AIH immuran and pregnancy

[sklefko]

Hi.  I am 33 years old and was diagnosed with AIH 12 years ago.  I have been managed successfully--first with prednisone and then with imuran.  My enzymes have been 'normal' for 8 years or so.  However, I am hoping to get pregnant and so my Dr.  slowly weaned me off the imuran and now I am on prednisone 20mg.  My last dose of immuarn was tuesday--25mg (down from 100mg).  Now my dr. wants me to wait 2-3 months to start trying to get pregnant!  Does anyone know anything about that--that it takes 2-3 months for imuran to get out of the body?  Has anyone had any experience with trying to get pregnant and/or having a baby with AIH and being on either of these meds??

[neet21801]

I am almost 6 months pregnant ( 3rd pregnancy) and I have had  AIH for 10 years. I was on Immuran when I found out that I was pregnant but the doctor took me off as soon as we found out because of the potential risk to the fetus.  Now I am on Prednisone 20 mg daily.  This will be my last child because each pregnancy is worse than the previous one and afterwards I end up with a new autoimmune disease.  For example, after my first child I found out I had AIH, after my 2nd child I found out I had ulcerative colitis/ crohns disease, now before this child is born I found out that I have an enlarged spleen, my platelet levels keep dropping because of a disease called ITP and my albumin levels are really low.  I also have nosebleed atleast 10 times per day.  I wish everyone the best and hope that you have a safe pregnancy and delivery.      

[9743km]

That is the other concern of pregnancy...It can really mess w/your numbers then you are left to either take no drugs, which affects the mother, or drugs which could have an affect on the baby....If your skin is itchy you are definitely raising in bilirubin, which usually means your liver numbers are heading up as well....Make sure to take care of yourself.  It must be difficult...I still hold if you can get the drugs out of your system do it!!!!  If not, you Pray a lot and go w/what your Dr tells you to do...

[makui]

hi am 6 months pregnant.  I have been taking Imuran 100mg all through my pregnancy, just last week I was put back on prednisone 10mgbecause my tests don't look too good and I have been itching the whole body.

[9743km]

Hi...I am 37 years old and was just diagnosed a year ago, so all of my kids were born prior to me being diagnosed.  But I will tell you that my Dr. asked me if I planned on having more children.  He told me if so, he would want to guarantee all of the imuran was out of my body because it is very toxic to a pregnancy.  He seemed to be quite adiment about that.  Everything I've read on line and even directly on the bottle does show indications that it would not at all be healthy to a newborn.  I would definitely take your Dr's advice and give it a full 2 months to "wipe" out of your system.  It takes 6 weeks for imuran and prednisone to build in the body so I would say a good 2-3 months to get it out of the system especially w/you being on the meds for so long...Why take the risk.  I am sure you are very anxious and excited.  I can imagine.  We decided no more kids for us and we did let my Dr. know...Continue to work w/yours....
Take care and Good Luck!