IBD
Fertility
February 1, 2022
in IBD
Have you heard about impact on fertility with autoimmunity/inflammation?
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Have you heard about impact on fertility with autoimmunity/inflammation?
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Care Partner of Adult
Ooh, I definitely have thoughts on this one. In my mother's case (UC), she had no problem conceiving and, in fact, went into full remission while pregnant. The result was "over-scarring" as her body healed during the gestation period. As soon as I was born, her body freaked out and went into full-on flareup mode, but with the newly-formed strictures from the scarring, she ended up losing her colon only 6 weeks post partum. Three years later - with a full colectomy and an external ostomy bag (no J-pouch back in the day) - she carried my younger brother full term and delivered vaginally again.
So long story short, her fertility was not affected even though she had been diagnosed with UC at age 13. However, the other potential complications are noteworthy, in my opinion.
@Wendy_L that is truly interesting and reminds me of other diseases such as MS that tends to get better during pregnancy but the sequelae may be super bad. In t1d the autoimmunity is somewhat quenched but the body requires more insulin and more glucose to support the growing fetus so it complicates the pregnancy