Pregnancy With Celiac Disease Treated

[Frances03]

I am currently 10 1/2 weeks pregnant with our 4th child. My history of pregnancies includes 7 pg's, with 3 children now. I had some sort of hyperemesis (extreme nausea and vomiting) with all of them. I've also had 3 miscarriages in a row, all following the births of our 3 children. With one of these, I was so sick I was sent to the ER twice for iv's, and then admitted to the hospital for 6 days, as well as given a picc line, and fed with tpn. I was sent home after the 6 days, with the picc line in place and a backpack to wear that contained my tpn and iv liquids, 24 hours a day. I lost that baby at the beginning of the 2nd trimester. I also experienced 2 years of infertility during this time. Now that I've been diagnosed with celiac disease, this pregnancy seems to be totally different! For one thing, even the fact that I GOT pregnant is a surprise and a miracle. It has been 13 months since our last miscarriage. And, after our 3rd baby, my husband had a vasectomy because of how sick I get. We later had it reversed, and all 3 of my miscarriages happened after that. Also, I am feeling SO MUCH BETTER this time! I am able to FUNCTION, not spend all day on the floor throwing up and hoping to die. I am still nauseous and I am taking zofran every 4 hours. But, I am not vomiting, and I am able to eat, and even prepare meals and take my kids to the park. I'm very hopeful that this pregnancy will make it, though not too hopeful yet since I've had so many miscarriages. I still worry a lot. But I wanted to post my experience, in case some one out there with hyperemesis or repeated miscarriages might benefit from exploring Celiac Disease as a possible cause. I have really NEVER felt this good pregnant in my life. And we've seen our little baby 3 times so far, and my doctor says everything looks PERFECT! I'm praying it all works out with a healthy baby in the end this time!

[chilligirl]

I am currently 10 1/2 weeks pregnant with our 4th child. My history of pregnancies includes 7 pg's, with 3 children now. I had some sort of hyperemesis (extreme nausea and vomiting) with all of them. I've also had 3 miscarriages in a row, all following the births of our 3 children. With one of these, I was so sick I was sent to the ER twice for iv's, and then admitted to the hospital for 6 days, as well as given a picc line, and fed with tpn. I was sent home after the 6 days, with the picc line in place and a backpack to wear that contained my tpn and iv liquids, 24 hours a day. I lost that baby at the beginning of the 2nd trimester. I also experienced 2 years of infertility during this time. Now that I've been diagnosed with celiac disease, this pregnancy seems to be totally different! For one thing, even the fact that I GOT pregnant is a surprise and a miracle. It has been 13 months since our last miscarriage. And, after our 3rd baby, my husband had a vasectomy because of how sick I get. We later had it reversed, and all 3 of my miscarriages happened after that. Also, I am feeling SO MUCH BETTER this time! I am able to FUNCTION, not spend all day on the floor throwing up and hoping to die. I am still nauseous and I am taking zofran every 4 hours. But, I am not vomiting, and I am able to eat, and even prepare meals and take my kids to the park. I'm very hopeful that this pregnancy will make it, though not too hopeful yet since I've had so many miscarriages. I still worry a lot. But I wanted to post my experience, in case some one out there with hyperemesis or repeated miscarriages might benefit from exploring Celiac Disease as a possible cause. I have really NEVER felt this good pregnant in my life. And we've seen our little baby 3 times so far, and my doctor says everything looks PERFECT! I'm praying it all works out with a healthy baby in the end this time!

Congrats on the pregnancy - wishing you a happy and healthy 9 months

I'm 39 1/2 weeks pregnant with my first baby (due Saturday!).

I was diagnosed with celiac right at the time I got pregnant, and went gluten-free two days after finding out. I've had a very good/easy pregnancy, and until recently (when I got huge lol) felt better pregnant than I ever did before pregnancy. I have no doubt that's the result of removing gluten from my diet.

Hubby and I tried to conceive for almost 5 years, including unsuccessful fertility treatments. It wasn't until we were exploring celiac and I started to reduce the amount of gluten in my diet (before even being diagnosed) that I got pregnant. I have no doubt that celiac disease was the cause of my "unexplained infertility". I also have no doubt that if I hadn't gone gluten free I either wouldn't have gotten pregnant or would have miscarried.

[Frances03]

Today I have my 14 week appt. I bought a cheap fetal doppler thing, so I can hear the heartbeat every day. This eases my mind so much. I'm still amazed at the difference in this pregnancy compared to when I was eating gluten. No one can believe it!

[GlutenFreeManna]

Thank you for sharing your history and please keep updating this thread. I had three miscarriages in three years. I have strongly suspected gluten. We have stopped trying and won't try again until I am at least a year gluten free. I'm glad to read you are doing well with this pregnancy!

[T.H.]

Thank you so much for sharing this.

I was just asking a question about carrying babies to term with untreated celiac disease. I wasn't sure if it was possible. Looking back, at 16, I started having most of the symptoms that were resolved with a gluten free diet, but I had a hard time believing I could carry a baby to term if I had celiac disease, and I had two babies.

But my pregnancies sounds so similar to your own. So, so sick with hyperemesis for both of them. Knocked flat, could barely function. They wanted to put me on fluids, but I managed to just barely keep hydrated enough if all I did during the day was sit there and try not to vomit for as long as possible. I hated wheat products during both pregnancies and ate mostly corn and rice; I've wondered if that helped.

Did you suffer from depression at all after your pregnancies? I had horrific post-partum depression with both of mine.

So, so sorry that you've had to suffer through the loss with this disease, but so very happy that this pregnancy is going so well! Congratulations and here's wishing you a wonderful, enjoyable pregnancy for the rest of the way.

[Frances03]

Thanks to all of you. I'm almost 17 weeks now and off the zofran! The nausea is gone and I'm doing great! I get to find out if I'm having a boy or a girl on Sept 20th and I can't WAIT. The baby is very active and I can feel it moving a LOT now. It's very exciting since I never got this far with my 3 miscarriages and it's been 9 years since I was pregnant and this far along! I don't know for sure if I had Celiac Disease when I was pregnant with my sons. I sort of think I did for at least some of them. I had a miscarriage in between 2 and 3 also. I did have postpartum depression after number 3 and that is what led to my insisting my husband get a vasectomy! Once I recovered from it, I regretted that! Thankfully he agreed to get it reversed and it worked! I'm still worrying some but I'm so hopefull that I will get to meet this baby!

[gflooser]

Thanks to all of you. I'm almost 17 weeks now and off the zofran! The nausea is gone and I'm doing great! I get to find out if I'm having a boy or a girl on Sept 20th and I can't WAIT. The baby is very active and I can feel it moving a LOT now. It's very exciting since I never got this far with my 3 miscarriages and it's been 9 years since I was pregnant and this far along! I don't know for sure if I had Celiac Disease when I was pregnant with my sons. I sort of think I did for at least some of them. I had a miscarriage in between 2 and 3 also. I did have postpartum depression after number 3 and that is what led to my insisting my husband get a vasectomy! Once I recovered from it, I regretted that! Thankfully he agreed to get it reversed and it worked! I'm still worrying some but I'm so hopefull that I will get to meet this baby!

first of all congrats!!! secondly, i'm not totally sure on this, but i think a celiac has always HAD the disease. it's just at what point in our lives, are we dx. like some people don't show symptoms until a certain point, or some never show symptoms. it's still lying there underneath. KWIM? i don't think that just one day it decides to pop up in our intestines. but again, i'm not 100% on this. this is just what i have grown to believe from my gastro dr.

BTW, i am also preggie! except i had my tubes tied 5 years ago and did NOT have it reversed!!!!!! i am 14 weeks and i'm just starting to feel better from a horrible summer of nausea. this is my 4th child, 2nd after being dx with celiac disease. all my pregnancies have been pretty much the same, before and after dx. of course i was one of those who wasn't showing signs of celiac disease when i was dx!

best of luck to you!

[LittleFrench]

first of all congrats!!! secondly, i'm not totally sure on this, but i think a celiac has always HAD the disease. it's just at what point in our lives, are we dx. like some people don't show symptoms until a certain point, or some never show symptoms. it's still lying there underneath. KWIM? i don't think that just one day it decides to pop up in our intestines. but again, i'm not 100% on this. this is just what i have grown to believe from my gastro dr.

BTW, i am also preggie! except i had my tubes tied 5 years ago and did NOT have it reversed!!!!!! i am 14 weeks and i'm just starting to feel better from a horrible summer of nausea. this is my 4th child, 2nd after being dx with celiac disease. all my pregnancies have been pretty much the same, before and after dx. of course i was one of those who wasn't showing signs of celiac disease when i was dx!

best of luck to you!

I'm pretty sure that you have it your whole life regardless of a symptom-free period. I just got diagnosed so we tested my 7 year old and 1.5 year old.

My 7 year old was always a fat happy baby. Never cranky, always ate and gained weight well, met all his milestones etc.

My 1.5 year old hasn't quit crying since the day he was born, has many missed milestones, has speech and language delays, social emotional delays, failure to thrive etc.

Polar opposites, both tested positive. So yeah I'm pretty sure if you have it, you have it, it's just different things can cause it to seem to suddenly manifest

[Megs613]

Wow this is very encouraging to hear!!

I am pregnant with number 4 and just diagnosed after my last baby. I also got REALLY sick, luckily I could usually stop the vomitting with zofran though. It still was miserable and made taking care of the kids tough! I will pray that maybe I will get a little break too. In the past I've been on Zofran until I had the baby.

This might be too personal, but are you high risk due to the other things mentioned in your siggy? I don't think Celiac alone would make you high risk. I had a stroke 4 months after my last was born, doctors have come to the conclusion that it was probably the gluten that caused it, as I do have the Celiac gene as well as the gene associated with neurological problems. I don't know still scares me sometimes, the what ifs. This was a surprise baby for us and I am a little nervous and I know my family will be VERY nervous. Guess just looking for "high risk" support. I know my neuro has said he thinks I will be fine and it was kind of a fluke deal. My ANA was positive, but nothing else lupus, thyroid, etc was positive, besides eventually the Celiac, which still wasn't a clear cut diagnosis.

[Frances03]

I believe my high risk status is a result of my seizure disorder, my possible lupus, my previous miscarriages, and my age being 39 now. But, this pregnancy is so far going so great I can hardly believe it. I am 22 weeks today, and we found out it is is GIRL. Not sure what to do with a girl when I have 3 boys, but I'm just super thankful she looks healthy and perfect. No more sickness at all either. Seizures are back during the pregnancy, but not very often and I had them with my boys so I am used to it.

[jerseyangel]

I am 22 weeks today, and we found out it is is GIRL.

Aw, how nice! I'm so happy to hear all is well and you're feeling good.