HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Should LD patients have babies?

Support Forums
>
Lyme Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 1/2/2009 9:21 AM (GMT -8)
I was wondering if anyone has had a baby with Ld? I have read that a low dosage of abx can be given during pregnancy? only amoxcycine? I am looking for someone who has dealt with this situation and can shed some light for me. Please let me know what you know. thanks, amey
Posted 1/2/2009 10:16 AM (GMT -8)
Hello. I just had a baby. She just turned 10 months old and is perfection. She is the best little girl and so great and best of all, very healthy. I have a 10 year history with lyme. I was on abx for 2 1/2 the first go around. then off for 3 years. Then back on for 1 1/2 years when I finally stopped. I was pregnant the following month. I did go on amox. throughout the pregnancy and that was all that was needed to stop any transmission of any lyme that may have been left. She has been tested twice so far and clean. I don't think it passed on to her at all and I am very thankful for that. I did get treated by my lyme specialist, my ob and I had a high risk dr as well. I had a horribly sick pregnancy not sure if it was due to lyme at all, but it wasn't an easy time. After the birth, I continued to feel amazing up until about 6 months and then my lyme symptoms returned off and on.

But, if you have lyme and are being treated you can certainly have a baby. I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world and I hope to have another in a couple years. For some reason, the lyme seems to go dormaint during the pregnancy either due to hormones or not sure what, but hormones play a big part in it.

Hope that helps. Never let lyme keep you from your dreams. It may be harder some days and more work not feeling good all the time, but so worth it.
Posted 1/2/2009 10:36 AM (GMT -8)
thank  you so much for your reply. I am 34 and I want to  have a baby when my doc. says I am well enouhg. I was and still am very concerned. but your experience sounds great aand congrats on your baby. I am happy for you. This lets me feel more positive about a baby. thank you and take care, amey

Posted 1/2/2009 10:44 AM (GMT -8)
I had a baby a few years into my Lyme journey. I was on amoxicillan throughout the pregnancy and while nursing. Yes, at that time I was advised to nurse. He'll be 16 in a few months and is fine.

There are others that haven't been so lucky. Their children have serious problems.

It's a really tough decision. Talk to your doc and do some research.

Good Luck.
Posted 1/3/2009 8:28 AM (GMT -8)
That's a good question. Have you seen "Under our Skin"? A lady on there had a baby when she was dealing with lyme and he tested positive. She was hopeful tho because he wasn't showing any signs. What signs would he be showing? He can't talk to say his head hurts or his muscles hurt or any of the other symptoms. He may be living thru it because that's all he knows. It's normal to him. Another lady on there had 2 girls that had lyme. One died and the other was very mentally disabled.

So, I think you really need to discuss it with a VERY knowledgeable doctor and then you need to ask yourself if your baby did end up with it would you be able to live with knowing you gave it to them. Very hard decision. I think I got bartonella while I was pregnant with my first and did not even know it. I had 2 more children after this and then about 1 year after my last baby I went camping and got sick a month later. And 10 months later was diagnosed with lyme. But even today bart is my worst illness. As I look back at the last 9 years I can come up with symptoms that point to bartonella. So now I am constantly wondering if certain things that are going on with my children are because I gave them bart. I can't get a positive bart test so I don't know how I would go about testing them. It's a lot to have weighing on your mind.

I would urge you to do a lot of research because you wouldn't wish this illness on anyone.
Posted 1/3/2009 10:09 AM (GMT -8)
I think if you are treated during the pregnancy and during breastfeeding you should be ok. I guess it depends too on just how sick you are and if you want to be pregnant as it will likely make you feel even sicker (unless you are one of those lucky ones who don't get morning, noon and night sickness). I thought I was going to die for many many months being pregnant, but like I said before, she is the best thing to ever happen to me. I am 33 now and I wouldn't want to live my life without her. I think if I would have planned children in that sense I might never have had her given my history with lyme, but she was a lovely surprise and I was scared that she could get sick, but I took the meds and followed with my doctor's closely and I am so glad I didn't plan this as she may never have come into my life and as most mothers (and new mother's) know, it is such a blessing and worth everything in the world. I hate to think that lyme could have kept me from her. A big personal decision, but along with all the bad, it can turn out to be really, really good.
Posted 1/3/2009 2:39 PM (GMT -8)
my dr who happens to be a very legitimate llmd said at a conference that as long as you are treated during the pregnancy, your baby will be ok.. he has followed many pregnant women throughout their pregnancies who were treated and all babies were fine...
Posted 1/3/2009 3:14 PM (GMT -8)
thank you all for all of the information. I will take everything into consideration. thanks, amey

Posted 1/4/2009 2:15 PM (GMT -8)
My personal opinion is absolutely not. I'm 25, and my Lyme has derailed my motherhood plans. There is evidence that suggests that Borrelia is perhaps the sole cause of Autism. We all know the profound psychological effects this bacteria had on our emotions and cognition even though our brains were able to develop to adulthood free of the infections. Imagine what it could do to a embryonic brain. One that's only just begun to develop.

How many of us have, or know someone who has, been asymptomatic, declared "Cured!" by their doc, only to relapse? Clearly the bacterial load can be reduced enough to get us to a symptom free state, if only for a short time. I'm afraid that if a mom-to-be has been symptom free for 4 or 5 months, she very well could be still carrying Borrelia that just hasn't multiplied enough again to make it's presence known. Pass that to your baby via the placenta, then the developing fetus is infected.

My plan is to get to 24 contiguous months of complete remission, before I get pregnant. I won't take the chance of passing this to my baby.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply