Community Forum

 Hello

I'm 26 years old and was diagnosed with Crohn's when I was 16. I've been thru a lot of treatments and very hard times. I am now married and on the road to a better life. My husband and I are now planning for a baby. I'm very nervouse about my Crohn's and pregnancy and what's going to happen. Right now I'm on Remicade treatments and Imuran. I've discussed my options with my doctor and in my case we both agreed it would be best for me to stay on the remicade treatments. It is the only thing that has made my Crohn's go into "remission." I used to be severely iron deficient so my doctor is worried that if I was to have a flare up the results could turn out bad for me and the baby. I was just wondering if anyone else has been thru pregnancy with Crohn's and even while on Remicade? What was pregnancy like with Crohn's? How long did it take to get pregnant? or any advice for Crohn's and pregnancy. Thanks.

 Reply posted for becs8181.

I have had Crohn's for 8 years now. When I tried to get pregnant about seven years ago I was flaring and taking Pentasa and Prednisone. I had a hard time and when I finally got pregnant I miscarried at 10 weeks. But then I got pregnant right away, about four months later. That pregnancy went really well, never felt better, took Pentasa the whole time, and I delivered a healthy baby girl. When I tried to get pregnant the second time I was taking Asacol and was pretty healthy. I got pregnant within a few months of trying and had a pretty easy time again taking Asacol the whole pregnancy. I gave birth to a healthy baby boy. But four months after he was born I started flaring and have been having issues ever since (the past two years). I am now on Remicaide (and Pentasa and just stopped 6MP) and seem to be doing better. Discuss it with your doctor and weight your options. If you feel the risks are too much, then I would opt against having a baby. But if you and your doctor feel that you and a baby would be OK, then I say go for it! Good luck and God Bless!

 Reply posted for KeetnaKurk.

hey Keet, hope you are doing okay. i wanted to ask you, did you take imuran when you were pregnant? i am on azathripine which is the same family (i have pan colitis)and i recently lost my pregnancy when i was 6 months pregnant plus  my ob noticed that the baby was born with a cleft. maybe the dose i was on was too high,  i was on 175mg. i never flared when i was pregnant. i was in the hospital in May and then went on to get pregnant a couple months later. we did an autopsy on the baby and no anwsers. its really tough. they need to hurry up and find a cure for this curse.

 Reply posted for becs8181.

I got pregnant immediately, but miscarried at 10 weeks and totally freaked out.  But then, I got pregnant again within 3 months.   I was on steroids throughout, but the pregnancy put me into remission that lasted until my next precnancy 2 years later.  That pregnancy also kept me in remission and I only recently had my first flare up, 3 years after the second pregnancy.  Being pregnant did wonders for my Crohn's and I feel if I'd only done it again, I wouldn't be having this flare up now.

 Reply posted for becs8181.

 I agree with Erin; tell your doctor if you don't think it's working for you. Years ago my GI doctor put me on asacol for a  Crohn's flare-up, and I actually got worse. I tested it by going off asacol for a while--got better. Tried taking it for a day or two--got worse. After that, I told my doctor about it and said I wanted to go on something else.

I've been doing well on a maintenance dose of azathioprine (immuran) and Remicade treatments every six weeks. I also take fish oil capsules daily.

As a patient, you're the best judge of what's working or not working in your body. The doctor won't know what's working (or not) unless you say so, though, so ya gotta keep them informed and work together with them.

 Reply posted for becs8181.

 Ok, I found it!! I just cut and pasted so you could read my personal experience with wanting to get pregers.

I am 25 years old and have a yearning to have another baby.  I have been on Remicade for 1 year now and like you was the only thing that put me into remission.  Every time I see my Dr. he is very adiment about me NOT getting pregnant because pregnancy can make you flare up which it did with my son.  Also, since you are unable to get off of Remicade and get back on due to a build up against Remicade then you would have to continue with the infusion which my Dr. says would be harmful to the baby having birth defects and if you stopped the treatment then you would more than likey become ill and would need to find an alternative medication other than Remicade.  The Dr. said with the Remicade being SO potent studies have not been done on pregnant mothers while on Remicade b/c it's too risky so the ones that they did do studies on were taking Remicade unaware they were pregnant and the percentage of birth defects for those children was high.  So with all that being said I feel for you b/c my husband and I want another child but decided the risks were too high.  I don't want to be sick again b/c I get so severe and I am not willing to put my child into danger.  Good luck and I hope they are able to come up with an alternative drug for expecting mothers.  I hope my input helped.

 Reply posted for becs8181.

 Not sure what I am doing wrong on these discussion boards I am hitting reply and my response for Chron's pregnancy went somewhere else.  I hope you can find it.

 Reply posted for becs8181.

 Ive had Crohns since 1976, that would be 32 years!  (I had active disease for most of those years.)  At that time Prednisone was pretty much the treatment.  My disease was stubborn and wouldnt go into remission.  After 5-years of trying to get into remission and off Prednisone I changed doctors.  The new doctor felt if I could get pregnant anytime I was without symptoms Id do fine.  So, with my doctors monitoring we got pregnant just at the end of 3-years on Prednisone without waiting to see if I was in remission or long enough for it to flare-up.  My pregnancy was wonderful, without symptoms and I didnt have another flare up until my son was 3-years old!  During the 3-years post pregnancy I felt the healthest Id been in years.  Go for the babies!  Work with your doctor there are many treatment alternatives today!!  Sheryl

 Reply posted for becs8181.

 Hi,  Im 41 and have had Crohns for more than 20 years!  I also have 3 children...All three of my pregnancies were a great time for me.  Every time I was pregnant my Crohns did great...I wasnt on Remicade during but I was on Imuran.  The only problem I had was that each time as soon as I had the baby I went into a severe flare and all three times ended up in the hospital.  The first time was the worst because I wasnt really expecting it, but the other two times I just knew to be ready for a big problem as soon as I had the baby.  I also had to have c-sections all three times because of the complications with my Crohns.  I was able to get pregnant very quickly the first two times and the third time took about a year to get pregnant.  The most important thing is to really work with your docs.  I had a great ob for the 2nd and 3rd pregnancies who communicated with my GI guy so things went a lot better.  Even though I had a rough time after each baby...it was so worth it!  I hope all goes well for you...  Kathy