Hello everyone,
I am new to the forum, but unfortunately not new to CD.
All this time I managed to avoid surgeries (except for an appendectomy in 1998) and to stick to Pentasa and some alternative things with a number of Prednisone tapers over the last 12 years.
However, now we are trying to start a family, and my GI docs (yeah, I have a conventional MD and an awesome alternative MD, who actually respect and consult each other) are in agreement that I need something stronger to stay in remission during pregnancy. I started a flare a month ago (first in the last 2years, probably caused by stress and craziness in my life), and still on 20mg of prednisone. They warned me to NOT get pregnant while I am flaring up, so we didn't really try but didn't use protection either - I figured that if I am really actively flaring, it will act as a sort of contraceptive and nothing would happen. Well, what did we know? We did get pregnant, and we lost it a few weeks later. So now I am listening to my docs, and need to get stable fast so we can start trying again.
I got a consult with another specialist, who is well-versed in various clinical trials results, and his recommendation was to start on Cimzia since it's not too bad for a fetus, and then maybe later add 6MP. However, he also mentioned that there is a very small chance of getting cancer from Cimzia, even if I stop taking it, and I am just not comfortable taking that risk and living the rest of my life waiting for a cancer bomb to go off.
How do you guys/gals get comfortable taking anything from the Remicade family and not worrying about the cancer risk?
And my main question has more to do with the "safe" meds for the pregnancy that will not result in birth defects. I am looking for some solid research data and not finding any, and yet I realize that there are millions of us out there, and we do get pregnant and have kids, and somehow we all make these choices.
I would really appreciate any input to help me make the choice regarding the meds. Thanks!
I am new to the forum, but unfortunately not new to CD.
All this time I managed to avoid surgeries (except for an appendectomy in 1998) and to stick to Pentasa and some alternative things with a number of Prednisone tapers over the last 12 years.
However, now we are trying to start a family, and my GI docs (yeah, I have a conventional MD and an awesome alternative MD, who actually respect and consult each other) are in agreement that I need something stronger to stay in remission during pregnancy. I started a flare a month ago (first in the last 2years, probably caused by stress and craziness in my life), and still on 20mg of prednisone. They warned me to NOT get pregnant while I am flaring up, so we didn't really try but didn't use protection either - I figured that if I am really actively flaring, it will act as a sort of contraceptive and nothing would happen. Well, what did we know? We did get pregnant, and we lost it a few weeks later. So now I am listening to my docs, and need to get stable fast so we can start trying again.
I got a consult with another specialist, who is well-versed in various clinical trials results, and his recommendation was to start on Cimzia since it's not too bad for a fetus, and then maybe later add 6MP. However, he also mentioned that there is a very small chance of getting cancer from Cimzia, even if I stop taking it, and I am just not comfortable taking that risk and living the rest of my life waiting for a cancer bomb to go off.
How do you guys/gals get comfortable taking anything from the Remicade family and not worrying about the cancer risk?
And my main question has more to do with the "safe" meds for the pregnancy that will not result in birth defects. I am looking for some solid research data and not finding any, and yet I realize that there are millions of us out there, and we do get pregnant and have kids, and somehow we all make these choices.
I would really appreciate any input to help me make the choice regarding the meds. Thanks!
