly a virus causing the rash.

I'm so sorry for your loss. It's such a difficult experience.