Pregnancy and Rheumatoid Arthirtis

Does anyone else out there have this? I do and am on medication but am finding the arthiritis has come back in the last few weeks.

Any helpful hints?

I found scheussler tissue salts (fer-phos) really useful, I still use them now, usually if I wake in the night with pain, because I can just pop one in my mouth and chew it up.
You should be able to find them at your local chemist
Good luck, I know it sucks

honey i wish i could help you more, but unfortunately my mum is not around to ask anymore.

All i can say is that my mother who was very petite and grew up as one of those "fragile" people, for lack of better words, who always fell sick at the drop of rain, or suffered nose bleeds at the first sign of physical exertion or hot days, well she developed severe arthritis age 25, then amazingly still went on from ages 38 to 42 give birth to us 3 children and raise us all without any home help. She did not have any c-sections either, we all were vaginal births, and the only pregnancy she has difficulties with was my youngest brother, where she was confined to bed rest in the last months, but i can tell you now, the only times she stopped housework was when she had migraines, no bed rest for her! She was an amazing woman and having the 3 of us in her condition was an amazing feat, and i'm sure you can do it too!

If you haven't already get in touch with the National Arthritis Foundation, they were a godsend of information for mum.

Hi becc. I also have RA, and was one of the unlucky people who didn't go into remission with pregnancy. I found that things improve, but it never really went away. I got through pregnancy with prednisone, salazopyrin, panadeine and the occasional mersyndol to help me sleep at night when things got too bad. Rest when you need to, that's the one thing that I find helps most.

I found things got even worse when my baby was born, I sincerely hope this is not the case for you, but it may be worth preparing yourself for the possibility. I ended up on high doses of prednisone and started methotrexate very soon after birth, and now that my baby is approaching a year old, we're finally starting to get on top of things again. I can talk to you about plenty of ways to make coping with a baby during RA flares easier, but we can cross that bridge when (hopefully IF) we come to it.

BW

Thanks girls for your responses. Much appreciated.

Yes as a little bit of history my mother has RA too, she has had it since 35 years (mind you almost disappeared when she was going through menapause) but this was after having all her kids.

My brother also has it, he was 25 when diagnosed. I was finally diagnosed when I was 30 (had symptoms for about 3 years prior though!). I am on Salazapiren (can never spell it), two in the morning and two in the evening, and have my next specialist appointment with my doctor on 16 Dec. I spoke to her the other day and she said she will prob put me on prednisone.

It is very unusual and very unpredictable when it happens, I find my pretty much disappeared for the first few months, but has come back with a vengence in the last few weeks, ie in my knees, shoulders and the hip top of leg joint. Sending me insane!!! As I find it all of a sudden wakes me up at around 3.00 am in the morning.

Littlelara - will look out for some stuff in the chemist and will try - am up for anything that is safe.

Butterflywarrier, it would be great if you could give me some tips, as my RA specialist has told me to expect it to come back after birth. I noticed you took a while to fall, me too, I wonder if that is something to do with RA.

Becc

Becc, both my FS and my rheumy assured me that my arthritis wasn't impacting on my fertility. The woman I saw for acupuncture thought very differently.

I also have PCOS. It appears that I have possible auto-immune problems leading to miscarriage (can't confirm it unless I get off all the arthritis meds, and that's not going to happen!). I have a serum-negative form of RA, so they can tell me what it's not, but not what it actually IS and I'm left thinking that the doctors don't know a hell of a lot about it and considering the immune system effects every other system in the body, I do believe that my inability to fall pregnant and stay pregnant are related in some way to what ever the hell may be wrong with my immune system. If I had a serum-positive form of RA, I may have been more inclined to believe them.

What I found when Sam was born was that I very quickly had to give up my dreams of breastfeeding. I couldn't establish a supply and he was premature (36 weeks) and couldn't suck or attach properly and it was just a generally bad situation. But I had to give up on that dream to be able to take the medication that would allow me to care for him in all other ways. You learn to pick up babies with your arms rather than your hands. I stick with disposable nappies rather than cloth to reduce the amount of washing I have to do. I wanted to use slings and wear my baby - but I found that putting him in the pram was better for my mobility and pain levels and he's happy with it now. Avoid baby clothes with snaps and buttons - elastic waists and pull-over tops are much easier to get on and off. I think dresses would be ok with a girl as once they are on you still have very easy nappy access. Other than that, just make sure that the baby bath, change table and other things are at a good height and comfortable for you to use.

Screw the housework, put yourself and your baby first - a bit of mess and dirt never hurt anyone. Make sure the freezer is stocked with frozen meals now and when you can cook, make sure you cook extra to freeze. I'm very lucky in that my husband is extremely supportive and helpful and does a lot around the house despite travelling an hour each way for work and working full time.

Hope some of that helps. It's also pretty amazing how much babies build up your strength - I now lug a 10kg bubba around without too many issues when I first found him quite heavy and difficult to hold for long periods when he was 2.48kg at birth.

I've just been started back on salazopyrin in combination with methotrexate and we've just added a new NSAID into the mix, so I'm hoping that I'll be feeling much better very soon. Prednisone is a wonder drug, but I've been on it way too long (from May of 2007 and only just stopped it in November of 2009) and really need a break from it for a while. Make sure you take a calcium supplement (will help with the pregnancy muscle cramps as well) if you start it. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with it, but it really does work - it's just not that good as a long-term option.

BW

yeah I have read places that rheamatoid can cause you to have probs conceiving however, both my FS and Arthritis doctor have said it can't.

well Butterfly Warrier, ended up in emergency at hospital on Friday with RA in both shoulders, had it really bad and was vomiting. They ended up giving me morphine shots and some other lovely stuff, but seemed to do the trick.

Thanks so much for your tips for afterwards. I am really hoping it can be knocked on the head now. I am on anti-inflamatories until 27 weeks now, can't take it after that time, as it can cause heart probs, so fingers crossed it eases.

Hope all is well with you,.

I'm sorry to hear it got so bad, Becc! That sounds awful. Hopefully the anti-inflammatory drugs will work and things settle down again... Hoping you won't need anything after 27 weeks. Perhaps if things are this bad now, they won't get any worse after birth?

BW

Thanks BW, yeah hopefully there won't be any dramas after.

How are you coping with your little boy? Is yours flaring up any more?

I'd say I was doing mostly ok. And my rheumy would frown at me for saying it! I finally got off prednisone completely and found out the hard way just how much even tiny doses was doing for me. The new NSAIDs are doing something - but it's not miraculous nor even instantaneous, but we're plodding along. As Sam gets more mobile things are getting both more exhausting and easier - I find he'll crawl over to me to get a bottle (so I just take the bottle to the lounge room and he crawls over and I help him climb into my lap), and I can grab his hands and direct him to walk to the bedroom or the highchair or where ever I need him... I'm still doing a lot of lifting, but less carrying now, and it does help. More stuff to keep in mind for when your baby is older, I guess!

BW