Pregnancy & Treatment

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spokz
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Pregnancy & Treatment

Post by spokz »

hello...

My husband and I have decided to start trying for a family

I was dx in Aug 2012 and on betaferon injections since

Two separate Neuros have advised its safe to stay on betaferon whilst conceiving and whilst pregnant.

Has anyone had any experience with this or know of someone who has? Ive read a few case studies where 300 odd women were tested and no signs of abnormal results that wouldnt occur in women without ms?

any help would be great
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ssmme
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Re: Pregnancy & Treatment

Post by ssmme »

I only know what's published in the product literature. You may want post this question on the discussion board for betaseron for more helpful advice.
Marcia
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dlynn
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Re: Pregnancy & Treatment

Post by dlynn »

spokz,
I've never been in your situation, I can only offer my thoughts. When I was pregnant, I chose no drugs.
This decision you and your husband make is a very personal one. Think long and hard about it.
Best wishes!
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jimmylegs
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Re: Pregnancy & Treatment

Post by jimmylegs »

hey there, i have never taken dmds and i am not a mom BUT i can link you up to previously posted info that may be of interest

vit b12 in pregnancy
http://www.thisisms.com/forum/natural-a ... tml#p41017

vit d3 in pregnancy
http://www.thisisms.com/forum/natural-a ... tml#p44302

iron in pregnancy
http://www.thisisms.com/forum/post48612 ... eg*#p48612

zinc in pregnancy
http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-d ... tml#p49598

prenatal vitamins
http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-d ... tml#p58003

blood clots/thinning in pregnancy
http://www.thisisms.com/forum/daily-lif ... tml#p62079

nutrition status in pregnancy
http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-d ... tml#p62494
active members shape site content. if there is a problem, speak up!
use the report button to flag problematic post content to volunteer moderators' attention.
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euphoniaa
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Re: Pregnancy & Treatment

Post by euphoniaa »

spokz wrote:hello...

My husband and I have decided to start trying for a family

I was dx in Aug 2012 and on betaferon injections since

Two separate Neuros have advised its safe to stay on betaferon whilst conceiving and whilst pregnant.

Has anyone had any experience with this or know of someone who has? Ive read a few case studies where 300 odd women were tested and no signs of abnormal results that wouldnt occur in women without ms?

any help would be great
Yikes. The neuros said it's safe to use interferons with pregnancy? I've always read that it's not. Here's an article I found in a super quick google search. I'm sure there's more.
http://www.drugs.com/pregnancy/interferon-beta-1b.html
Interferon beta-1b Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Warnings
Interferon beta-1b is also known as: Betaseron, Extavia

Interferon beta-1b Pregnancy Warnings
A recently published consensus conference states that interferon beta-1b is contraindicated in pregnant or nursing women or those who are actively attempting to become pregnant. Therapy should be stopped in patients who become pregnant while taking interferon beta-1b. It may be most prudent to start (or restart) therapy as soon as possible after delivery or weaning to help decrease the increased risk of exacerbations during the postpartum period. Findings of right incomplete double renal pelvis and ureter in a 1-year-old child is believed to be associated to the interferon therapy used by the mother up to 2.5 months before her pregnancy. A Betaseron (R) Pregnancy Registry has been established to monitor maternal-fetal outcomes of pregnant women exposed to interferon beta-1b. Physicians are encouraged to obtain information at www.BetaseronPregnancyRegistry.com and register patients by calling 1-800-478-7049 (USA).

Interferon beta-1b has been assigned to pregnancy category C by the FDA. Animal studies of interferon beta-1b have failed to reveal a teratogenic effect, but abortifacient activity has been demonstrated at higher than recommended doses. Spontaneous abortion was reported in 4 women during a trial for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. There are no controlled data in human pregnancy. Interferon beta-1b is only recommended for use during pregnancy when there are no alternatives and benefit outweighs risk. The manufacturer recommends discontinuing therapy if the patient becomes or plans to become pregnant while taking interferon beta-1b.

Interferon beta-1b Breastfeeding Warnings

There are no data on the excretion of interferon beta-1b into human milk. The manufacturer recommends that due to the potential for serious adverse reactions in nursing infants, a decision should be made to discontinue nursing or discontinue the drug, taking into account the importance of the drug to the mother.
Dx'd with MS & HNPP (hereditary peripheral neuropathy) 7/03 but must have had MS for 30 yrs before that. I've never taken meds for MS except 1 yr experiment on LDN. (I found diet, exercise, sleep, humor, music help me the most.)
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euphoniaa
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Re: Pregnancy & Treatment

Post by euphoniaa »

All the drugs have their own websites - I should have gone there first, because you can click on the entire "Prescribing Information", which is the insert you get with the drugs.
Here's the link where you can find the entire insert:

http://www.betaseron.com/home

And here's what the company says about pregnancy:
Pregnancy – Teratogenic Effects
Pregnancy Category C: Betaseron was not teratogenic at doses up to 0.42 mg/kg/day
when given to pregnant female rhesus monkeys on gestation days 20 to 70.
However, a dose related abortifacient activity was observed in these monkeys when
Interferon beta-1b was administered at doses ranging from 0.028 mg/kg/day to
0.42 mg/kg/day (2.8 to 40 times the recommended human dose based on body
surface area comparison). The validity of extrapolating doses used in animal
studies to human doses is not known. Lower doses were not studied in monkeys.

Spontaneous abortions while on treatment were reported in patients (n=4) who
participated in the Betaseron RRMS clinical trial. Betaseron given to rhesus monkeys
on gestation days 20 to 70 did not cause teratogenic effects; however, it is not known
if teratogenic effects exist in humans. There are no adequate and well-controlled
studies in pregnant women.

If the patient becomes pregnant or plans to become
pregnant while taking Betaseron, the patient should be apprised of the potential
hazard to the fetus and it should be recommended that the patient discontinue therapy.

A pregnancy registry has been established to monitor pregnancy outcomes of
women exposed to Betaseron while pregnant. Providers are encouraged to obtain
information on line at www.BetaseronPregnancyRegistry.com and register patients
by calling 1-800-478-7049.

Nursing Mothers
It is not known whether Betaseron is excreted in human milk. Because many
drugs are excreted in human milk and because of the potential for serious adverse
reactions in nursing infants from Betaseron, a decision should be made to either
discontinue nursing or discontinue the drug, taking into account the importance
of drug to the mother.
Dx'd with MS & HNPP (hereditary peripheral neuropathy) 7/03 but must have had MS for 30 yrs before that. I've never taken meds for MS except 1 yr experiment on LDN. (I found diet, exercise, sleep, humor, music help me the most.)
spokz
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Re: Pregnancy & Treatment

Post by spokz »

thanks for your help
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NHE
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Re: Pregnancy & Treatment

Post by NHE »

Here are two papers from 2005. There may be more recent ones available from PubMed.

Pregnancy outcomes during treatment with interferon beta-1a in patients with multiple sclerosis.
Neurology. 2005 Sep 27;65(6):802-6.

The reproductive effects of beta interferon therapy in pregnancy: a longitudinal cohort.
Neurology. 2005 Sep 27;65(6):807-11.
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lyndacarol
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Re: Pregnancy & Treatment

Post by lyndacarol »

spokz – Just to add more information to the blood clotting/thinning thread (http://www.thisisms.com/forum/daily-lif ... tml#p62079) that jimmylegs referred to:

During pregnancy, a mother's insulin production is increased – insulin is necessary to put fat on the mother as well as the fetus. Also, excess insulin promotes blood clotting.
My hypothesis: excess insulin (hyperinsulinemia) plays a major role in MS, as developed in my initial post: http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-discussion-f1/topic1878.html "Insulin – Could This Be the Key?"
spokz
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Re: Pregnancy & Treatment

Post by spokz »

thanks guys, we really just want to be as well informed as possible to assist our decision
dez2000
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Re: Pregnancy & Treatment

Post by dez2000 »

See the internet: '300 perfect babies vitamin C’
The study of Dr F R Klenner’s life, as doctor in Reidsville NC is a classic example of a daring pioneer in medicine who chose to cure, not just treat his patients. Let him become your doctor. The Klenner Protocol is his cure for MS. …dez...
spokz
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Re: Pregnancy & Treatment

Post by spokz »

After speaking to an obgyn they have mentioned previous history of other patients staying on betaferon!

I can stay on this treatment throughout pregnancy will no disadvantage to the child
andreagwolford

Re: Pregnancy & Treatment

Post by andreagwolford »

I guess there's been a confusion here. Someone's up discussing about Betaferon while others have starting discussing about Betaseron. They both are meds and this is being quite confusing in here. Please make it clear before discussing :confused:

Dear, please read this article i found for you. Hope it helps!! :smile:

Women with multiple sclerosis (MS) have generally been advised to stop taking their medications prior to conceiving a child and throughout pregnancy. However, for the first time, studies give a glimpse into what the risks of these drugs may be.
Both studies included women who were taking interferon beta-1a or 1b, sold as either Avonex, Rebif or Betaferon. Since this class of drug had never before been studied in pregnant women, to be cautious, patients have normally been advised to stop using the drug if they were trying to have a child or were currently pregnant.

While the two studies, published in September 2005 in Neurology, show that there may be some increased risks during pregnancy for women on MS treatment, researchers advise that they are somewhat small. If a woman does become pregnant while on therapy, it may not be necessary to seek an abortion for fear that the child will have birth defects.

The first study reviewed 69 women who had become pregnant during trials of interferon beta-1a medications. Of these women, 41 were receiving treatment at the time of conception, while 22 stopped active therapy prior to becoming pregnant. In both groups, 20 women gave birth to full-term, healthy babies.


But in those women who were on treatment at the time of conception, nine pregnancies resulted in miscarriage. (The other nine women in this group chose to have an abortion for undocumented reasons).

In the second study, led by Dr. Gideon Koren, director of the Motherisk Program at the Hospital for Sick Children at the University of Toronto, researchers looked at the success rates of 64 pregnancies, 23 of which were while patients were on interferon therapy. Ultimately, 55 percent of the women on interferons had a successful pregnancy, while 81 percent of those who had stopped the drugs gave birth to a healthy baby. The others resulted in a miscarriage.

Researchers in this study also found that average birth weight was lower in the group on interferon therapy.

Interpreting the Data
While these statistics seem to imply that women who were taking interferons were at an increased risk of having an abnormal pregnancy, looking closer at the data, the conclusion becomes less clear, write Dr. Emmanuelle Waubant and Dr. Dessa Sadovnick in an editorial that accompanied the studies.

Because both studies were small in size, the differences between the groups are hard to determine. Moreover, in the first study, some of the findings were reassuring: there was no difference in a woman's ability to become pregnant while on interferons. And while the number of miscarriages in the group taking interferons seems high, it is still within the range considered normal for healthy patients.

As for the second study, Waubant points out that although birth weights were lower, there was no difference in the number of premature births or fetal deaths in late pregnancy.

In the second study, while the researchers controlled for such risk factors as smoking and age that may lead to low birth weight, there were potentially other risk factors that were not taken into account, says Waubant.

Ultimately, because MS can affect multiple parts of the body, it is hard to determine from these studies if it is the treatment, or the disease itself, causing the complications.

"One cannot ignore the possibility that the disease itself affects reproductive outcome," explains Waubant.

Is Stopping Therapy Safe?
Pregnancy and fertility are concerns for many MS patients, as two-thirds of all patients are women, and most are diagnosed in their childbearing years. Many of these women rely on disease modifying medications to reduce the chance of relapses and to slow the progression of disease.

Even though a pregnancy may benefit from going off of therapy, forgoing the drugs for a period of time may have its own consequences for the mother-to-be. While several studies have shown that MS symptoms are reduced during pregnancy, there is a higher risk of relapse after pregnancy. Whether this incidence of relapse could be reduced by maintaining therapy during pregnancy has not yet been studied.

"Many women have a honeymoon from their MS during pregnancy," said Koren. "But each case has to be looked at independently."

Since more research is clearly needed to establish the true risks of interferon therapy during pregnancy, patients may prefer to play it safe. But they should not be overly concerned should a pregnancy occur while on the drugs, as none of the children born during these studies had any noticeable birth defects.

"Prudence suggests that discontinuation of interferon beta, and any disease modifying drug, prior to pregnancy should remain the rule whenever possible," said Waubant. "But there is no data to support aborting pregnancies conceived during interferon use.

Good Luck dear!
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NHE
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Re: Pregnancy & Treatment

Post by NHE »

andreagwolford wrote:I guess there's been a confusion here. Someone's up discussing about Betaferon while others have starting discussing about Betaseron. They both are meds and this is being quite confusing in here. Please make it clear before discussing :confused:
Same drug, different names.

Betaseron: http://berlex.bayerhealthcare.com/html/ ... ron_PI.pdf

Betaferon: http://www.pharmaline.co.il/images/news ... doctor.pdf
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HarryZ
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Re: Pregnancy & Treatment

Post by HarryZ »

spokz wrote:After speaking to an obgyn they have mentioned previous history of other patients staying on betaferon!

I can stay on this treatment throughout pregnancy will no disadvantage to the child
After reading some of the reports, at best there are differences in opinion as to whether it is safe to use this drug during pregnancy. I would certainly think long and hard before making a decision to continue its use in this situation.

Harry
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