6mp and pregnancy -

Welcome to the forum Traci. I'm sorry to hear that you got sick when you got off 6MP, but did you plan to use any other med to maintain your remission? It seems like that should be part of your plan, right? It's good the abx are working to get the C-diff gone, that germ is a ***** from what I've read here.

Have you been to infantrisk.org? There's a lot of info on there about meds and pregnancy/breastfeeding. Here's a link to some discussions of 6MP.

http://www.infantrisk.com/forum/showthread.php?889-6G-Mercaptopourine&highlight=mercaptopurine

http://www.infantrisk.com/forum/showthread.php?425-crohn-s-medication-and-pregnancy-.

It seems a good idea to find a different treatment protocol while you are building your family. I hope the forum members can help!

Wait a second...that 2nd link is just wrong.

6mp is fine for use during pregnancy -at the doses used for Crohn's disease.

That second link is referring to old data where 6mp was used in cancer treatment, at much much higher doses. It does not apply to 6mp in Crohn's, and somebody should get on there and let that RN know that.

The Crohn's med that is an absolute no-no for pregnancy is methotrexate. Most of the others are considered safe.

Remicade and Humira and the like are considered ok but many docs recommend scheduling the doses so that it is not taken during the 3rd trimester.

If 6mp works for you, that's what you should use. The most important thing is for the mother NOT to have a flair during pregnancy. Having a flare is far more risky to the developing fetus than is taking 6mp.

Dr Sunanda Kane, among many others, has researched IBD meds and pregnancy. Look up some of her work for more reliable info.

Trayc- when I got pregnant with my 2nd baby I was taking 6mp. My GI at the time was part of a large research team in Miami and let me know that the latest info (in 2006) showed that women who took 6mp while pregnant showed the same percentage of birth defects, etc as the general population. So, he wanted me to stay on it through out the pregnancy. I didn't because I went into remission, but I would have if I thought I needed it.

As far as breast feeding goes.... 6mp does pass through to the breast milk. I would not breast feed while on 6mp, but I have a friend who has crohns and is a La Leche League consultant and she nursed one of her babies while on it.

This link will give you info about 6mp (mercaptopurine) and breast milk:
http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/f?./temp/~dfmtTz:1

Also, like kazbern said, the infant risk website has invaluable information!

As for asacol, I took 8 pills (3200 mgs) of regular asacol, not HD during all 3 of my pregnancies and breast fed all 3 babies while taking it also. No problems, no side effects for babies. Since its a locally acting drug and not really a systemic drug, it carries minimal risk if any.

Hope this helps a bit.