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Pregnancy, possible flare up

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 7/10/2017 12:43 AM (GMT 0)
Hi everyone,
I just found out last week that I am pregnant. Today I am 6 weeks. I have been on Remicade for about a year and a half for UC and have been flare free for almost 2 years. My doctor said I'm in remission. A few weeks ago I started having symptoms that made me think I was in the early stages of a flare. I was bloated, had excessive gas, I was going a little more frequently and felt exhausted (no blood at all at this point). Well once I found out I was pregnant I thought maybe that could be the cause. I know sometimes women can get diarrhea during pregnancy. I called my gastro to let him know and he agreed that pregnancy could be causing my symptoms. But a couple days ago I went to the bathroom 4 times and had horrible cramping and spasming in my colon, then today I went 6 times throughout the day and the 6th time there was a tiny bit of blood. I'm so worried now that I'm going to have a flare up. I have an appointment with my OB tomorrow but I plan to call my gastro in the morning and see what he says. My OB doesn't seem to know a whole lot about UC or pregnancy with UC so that is also a concern to me. I wasn't sure if pregnancy can actually cause a flare up, or if I was starting to flare anyway and it's just a coincidence that I'm pregnant? Just wondering if anyone else was in remission, got pregnant, and then started flaring? I'm so worried but I'm trying not to worry too much because I know it will make things worse. This is my first pregnancy and we have been trying for 2 years. Any opinions or advice would be appreciated! Thanks!
Candice
Posted 7/10/2017 1:51 AM (GMT 0)
The hormonal changes can trigger a flare.
Posted 7/10/2017 2:03 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for your reply! I was just reading whether or not mesalamine enemas are safe during pregnancy and most of the stuff I've seen says they are but I will ask both doctors tomorrow just to be sure. They have helped before so maybe they will be a quick and safe solution.
Posted 7/10/2017 10:51 AM (GMT 0)
Congrats onnthe pregnancy. Yes it's possible that the hormonal changes associated with pregnancy have triggered a flareup of your uc. I do read about that happening.

Adding nightly rowasa sounds like a great idea, it's 90 percent topical and 10 percent systematic so safe for pregnancy. Here's some reading about UC meds, safety, and pregnancy from our resources thread.

From conception to delivery: Managing the pregnant inflammatory bowel disease patient
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3974516/

The Second European Evidenced-Based Consensus on Reproduction and Pregnancy in Inflammatory Bowel Disease
ecco-jcc.oxfordjournals.org/content/eccojc/9/2/107.full.pdf
Posted 7/10/2017 1:04 PM (GMT 0)
iPoop,
Thank you!! I knew I could have a flare up during pregnancy but I didn't really realize pregnancy could trigger it..I've heard that some woman go into remission during pregnancy so that was my hope!! but with this disease I've learned to expect the unexpected and not to dwell too much when something good happens because something bad is sure to follow! Haha I will check out those links . Thanks so much for your help!!
Posted 7/10/2017 5:42 PM (GMT 0)
Sure, no problem. Flares can happen during pregnancy, post-partum, and some even say birth-control messes with their UC. So there's some sort of hormonal component, for some at least. But as you say, some go into a remission thanks to pregnancy, and that's just UC in a nutshell as it's weirdly unpredictable.

Jump on the symptoms fast with an appropriate treatment and I'm sure you can nip-this-in-the-bud, and enjoy your new infant in a remission.
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