by Mar2 » Aug 03, 2004 2:34 pm
Ejoann - I am so sorry to hear about your losses. I can not imagine the pain you must feel. Your desire to warn others about steriod use is totally understandable. We only ever hear about the risk for a cleft-palate when reading the literature on steroids and pregnancy. No one mentions the risks associated with a lowered immune system.
The scary part for me is that in order to carry a pregnancy to term, I MUST take steroids because of a lymphocyte incompatibility with my husband (without them, my body would attack the baby/fetus as a foreign organism). Fortunately, my daughter didn't suffer any complications from the steriod use (that we know of) but I contracted Fifth's Disease/Parvovirus, which caused severe joint pain for 9 months post-partum. In adults, it is normally an asymptomatic virus that disappears after 10 days. No one will say definitively that I had this unusually long and painful experience with the virus because of the steroids, but it makes me wonder. The scariest part is that Parvovirus is often fatal to a fetus in the first trimester. Had I become infected earlier in my pregnancy, my daughter might not have made it.
Since I am getting older and my husband isn't willing to have me go thru HG again, I will probably never get to take steroids again. But, as you've said, I think it is important for everyone to better understand the risks, no matter how unlikely, before they follow any protocal.
Take care and best wishes,
Marla
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HG PG 1: miscarried at 16 weeks 3/18/2002
HG PG 2: baby girl 5/29/2003
Step-Son: born 11/26/1990 (acquired May 1997)