RECENTLY DIAGNOSED & WANT TO GET PREGNANT???

September 5, 2004

Hi everyone! This is my first post and am seeking everyone's opinion

(well females only LOL) on the thoughts of getting pregnant again

now that I've been diagnosed with RA. Here is a run down of

my " history " maybe for you to judge where I'm at with this---

I was diagnosed in March with RA. From what I know my RA factor came

back high, as did my sed rate; not sure about my ANA. My rheumy did

another test (a co2 or something like that) which also came back

positive. I was put on Mobic 15mg daily, and went for a followup and

was then also put on plaquenil 400mg daily. Neither seem to be doing

anything though, but I'm not crippled so feel I shouldn't be

complaining.

My rheumy is guessing that I've had this for about 2 years already

and just never put the pieces together. I've had several flares that

I can recount now that I never even thought about being ARTHRITIS, I

just turned 29 and previously thought this disease was for old

people LOL; how sadly mistaken huh!

My pain tends to be primarily in my feet. My feet hurt almost every

day; I am now addicted to big thick slippers. I also bought the

ugliest pair of addidas tennis shoes just because they were comfy

LOL. Anyways, I think since March I've had a flare in my knee,

shoulder, elbow, hand, and consistantly in my feet.

Here's my dilema. My husband and I were tentatively planning to get

pregnant again in January. We have 2 children already (ages 7 & 4)

but I'm worried now. My Rheumy said it's fine but obviously she has

to know about it ahead of time to stop/change my meds but I'm still

worried about it. She said most of the time the RA will go into an

almost remission state until after delivery but will then flare

again. I'm just concerned about how fast this disease is going to

progress, will pregnancy make it worse or will it get so bad so fast

that I won't be able to care for a baby, let alone my other

children? I feel I might be being selfish if I insist on having

another child if I can't be an duty mom 100% of the time ya know.

I tend to babble so will stop for now and see if I can get any

insight from any of you out there

THANKS,

TRACY

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