Is imaging necessary before trying to conceive?

[TeenyYogini]

Hi there,

Thank you in advance for reading and weighing in on my post. :heart:

I was tentatively cleared for pregnancy last week. My GI would like to do another full round of imaging before my husband and I begin trying to conceive. We are wondering if this is truly necessary.

I just had imaging done four months ago that showed mildly active disease. I had been on bi-weekly Humira for one year. My dose was upped to weekly injections. I now seem to be in remission, my labs look great and I have never felt better.

Complete imaging for me includes an upper endoscopy, a pill cam endoscopy, and a colonoscopy, which took 11 hours from start to finish four months ago. (All of this is required because my disease presentation is unique - it is in my esophagus, stomach, duodenum, small intestine, and rectum.) I am feeling hesitant to schedule the testing again for a few reasons - one because I had it done so recently, two because I'm wondering if my GI is being "test happy", and three because it is expensive and invasive.

That being said, my husband and I CAN afford it.

What would you do?

Thanks for sharing your insights!

 

[my little penguin]

It’s common with med changes to “check” to verify it’s working
In your case since pregnancy is hard on the body without anything going on
They may want to know exactly what they are dealing with since you increased your meds
And it will probably be a long time because of pregnancy before they can do them again

Ds just started Stelara in August
And since it was a med change
He will be going through similar testing you described
Soon since he has disease from one end to the other
Not looking forward to it but ..,
Stelara takes 6 months minimum to become effective

The testing will tell the GI whether the meds are truly working

Good luck

 

[TeenyYogini]

Those are really good points, thank you!