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pregnancy - possible? recommended?

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Posted 4/20/2010 12:43 AM (GMT 0)
Just diagnosed with SLE at age 33.

Is pregnancy not recommended? what questions should i ask?
Posted 4/20/2010 2:39 AM (GMT 0)
Hi greengrass, While that is way out of my league I can tell you that we do have people here that are pregnant now and have had sucessful births. I do know that not all have been successful in carrying to term. I'm sure that you will get some responses on here soon. Things have been kind of slow lately. I guess people are trying to kick some of the winter slush off of themself. Plus it's good weather for getting out. Not to hot and sunny for us lupies.
I hope you keep coming back
hugs
carol
Posted 4/20/2010 2:34 PM (GMT 0)
Talk to your rheumy and your obstetrician and a good pediatrician. One of the first things I would think about is, if the pregnancy were to hurt your health, what impact would it have on your child to have a mother who was ill a lot of the time.
Posted 4/20/2010 2:50 PM (GMT 0)
Talk to your rheumatologist about the options you have. I decided to not get pregnant. Had a hysterectomy 2 years ago. Figured if I'm not having kids, why keep the uterus and all the period crap! LOL.

Patty makes a very good point. What kind of impact will a child live with if their mom is sick, fatigued, in and out of the ER. Is it fair to them? Is it fair to you? Personally, I didn't think it was responsible for me to bring a child into the world considering all my health problems and risk for emergency treatment. There are days where I can't take care of myself, let alone a baby.

Weigh all the pros and cons carefully.

Blessings,
Ginny
Posted 4/20/2010 7:19 PM (GMT 0)
From the research I did (not including talking to my doctors since I am not having children any time soon) I learned a few things. 50 years ago, when diagnosing lupus was much harder (imagine that!) most people didn't figure out what was wrong until they were much older. At that point, doctors told them not to have kids. Now, that's not so much the case. One stat I read said that 25% of women with lupus have normal pregnancies. The other 75% either have problems carrying to term, carrying beyond 10 weeks or so, or just have a really hard time, more than normal. That is, if they can conceive at all. I also have read that the stress of L&D often causes flares.

Yesterday, I learned something else. When you get pregnant, your body releases progesterone to suppress your immune system, or else your immune system tries to"fight off" the baby. For people like us, with overactive immune systems, I can't imagine it would be easy.

On the positive side, I know many women with lupus who have babies and are very happy, though it's harder than "regular" mothering. Just the fatigue factor alone.

I think it's a conversation you need to have with your doctors, and your partner. There are lots of factors, including whether or not you will be working, how far your disease has progressed, if you can get help with the baby and whatnot. And, as the others have pointed out, what is the best for the child/children?

To answer your question, there is no right or wrong, or "blanket" answer to this. Good luck!
Posted 4/21/2010 10:29 AM (GMT 0)
Hi I am new here...

My name is Jo and I have been diagnoised with SLE for 3 and a half years. I was just looking through the forum and came across this post so felt I wanted to reply as I have just had my 2nd baby.

My first pregnancy, I hadn't been diagnoised with Lupus, and they think that it was the pregnancy that brought it all on, that was nearly 6 years ago.

I was really scared about this pregnancy as it wasn't planned and I was on all my meds, and had everything under control, so I spoke to my doctor and consultant and they decided to take me off everything until I was 12wks pregnant then review it. I came off all the tablets... I was on losartan for high bp, Azathioprine and hydroxychloriquine as well as 75mg of asprin. The only thing I was allowed to take was the asprin.

To cut a long story short, I felt amazing after coming off these tablets, like a new person ! and when it came to my 12wk review, they decided to keep me off things as all my bloods were fine and I felt great....

I went through all my pregnancy without needing any of my meds, and have now got a 5week old baby boy aswell as a 5 year old son, and I am still off my meds and have felt great... They did tell me that pregnancy can shock your immune system back to "normal" again and you can go into remission. I am not sure if that has happened to me as my bloods still suggest I have SLE but I still feel great and although am tired with with sleep deprivation, it is nothing like the fatigue I had before.

My boys are both healthy and I would not be without them. I have never found it a problem looking after my 5 year old, when I was really bad at first, I would just sleep when he did, and as he got older, I would just go to bed around the same time as he did most nights.

I now know lots of people with Lupus and many have had children some having had flare ups afterwards, but nothing they haven't been able to deal with.

So if you really want to start a family, I would talk to your consultant, mine was great, and I was well looked after all the way through, like any illness or disability they is always a way round things and lots of help if you look in the right places.

Jo.

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