ICD with pregnancy

[snwhite01]

I am a 26 year old with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.  I was diagnosed at 15, 6 months after my father passed away with sudden death.  My husband and I have a 3 year old daughter and 6 months after her birth I had and ICD implanted.  My doctor told us we shouldn't have anymore children.  My question is what is the risk of having more children?  My first pregnancy went smoothly with no complications (I actually had no symptoms while pregnant and felt better that ever).  I am wondering if it is because of the ICD or could it be just my doctors opinion for patients with HCM?

[cindy707]

Thats great there is nothing better than being pro active w. your heart and there is no such thing on this earth as a dumb question.  I think you probably have the greatest insurance of all in being around to watch your little girl grow up with having an ICD implanted for safety measures.  It would be interesting to know who many people currently have ICD's in their chest walls....something i never researched but will.....i know that with A Fib that is severe that my docs told me after my second daughter was born that it would not be a good idea to get pregnant again so my husband at the time had the big V done too....now that my daughters are older and thinking back on what a run for my money they gave me when they were teens that maybe the docs had ESP at the time because i don't know what would have happened to me if i had had 5 kids like we originally had planned...they are wonderful and successful women now......but wow oh wow i should have recorded them at the time....thank God for the advice those docs gave me!

[snwhite01]

We are not going to have anymore children, my husband had a vasectomy, I just was wondering if it is because of the ICD since before my ICD I was cleared for pregnancy.  I didn't know if the ICD adds a risk to pregnancy.  I had the ICD implanted because of my father's sudden death and my septum thickness is considered high risk.  I have never had any arrythmia problems and so far the ICD has not had to do anything, it was implanted to be on the safe side, which I'm totally ok with, I need to be here for my daughter.

[itdood]

You didn't mention why they implanted the ICD or how far advanced your HF is.   One would assume it was because you are now prone to certain types of arrhythmias such as vtach or vfib.   That's the only reason an ICD is implanted that I'm aware of.  ICDs don't help slow or improve HF.  They are there to shock the heart out of sustained vtach or vfib.

The one other thing you might want to consider is that a pregnancy might accelerate the condition, via the demands placed on your body.

Have a discussion with your docs, get to the bottom of the risk assessment.  Best of luck to you.

[cindy707]

Hi read your post and i personally think that you should listen to your doctor whether or not they are a cardiac doc or ob/gyn because both are specialists and know best for your body.  You have to remember the ICD was implanted AFTER your birth of your little girl...not before.  Why would you possibly want to chance having something happen to you when you have a wonderful family now.  You may have felt fine during the pregnancy but many times some of the uglies rear their heads AFTER you've given birth and your body is working so hard to revert back to normal which can toss up some oddities in our bodies.  On a personal level i think maybe the risk would be too high and at what cost for the gamble to expand your family?  It would be a tragedy if you had the best of intentions and weren't around to see your little girl grow up.  I know this is harsh but sometimes we need to think about it.  Whatever decision you make just be sure you have covered all of your bases and gotten all of the anwers there are to answer including the manufacturers recommendations as well as all docs you see.  Good luck to you and your family......