New To Celiacs And Pregnancy...

[AshleyB]

Hi everyone I am new here and I have a few concerns and questions. I just want to say thanks now for your answers and support. Anyway, I am 22 yrs old. I have had digestion problems for many years. I think it was triggered around puberty and my parents never would take me to the doctor for any of it. Over the years it has steadily gotten worse. I haven't been able to go to the doctor bc I haven't had insurance yet. But now I have it and I actually scheduled and appointment over a month ago to go see and allergist. I have tried all different sorts of things and then came upon the gluten allergy and celiacs and discovered I have most of the common symptoms. I have been trying my best with the gluten free diet ever since I thought it was a good possibility that I have it (which has been for about 1 ot 1 and a half months now) bc my problems seam to match up best with it than anything else. My symptoms have decreased a lot at times although they have never completely gone away yet. I think this is partially due to being so new to this and Im still finding things to have gluten that I had no idea would. And I am discovering labels don't tell all. I have been trying my best with it getting stricter and stricter with it as I discover these things.

Well I just found out last night that I am pregnant . I have been pregnant once before. About 6 months ago. Last time my husband and I were trying. Not this time bc we wanted to figure out what was going on with me before we tried again. So here I am pregnant again. I don't seam to have a problem with getting pregnant. Just possibly miscarriages. One of my biggest problems has seemed to worsen the past couple days..diarrhea... I am concerned for the baby. I am doing my best to eat as healthy as possible and drink tons of water and to do everything in my power to ensure the health of the baby. Is diarrhea posing a huge threat to the baby? Is there anyone who has had this problem and come out with a healthy baby?

Thanks so much to you all

[Ursa Major]

Hi Ashley, and welcome to these boards. What you need to do now is eliminate dairy and soy as well as gluten (and be extremely strict on the gluten-free diet), because they will stop you from healing and could be the reason for the continuing diarrhea.

You also need to make a doctor's appointment asap to have blood work done to check for nutritional deficiencies. Ask to be checked for ferritin, hemoglobin, folic acid, vitamin D, vitamins B12 and B6, vitamin K, calcium, magnesium and potassium. I think I thought of all the most common ones effected by celiac disease, somebody add any I forgot, please.

The reason for miscarriages with celiac disease are these deficiencies. If you don't absorb enough of a given nutrient to have a decent level yourself, your baby won't get what it needs, either. A malnourished body often can't support a baby.

Once you know where you need to supplement, you may need to get some by injection/IV, because it will be a while before your intestines will be healed enough to absorb nutrients properly.

It would have been wise to wait six months on the gluten-free diet to get pregnant, but I understand it wasn't planned that way. I sincerely hope that everything will go well. Unless you miscarry, I see no reason you shouldn't have a healthy baby. Especially now that you are on the gluten-free diet.

Many here had pregnancies before figuring out they had celiac disease (me included) and ended up with healthy babies. Try to be optimistic.