Becoming Pregnant and Having MS

Many women with multiple sclerosis wonder how this illness will affect their chances of becoming pregnant, with regards to such factors as their fertility.  There is actually a lot of good news regarding pregnancy and MS, because fertility is not at all affected by this illness.  

The bad news is that there are a number of medications used to treat this illness such as anti convulsions and antibiotics which can interfere with the normal healthy development of a child.

With multiple sclerosis you can actually be more fertile than those women on regular birth control because MS medications frequently make oral contraceptives less effective.  For this reason, it is important that you make sure you have adequate birth control so that you do not have any accidental pregnancies if you are on pharmaceutical medications.  It is also not a good idea to cut down on medications if you are trying to get pregnant without consulting your doctor first.  But what about men? Do they suffer with sexual dysfunction and MS? Yes, but this is easily treatable with drugs.

Many MS women experience partial or full remission of their symptoms during pregnancy. The main reason for this is that the immune system is surpressed during pregnancy as the unborn baby contains DNA from the father which is foreign to the mother. Of course, these return after the pregnancy.  Women with this neurological illness can gain a brief respite from their illness.

You have to be careful though as complete relapse can occur right after pregnancy, which can be stressful when dealing with a new member of the family.  Another benefit of an MS pregnancy is that most women will experience less pain during the birthing process.

Some MS mothers worry about passing their illness onto their children. The risk of having a child with MS is only around 4% which is certainly not high enough to cause any serious concern if you decide you want to have a child.  Will you be able to breast feed your child? Breastfeeding is no problem, but it can be physically exhuasting.

So knowing all this information about pregnancy and MS, you may decide that shouldn’t allow your multiple sclerosis diagnosis to get in the way of starting your new family.  Still, an MS pregnancy is different than that of a healthy woman so it is a good idea to enlist the help of a neurologist who has experience in helping MS women with pregnancy.

To find out more about Multiple Sclerosis Medications visit my Multiple Sclerosis Diet web site.