A sure fire way to end Crohns

"EFFECT OF IBD ON PREGNANCY, DELIVERY, AND THE DEVELOPING FETUS

Women with IBD usually have healthy pregnancies and healthy infants. However, they are more likely to have a complication of pregnancy than those without IBD even if their disease is in remission.. These complications include. miscarriage, premature delivery, and complications of labor and delivery. While the risk of miscarriage in the general population is one in six pregnancies, it is slightly higher in women with active IBD. All women with IBD should therefore be followed as high risk OB patients." - http://www.ccfa.org/resources/pregnancy-and-ibd.html



I deleted most of my earlier comment on this post where I explained that my Crohn's, undiagnosed at the time of my pregnancies, ALONG with my other medical problems, had a direct impact on my only living child's health, as well as my other pregnancies that ended in miscarriages. Even with medical treatment to address my known gynecological problems, my daughter was born early-term with lung damage due to placental insufficiency and has had lifelong lung disease and other health problems. She is totally disabled now and I am a full-time caretaker.

I NEVER said she had BIRTH DEFECTS OR that Crohn's causes birth defects. My point was that Crohn's can affect a woman's nutritional status and overall health, which is extremely important for a successful pregnancy.

I didn't share my story to deter anyone from choosing to have children, but to say that sometimes the disease can and does affect pregnancy outcomes. And that the affect can be long term. Patients who are considering parenthood and are concerned deserve to hear more than one perspective when they ask. My perspective is not a rosy one, but it's a fact.

I deleted most of my earlier post after this comment to me:

"@JaSanne - But your daughter could have turned out exactly the same way if you hadn't had Crohn's. Also, you can't know for certain whether or not you even had Crohn's during your pregnancy.

As far as I know there is no evidence that mothers with Crohn's are any more likely to produce babies with birth defects..." - posted by NCOT

Again, I never said it caused birth defects. YES, I DO know for CERTAIN that I had Crohn's at the time even though I was mis- and under-diagnosed. I was there. I experienced it. I am living with the consequences. My daughter is living with the consequences. I know what it's like to have to care for someone who's too sick to care for themselves while I am too sick to take care of myself.

Also stated-

"...But people should just be honest about it and say it's because they don't want to have children, instead of pretending it's due to the state of the world, the remote possibility the child might develop a rare genetic condition*, or whatever." -posted by NCOT

There are many people who genuinely want to have children and are genuinely afraid of inherited illnesses and suffering in the world. They aren't "pretending" because they really don't want to have children. My husband's brother had muscular dystrophy and my husband had to care for him when their father died when they were both teenagers. My husband had a real fear after seeing his brother suffer and die at age 21, but he wanted and loved children. But MD is a sex-linked chromosomal disease that couldn't be passed down to our children. Had it not been for that, we would not have risked having children.

I don't judge whether or not it's someone's right to have children when they have an illness that could affect their descendants. That's up to them. But I think I have a right to say what I have experienced and how tough it is to be a patient and a caretaker at the same time, without being belittled or patronized by someone who hasn't walked a day in my shoes.

JaSanne said...
There are many people who genuinely want to have children and are genuinely afraid of inherited illnesses and suffering in the world.

Yeah, you didn't post what I said afterwards which was something like, 'except for straightforwardly heritiable conditions where there is a 50% chance of getting it from the affected parent'. Most diseases don't fall into that category - Crohn's disease certainly doesn't. Also, while Crohn's is miserable, it isn't muscular dystrophy or Huntingdon's disease.

And I'm sorry for what you've been through, and continue to go through, but blaming it on Crohn's is a massive stretch.

Truth be told, putting aside all health issues that are literally under the sun....knowing how the world outside of "being sick" is (governments, wars, terrorism, humanity in general and severe weather changes, all nowadays) this world is really no place to bring more children into) Honestly if I was 21 again right now (as I was when I planned my first pregnancy) no way would I plan to have kids....and I didn't get sick until a year-ish AFTER I had my first child (my mom didn't get UC until a few years after I got sick first, so I had no idea of IBD). Globally, this world is a bigger mess than ever and it's only getting worse.