MS during pregnancy

This is, I'm sure, a topic which comes up periodically, so please humor me for bringing it up again. I was wondering what the experience has been of anyone who has gone through pregnancy following their dx? I have read the health pages, and some of the few postings I could find related to it, and have gathered the following vague conceptualization: 1)no ************** during pregnancy (harm to fetus), 2) pregnancy quells hormones which seem to be related to symptomatic flares 3)may be advisable to start ************** shortly after delivery, because risk of relapse skyrockets, 4)breastfeeding inadvisable due to no definitive knowlege about ability to transmit dmds via breast milk, 5)fatigue may skyrocket post-partum, due to both post-partum effects and ms.

The gyn I currently see is at a clinic - I left the old specialist after she told me I was lying and making up my description of how sick I got everytime my periods rolled around and my hormones flared. The current one, however, actually worked with ms patients in the early days of dx, so she gave me some small reassurance. I was told that I should see a high-risk gyn, and do a lot of planning as to when I want to become pregnant and when I want to concieve (conceive). For those of you who have been through this, did you experience an exacerbation of symptoms or a major relapse sometime following delivery? If so, was it more difficult to treat than others you have experienced?  Thanks for any input that anyone has :-)

[Super_sally888]

Hi,

apparently many people with MS have remission during pregnancy.  Symptoms are much better.  

Apparently also breastfeeding helps to prevent relapse. As well as being good for baby. There was a recent post about a study on this.

I am not diagnosed, only for observation.  But all my symptoms pretty much disappeared during pregnancy.  About 3 months post delivery some symptoms are coming back, but nothing i can't deal with - currently 5 moths post delivery.  Some fatigue again, but overall still better than things were before I got pregnant - I think.  I am breastfeeding exclusively and plan to continue as long as possible, but at least 1 year to 18 months.

It is very nice not having a period now for 13 months.... :)  another benefit of breastfeeding!

Best wishes to you.

[steph74]

Just to add to the breastfeeding discussion--I can't remember the exact article, but I believe the results of a study showed that breastfeeding was more beneficial than DMD in terms of preventing relapses.  (That said, I showed my first sx very shortly after the birth of my second child, and I exclusively breastfed all three of them. But you can't draw large scale conclusions from any one person's experience, AND, I'm not dx...)