Just wondering how many of you had your RA start after being pregnant or during pregnancy and how it has panned out since then for you. Mine started after the birth of my son - I read that it is possible that carrying a boy may be a trigger because of the different sex hormones - just wondering what you think.
I suffered palindromic arthritis prior to the birth of my first son. After the birth I developed full blown RA.
That's interesting about a boy fetus be the trigger. Where did you get that info?I can't remember now but I read it a couple of times. I've had palindromic RA but I think it is now going into the full blown RA. It's but me off having another child as i don't want to make it worse.
I was dxd about a year after our 1st DD was born, couldn't unclench my hands if I made a fist during the pregnancy. Then it went into my jaw, I could barely chew, which finally made me go to the dr. During my 2nd pregnancy RA symptoms went away, but 2 weeks after 2nd DD was born I had a bad flare and started MTX, that was 17 years ago. My girls are such a blessing to me, I never considered not having them because it might make the RA worse, I've been fortunate that my progression has been pretty slow. I am scared to have another child in it makes my RA worse because it would affect my ability to care for me little boy was well as I do know - and I struggle at the moment. I never wanted to have only one child and sometimes i ache to have another -ache, ha ha - but i don;t want to take the chance becasue I love him so much I couldn't bare for him to suffer because I could look after him.
I was dx in Sept 05 when my daughter was 17 and son 12 so no connection to that. I did have a series of traumatic events happen ( I hit a deer totalled my van, and thought my sis died in hurricane Katrina) that weekend I woke up with major pain, swelling, and redness, in my right hand. So bad I was crying! I couldn't even comb my hair.
Since then it has been everywhere!
C
I've been diabetic for 40 years and I wasn't going to have children because of that, I married a man who wanted to have a family with me more than anything and he wouldn't take no for an answer, we had a specialist who supported him. Having our girls turned out to be the best thing I have ever done for myself. Once I was dxd with RA, I really worried that it would be hard on them, my husband taught them to skip, I may have sat on the floor with them only a couple of times total and before the oldest went to school I had to show her how normal people walk down stairs, not one step at a time like her mom. I don't know how bad your RA is and that absolutely should have a bearing on having another child if it is compromising your ability to take care of your son as it is. But I don't think kids neccessarily suffer when they have a parent who has a chronic disease, because the older they get the more they can do to take care of themselves. My girls are so compassionate and helpful, they are very sensitive to what other people are going through, I don't know where I'd be if I had RA and I didn't have them to help me, to take my mind off myself, on the other hand I also don't know what they'd be like if I'd hadn't had the chronic illnesses I've been dealing with. The oldest was 3 when I was pg with the youngest, she did all the vacuuming, helped with the dishes and cooking. I'd pull a chair up to the sink for her. She's 20 and still crawls into bed with me when she's home from college. Their childhoods were absolutely different from what my healthy friends were offering their children, but I don't think it was worse, not by the way they have turned out, they aren't self absorbed and how they talk about their childhood. We have lots of wonderful memories, even if alot of them are just sitting on the couch with mom reading a book or watching a Disney movie.I developed RA during pregnancy. But, in my next pregnancy, I actually had a remission during the second half! It was so nice that I could almost do it again ;)I developed ReA two weeks before the birth of my first child. 8 1/2 mos. pregnant with a knee like a grapefruit and a knuckle like a walnut was not fun! They all thought it would go away, but after 6 mos. in a wheelchair, 9 months with a walker and now a cane for the past 7 years, it is defintiely here to stay.
The fear of getting worse also kept me from trying to conceive again until I accidentally got pregnant with a son. The problem was that I was still on MTX when I conceived. Everyone thought we would lose him in the first trimester because of the MTX but he went full term with no problems in sight until he was born. During this time my ReA actually got better. He was born with several severe and rare heart defects and despite several surgeries passed two weeks after birth.
But, because the preganancy was so much easier than what I thought it was it inspired us to try again and we were able to conceive a beautiful girl (now just over 2). BUT the pregnancy was horrible - swollen feet beyond recognition, sore knees, and again the walnut knuckles.
Okay, the point of all this (yes there is a relevant one for this thread) - I checked and apparently it is true that for some types of arthritis genetic simiarlity with the mother may actually exacerbate the arthritis. Now I have reA not RA and am HLA-B27 pos. (spondylarthropy marker) and I think this may be related to this type. But in my experience and from the research I have done, I had onset and worsening of sysmptoms while pregnant with girls (genetic simialrity) and improvement with a boy (genetic dissimilarity).
I had a boy first, no RA. A girl second, and the RA came on 3 months later! ~Karin