Is it harmful to the person or child if a person with multiple sclerosis has a baby?

Answer 1

I've just fallen in love with the MS Sourcebook. It seems to be the first place I go whenever someone asks a question about MS. Anyway, some of these have been said already, and I apologize in advance about the long answer, but this stuff is all important and valuable.

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MS is more prevalent in women of childbearing age than in any other group. When young women receive a diagnosis of MS, they frequently have questions about the effects of the disease on childbearing and vice versa. Studies undertaken over the past several decades allow health professionals to provide answers to some of these questions.

* Effects of MS on Fertility: There is no evidence that MS impairs fertility or leads to an increased number of spontaneous abortions, stillbirths, or congenital malformations. Several studies of large numbers of women have repeatedly demonstrated that pregnancy, labor, delivery, and the incidence of fetal complications are no different in women who have MS than in control groups without the disease.

* Effects of Pregnancy on MS: Prior to 1950, most women with MS were counseled to avoid pregnancy because of the belief that it might make their MS worse. Over the past 40 years, many studies have been done in hundreds of women with MS and they have almost uniformly reached the opposite conclusion. Pregnancy appears to have a relatively protective effect on women with MS. The number of MS exacerbations is reduced during pregnancy, especially in the second and third trimesters. An exacerbation—also known as an attack, relapse, or flare—is a sudden worsening of an MS symptom or symptoms, or the appearance of new symptoms, which lasts at least 24 hours and is separated from a previous exacerbation by at least one month.

* Effects in the Postpartum Period: Exacerbation rates may rise in the first three to six months postpartum, and the risk of a relapse in the postpartum period is estimated to be 20-40%. These relapses do not appear to contribute to increased long-term disability. In the studies with long-term follow-up of women with MS who had children, no increased disability as a result of pregnancy was found.

Pregnancy is known to be associated with an increase in a number of circulating proteins and other factors that are natural immunosuppressants. Additionally, levels of natural corticosteroids are higher in pregnant than non-pregnant women. These may be some of the reasons why women with MS tend to do well during pregnancy.

* Medical Management During Pregnancy, Delivery, and Postpartum: Women who are taking any of the disease-modifying drugs—Avonex®, Betaseron®, Rebif®, Copaxone®, or Novantrone®—should discuss their plan to become pregnant with their prescribing physician. The disease-modifying drugs are not recommended during breastfeeding because it is not known if they are excreted in breast milk. A woman should also review any other medications she is taking with her neurologist and obstetrician in order to identify those that are safe during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Studies have indicated no increased risk of relapse of MS associated with breastfeeding. Women with MS usually need no special gynecologic care during pregnancy. Labor and delivery are usually the same as in other women and no special management is needed. General anesthesia and anesthesia injected directly into the epidural space of spine seem to be well tolerated by women in labor.

* Use of Steroid Medications: Women who use steroids for acute MS exacerbations may continue to use them during pregnancy. The use of prednisone in a woman who is breastfeeding should be carefully monitored.

* Special Concerns for the Pregnant Patient With MS: Women who have gait difficulties may find these get worse during late pregnancy as they become heavier and their center of gravity shifts. Increased use of assistive devices to walk or use of a wheelchair may be advisable at these times. Bladder and bowel problems, which occur in all pregnant women, may be aggravated in women with MS who have pre-existing urinary or bowel dysfunction. MS patients may also be more subject to fatigue.

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Hope this is what you were looking for!

Answer 2

It all depends on what medication that mother is currently taking. Some of the therapy injections are not good for the baby, because the medicine can be passed through the mother into the baby. So the neurologist may ask the patient to stop taking their meds, but the mother should talk to their physician before doing anything.
More and likely the baby will not have MS. They say that 1 out 0f 25 baby's will receive MS. Girls, are more likely to receive MS then boys, but the mother shouldn't have any worryings on if their child will have it because it is not likely.
My mom has MS, she was just diagnosed this year.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

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Answer 5

"MS is not considered a hereditary disease. However, increasing scientific evidence suggests that genetics may play a role in determining a person's susceptibility to MS."

Answer 6

no alot of women while they are pregnant have a lessening of symptoms of ms because the woman is immunosuoppressed
during pregnancy (to keep her body from rejecting the fetus-it's a foreign protein) and this immunosuppression helps some symptoms while they are pregnant.

Answer 7

I don't think so a friend of ours has MS she just had #5 and they all seem fine.

Answer 8

I think that with all of the modern technology that we have now that with the right doctor's and medication that it would be safe.