Advice from the moms

[Ling]

Next week I will start reducing my heart medication. It should take 3 - 4 months to get me off my heart medication. I am presently on 160 mg Inderal and we will slowly be reducing it until I am on nothing. I will also be stopping my Tripaleen for the Fibromy..... Tell me what can I expect stopping my medication? You all know my doctor’s want let me start my family on medication. Mario and I would like to be pregnant by the end of the year at least. Considering all my health problems plus the Endometriosis and F. tubes damaged we will be working overtime to achieve our goal this year. I have been told it is either the medication or a baby. So sick I will be for as long as it takes to fall pregnant. How long did most of you take to fall pregnant? Do you think P.O.T.S even effects this part of our lives?

Going into this with a positive attitude. I will not be sick! Is all I am trying to think of. Lets hope it works.

[corina]

Hi Ling,

I can't advice you on this because I became pregnant befor the POTS (I think), but knowing how much you want to start a family I just want to wish you the very best on making this happen!!!

Corina

[ethansmom]

Kim,

I am still rooting for you and Mario in your journey to becoming parents. I can't wait!!! It's good that you will be tapering off your medication slowly to allow your body to try to compensate. We are all very different, as you know, when it comes to how our POTS bodies react to pregnancy. My own personal experiences have been with pregnancies that were unplanned, and thus I had to stop my medication abruptly when I found out I was expecting. The first trimesters of my last pregnancy and this one were pretty difficult, but suddenly at the beginning of the second trimester with each I got my energy back and felt great. This time though, I think being off ALL meds was the reason for my extreme fatguge, and of course tachycardia, and so my midwife ended up recommending that I continue my beta blocker for safety reasons, as Sectral is one of the lower risk bb's to take while pregnant. My cardiologist agreed, and I am taking a low dose which has helped me tremendously. I would do what you are doing and try to do without the meds, but weigh the benefits vs. risks if you come to a time when you need them. 12 weeks in pregnancy is a critical point after which some doctors are willing to prescribe certain medications- so holding out until then if you can is a good idea.

Best of luck to you!!!!!!!!

[Ernie]

My niece took 4 months to get pregnant, my sister got pregnant the first month (2x).

Ernie

[MomtoGiuliana]

Good luck with everything, Ling. POTS does not affect fertility--at least there is no evidence of that. I got pregnant at 33 years very easily. I think there are things you CAN do to boost your and your husband's fertility that you might want to look into--mainly I'm thinking--excellent diet for both of you and keeping him out of hot tubs! There are books on this topic. Also, do you know how to check your basal body temperature? I think this is how I got pregnant so easily. Basically there is a small window of time, 2-4 days a month, during which it is possible for you to get pregnant. By charting your basal body temperature, you can usually easily predict those days. (Essentially, once you have ovulated, your basal body temp goes up very slightly.) I got a thermometer to measure this every AM when I woke. Again, there are educational materials out there on how to do this and perhaps your doctors have already given you this information.

Hopefully you can manage your first 3 months of pregnancy without any meds, as Jessica said. After that, there are some meds that may be ok if you really need them. Hope you are one of these POTS patients who feels better with pregnancy anyway!

Katherine