Jump to content

High Risk?


cardiactec

Recommended Posts

My cardiologist told me the other day, after i told him i was engaged, that when i start thinking about pregnancy and kids, that i would have to see a high risk doc because i definitely would be considered "high risk" -- due to POTS mainly, but then he mentioned also the other rhythm disturbances i have.

has anyone here been told that they would be a high risk pregnancy because of POTS???? :blink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Angela,

I think dysautonomia would automatically mean that you need more input from your obstetrician than a standard pregnant lady. Because of the effects of pregnancy on the body's physiology you would need closer monitoring and adjusting of your meds etc. I have a good friend who successfully carried a baby to full term with POTS - there are also lots of members on here who have had children after being diagnosed with POTS. I don't think you would be the sort of "high risk" that was seriously endangering yourself such as a female with cardiomyopathy where pregnancy could make the mother more ill, more that you would need more medical input than an average expectant mother.

Try searching the old threads on the forum - you should find lots of helpful advice from members who have "been there, done that, got the t-shirt"

Flop

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My doctors office didn't consider me high risk. But, I didn't have as high of heart rates as you have. Plus, I wasn't on any meds during my pregnancy, other than a prenatal vitamin, so there weren't any risks with meds and the baby.

Some doctors always consider the POTS patient to be high risk for pregnancy, while others don't. Some POTS patients have even gone to midwives for care, and everything has gone very well.

You might want to get a few opinions from cardiologists and OBs. If you would feel more comfortable being monitored as high risk, then by all means do that. But opinions differ on this, and you may find that you are very comfortable with a regular ob doc.

Rachel

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello!

I recently talked with Dr Grubb about pregnancy. When my husband and i decide to try to have children he wants to "team up" with a high risk OB here where I live because of my POTS. On the other hand he is very confident that I will be able to have children safely. (He says that many of his patients actually feel better during pregnancy)

Take care,

Lisa

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Angela,

Congratulations on your engagement! I definitely agree with your cardiologist. Anyone with POTS or SVT or another type of chronic condition should be followed by a high-risk OB in addition to the regular OB and your treating cardiologist. High-risk OBs have more experience with medications in pregnancy and are much more lenient than other physicians in terms of allowing and managing medications in pregnancy.

There is no published scientific data on pregnancy in POTS despite the anecdotal reports from the autonomic specialists who tend to say that many patients feel better in pregnancy. This by no means guarantees anyone that they would fall into that category, so one should be prepared for various scenarios - and this applies to healthy women as well!

Having said that, you should find good doctors in your area ahead of time whom you would feel comfortable with to interact when you do become pregnant. Good luck to you!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My pregnancy went fine other then some fairly heavy bleeding in my 4th month-----I was 21, and turn 22 the month before he was born. I was told to take it easy, and put my feet up in those days------1981. I had tachycardia spells and what I thought were panic attacks before my preganacy, but not during. I was under the care of a cardiologist after my son was born, but he diagnosed MVP----and later two other cardiologist said I didn't have MVP. After my son was 5 months old, I had tachycardia and panic attacks again, and of course learned later this was POTS------------When my Son was 19 ears old, I crashed badly in 2000. In June of 2001 I was diagnosed with POTS by Dr. Grubb.

No medication was used for my symptoms in 1981, so there was no need to worry about that. I felt good throughout my pregnancy. I didn't start a beta blocker until 1990.

Back in 1981, my pregnancy was NOT monitored by a high risk OB/GYN.

My labor and delevery went fine, but forceps were used after a full spinal block. My son's head was too big, and my birth canel too small. My tail bone was broken, but healed quickly.

Now my son has a brand new baby daughter!

In my opinion, with all your symptoms, a high risk OB/GYN should monitor things to make sure everthing goes smoothly for you and the baby when the time comes.

I wonder if my EDS had anything to do with the bleeding I had.

Maxine :0)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep, all of my doctors have said that when my husband and I have kids, if we decide to do so via pregnancy, I'll have to have all of them teaming up with a specific high-risk OB/GYN. They're even concerned enough about my ability to sustain a pregnancy that they've suggested surrogacy. Although that's partly due to other health issues I have in addition to the autonomic stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had fairly severe and uncontrolled POTS during my first and only pregnancy. I was undiagnosed. (My ob/gyn at the time chalked it all up to my perfectionist? personality.) I was checked out by a cardiologist at one point due to the tachycardia who proclaimed everything was absolutely normal. I had no problems with the pregnancy itself whatsoever, even though I felt like crap for nearly half the pregnancy. My daughter was born at 40 wks and 2 days by c-section (due to a complication during labor that could have been related to POTS).

That said, I think it is safest to be seen by a high-risk ob-gyn during pregnancy. This is b/c you may need medications during pregnancy and a specialist will be more knowledgable than a regular ob-gyn (like mine who had never heard of POTS until after I was diagnosed). During labor, again, a high-risk ob/gyn will be presumably more prepared to handle issues that may come up related to POTS. It doesn?t mean that it is necessarily risky to have a pregnancy with a POTS diagnosis. Many of us on DINET have had uneventful, successful full-term pregnancies. I now see an high risk ob/gyn?mainly b.c I wanted a gyn who is familiar with POTS. I don?t plan to have another pregnancy, but she has no concerns about me attempting another pregnancy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I asked Dr. Grubb if I would be able to safely have kids someday, he said absolutely, especially since he believes I'm beginning to grow out of at least some aspects of POTS. He did say, however, that most of his patients end up seeing a high risk doc because regular obs don't want to risk taking any chances. He also mentioned that while I probably wouldn't experience any more difficulties in pregnancy than an average woman, but if anything did go wrong, it would be caught sooner with a high risk doctor. (For the record, I'm not quite 20, so there's still hope of my growing out of this....at least somewhat, so that may make a difference as far as someday having kids.)

Meg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...