Planning pregnancy

[Guest guest]

Of course get on those prenatals too.  You want to be on them for at least 6w

prior to conception.  I dunno if this has anything to do with RA, like

hypothryroidism, this weird trait of MTHFR might be in the genetic soup that is

associated with autoimmune diseases.  I defer to on that.  If you are

homozygous for MTHFR you have problems with metabolizing folic acid and can have

mc problems.  I have one copy, heterozygous, and that is poorly understood when

it comes to pg outcomes.  To play it safe, my repro endo put me on 1000mg of

folic acid/day rather than the traditional 400mg.  MTHFR mutation is most often

seen in N European, particularly Irish, peoples I believe.  I'm suspicious that

it all swirls together since I have lots of odd endo/autoimmune issues from the

Irish side of my family.

I agree with Steph that a good OB will know how long the mtx needs to be out of

your system.  Since it's a class X drug, you want to be very careful that it's

long gone before baby is onboard.

I moved right after getting pg and found not all rhuems were thrilled about

biologics and pg.  One rheum told me to go off Enbrel and increase the pred.  I

didn't want to do that.  I have PCOS and already am prone to weight gain, my

first baby was big, and I have relatives with diabetes.  I thought increasing

pred could lead to problems with gestational diabetes and just plain be

unpleasant.  I read the papers provided by OTIS and even did some phone

counseling with them about Enbrel in pg.  They are great, you can call them up

if you're having a nervous moment and they'll talk you thru the research

findings.  I did meet with two rheums who were positive about staying with

Enbrel and that's who I worked with. 

I found that I needed Enbrel less as the pregnancy progressed.  I think in my

3rd trimester I was taking it every 2-3 weeks.  I had some mild flaring after

baby came and my rheum prescribed a burst of pred that was really helpful and

got things quieted right down.

Also if you can find a pool, lap swimming or kicking around on a kickboard is

magical when you're pregnant.  You have less swelling, it's gentle exercise, and

it's great to keep RA tamed.  I swam the night before Charlie was born, although

I think I traumatized the teenage girls changing next to me in the locker room.

And for anyone having difficulty getting pg, considering talking to your OB

about adding metformin.  Although it's been found to work with PCOS-related

infertility, I have an endo friend who says he recommends it to women who have

unexplained infertility.  He feels like it irons out some hormone issues that

might be hard to detect.  I suggested it to an OB working with a woman I see for

counseling and it did the trick.  Hooray!

Keep us posted!  Babies are such fun!

Kate F

[Guest guest]

Thank you Melynda and , and eveyone else who have given me tips and

suggestionsm, keep um coming

Thank you