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Stelara, predisolone and pregnancy

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Cronie1

Hi everyone

I am currently 7 weeks pregnant and I only started stelara in February. I’m due to have my second injection on Monday but of course I’m worried about harming the baby or having a miscarriage. I’m also on 17.5mg of prednisone which had put me in remission. Any thoughts on the safety of stelara/prednisone?

This is my first pregnancy after ttc for 2.5 years, and am so anxious about miscarriage.

Any advice appreciated.
 
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Cronie1

Hi mlp.

Thanks for your response, I spoke to my IBD nurse when I found out I was pregnant and she said that the stelara would be treated the same as infliximab/Humira in pregnancy.

She did briefly discuss reducing the frequency to 12 weeks rather than 8 weeks, but with my history of relapses she said they would probably stick with every 8 weeks. Ultimately of course though it my decision, but I’ll probably continue as I’m afraid of losing stelara as a treatment option.
 
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Kristen24

I'd be more concerned about the steriods than the Stelara because of the effect they can have on your blood sugar and blood pressure. 17.5mg is a low dose so hopefully the risk of side effects is minimal.
 
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Cronie1

Hi Kristen 24, I know, I was worried about the steroids too particularly with the cleft palate risk I’ve read about, but my nurse thought 17.5mg was a low enough dose and didn’t seem concerned. I’ve tried to taper to 15 mg several times but every time I do the stomach pains get worse. I’m hoping the injection on Monday will work and I’ll be able to taper.
 
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Cronie1

Hi again. I'm now 22 weeks pregnant and so far pregnancy wise everything is going well. I was able to come off the steroids for the first time in almost a year about 2 weeks ago, but then my cal protectin started to climb again a bit and pains returned. I ended up back on 5mg of prednisolone for the moment. The ibd pharmacist and my consultant initially agreed that with my crohns stable there was no point in giving me the stelara, the ibd nurse disagreed and wanted me to have two further injections while pregnant. However now that I have flared a bit again, my consultant thinks I would be better to have another injection rather than just maintaining the 5mg prednisolone. What should I do? I'm scared of the risk stelara could have on my baby. My consultant just said that it was a better drug than the prednisolone and that active disease would also be a risk. When I was previously on 5mg before tapering my cal protectin was 37. My consultant wants me to repeat the test on a 'bad day's but is writing the script for me to have stelara regardless....any opinions?
 
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