A little over a year and a half ago we decided to try to start a family. We decided since my RA was progressing the way it was that it was in our best interest to go ahead and try to get pregnant. I've had no success yet. I'm on prednisone because thats all I can take because of the fact I'm trying and prednisone only helps so much. I was on Clomid (fertility med.) for about 4 months at 150mg and my doctor said they were going to send me to a fertility specialist because there was nothing more they could do. Know I have to make the decision whether or not I'm going to pursue more testing and fertility meds (which aren't covered on insurance) and keep trying or stop trying and go back on my RA meds and adopt. I wish I had the luxury to just try until it happens but my joints a deteriorating everyday so my husband and I have to make the smart choice. I want to be a mother so badly so I want to make the right decision.
Q: Is there anyone with RA that has infertility problems
Wow. I'm in a slightly different boat than all of you but similar in ways. I have one daughter and my husband and I have been TTC our second for 5 months now. About a month and a half ago the pain started. In the apst few weeks I've been through blood tests and my doctor just this past week spoke with a Rheumatologist who has agreed he believes I have the beginning stages of rheumatoid. I'm 26 the idea of living with pain for next 60 years is terrifying. The past week has been a bit better...smaller joints and milder pain rather than huge pain in commonly used joints. I've been doing as much research as I can to understand this. So far they have simply proscribed Naprosin for the inflammation which I start tonight. Once I see the rheumatologist things may change. This still brings me to tears and knowing that you are all having problems TTC with your RA makes it harder. It was already hard accepting that we weren't pregnant yet but now I have one more obstacle. It's specially hard knowing how much more physically difficult it could be to care for the next child. My shoulder is a bit tender today from carrying my 25lb daughter (who is very light for her age) yesterday when she dislocated her elbow and I had to take her to the ER. How will I be able to carry a baby around on my bad days? I love to cuddle and carry my daughter but it is becoming mroe difficult and it tears me apart if I have to say no when she wants up.
Your story is so similar to mine. I was diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis which is and auto immune problem. I was told by my RA doctor that this does not cause infertility but after trying for 3 1/2 years I did not believe her. I had to go on Enbrel for 3 months until my inflammations where under control then go off and try to get pregnant until the inflammations came back and I could no longer control them with other safer meds. After 3 1/2 years my husband and I had made the choice to Try IVF. Yes, its expensive but at the same time we want to make sure we have done everything we can now before I get to menopausal stage. We just completed IVF and am waiting for the pregnancy test to be done in one week. I hope it works but if it does not at least I know I have done all I can. I think its a small price to pay for the dissapointments I was facing each month after I starting my period. At least I have given myself a better chance to have a child.
You have a hard choice to make and no matter what you decide it will have to come with some sacrifices.
You have to ask yourself what are you most tired of, can you let you body go through the flareups, and 30 years from now when you no longer can have kids can you trully be happy with your decision that you made now. Take care.
I have RA and have been trying to get pregnant for a little over 2 years ( one on my own and 1 year with a infertility specialist). I'm taking 3 mg of prednisone and enbrel and haven't had any luck yet. According to my rheumatologist you will be more successful trying to conceive when the flares are minimal so he recommended me not to get off all the medication. To complicate matters I also have endometriosis. My husband and I are about to try invitro and you can follow our journey at Hopeforjoy.com
I too had trouble getting pregnant with my 2nd child while on Prednisone. (I wasn't diagnosed with RA until after the birth of my 1st). My OB/GYN said that Prednisone was the problem. I went off Prednisone and onto Sulfasalazine, and I got pregnant first try.
A little over three years ago, we decided to try and start a family. In order to do so, I had to start coming off my RA drugs (methotrexate), but have continued taking 50mgs of Enbrel weekly and 10 mgs Prednisone daily. Now three years into trying, we have decided to work with a fertility specialist. Over the last two years, we have undergone 4 IUI attempts (one was a converted IVF attempt) and one recent failed IVF attempt. I have never been pregnant during the last three years. I am 42 years old which is a a contributing factor, but I can't help but question whether something else is happening which may be related to my RA drugs. I have been labeled an "intermediate responder" to the IVF protocol which is good and my husband's results are strong. On paper, no reason why we shouldn't be getting pregnant. And my rheumatologist and fertility specialist say no issues with the current drugs, but I'm not convinced. If pregnant, the plan would be to discontinue the use of Enbrel, but not until we're pregnant. Studies have shown that it's safe and some women have remained on Enbrel during their pregnancy. We're not taking the chance since there isn't enough data yet.
I noted a post about changing prednisone to sulfasalazine, but wanted to see if anyone else has been working with a fertility specialist, is in a similar position and has modified their protocol resulting in a successful pregnancy?
It is both helpful and hard to read the responses above. I was diagnosed with RA about 3 1/2 years ago. I came off my meds about a year ago to begin trying. We've been trying to get pregnant and nothing yet. Although I know its very early, and people in my life that know keep telling me that its too soon to think about infertility and all of that, I know that my joints keep getting worse. The pain is making it difficult to stay postive and work. I really want a baby, it's something I've always wanted, but I'm starting to think that with my RA I wish my doctors would allow me to act more aggressively toward looking into answers. Any thoughts???
If I were you I would seek out an infetility specialist NOW! I have been off my meds and trying for two years. I went to an infertility specialist around a year and a half and we are just getting some ground covered, the process is very long and strinues but of course its worth it. You have to relize that your not like everyone else, you have RA and that changes things completely. Your body can't wait forever so act now, you won't regret it!
Thank you! You're right. After posting this the other day, I spoke again with my GYNO. She is great and willing to start testing things now. I just don't want to regret waiting! Thanks again and good luck to you and your process! I hope it works for you soon.
I too am having difficulties getting pregnant while suffering the negative consequences of only being on prednisone with my RA. My husband and I have been trying for year and a half now and we are just now getting tested for possible infertility complications. I have been contemplating for the past two months if we should go straight to the IUI and/ or IVF track since I seem to be in far too much pain from the RA. I have not been on heavy meds for at least two to three years now and very much feel and see the negative effects this is having on my body. Trying to decipher the whole process and be 'patient' is very hard since I want to try everything possible to have a family of my own first.
I am having problems too! I have been trying for two years without any RA treatments. Did you ever conceive or did you decide to adopt?
Hello all,
I just got my labs back and I scored a 10 in my Rheumatic arthritis factor (my dr hasnt met with me yet to go over this)but..I think that high value means I have RA. I have pain all the time up and down my spine and hip bones and knee bones and shoulders- it comes and goes and is worse in winter, wet cold weather. I wanted to tell you (and I supsected this ALL along) -the chemical process behind RA CAN cause infertility. Allan Bear wrote about this in his book- "is your body baby friendly". With RA you can have high level of Killer cells and other immune processes going on that repel the embryo and conception process. You have to go to an immune specialist to get tested for it. They never determined what my inferility problem was and after trying for 10 yrs only only got pregnant once. I will be demanding more tests from my doctor and RE. I dont totally understand the whole chemical/medical process going on but Allan Bear has a clinic in Ca and the Sher Institutes are familiar with this autoimmune/inferiltiy connection.
I still have to get a bunch of tests.
Ann
Hi Kaylac
I am in the same situation now. We are trying to conceive from more than an year. I have RA and on 5mg prednisone and 2000mg sulfasalazine a day. I was also taking NSAIDs till april but I heard they are bad while ttc so stopped them.
How is it going with you guys? Are you able to conceive on your own or did you have to take IVF road?
I have RA and am currently off my medications to try to conceive my second child. Obviously, the gal who needed some answers in 2008 has probably moved on now that it's 2011. Hopefully she got pregnant and never gave this blog another thought. But, I thought I'd share my info for others who come across this page. I conceived after 1 1/2 years of trying when I was 31 years old. I had RA then, and was taking sulfasalazine and prednisone when I got pregnant. I went into a comfortable remission while I was pregnant and went on methotrexate after I stopped nursing. I did really, really well on methotrexate for the following seven years.
For the young woman who just got a diagnosis and is worried about parenting with the disease, please do not get distracted by "natural health" web sites and vitamins. Or, rather, go ahead and take them if you want, but you MUST start taking the powerful pharmaceuticals right away. It's hard to adjust to the idea that you need them, but you don't want to mess around. You will need your joints later and don't want to damage them irreparably now. You might also be amazed at how much better you feel, and you might find that you can feel qutie normal on most days. Just think what a miracle it is that you don't live in 1911 when such drugs were unavailable. You would likely never have been able to marry or have kids, and you would have been hopeless, miserable and in a wheelchair. What a shame it would be not to use the medications that are available to you!
Now that I am 39, I have been off the methotrexate for over a year to try to conceive again. I tried to only take sulfasalazine and 5mg daily of prednisone, but I was in such severe pain after 8 months that I agreed to try Enbrel. After figuring out that the stomach was a better injection site for me (had painful grapefruit-sized welts on my leg), I am doing okay. On Enbrel combined with 5 mg of prednisone daily, I feel like I'm at 70% most of the time. It's tolerable, but I'm always skimming right on the surface of intolerable pain and achyness. I keep telling myself that I can go back on methotrexate at any time (if I want to give up on baby #2) and that this suffering is for a good cause. Because I don't think I can stay off methotrexate much longer and I am nearly 40, I just started seeing a fertility specialist a few months ago.
I would recommend that anyone who has RA and hasn't conceived after a few months (no matter what your age) should go straight to a fertility specialist. They can do a workup to make sure you aren't wasting your time while in pain. For instance, why spend a full year in RA pain and then discover you had endometriosis or weren't even ovulating the entire time? Also, my fertility doc said that it's possible that RA makes it harder to conceive due to inflammation, so why waste time with cycles that aren't even capable of producing a baby? My doc never said it was an insurmountable barrier to get preggers with RA, and I have never heard that RA patients should just give up. It might slow the process a bit, but all the people I know with RA who wanted to have children have had them.
Keep in mind, also, that age and other unrelated factors make MANY women have fertility problems, so you shouldn't just jump to the conclusion that your medications or your RA are preventing you from conceiving. I hope this info helps. Keep trying! Don't give up! Good luck!
I have not been diagnosed yet but have a family history or RA and have had issues with endometriosis in the past.
The first treatment my dad was put (he has RA) is the MTX, but what concerns me is that MTX is the abortion drug and I don't want to reduce my chances of conception. I am only 24 and am feeling very overwhelmed with the prospect of this pain continuing my whole life.. do I stay off meds until I want to concieve? Or do I consider that I may never have kids.
Encouraging news! Check this out:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10342392
and this:
"Relationship Between Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fertility, and Pregnancy"
http://www.medversation.com/medversation/hcp/section/PGL/SBB9F92E5-4651-48B4-6CBE-0D31FE60220B.html<!--EndFragment-->
I am glad to find this site. I have a 3 yrs old son and I had vasculities when i concieved him and was 38. When he was a year I had a flare and started seeing RA. So, now I have RA and we have been trying for a year with several mc. I was on nothing but after my second mc I am on 10mg of steriods and projestrone. I do get flares with my mc too. Both my fertility doc and Rhu say my RA is not a factor. After all the test they determined my eggs are not the best quality due to my age and recommend trying FSH injections with IUI. I am concerned because I always notice a flare with my RA with my menstrual cycles and my obgyn did verify that hormones effect RA. I also noticed when taking progestrone that dosing twice a day was better on my RA. I am a little concerned that the FHS injections might casue a flare? anyone have experience.
To the person who was concerned about RA and being able to take care of your child. I was concerned and still think about it but just have a plan in case something happened like a car reck etc. My son is very active but I take care of him and my husband is supportive if I was able to be on embroyl it would be easiers. I did check with a genetist before we decided to have a child and all auto immune they told me are a 50% chance of passing to your child so it is a personal decision but the younger the better with RA
I have been natural for the first 3 yrs but once I really had RA I went on embroyl until we starting trying to get pregnant and it work about 80% effective. I have some joint pains now and they can be scary so I am for meds when it comes to joints but I do take lots of vitimans to keep my immune system up as much as possible.
We are considering embroyl donnation/adoption through a clinic since it is cheaper.
Ladies my heart goes out to you and wish you the best! My wife and I went thru the same but it was I who was having problems and wanted so much to be a Daddy. We went thru and expensive process "Baylor Medical" and I found out that RA caused my infertility. I did not even know I had RA for years and years I had RA and thought nothing of the flare ups I was so young strong and fought thru them. Finally we tried again thru the fertility process and we were succesful and had a wonderful baby boy. I truely wish all you ladies the best.
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Hi, i have had Ra for over 21 years. i've been trying to get pregnant for over 2 years. I know what fears you have and I understand completely. I too fear not being able to take care of my children but I'm hear to tell you that you will find the strength you need, God doesn't give anyone anything they can't handle. My advice to you is to take control of your health, explore your options, because I have to deal with Ra for the rest of my life I have decided to take the natural approach as much as possible because I don't want toxic medicines in my body all my life. I would visit mercola.com, he is a great doctor that take the natural approach for treating Ra. He has been treating Ra this way for over 20 years. Good luck to you and I pray everything goes well as you.