getting pregnant on humira | Arthritis Information

hello everyone. i am new to the board!

my name is melissa i am 31 years old & i was diagnosed with RA in January. After having my first child in August 2006 i began feeling "odd" pains on my 30th birthday in October of that year. as the year went on the pains migrated around my muscles & then the summer of 2007 just disappeared. by that september they came back full force & my body actually felt as though i was made of stone. by January 2008 & after many many many blood tests i was finally diagnosed.

i have been on humira pen injections since january & they have been an absolute god send. my only problem is my husband & i wanted to try for baby #2 this month. my rheumatologist told me i should go off the humira for 6 weeks before i even begin trying. but when i spoke to my OB she looked up humira & it is a class B. she told me the class was actually considered safer during pregnancy then some over the counter meds pregnant women might take & not even think twice about.

so my question is should i go off & wait the 6 weeks like my rheumatologist suggested or go with what my OB said. of course i don't want to mess with anything or hurt my unborn child. but she seemed so laid back about it.

i see my RA doctor next week so of course i can run by everything with him again.

i am just wondering if there is anyone here who is or became pregnant while on the injections.

thanks in advance if you made it this far!

melissa

I have been through 2 pregnancies while taking Enbrel (also Class B) and thank Jesus and all the other Gods and Goddesses I now have 2 healthy, happy and crazy girls. I went against the advice of my rheumy as I was completely unable to function after trying to give up Enbrel for several weeks. I went back on it and stayed on it throughout both pregnancies. I did reduce the dose though. But I'm happy to say I was lucky and experienced some remission in pregnancy and through the breast feeding period on my first daughter. But on my second child (who is now 4 months old) I've not been so lucky. Through the pregnancy I felt good but started having pain almost immediately after she was born. Having said that I live on the 4th floor of a walk-up and am lugging my 2 year old, the new baby and a double buggy up and down the stairs daily, which doesn't really help matters.

So my advice is to try giving it up to see how you feel. If you're okay then I'd stay off it for the duration but if the pain is too much to bear you're not going to be able to get pregnant anyway. If that is the case, do your research, go back on it and good luck (and have fun) getting pregnant.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask me any questions.

Best,

Hello,

I haven't been on this message board in a couple of years. But I have had RA for 7 years now, and had two more children to add to my oldest, who was born pre-RA.

I did research, mostly conducted by Dr. Thomas Hale. He has a book "Medications and Mother's Milk" which tells you the risk to yourself and your nursing child while taking medication. I recommend it to everyone.

I took Enbrel through one pregnancy and tandem nursed my newborn and toddler, while on it. I noticed no side effects, they are all healthy girls. I am a strong advocate of breastfeeding, especially since we have these diseases that have been shown to be reduced by extended breastfeeding. I won't get on that soapbox now, but just so you know, you don't have to suffer through pain of RA or most other things in order to nurse your baby.

http://www.ibreastfeeding.com/
http://neonatal.ttuhsc.edu/lact/

I hope this is helpful and I hope you have all the babies that you want! :)

Marsha

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