pregnancy and adrenal fatigue

[Guest guest]

I would like to thank you all who wrote in about pregnancy while in a condition

of adrenal fatigue. I was feeling very downhearted about the video.

But I did a little Googling, and found the following statements in a WebMD

article that had many different medical contributors. Here's the link to the

article. It is much more hopeful and positive in its outlook! So I'm just taking

all this in. It's very confusing...I'm going to give it to prayer and see where

things come out, eventually. I'll ask God also to just take my longings away if

this isn't His perfect will and plan for us! I'll pray for you too, and

Rosie, that we will ALL receive the guidance we need to arrive at the best

decisions! Just thinking about it all might send me into needing a bigger dose

of HC!! But I'm thankful for prayer, it helps to calm me.

What IS absolutely evident to me upon this reading, is that any of us on HC who

wants to become pregnant, is going to absolutely somehow let our ob/gyn or

midwife know we're on it, because their has to be stress-dosing going on during

the labor and delivery, and it might not be possible to hide to take the big

doses. In fact I think that they are recommending an IV of hydrocortisone since

you can't eat or drink after a certain point. So this is something we should all

line up beforehand, probably, if we go forward with it. It looks like if you

don't get enough cortisol in your system to cover the process, you could die. I

was shocked to see the figures (below). However, these figures are geared

towards patients with full-blown 's; maybe it would go better with us

without stress-dosing since we all still (hopefully!) can make some of our own

cortisol. But it still seems shaky to assume this! What do you think?

Take care, and God bless and THANK YOU AGAIN for all your help and

encouragement.

Cherwyn

P.S. Cherie, you are right - I would be much more stressed out not ministering

to my baby's needs if I didn't go the AP route! I wanted so desperately for my

babies to immediately feel secure in the world and their " voice " and needs would

be heard and acknowledged. People told me they would become spoiled, but now at

ages 16, 10, and 7, they are the most delightful human beings to be with. They

are so compassionate, too, and they try to help others around them who are

expressing sadness or suffering. Which I think is beautiful. For us, it worked.

For someone else who isn't comfortable with this type of parenting and would be

too stressed-out by it, it probably wouldn't be very helpful.

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http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic3266.htm

Only a small amount of the steroids in the maternal circulation reach the fetal

compartment in normal pregnancy. The steroids are cleared rapidly from the

maternal plasma, and steroids that enter the trophoblast reenter the maternal

compartment.

Stress-dose glucocorticoid therapy with a soluble hydrocortisone ester (£50-100

mg IV q8h) should be administered at the initiation of active labor and

continued until after delivery, followed by a rapid taper to previous

maintenance doses.

Before glucocorticoid replacement therapy became available, pregnancy in

patients with adrenal insufficiency was associated with a maternal mortality

rate of 35-45%. In patients with treated autoimmune disease, conception,

fetal development, and delivery should not be problematic.

Maternal cortisol deficiency has been suggested as a possible cause of fetal

intrauterine growth restriction. Clinical suspicion should arise if fetal growth

restriction is associated with abnormally low maternal blood pressure and an

unusual increase in skin pigmentation due to maternal corticotropin and

melanocyte-stimulating hormone overproduction.

Corticosteroids have been used safely in patients with asthma and various

autoimmune disorders who also were pregnant. High-dose corticosteroids are

important in the management of severe asthma, and reviews of this therapy have

not shown teratogenic or other adverse effects on human pregnancy.

Glucocorticoid therapy is generally safe in pregnant women, but it warrants

close follow-up to monitor the disease process and the possible complications of

therapy. Glucocorticoid therapy during breastfeeding is also safe because only

minimal amounts of these mediations are passed into breast milk.

and from

http://endocrine-system.emedtv.com/adrenal-insufficiency/adrenal-insufficiency-a\

nd-pregnancy.html :

Adrenal Insufficiency and Pregnancy

The evidence on adrenal insufficiency and pregnancy shows that most women with

the condition who become pregnant are able to have an uncomplicated pregnancy.

Women with adrenal insufficiency who become pregnant receive the standard

adrenal insufficiency treatment; if nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy

interfere with oral medication, injections of the hormone may be necessary. As

long as the proper precautions are taken -- and intake of treatment medication

is closely monitored -- the prognosis for women with adrenal insufficiency

during pregnancy is generally good.