Lupus and getting pregnant
October 27, 2008 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Women's Health
If you have lupus and want to get pregnant, there is hope that you can have a healthy pregnancy. I wrote about this in August over at Help My Hurt (Do you have lupus? Do you want to be pregnant?). Now, thanks to research at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, patients with lupus have had successful pregnancies and this is changing minds in the medical community regarding the advisability of pregnancy in women with lupus.
Rather than rewrite the information available in the press release, I’ll give you the link where you can read more about the advances in medical care and thoughts about lupus and pregnancy: A reversal of thinking: How women with lupus can increase chance for healthy pregnancies.
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Tags: pregnancy blog, lupus, lupus and pregnancy
Though I don’t have lupus, I have another autoimmune disease that has been in remission for several years. Just wanted to add my encouragement that women with autoimmune disorders absolutely can get pregnant and have healthy pregnancies.
I do see a high-risk OB, for this and other health reasons, but she is very reassuring that many women with autoimmune disorders actually do better during pregnancy (as pregnancy naturally depresses immune system activity) and that, if problems do arise, there are safe medication options.
Also, we were a bit surprised to get pregnant so easily, given my history of chemotherapy treatment for the disorder. The doctors always warn you that chemo can make you infertile, but they have to warn you of anything that *may* happen. The actual effects may be less than you think!