Q: Can anyone give me advice on Pregnancy and RA, or being on meds while pregnant, such as enbrel.
One of the great things about pregnancy - other than the obvious - is that RA will often go into remission during pregnancy. This happens so often that I once heard a rheumatologist joke that he recommended his female patients stay pregnant. Unfortunately, the RA often returns 6-8 weeks after birth. From what I've heard from other people posting on this site, most meds are removed when you're trying to conceive to protect the baby, although prednisone may be continued as it appears to be relatively safe. I don't know about Enbrel - my impression is that it is such a new drug that not enough is known about its potential effect on fetal development. Your rheumatologist should be able to give you more information about this. Good luck!
Hello this is a month late but maybe it well help... I am 51/2 months preg and I was on meth and Enbrel. I got off the meth 3 mths before we started trying. As for the Enbrel I stayed on it up until we found out I was preg. My RA and OB both said I could stay on the Enbrel. MY RA dr told me, Enbrel has been around for about 16 years and all research shows that it does not cross into the palcenta and thus has no effect on the baby. My OB also said that I could stay on it. For me 16 years is not long enough so I got off the Enbrel. I have not gone into remisson. MY RA have ebbed and flowed from really bad to mild and has should no signs of stopping. Both my Dr agreed that I could take very low dose of presidone. The only side effect they said was it could possibly result in low baby birth weight. I also choice not to do that. I have had very localized injections in my kness because it was getting to the point of not being able to walk with all the extra weight. I did this because my Dr said that it reduces how much medication goes into the blood stream becasue it is injected into the joint. Who knows but I know I needed to walk.. Good luck. My advice is to talk with you Dr and do your research there is a lot fo info out there about steroids.
seriously? I can't believe they were going to let you continue with the enbrel while pregnant, or even be on it while trying. My Rheumatologist told me I'd have to be off of it for six months before I could even start trying to get pregnant.
Well I have learned over the years that every RA Dr. has different opinions about everything. But my peditrican also said it would have been fine,she also said I could breast feed and take Enbrel. I stopped taking Enbrel once I conceived and my 9 month baby girl is healthy and perfect. I didn't get back on my meds until I stopped BF. However,I also have met women who were on Enbrel their whole pregancy and had perfectly healthy babies. I think to take or not take meds., like Enbrel where the research is fairly new, is a very personal decision. One must way all the risk to the baby and to the mother.
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seriously? I can't believe they were going to let you continue with the enbrel while pregnant, or even be on it while trying. My Rheumatologist told me I'd have to be off of it for six months before I could even start trying to get pregnant.