I am 13 weeks pregnant and I stopped taking all RA medication. I am MISERABLE and in constant pain. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[jskendzel]

[Hidden]

Congratulations on being pregnant. I am sorry but I have not advice other than follow all what the doctors suggest to do. Keep the end baby in sight at all times, it may help you to get through the coming months. At least the actual birth should prove a doddle for you with having had the pain of RA.

Take care and rest as much as you can. xxx

[swapshop]

Hi i have recently tried guided relaxation....must admit i was rather sceptical at first but it did actually make me cope better - also i use a tens machine for specific areas - but not sure what would help otherwise.

Certainly worth keeping in touch with your GP though - good luck and hope you feel on the mend soon if your pregnancy hormones kick in in the second trimester xC

[Josie2]

Sorry i have no advice at all but i would like to send my congratulations.

Xxxxxx

[earthwitch]

Ask your rheumatologist to talk to your obstetrician, and ask the obstet. to talk to the rheumatologist, so they are both in the loop and making decisions together.

You could also ask your GP to refer you to physio to see if there is anything they can offer to help keep your joints comfortable - like TENS, or heat, or splints, or even just showing you easier ways to do things that don't hurt so much.

Going to some kind of relaxation class might help too - especially if it was for folk with chronic pain. It won't get rid of your pain, but even if it only knocks it back one point on the scale it will help a lot.

[cathie]

Relaxation, meditation, tai chi may all help. Good luck. Ive heard that some people get remission while pregnant so I hope you do

Keep joints moving and warm

Xx

[luckeysl]

Hi

Congratulations on your pregancy! I have a 8 month old baby - bit of a surprise baby as I am 41!. I had a flare up at the beginning - but things did improve in the second trimester!! As for after the birth - try to keep an open mind - it can go either ways - worse or improve - hope that yours does improve for the better!

I have PA and was dreading all the nappy changes etc with being in such pain in my hands - but Ive found that keeping my hands moving (feeding, nappies etc) and constantly in and out of water(!) has helped whereas before they had opportunity to get stiff. Sorry this was probably more info than you wanted. All the best with the remainder of your pregancy!

Best Wishes

Sharon

[bpeal1]

Congratulations! I was in the same position as you 3.5 years ago. Despite being told if I got pregnant it would probably go into remission for the duration. I flared constantly throughout my pregnancy.

You should speak to your rheumatology team and get some help. There are things that can be done / things you can take.

Initially I would ask for a steroid injection. I had lots of these to keep me going through my pregnancy. There is no problem with these as they are exactly the same as the steroid injections given routinely to ladies who are carrying twins. They are given to mature the lungs of the babies as twin pregnancies are more likely to go into premature labour. Therefore the only sided effect on your baby will be to mature its lungs which if you did go into premature labour would increase its chance of survival (as far as I was concerned this was a benefit).

Hydroxychloroquine is licensed for use in pregnancy. It is licensed because it is also used to treat malaria. So this could be an option to keep the RA under control.

Unfortunately I couldn't tolerate hydroxychloroquine. So I took sulphasalazine. Sulphasalazine is not licensed to take during pregnancy but 1000's of ladies have taken it and there are no known sided effects (my rheumatology consultant said she thought the only reason it wasn't licensed was to do with the ethics of testing a drug on healthy pregnant ladies). The only downside of taking an unlicensed drug was I had to be under the close care of the obstetrician which meant going to the hospital every 4 weeks for scans, even though it was a bit of a pain having to spend so much time in hospital waiting rooms it was lovely to see the baby so often and very reassuring and the radiologists were lovely and gave me loads of free pictures.

You can take NSAIDs during the first 2 trimesters but I couldn't as I was also taking low dose aspirins.

Please don't suffer in silence there are options and uncontrolled inflammation can cause complications.

In case your interested hydroxychloroquine is licensed for use during breast feeding. As above sulphasalazine is not licensed during breast feeding but has been taken by many ladies without problems. I fed my son until he was 13 months.

Hope I have been able to reassure you a bit. Please feel free to ask any other questions.

Becky

[Janeye]

Poor you. I am in the process of trying for a baby and have been off my meds for 3 months now. I have flared but am on a reducing course of steroids which my consultant has said is safe in pregnancy. The aim if I am lucky and fall pregnant is to get me off them in the second part of pregnancy when things tend to settle with RA so there is a chance it might for you still. Have you thought about asking to go on a reducing steroid dose to get some control and relief? I really hate taking them and was very concerned but have been reassured by my rheumy team and wouldn't have been able to get out of bed without them. I wish you all the best and hope your pain settles and the baby hormones kick in soon.

[pamlewes]

Congratulations, l would suggest you try a tens machine with 4 pads as then you can use them at 2 levels for better pain control and it can also be used for labour. Cheaper to buy on the internet make sure that you get the 4 pad labour one as it has diffent controls than the ones you wear for non labour pain.

[Victoria-NRAS Partner Moderator NRAS]

Hi

Congratulations but poor you!

There is a case study on our website that might be interesting for you. In this lady's case she was able to control her RA with steroids. Like you she was not one of the lucky ones that got relief from their RA symptoms during pregnancy:

nras.org.uk/about_rheumatoi...

There are also some other good articles on pregnancy and RA in the relationships/pregnancy section of our website:

nras.org.uk/about_rheumatoi...

Kind regards

Victoria

(NRAS Helpline)

[nancy66]

my Ra developed after my first child and went into remission during second pregnancy but i was able to take short bouts of prednisone during my pregnancy and the baby was fine. Good luck !!!