pregnant and suffering from rheumatoid arthritis

[kasiaj]

Hello,

I'm new to the mumsnet. I'm 7 weeks pregnant, mature mum-to-be at 40. Almost at the same time, I've been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Apparently the illness is usually quite mild when pregnant. I've been put on sulphasalazine and, so far, everything seems fine, apart from persistent iritis. I'm worried that eye drops might affect pregnancy - does anybody have an experience?

K.

[strawberryjam]

I have seronegative RA and am 34+4 my joints have been pretty good throughout I have continued to take placquinal throughout pregnancy.

[SarahJinx]

Hi, I've been diagnosed for three years, just after the birth of my DS. I now have a four week old DD. My RA went into total remission for the duration of my pregnancy, no flare ups, no joint pain, nothing. I was told to expect a bad flare up soon after birth. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it I guess.

I took none of my meds during pregnancy and none since as am bf. Enjoy your pain free time!

[strawberryjam]

I have also been told to expect a flare up post birth - yay :-(

[wonkylegs]

My RA was actually worse during pregnancy but I'd had severe RA for 10yrs prior to getting pregnant and had to come of the drugs that were controlling it to TTC. I am also tiny and had a big baby so the additional weight caused problems with my hips. My specialist nurse said that in his experience about a 3rd are better in pregnancy, a 3rd have no change and an unlucky third like me get worse.
I took steroids throughout TTC & pregnancy to help with the RA and these are considered a pretty safe drug when pregnant but I also took various pain relief under medical guidance. Talk to your drs about your drugs especially anti-inflammatories which can only be taken in certain trimesters to avoid damage to the baby's heart.
I was under a specialist consultants care and this just meant I was looked after a bit more, had a few more scans & had a few extra things like an x-Ray of my RA affected neck joints so they knew they were ok if I needed emergency surgery, notes such as needing an adrenalin drip once I went into labour due to the steroids. I was given the choice of trying a natural birth or a c-section due to concerns with my hips but baby came early so I never got to make that decision.
I had a referral to a great pregnancy physio who gave me some supports/splints & exercises which helped.
I won't lie to you pregnancy wasn't easy for me but I was extremely well supported by midwifes, GPS & consultants throughout & a fab health visitor afterwards.
Post birth I was seriously knackered and struggled to lift our DS but we found ways of coping and I now have a very gorgeous just turned 6yo (time flies) & we are TTC for another one (so it couldn't have been that awful an experience)
If you have any specific questions or just want to chat please message me, it's sometimes nice to talk to people who get that your pregnancy might be a little different.

[kasiaj]

Hi,

Thank you so much. it's good to that you can get through pregnancy and deliver a heathy baby even if taking the drags. So far, touch wood, I've been only on salphosalazine and steroid eye drops. My reumatologist says that both are pretty safe. I'm going to see my GP for the 1st time on Monday so let's see what he says.

I got sick only in January so I was still trying to get my head around the illness when I fell pregnant. Not the most convinient time butnI guess that's life. Life is what happens when you make plans:)

[kasiaj]

Big thank you to all of your for your responses. It's very comforting to see that I'm not the only one and that the illness doesn't have to affect baby.

One more big thank you

Kasia