Crohn's get worse after having kids?

[DanaDeadPetals]

Hey everyone. I'm just curious, but for those of you that have children, did your Crohn's symptoms get worse or stay the same after? I had my first daughter pre-crohn's and my second after. I had to end up having a c-section with her. Anyway, I flared 2 months after she was born and ended up in the hospital for about a week. I haven't been the same since. I've been pretty much battling flares off and on for the last 5 years and have been hospitalized 3X since her birth. Does anyone else have a similar story? This is merely curiosity

 

[xJillx]

Hey Dana! I actually just posted a similar question in the Pregnancy & Crohn's sub-forum. I have yet to start a family, and I have been doing a lot of research. Though I don't want to believe it, from the numerous posts I've read, it seems like things go downhill after giving birth. This terrifies me. I so want children, but I don't know if I can handle the repercussions. I just hope it isn't a guarantee that having children causes Crohn's to progress. I, too, would like to hear from others.

 

[DanaDeadPetals]

Hey Jill, I'm not sure it's a guarantee bc I know there has got to be women out there that made it through it without a flare. Hopefully some will come along and share their stories. I will tell you right toward the end of my pregnancy (I had her 3 weeks early) I started to get the LRQ pain. My gyno blew it off saying it's just the baby growing and pressing on things (which seemed plausible). So I think I started to flare before I had her and then continuously got worse after. I have read on other forums that there are maintenance meds you can take while pregnant (I wasn't on any) but I wasn't flaring and was in remission. Looking back I wish I had taken something during because it may have helped, but I can't be certain either way. I wouldn't give up on having kids. Just be as educated and armed with knowledge as you can on the subject and make both dr's listen

 

[xJillx]

Yes, I do plan on staying on maintenance meds while pregnant. Though I am concerned of taking medication while pregnant, I have heard it is much more risky to be on nothing at all.
I still want kids, no doubt. I guess I just want to prepare myself the best I can.

 

[AshleyElaine87]

I think it does get worse. I had my daughter over a year ago, and flared up during the pregnancy, which I didn't know I had Crohn's. I had a full obstruction after I had my daughter and was in the hospital for four months and had surgery; and this all happened when she was 6 weeks old. I am pregnant again, and doing it drug-free, other than nexium. I am hoping now that I know I have Crohn's I can listen to my body a bit better.

 

[Astra]

And yet I felt really well during my 2 pregnancies, blooming in fact!

Congratulation Ashley, hope this pregnancy is trauma free for you
xxx

 

[AshleyElaine87]

Thanks Astra! I do too

I know everyone is different during their pregnancies and every pregnancy is different! (Thank goodness )

 

[xJillx]

Congrats, Ashley!

I am sorry you had a tough time with your first pregnancy. I hope this one goes smoothly.

 

[lookitsjen]

I have asked my doctor the same thing even though I am not pregnant now I want to start trying for children in two years. Anyways, she told me that basically with crohn's and pregnancy about 1/3 will see an improvement, 1/3 will stay the same, and 1/3 will get worse. She also said that going in to the pregnancy healthy or in remission gives the best chance for a healthy baby and healthy recovery for mom, but that if ur sick when u conceive you have a pretty high chance of miscarriage or flaring. And just my personal opinion after talking with some people is that while it may seem a "guarantee" that you will get worse with pregnancy because so many others on here have experienced that..take into consideration that the majority of the people on this forum are on here because they have bad cases or worse symptoms. The majority of people who have crohn's under control and are living care-free lives [and there are a lot of them] don't spend time on this forum because they are out living their lives. I don't mean that in a rude way either, just saying. Before I got treated I was miserable and in pain and spent my entire days on this site reading and sharing horror stories. Once i started remicade and got into remission i found that i no longer came on this site because i was feeling good enough to go out and live. Now that I'm noticing certain side-effects I'm coming back to see if anyone can relate. So don't give up hope for starting a family for fear of crohn's getting worse.

 

[Mapper]

I was in remission for 7 years on just Asacol. Meaning no symptoms whatsoever. Stayed on Asacol throughout my first pregnancy, and while full-time breastfeeding. All was well until I started weaning my baby at 9 months, when I started getting Crohn's symptoms. I have been battling flares off and on for the past 7 years, which included two more successful pregnancies.

In that time I was taking Pentasa and on and off Prednisone and Entocort at least once a year. I was not willing to take anything else during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Counting up the last 7 years, I was pregnant for a total of 1.5 years and breastfeeding for 2.5 years, so 4 of those 7 years were dedicated to reproduction. . I think it's been a combination of not enough sleep, more stress, changes to my immune system and age that's been doing me in. Now I'm done having babies (three boys is more than enough for me!!), it's time to concentrate on getting myself straightened out. Was having the babies worth it, even with the flare-ups? Absolutely!!! Go for it!

 

[LindaS]

I was in remission for almost 9 years when I got pregnant and I flared big time when I was pregnant. I had a lot of problems with my pregnancy (hyperemissis, pre-eclampsia) as well as the flare. In the 9 years of remission I put on a bit of weight which turned out to be a good thing since I lost 25 pounds during my pregnancy. My son was born healthy but small (4lbs, 15 oz.). Following the birth I had bad symptoms, and ended up needing another surgery 2 years later due to repeated obstructions.

However, I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat to have my wonderful son.

 

[ErikaHouston]

My initial Hemorrhage was 3 months post partum. No clue if related and I am a strange presentation of Crohn's. Live your life and have babies .

 

[SpaceC06]

I had my first 11 months ago. I am still waiting to be officially diagnosed with Crohn's, but the past 8 months have been a PITA with all the symptoms.

We want to have another, but that will not happen until I at least know what is going on and hopefully have some sort of remediation.

 

[RachelM]

I have had two children since being diagnosed with CD. I did not notice much of a difference after my 1st child, however after my second i noticed a big difference. I also noticed a big difference during my 2nd pregnancy as well though, however, at that point, I had been battling flares ups on and off for a couple years prior. I have found my CD to become worse although not sure if it was the pregnancy or just coincidental timing or because it had been an ongoing battle. Yea the pain was hard at times but not all the time and when it got real tough, I would give my baby bump a rub and remember how thankful I was to be able to experience such an amazing journey and every ounce of pain was worth it, to blessed with the ability to bring life into the world. Your only preggers for nine months and child will last the rest of your life, after pregnancy there are optional treatments, however, everyones strengths to cope are different. I hope all works out for you and wish you all the best of health in the future, be sure to keep us updated. Take care ((((HUGS)))))

 

[barmybev]

Hi Before I fell pregnant with my 1st Son I was in a flare but as soon as I got pregnant everything seemed to go fine for the whole 8 1/2 months crohnswise 2 weeks after he was born I then got all the symptoms I had before being pregnant, really strange maybe I should of stayed permanently pregnant lots of kids, but no crohn's symptoms!!! x

 

[sararay]

My daughter is 20 months old and I have been in remission for the last seven years without medications. I nursed her until she was 14 months and I didn't have any problems until after she was weaned. Three months ago I began to have symptoms that ended up being diagnosed as a fistula from my colon to my bladder. A colonoscopy revealed inflammation in the sigmoid colon where the fistula was. I am now facing surgery. They tell me it is all related to crohns.

I don't know if it is because of the lack of rest (pre-baby I always made sure to get enough rest, now it is very hard), variation from my anti-inflammatory diet, or just increased stress in my life lately (economic problems). I didn't have any major problems during my pregnancy, just some constipation. I plan to have another baby once I heal from the surgery but my doc wants me to stay on my maintenance meds for future pregnancies.

My doc says that if I want to get pregnant again I should do it as soon as possible once I recover from surgery and get into remission. She says she has had a lot of people who like to be pregnant because most of the time they stay in remission.

 

[meardonna]

i'm a bit wierd! I was bad through my teens and uni, i was in hospital a couple of times but it was always put down to IBS, i had my son when I was 21 and was ok through pregnancy, and amazing through the two years of breastfeeding, but as soon as I stopped I ended up in hospital for a couple of weeks they were useless and just treated the symptoms and blockage, i felt awful!!! luckily it gradually settled back down after a couple of months. 5 years later i fell pregnant again, i hadn't really had much bother with my 'IBS' for a few years. when I was 7 months pregnant with my daughter I fell really ill and was stuck on the loo constantly and was bleeding really heavy, it was put down to pregnancy problems, i lost 5 pints of blood and ended up in hospital for nearly 3 months getting blood transfusions and all sorts of drugs. i was in till my daughter was born, and on quite a few occassions they were planing on doing c-section and giving me an ileostomy! I fought against it like mad!!!!! i had my daughter, she was really small, against advice i breastfed again and very quickly got well and got off nearly all meds and was controlling my then finally diagnosed crohns by diet and breastfeeding. i fed her for 2 and a half years ( longer than my son due to fears of stopping) I stopped feeding her and straight away fell ill again, ended up on steroids for 13 months, no drugs were working and i couldn't cope anymore, i was told to take the surgery as I was getting worse and would end up an emergency. so in may I did take the plunge, i now have an ileostomy and they changed my diagnosis to ulcerative colitis but you can never really trust them on that! i have been really well since the op! i do wonder though whast will happen if I decide to have another.

 

[tea_angie]

I was in remission for 3 years and on 1200 mg of Pentasa when I got pregnant with my daughter. I stopped Pentasa sometime around 3rd month and have not taken it since. I felt good during pregnancy (save for having gestational diabetes) and afterwards. 5 years later I got pregnant with my son - still in remission and no meds (gestational diabetes again - diet controlled - good at that by default :ybiggrin. I can't say for sure when exactly my new - not so bad symptoms started - but it was 2 - 3 months after giving birth. I think Crohn's is slowly creeping back. I have D on and off, joint pain, cracking skin. None terrible but finally caught my attention after nearly 15 months.

 

[slightlysilly]

I had symptoms of crohn's for about 10 years before I ever was diagnosed. My son was 8 when I was diagnosed and the pregnancy with him was not so bad. My GI told me that if you are in a flare when you get pregnant, you'll stay in a flare, if you aren't in a flare, you won't flare... it has something to do with your immune system being repressed because your body doesn't want to reject the baby... but I guess that isn't true for everyone otherwise we'd be injecting all crohns patients with baby making hormones... I guess in some way, we already do.... ie: remicade.

 

[Cupcake]

I am so glad I found this thread. I had been diagnosed since I was a child, but I had a tremendous change in my disease after my daughter was born. I had written off a lot of my postpartum issues as something all moms go through, but really I think now it was the start of a huge flare up from a few weeks after she was born. I began biologic therapy after the worst issues I had with crohn's weren't going to get any better on their own.

 

[stacichristine]

I have nothing brilliant to offer here. I didn't know I had crohn's until after I had all three of my kids, but the pain from flares was all but gone during all three of my pregnancies. Probably why I LOVED being pregnant so much!! Of course, I did have SEVERE constipation, but that has been a general problem for me anyway until recently. Don't let this diesease scare you from having children!! Good luck to you!