posted
Hi Everyone I am new to the board and was diagnosed with Lyme last summer. I have a question about your experiences with Lyme and getting pregnant and carrying a child to term. Thank you! Trudy Posts: 6 | From Boston, MA | Registered: May 2007
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savebabe
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9847
posted
From what my llmd has told me, lyme disease can be transmitted to the baby if the mother does not take abx. My doc recommends that an expecting mother should inject 3 shots a week of 1.2ml bicillin LA. Dr B once assured me that with this protocal he never had a patient with a sick baby. Although after the birth you may relapse and could suffer from depression.
Posts: 1603 | From ny | Registered: Aug 2006
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I adopted one child, but the other five I had. I have had Lyme for 35 years, but didn't know what my health problems were from. Most of the time, they were minor health issues but four times it's been a major flare-up of symptoms.
This time it was so bad I kept looking and looking till I got answers and finally found out I had Lyme.
I had no trouble getting pregnant. All my children are healthy, but I suspect Lyme in one of them and am having her tested later this month. She has had ticks, but she could have also gotten it from me.
I had no trouble with delivery either.
The pregnancies were difficult. If I had known I had Lyme and had been seeing an LLMD, I'm sure it wouldn't have been so bad. Basically, my Lyme symptoms would flare. I wasn't on bedrest, except for the fact that I was too fatigued much of the time to get up.
I also had problems staying hydrated. Drinking water with some salt in it helped immensely. The odd thing is, there is a salt/vitamin c treatment for Lyme. I don't know if the salt helped with hydration, or if it actually helped some with the bacteria.
I never had a miscarriage.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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bejoy
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11129
posted
Hi Trudy,
With undiagnosed, untreated lyme, I had one miscarriage and difficulty getting pregnant the second time.
I have two children. I had to go on natural progesterone to concieve the second one.
My pregnancies brought on full debilitating, undiagnosed lyme symptoms. My adrenals could not handle the stress and I ended up with Addisonian crisis type attacks.
My children seem physically healthy. My oldest has several lyme symptoms, but her tests are negative.
My younger had a long course of antibiotics as an infant, for ear infections, and her behavior became more agreeable.
I've read the same about preventing transmission with bicillin shots.
I wouldn't trade my kids for all the world, lyme or no lyme.
bejoy
-------------------- bejoy!
"Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." -Ralph Waldo Emerson Posts: 1918 | From Alive and Well! | Registered: Feb 2007
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sometimesdilly
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9982
posted
hi-
i was bitten when 5 months pregnant, then received the grossly inadequate dose of antibiotics the IDSA recommends. so i still had Lyme without knowing it.
i had a GREAT pregnancy anyway. And an absolutely magical birthing of my son at a birth center- just a midwife attending, no meds, no anything but a big tub and then a 4 poster bed, and labor took less than 5 hours (by the way, i was 43 at the time).
i was NOT depressed after giving birth. Not in the least. actually,if anything, i was euphoric for the first year after his birth. i think that the natural birth and then breastfeeding kept me afloat with feel-good- mommy-chemicals. not too mention being madly in love with a delightful baby.
it was only after that first year that ALL of the postponed exhaustion and brain fog and pain began crashing down.
i would not have missed the opportunity to have my son for ANYTHING in the world. everyone feels differently about this subject, no doubt, but personally, i would not forego having kids because I had Lyme. You just have to be aware of the risks and do everything possible along the way to mitigate them...
dilly
Posts: 2507 | From lost in the maze | Registered: Aug 2006
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savebabe
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9847
posted
What about babesia? Did any of you have babesia while pregnant?
Posts: 1603 | From ny | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
Hi Everyone! Thank you for sharing your situations. I really appreciate it. I am on another round of antibiotics and hope to be ok enough to try for baby #2 later this summer. The Dr I see doesnt test for co-infections and I would really like to find out. I have the brain haze, exaustion, aching and many other issues too. So... Thanks again! Trudy
Posts: 6 | From Boston, MA | Registered: May 2007
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sometimesdilly
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9982
posted
savebabe-
don't know for sure either way. after taking a detour of 5 months for specifically anti-babesia tx, my dr says i should have noticed a siginificant difference and did not. tests never said i had it, and while that isn't conclusive in the slightess, i'd say the odds are i did/do NOT have babesia.
dilly
Posts: 2507 | From lost in the maze | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
HI, boy its been a long time since I posted....I had lyme disease for many years...I was finally idagnosed and treated with 6 months of orals....everything from flagyl to biaxin to rocephin etc... and 13 months of IV/Orals...
I had just stared mepron/zith for babs when I found out I was pregnant ( we were not planning the pregnancy but the antibiotics interfered with our birth control methods).....
I took 500 mgs of zith my first 3 months of my pregnancy...then 1000 mgs of Ceftin for the last 6 months or so of the pregnancy, I took my prenatal vitimans and Ambian to sleep...
and had a very uneventful prenancy...felt ok (my bacterial load was very low at the time and was almost on the home stretch when I found out so I was pretty healthy at the time of conception..
I had a beautiful healthy bby girl 10 days early ( on her own water breakage and all), she is 14 weeks old now and so far so good....mother feels a bit crappy back on flagyl and biaxin....
jenna was 7 lbs 6 oz and 20 inches long beautiful color and a full head of hair...she is thriving beyond where she should be for 3 1/2 months and ....
it was not ideal and i would not have purposly conceived at the time however my llmd and i will watch her close over the next year and eventually do an antigen test (not antibody) aS we have leared my wonderful husband has it as well....
i hope this helps... good luck...jill
Posts: 83 | From Northern Illinois | Registered: Feb 2005
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
welcome!
glad you got great answers from those walking in your shoes!
i'm sending you a PM, private message, with my 52 pages of newbie links, advise, symptoms, western blot from IGENEX, ssdi disability info.
in there look for Betty/LDA brochure .... i typed in all the co-infections, symptoms of each, and treatments for each! lda brochure was illegible so i put it in what i had typed up!
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My family was recently diagnosed with lyme and I am expecting our third child. This was not a planned pregnancy, but we feel very blessed to be having another child.
Not all LLMD think ABX throughout pg is the best way to go. There are many different protocols and reasonings. Also lots of different research. Different people handle lyme very differently. Our doc has found that many pregnant women with lyme actually have an improvement in their health while pregnant. It could be due to the bodies elevated temperature during pregnancy and the fact that women nomally eat better while pregnant and rest more. We were warned that after the baby is born I could become more tired and am more susceptible to ppd. So we are going to be a little more prepared than usual and ask for a little more help from family and friends for the first few months after the baby is here. I will probably also hire a mother's helper to come 2 or 3 afternoons per week to help with the other kids and let me catch up on rest or on chores around the house.
My first 2 children are, in all probability, congenital lyme babies. They tested positive via Igenex. To my knowledge, they have NO symptoms other than my son who has food allergies to wheat, dairy, eggs and a couple other things. They are perfectly healthy in every way (except the lyme test), excel above and beyond children their own age in every physical, emotional, pyschological, and intellectual comparison. We completely expect this child to be the same, but of course realize their could be risks. A recent sonogram has shown that the baby's CNS looks very good and all other organs look healthy as well.
When I first found this board I felt I was attacked by alarmists. I just wanted to chime in and encourage you that it is very possible to have a healthy pregnancy, even if you have tested positive for lyme. Seek out a lyme literate medical doctor, dig into the research, and follow your heart. It is possible that lyme can cause problems for the baby or for you. But, so do childhood vaccines, driving in cars, and eating non-organic food. We have to weigh many risks in life.
Posts: 101 | From USA | Registered: Apr 2007
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posted
Thank you again everyone! I agree that many chat boards can be viscous some times, but I take a lot of it with a big grain of salt! I have checked out the newbie stuff but not as in depth as I would like yet! I work full time and have an 18 mo old who keeps us very busy! I will continue to check in! I am on a couple anitbiotics as well as probiotics (I'll get the names later) and have a whole bunch of other fun symptoms! Thank you again, Trudy
Posts: 6 | From Boston, MA | Registered: May 2007
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posted
I have six beautiful children and had noooooo problem getting pregnant. My problem was not to get pregnant. Birth control didn't even work for me.
I was Lyme positive for years before my first pregnancy, that I did miscarry due to progesterone problems. But after than...no problem. I however, did not recieve antibiotics while pregnant, and so now I have concerns about whether or not my children have it.
But I have to tell you. My third child was transverse and I had to have a c-section. And I guess due to the surgery and "trauma" due to the surgery my Lyme symptoms came back with a vengance.
I had another natural child birth with my fourth child. But my fifth child I developed pulomonary embolisms (blood clots in the lungs). They say Lyme can cause hypercoagulation of the blood and it did in me during pregnancy. So I just had to be more careful in my sixth pregnancy.
But I think with proper care...you'll do just fine! Posts: 94 | From Greenville, Tx | Registered: Apr 2007
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