Pregnant With Celiac

[Meliexox]

I am 4 months pregnant and have celiac disease, My dr hasnt said anything about me needing any extra care for having it , I was wondering if I should be worried or not . He said I will be fine with only prenatal vitamins ,I have heard you are supposed to take more then that can anyone please help me ? I dont know what to say to them when I go n there , I mean their the dr's right ?? Do they always know best? Im worried about my baby . Thank you for any help .

[dcrobinett]

I am 4 months pregnant and have celiac disease, My dr hasnt said anything about me needing any extra care for having it , I was wondering if I should be worried or not . He said I will be fine with only prenatal vitamins ,I have heard you are supposed to take more then that can anyone please help me ? I dont know what to say to them when I go n there , I mean their the dr's right ?? Do they always know best? Im worried about my baby . Thank you for any help .

I'm also pregnant (3 and a half months) and a celiac. I was diagnosed with celiac when I was 7 weeks. I brought it up with my obgyn. They gave me gluten-free pre-natal vitamins (ask about those) and told me that as long as I gain weight and stay on gluten-free diet, then I should be fine. I will see a different obgyn (in the same practice) next week on the 13th and I will ask about the celiac again. If I find out anything, I will come back and post to let you know. If I were you, I'd keep bugging your doctor or maybe finding another doctor. It seems that doctors I have talked to are largely unconcerned about celiac in pregnancy. Even my allergist who diagnosed me wasn't concerned about my baby except that the baby may inherit the disease.

As far as taking more than just pre-natal vitamins, I don't know about that. I do know doctors may give you DHA (fish oil) but it's not necessary. It's simply a good idea to but not necessary. They make me deathly sick and the doctor said I didn't have to take them. Our parents didn't take it with us so apparently we turned out fine. I don't think you should rely on pre-natal vitamins alone -- you should eat well, also. You can ask for DHA if you want.

Please don't worry about your baby (I'm talking to myself, too). Eat well, exercise, and get sleep. I have a friend who was an undiagnosed celiac the entire time she was pregnant and she ate a normal diet with gluten and her baby turned out fine. She was diagnosed a celiac two years after her baby was born. I'm not saying you should eat gluten but just have faith that everything will be okay. Be encouraged!

[maddycat]

I am 4 1/2 months pregnant and was diagnosed with Celiac Disease about 2 years ago. I have been doing well on the gluten free diet. I take a prenatal and a calcium+D suppliment (because I have osteopenia too). Other than that, nothing extra due to the pregnancy.

I have met with a perinatologist, on the reconmendation of my OB about Celiac, but all they told me was to stay on the diet (duh!) and things generally go well as long as the Celiac Disease is well controlled. I will have some extra ultrasounds (at 27 weeks and then every 4 weeks after that) to check fetal growth- that is the one possible concern, that the Celiac disease could cause IUGR (Intra Uterine Growth Restriction).

I'm sure things will go fine for you if your Celiac Disease is well controlled by the diet!

Marcia

[Sara2004]

I am nearly 19 wks with my 3rd child. I was diagnosed August 2004 with celiac 5 months after the birth of my 2nd son. (my pregnancy apparently triggered the disease) I was beyond sick during my entire pregnancy with my 2nd son and even developed placenta previa. I was not absorbing any nutrients and was severly anemic. After my baby was born I went to see a gastroenterologist. He did a colonoscopy and a biopsy of my small intestines. The outcome turned out to be celiac. I honestly have found difficulties with the gluten free diet. I know the severity of it but I still find myself "cheating". I have a question though. I have 2 boys whom do not seem to show any signs of celiac or allergy to anything really. When should I have them tested? As far as my prenatal care with this pregnancy...I take a gluten free prenatal vitamin, calcium, and extra iron! I have previously discovered that I am a carrier for the cystic fibrosis gene. This too can cause digestive problems. I wonder if it is at all related to celiac!?

Sara

[Mother of Jibril]

Hi Sara,

I also have two living children, but in between those pregnancies I had a loss at 17 weeks. I don't know for sure what caused it, but I've since learned that I have hypothyroidism and I'm intolerant to gluten... both of these increase your risk of having a miscarriage or stillbirth. Personally, I found it really devastating to lose a child. You know in the back of your mind that it can happen, but when it really happens to you... it is SO hard. For what it's worth, if I were in your shoes I would try to find counseling. Gluten can actually be addictive! If you can figure out how to stop cheating it will be so good for your health and your baby's health.

Anyway... a quick note about kids. Symptoms of food intolerance (such as celiac) can include things that don't seem like digestive disorders, such as eczema and rashes. Both of my kids have had eczema. We found out at six weeks that my son is severely intolerant to casein; now he's eight months and I suspect he's also intolerant to corn. So... I decided to get a genetic test from Enterolab. The results should be ready soon. I figured that if by chance I have two genes for celiac and/or gluten intolerance then both of my kids and both of my parents will benefit from a gluten-free diet! You don't have to wait for a full-blown disorder before you do something about it. I want everyone in my family to enjoy the best health possible.

[Sara2004]

I too lost a child between my 2nd pregnancy and current pregnancy. I suspected celiac may have caused my miscarriage after reading up on pregnancy in celiac mothers. I was only a few weeks along though.

As for my children, neither have had issues with foods, or rashes of any kinds. I do try to eat most of my meals gluten free. I think my biggest weakness right now is cereal. For the 1st and beginning of the 2nd trimester all I could hold down was cereal. I am living in DE and the resources here are slim to none. When my husband and I first talked about trying for another child I consulted a digestive doctor. He made me feel stupid, like I diagnosed myself with celiac and shouldnt be worried that I didnt know much about the disease. I have heard that if a person is not celiac then they shouldnt consume a gluten free diet. With this said, my husband is not much support in trying to keep gluten things out of our home. Any suggestions?

[Mother of Jibril]

I'm so sorry to hear that you also had a loss. I know how STRESSFUL a subsequent pregnancy is! You really need to treat yourself well. Find some non-gluten foods that you enjoy and can eat when you feel tempted by gluten... even if it's cookies! Order them off the Internet if you have to. It's a medical expense Seriously.

I'm sorry your husband is not more supportive. Once you have celiac you always have celiac. Even when your body has healed, you still have the capacity to produce antibodies when you eat gluten... and that's dangerous. No matter what your status is, a gluten-free diet can be perfectly healthy. I've cut dairy, gluten, and corn out of my diet and I've never felt better! I eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, eggs, nuts, a little meat, rice... this is a great diet and I won't hesitate to eat this way if I get pregnant again. If you have a hard time finding the gluten-free processed foods, at least you can make meals out of simple, unprocessed foods. I know cross-contamination can be an issue if your husband is not careful with bread, cereal, etc... but the more gluten you can cut out of your diet the better. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Just do the best you can

[kbtoyssni]

How long have you been gluten free? If it's long enough for you to have fully healed, I don't think you'd need to do anything in addition to what a non-celiac would do.

[ItchyMeredith]

I am 7 weeks pregnant and I have been gluten free since June 07. This pregnancy isn't any different from my other ones...before my diagnosis. I am just extra careful about everything that goes in my mouth. My doctor does not seemed concerned at all as long as I am gluten-free.

Best of health!!!

[Lori-greenacres]

wow - it was such a comfort to read about other women who found out they had celiacs after the loss of a child.

I lost my son in the 2nd trimester (it was a shocking, tramatic ordeal that happened without warning). At the time they didn't know what was the reason. It was weeks later that the gasterintologist decided to run the labs for celiacs and the subsequent biopsy confirmed.

While no one would actually say that undiagnosed celiacs was probably the reason for my loss; and the pregnancy probably triggered the celiacs too - I've read enough to think that it is highly probably.

So now 10 months later I find myself pregnant again (6-7 weeks) - and scared! yikes - everytime I go to the restroom I rememeber what happened before.

I'm good about the diet - my last set of labs said my numbers were getting better - hurray! So now I just have to work through the fears and with that I live one day at a time (and thank God for each day that I am able to sustain this pregnancy).

I say all that to say - it was comforting to see other moms dealing with loss as they find themselves pregnant again. Thanks for sharing.

PS - did I also mention that I am 43; and have Hashimotos (thyroid); and have 3 teenagers who are very active and demanding; and I work full time; and well, you get the idea....

PSS - Has anyone done any research on the autoimmune connections between thyroid & celiacs? I know they are both autoimmune disorders but just started reading up on it.

Thanks for listening.

[Mother of Jibril]

So now 10 months later I find myself pregnant again (6-7 weeks) - and scared! yikes - everytime I go to the restroom I rememeber what happened before.

PSS - Has anyone done any research on the autoimmune connections between thyroid & celiacs? I know they are both autoimmune disorders but just started reading up on it.

A couple of thoughts for you...

- I joined SPALS after my loss and it was SO helpful having other women to "talk" to who understand what it's like to lose a child and go through a subsequent pregnancy. You can check it out at Open Original Shared Link. If you want to join you have to send an e-mail to the group administrator and ask to be added to the list. I'm still participating... my husband and I are thinking about trying again in two or three years.

- There definitely ARE genetic links between gluten intolerance and autoimmune thyroid disorders. The DQ7 gene (which I have)... maybe others too.

I'm so sorry that you also had a second-trimester loss! It's so rare and there is just SO LITTLE information out there about it. Most of the information is about early miscarriage or stillbirth.

[bette spada]

my daughter is 5 months pregnant in the begining she was taking centrum liquid and a chewble prenatal but we are changing her to sourse of life liquid and nature's plus liquid prenatal. her recent blood test still showed some lackings so that is why we are switching also we have added a powdered b12 from kirkmans labs because her b12 was very very low before pregnancy that they put her on shots, but the baby doctor said no shots because it delivers to much to the baby in the begining of the month and then a little in the end of the month and then again a lot, big yoyo not good for baby so we are doing the powder. we pushed for this recent set of labs and it is good that we did.

[HiDee]

You can ask for DHA if you want.

I strongly agree with supplementing DHA during pregnancy and nursing (and also during non-pregnancy/nursing). But you don't have to ask your doctor for it. Just go the pharmacy dept. and get any good over-the-counter high potency fish oil supplement. It is so important for babies' brain development. I know the "OneADay" prenatals come with a fish oil pill along with the prenatal pill, makes our job easier. And make sure you get lots of protein right now while you're pregnant also. My midwife told me to ALWAYS have some protein with any snack or meal I had while I was pregnant. Whether it's some nuts with an apple or a glass of milk with a cookie. Protein is also very important for the forming baby and it will keep you going where the crackers and such will just crash your blood sugar shortly after eating.....not to mention they're not that nutritive anyway.

[LaurenI]

wow - it was such a comfort to read about other women who found out they had celiacs after the loss of a child.

I lost my son in the 2nd trimester (it was a shocking, tramatic ordeal that happened without warning). At the time they didn't know what was the reason. It was weeks later that the gasterintologist decided to run the labs for celiacs and the subsequent biopsy confirmed.

While no one would actually say that undiagnosed celiacs was probably the reason for my loss; and the pregnancy probably triggered the celiacs too - I've read enough to think that it is highly probably.

So now 10 months later I find myself pregnant again (6-7 weeks) - and scared! yikes - everytime I go to the restroom I rememeber what happened before.

I'm good about the diet - my last set of labs said my numbers were getting better - hurray! So now I just have to work through the fears and with that I live one day at a time (and thank God for each day that I am able to sustain this pregnancy).

I say all that to say - it was comforting to see other moms dealing with loss as they find themselves pregnant again. Thanks for sharing.

PS - did I also mention that I am 43; and have Hashimotos (thyroid); and have 3 teenagers who are very active and demanding; and I work full time; and well, you get the idea....

PSS - Has anyone done any research on the autoimmune connections between thyroid & celiacs? I know they are both autoimmune disorders but just started reading up on it.

Thanks for listening.

I know Hashimotos is different from hypothyroid, but a lot of thyroid issues are connected to iodine deficiency. I have Hypothyroid and am not on iodine supplements. Iodine deficiency has also been linked to miscarriage as well as thyroid issues. There were a lot of balls not in your court last time. I know it has been a couple months since your post, but I wish you good health and happy researching.