Women who became pregnant AFTER MS diagnosis..

[Tawanda]

Recent posts have peaked my curiosity. Did you have 9 months of remission from your MS? If so, did your body play "catch-up" and overwhelm you with symptoms after the birth?

In my opinion, 9 months is just a small blip in a lifetime of MS, but it seems to me there is something to this pregnancy and being MS-free for 9 months, this link should be studied a lot more than it has been.

BTW, when my MS Mom was preggo with me, her symptoms kept on chugging along (I have all her medical records and my father to support back me up), so is this an urban legend or for real?

I was not diagnosed with MS until DD was 3, but there is a high possibility that I had MS while pregnant and was unaware. I had a horrific pregnancy, Toxemia and sky high BP that never quite came back down to normal...if this was an MS pregnancy, no one will ever know, but if it was, it would shoot down the "9 months of freedom from MS theory". I dunno. I am very interested in any and all responses.

[SNOOPY]

Hi Tawanda,

As you may, or may not, remember I had both of my children after diagnosis. One was born in 1989 the other in 1992.

My last relapse before pregnancy was in 1986 (3 years before my first child) and the first relapse after pregnancy was in 1994 (2 years after my second was born.

What symptoms and/or limitations I had before pregnancy were there during pregnancy but never worse or better.

[aitch10]

I was DX'd long before either of my pregnancies. I was in complete remission during my first pregnancy but SX hit me like a ton of bricks afterward.

Pregnancy did nothing to alleviate SX the second go around, but there wasn't as much of a pronounced decline in the months following the birth of my second kid.

[lorib]

I never had new symptoms while pregnant with either of my 2 kids. However, the symptoms that I had before pregnancy were still there (i.e., left hand numbness and fatigue). I think for most women with MS they don't usually experience new symptoms or at least have an exacerbation while pregnant.

However, not everyone is this lucky. The constant reminders that you have MS are still usually there. It would be nice if my right motor cortex could remyelinate while I was pregnant so my left hand wouldn't tingle constantly, but that doesn't happen. There is permanent damage to that part of my brain. For women whose brain's aren't as damaged they might experience some relief but not necessarily.

I think of it this way, while pregnant you have a "foreign object"/baby growing in your uterus and something happens with the immune system so it doesn't attack that "object"/baby. Once the baby is born all bets are off so the immune system returns to normal and the chance of having a relapse increases quite a bit.

[Tawanda]

Thanks for the replies thus far!

I had a thought about this today. I felt lousy while I was pregnant and I don't think I am alone. It might be hard to gauge the status of MS symptoms with the rest of your body bring so wildly out of whack. That's probably why the 9 months of physical freedom theory never quite rang true to me BUT if there IS something there, that link needs to be intensely researched!

[dyin_myelin]

BUT if there IS something there, that link needs to be intensely researched!

It is: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/824364

[Tawanda]

It is: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/824364

Thanks for the link, but when I clicked on it, it asked me to first become a member before I could read anything else. Maybe you could provide a synopsis? Not getting many hits here. The 9 months of pregnancy remission is starting to sound like another MS legend like MS burning out with age and "benign" MS. I want to be wrong, though.!

[Pipes123]

It seems to be more complicated than just no relapses during pregnancy. But Estriol the pregnancy hormone, was investigated as a possible treatment because there seems to be some benefit.

See this. http://multiple-sclerosis-research.b...-how-does.html

Of course you have rightly pointed out the ethical question. Even if pregnancy helps, what is the right choice when you consider the child?

[Tawanda]

It seems to be more complicated than just no relapses during pregnancy. But Estriol the pregnancy hormone, was investigated as a possible treatment

Of course you have rightly pointed out the ethical question. Even if pregnancy helps, what is the right choice when you consider the child?

Thanks for the info. That is what I've been trying to get at. No, I definitely not recommend staying pregnant for the first half of your life as treatment for women with MS! Just wondering if we learned anything at all about the connection thus far. If you can take the hormone without the pregnancy and get the same benefits, if in fact there are any, it sounds like a logical course of treatment.

[als5445]

I'm currently 3 1/2 months with my first, and yes, my MS did subside. I went off Tysabri a couple months prior to trying to conceive and I started feeling the MS trickling back, although I did not have a full blown relapse. That's actually one of the first things that made me know I was pregnant was that those symptoms went away. I was also having issues with low blood sugar and that went away too. It's certainly not the case with everyone, but for me the theory was true.

[Myoak]

At the recent AAN conference one of the many interesting posters was on natalizumab and pregnancy. In 97 women exposed to natalizumab during pregnancy there were no fetal malformations or low birth weight or premature birth.

Doubtful anyone will be interested in giving Tysabri to pregnant women, in a study or outside one. But based on this small study there doesn't appear great danger.

[dyin_myelin]

Doubtful anyone will be interested in giving Tysabri to pregnant women, in a study or outside one. But based on this small study there doesn't appear great danger.

It's pretty obvious that this woman got pregnant on Tysabri intentionally with medical community support based on the aggressiveness of her MS:
http://inhealth.cnn.com/living-well-...?redirect=beme


My position is, all MS is aggressive, and the best way to be a good mother is to not be crippled by MS. And yes, the research shows that it is not mutinogenic, carcinogenic, or abortive, but can cause transient anemia if taken throughout the pregnancy (which by itself shows that some women are intentionally electing to take it while pregnant).

[Myoak]

That link contained a great story and fit well with all the other cases involving pregnancy and Tysabri. Clearly she intentionally became pregnant on Tysabri. Less clear (to me only perhaps!) that it was with the support of the “medical community”.

She refers to the decision being made by “we” but it isn’t clear if “we” was she and husband, she and doctor, or all three. Entirely possible that it was all three. Entirely possible her doctor supported the idea.

But I remain doubtful many doctors would recommend pregnancy on Tysabri, however, I could be wrong. 97 pregnancies exposed to Tysabri can’t all be accidental. This case, as others have worked out well. I think that is great news. Makes me wonder about pregnancy recommendations on other DMTs.

Dyin myelin, you make a good point about MS being aggressive and dealing with it aggressively. Thanks for the link, it’s a great story. If PML issues can be resolved with Ty it seems as though the benefits of it are truly remarkable.

[Myoak]

Quoting Anne Cross from her presentation at the recent AAN meeting:

“When MS patients get pregnant they have a reduced relapse rate. The drug estriol has been studied because it can simulate some aspects of pregnancy. When estriol was added to copaxone the relapse rate at 12 months was cut by 47%, almost half versus adding placebo pills”.

At 24 months the relapse rate was reduced by 32%. The study involved 36 MSers.