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Psue:
I identify with you because I made the choice to not have biological children for the same reason. When I was dealing with that decision, I was 30 years old and had had RA for 13 years.I also had filled my life working with children as a teacher. I was lucky to find a wonderful man to marry (an old friend actually, who had known me both before and after RA struck). We were married and went the adoption route. We adopted two beautiful infants, a boy and a girl. I am now 64 years old. At present, my Arthritis seems to be in remission (it has waxed and waned over the years)and I will retire next year from 30 years in education as a teacher, counselor and now a school psychologist. My children are grown and we see them often. My husband and I have never regretted our decision.
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I am the daughter of an RA sufferer. My mother was not diagnosed with RA until after I was born. I am an only child. Is it possible that her pregnancy triggered the RA? Even though having children is far in my future, I am nervous about possibly passing on the RA gene as well as being diagnosed after a pregnancy. Has anyone experienced or heard of a connection between pregnancy and RA?
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quote: Originally posted by JeanneC:
I was diagnosed with Ra in 2000. I had my first baby in 1998, when I was 32, but we wanted to have more children. I struggled with letting my RA go unchecked or go on medication and put off having children. Many doctors suggested trying to get pregnant because it may go into remission based on family history. My mom was diagnosed shortly after she had me and went into remission during each of her 3 following pregnancies. She loved being pregnant.
My RA was starting to get so bad that I began searching for some sort of treatment that wouldn't be so toxic that I felt I couldn't have children afterward. I scoured books, medical journals, and the internet. I came across low dose antibiotic therapy and read the book: The New Arthritis Breakthrough. I thought it sounded very interesting and promising, however, I knew it was considered somewhat alternative and I thought it would be too hard to find a doctor to obtain treatment, so I put it in the back of my head and went on Celebrex, all the while we were trying to have another baby. Then, my arthritis got so bad I could barely walk. I got in touch with The Road Back Foundation who put me in touch with a doctor. I went on the antibiotic therapy and felt great within a week. I was even back playing volleyball. I stayed on it for about a year and had very little arthritis symptoms. I decided to go off the therapy and try to get pregnant again. Many times with this therapy, the symptoms will not come back for awhile. I was off the therapy for about a year and I started to experience some symptoms again and we had not luck getting pregnant. By this time I was 38 years old and I also had bad endometriosis. We decided we were happy with 1 child and I went back on the antibiotics. Within one week of being back on the medication, I found out I was pregnant. I had a wonderful, beautiful healthy baby girl. I was in remission my entire pregnancy. I breast fed her for 2 years which also kept me in remission. I just recently quit breastfeeding and my arthritis is coming back full force - but what a great 3 years I have had. I am now going back on my antibiotic therapy and know I will be feeling better soon. It has really changed my life. I have had no side effects, except feeling better. If anybody would like information on this therapy, please let me know.
I just had to reply when I saw this post because I struggled so much when trying to decided whether or not I wanted to have children. And I felt so alone. Trust me - you are not alone, and you can have children if you want to.
When I read this post tears came to my eyes. I'm 20 and I am going to be getting married really soon. I've been afraid of having children thinking about they might come out very sick with the prednisone i'm taking. My doctor recently took me off methatrexate four months ago. She said that I could conceive by August but in the back of my mind I am sooo scared. I needed help. But when I saw this post, like i said, it brought tears to my eyes. Thank you so much.....  -Betsy |
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| Posts: 4 | Location: Corpus christi, Tx | Registered: 04-30-2008 |  |
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I have three children and I had them before I had RA. I wouldn't change having my kids for the world. They are 19, 15 and 11 now. I was diagnosed 3 years ago and yes it would have been hard when they were little but I think I still would have had them. My aunt has RA and she had 2 kids and neither of them developed RA. My mom doesn't have RA and had 5 of us and I have RA and my brother has Lupus. My aunt is in a wheelchair but I am lucky because of all the new medicines that are out now which my aunt didn't have the opportunity to try.
Maybe if one of my kids get RA or even one of their cousin get it the medicine will even better for RA.
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