Crohns and Colitis Exchange

ibcash, Congrats on your pregnancy but if this medication is going to cause problems it is within the first 3 months. I really think you would do better with taking your medication so that you can have the health to keep your pregnancy unremarkable. I was a nurse for many years and worked in all of the fields from Well Baby Nursery, NICU to adult ICU. I have spoken to women who have been on these medications and they have delivered without complications. You risk the chance of complications by not being able to control your Crohn's. Weight loss during pregnancy is not good and if you can control Crohn's you will control the amount of absorption in your body so that your child can get the right amount of nutrition in utero. Please rethink your decision, I know you want to be well enough to take care of your children but with uncontrolled Crohn's you know how difficult it will be. Hope you stay well with your baby. (and you can tell me to go away but I just worry about you and your baby I'm not trying to run your life, sorry if it sounds like it)
Take good care,
Jeaneau

Thank you for your reply. I am just so scared of messing up. I have decided that if I lose anymore weight I will call the OB and rethink my decision. I have done all of the research possible on Humira and pregnancy and all of the women in the studies delivered healthy babies, but there were just very few test done. Like less than 100.

Hi Ibcash, Congrats! I'm just behind you - I'll be 8 weeks tomorrow and am on remicade (I go for my next infusion tomorrow). Here is what I've heard from my dr: active crohn's increases your chance of miscarrage (or at least if it was active at the time of conception, but I would guess that carries through). He is an extremely laid back OB but he gets very serious about that one.

here is an article that contains most of what I know and what influenced my decision, its meaty but has a lot of info.
here is an abstract from nih...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18626967
and this page has the full article
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ibd.20532/abstract

basically, they don't think remicade passes through the placenta in the 1rst trimester and expect it to be the same for humira. The further along you go, the more that gets passed, so if you don't flare they like to take you off of it for the third trimester, but I think they're still more concerned about lack of nutrition and how the inflammation affects the baby than the drugs getting to the baby. I'm not looking forward to having to make that decision but we're still quite a ways out, so I'm just dealing with the here and now and sticking with the meds.

I've also noticed more symptoms I think from the pregnancy but I haven't been on remicade long enough to say for sure. I actually got a cold last week that seemed to calm things down, which is nice, but I was still tender at my exam last week

also, here is a previous discussion
http://forums.webmd.com/3/crohns-and-colitis-exchange/forum/582?@@

good luck, and keep us posted!
~Ali

Thanks for the great info. When I talked to my Gastroenterlogist he told me the same thing, that I should continue with the meds until the third trimester. He also said that after I have the baby that I would have to bottle feed and go right back on the Humira and that the meds passed through breast milk. I have watched my diet the past few days and I have gained my weight back and I have no Crohn's symptoms. I want to wait and talk to my OB again before I make a final decision. I guess I had my hopes up that the pregnancy would keep the Crohn's in remission because pregnancy itself suppresses the immune system so that it doesn't fight off the baby. I have to remind myself the doc knows best. I will let you know what the OB says or any decisions I make.

Good luck and congrats on your pregnancy!! Is this your first?

Ali, I am so happy to find out that you are pregnant! I know how much you have wanted this. Congratulations to you and your hubby. Now we will pray that your Crohn's will stay intact and not bother you too, too much. YIPPPEEEEE!
Take good care,

Jeaneau

Congrats! I didn't know you had gotten pregnant.

Thanks guys - you're the first people I've told beyond drs
mostly bc there's no way my mother in law could keep it a secret and I just keep having visions of the possibility of miscarriage and having random people walk up to me and either not know - or want to talk about it. I'm pretty open with my close friends and family but don't want to have to get into it with random people I don't know if I have to deal with that...

it is driving me nuts not telling people though, we are SUPER excited and just hoping everything keep progressing well!

lbcash, good luck w the decision, its certainly not easy. Oh to just have to be dealing with morning sickness I've heard both things about breast feeding - I'd really like to be able to but I know it might not be possible.
Yeah - this is my first
good luck, I hope things progress well for the both of us

I'm so excited for you. I hope everything goes well. You've earned it.

Congratulations! I have Crohns and 3 children, every pregnancy caused my disease to go into total Remission It was amazing! I didn't take any meds. I hope the same for you! Unfortunately after each pregnancy The disease did worsen, but I had no health insurance afterwards, so I'm sure if you take the proper steps to prevent that from happening you will be fine!

Thanks for your reply. I haven't had any Crohn's symptoms except for that one weekend, and honestly it could have been what I ate. I called my OB's nurse and she said that it probably wasn't the Crohn's that was causing my weight to fluctuate and that it was ok unless it was large amounts. I didn't gain a whole lot of weight with my first child, before my Crohn's was triggered, and I guess this could be the same. As of right now I feel great!!

You know whats weird, I had a good amount of pain for a little more than a week around week 5, then I got a crazy cold, and it hasn't been bad at all since. I wonder if it wasn't just a reaction to the hormone change. Hopefully things will stay calm

Sorry, I haven't been logged in all weekend. I got a cold first thing also. I got one with my first pregnancy and with this one. I believe it is a change in hormones. I am now over the nausea and getting better with the fatigue. But now I am dizzy all the time. The dizziness is a change in hormones as well.

you give me hope the nausea is driving me nuts and seems to be getting worse and I can't focus at work. I thought I'd be fine with it - I get it all the time with Crohn's, but my crohn's nausea is calmed down with crackers, nothing is helping this and I have a big presentation tomorrow - yikes! well off to work before it gets too bad...

glad you're still doing well

Hope everything is still going well for you! I went to my first OB appointment yesterday and we heard the strong heartbeat. Such a relief! Also, other than the one time I still have had no Crohn's symptoms, but my weight gain is still small. My OB want's to do an ultrasound every six weeks to watch the baby's growth carefully. Of course if any symptoms arise I will immediately start back on my meds. Right now she said if it's just the weight gain she will have me drink three Ensure's a day. Because that would be something I could digest easliy. I go for an ultrasound in two weeks!