Celiac, Infertility, 2 Children Already

[Kit.DaMommy]

I have two children already. My first I had when I was 16. and the second when I was 19. I have been trying to have a third for almost a year now and with no luck. I just got news this week about celiac disease. I had my biopsy monday to confirm. Is the celiac why I haven't been able to have another child.

[corasmomma]

It certainly is a possibility. Although they haven't yet discovered the exact reason why, there is a much higher percentage of woman with celiac disease and unexplained fertility than in non-celiac.

I know for myself, I struggled with every fertility treatment imaginable (except In vitro) for 6 years with no luck. I went gluten free a day after being diagnosed, and 4 weeks later I had a positive pregnancy test, naturally. My first child 9 years ago was following a 5 week diet on the Atkin's diet, which technically was gluten-free in an attempt to be carb free. Although I wasn't diagnosed with celiac until a few months ago to know THAT was why. That's my testimony.

Some of the theories I have heard before are:

1. Celiac disease may effect proper ovulation

2. If antibodies present in celiacs destroy the cilia in the intestine, are they possibly damaging the cilia in the fallopian tube and therefore there is nothing there to sweep the egg down the fallopian tube to the sperm?

3. Because being in a state of celiac disease is an auto-immune disorder, the body's immune system would be inflamed. So when a fetus, which is technically a foreign body inside you, becomes present (conception-implantation) does the body's inflamed immune system attack the fetus as a threat?

4. Does the celiac disease mess with the pituitary and endocrine system causing hormones to fluctuate and fail so as to cause lack of proper ovulation or lack of maintaining a pregnancy?

These are all just theories out there they are testing, take it as you will. But all I can say is that I'm a believe after my personal experience.

Please let us know how your struggles go, wishing you the best of luck!

[jerseyangel]

It's possible. If you've just been diagnosed, I'm assuming that you're either not gluten-free yet or newly gluten-free.

If that's the case, hopefully when you've been off gluten for a while you'll be able to get pregnant again--if this is a Celiac issue.

[Mother of Jibril]

I'm sorry you're struggling with this! Infertility and pregnancy loss can definitely be a problem for women with autoimmune disorders for all kinds of reasons.

One thing I can recommend is the book "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" by Toni Weschler. It teaches you how to figure out if you're ovulating, making enough good-quality cervical mucus, whether your luteal phase is long enough to sustain a pregnancy, etc... These things can really speed up conception or help you determine what the problem is. For my last pregnancy (which was very stressful because our second pregnancy ended in a loss at 17 weeks) I used the book and bought the software online to track my basal temperatures. I'm happy to say that it worked on the first try.

One other thought... do you have the same partner? Men and women can both have fertility problems.

[Wellkeptsecret]

Hi, my name is Kelsha. I turn 25 in March. My husband and I have been married for 5 years in Feb. We never used birth control, and managed to get pregnant a year and a half after we got married, but miscarried at 10 weeks. It was that following summer that I started going to my Dr. and he told me that my body was allergic to grains...Well, I "tried" to stay away from wheat...Managed to loose 30 lbs...but, just really mentally/emotionally was not ready to give up the ego part of me that said I should be able to eat every gosh darn thing "everyone" else was...

At that time my dr. had told us that he wanted us to commit to the life style change, and be on Birth Control for 6 months...

A year and a half went by, of struggling to just maintain weight...Gained back 20 lbs...Finally, in Feb 2008 me and my husband decided we were just going to do it. Stop the excuses, we had recently moved away from all family and friends...so, we knew it was a good time to start since we wouldn't be going to all the family things...

I am now down 30 more lbs from that weight.

Well, the beginning of July I had emergancy surgery for an ectopic pregnancy...I was 3 and a half months along! Which would have meant that I got pregnant a month and a half after not eating wheat anymore..Which, then my husband and I felt dumb, remembering THEN that Dr. Porter had said we should give ourselves 6 months to be healthy enough to carry...

So, now here we are...I do have more hope for getting pregnant now...I do wish I would have followed Dr' orders, and let my body heal a bit before we got pregnant...Now I am down to one tube....

Hope this helps lift some spirits!