Hi Everyone

Me and my worries again. I am in the early stages of first pregnancy. I'm a 26 yr old with Crohn's disease and it took 5 years to find a drug that worked for me - to the point of being close to death! Anyway - they found one - Mecaptopurine. (this is an immunosuppressive drug - lowers your immune system). My specialist nurse at the hospital told me I should keep taking this strong drug while pregnant because if I stop and get ill i'd probably miscarry anyway. My new midwife phoned me today for the first time and advised me to stop taking it as it is such a strong drug. I've given her my nurse's phone number so they can argue between themselves but going to stop taking for a few days just in case.

I did some research online and some sites say that miscariage rates are higher with this drug, and also harm to the baby.... I definately can't breastfeed on it and this is carried through the milk... (which i'm not so worried about). But some sites say you should take it if the risks of not taking outweigh the benefits.

I don't suppose (I know only a slim chance!) anyone else has been on this drug or a class 'D' drug (which is how they catagorise risk to the Mother and Baby) and had any problems? or been ok?!

Thanks

i'm not on this drug but i was on a hell of alot of strong and dangerous medication which i have had to come off because it would damage the baby.

is there a safer alternative drug that you can take until you have given birth?

I'm going to check with them tomorrow but the other drugs i'm allergic to or they don't work!

It's a right pain!!

have you thought about trying hypnotherapy for whilst your pregnant? i travel to a hospital in manchester where they do hypnotherapy on the NHS for people with bowel probs. i went there for IBS as drugs didnt help but finnished my course. saw the proff yesterday and hes offered me top ups to get me through my pregnancy to help with the pain. maybe they do something like that by you??