Hi, Anyone out there have to start dialysis after carrying a pregnancy? I know there are other options out there to have a child but I just want to make an informed decision before I give up my dream of having our own biological child. I also posted over at the kidney problems group in more depth. I am just wondering if anyone needed dialysis after and what their journey was like. I am also pretty smart and know what my brain tells me but I just also have done things without being informed before and regret that a great deal. Please don't come down on me for just asking, okay? Thanks!
I don’t think anyone would ever come down on you for wanting to have a child. I hope that you are able to get
some good information from people that have been through a similar experience. I will keep my fingers crossed for you.
I noticed that we are almost the same age and I am also a special ed teacher!
Thanks Donna for the support! I also saw on your page that you were diagnosed about 1 year before me. Nice to have “met” you.
Same here! Hope everything works out for you.
I really have no clue about this - but I think that things similar to the whole story of Steel Magnolias isn’t really common anymore. Does anyone know? I thought that I had read somewhere that things have gotten a LOT better since then.
If your doctors say it is ok for you to have a child than you should go with that. I have some kidney damage & the doctors are confident that I will be ok with a 2nd pregnancy.
Good luck to you.
Okay, the part I guess I left out is that my kidney specialist told me that I would probably need dialysis after pregnancy. I understand that its probably not the smartest most logical thing to move forward with a pregnancy but at the same time if I am on dialysis and still able to function somewhat normally most of my being believes that it is worth it. I am told that I would then need a kidney transplant and could possibly have a pancreas transplant as well. Hope that clears things up.
Wow. I’m sorry that you are dealing with that. Like you, though, I was willing to have my own biological child no matter what the cost.
The Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville FL is the best in the country for those types of transplants, but as far as pancreatic transplants and such, they are likely to reject between 1-5 years after the transplant, at which point you will need another transplant. And another. And another. The recovery time for each transplant is about 6 months of which you’ll have to spend very close by to Jacksonville as an out-patient (about 3 weeks spent inside the hospital at first). You will also need to be on about 10-20 pills per day for the rest of your life for anti-rejection purposes.
(I had some really severe type 1 issues that I strongly considered getting a pancreatic transplant last year)
Good luck to you. Seriously.
I hope you’ve gotten a second opinion on what your doc has told you regarding the dialysis after pregnancy. I was told for year and YEARS that I’d never be able to have kids just due to type 1. Some doctors aren’t kept up-to-date on what’s new out there regarding treatments for this disease. If I had listened to those docs, I wouldn’t be pregnant right now.
So, I hope you have gotten second and third and fourth opinions… visit Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston if you can so they can run extensive testing.
Other than that, I sincerely wish you the very best.
Hi, thank you sooooooo much for your help! I had been told by a regular md that I had been going to for several years that my kidney’s wouldn’t make it. I decided at that time foolishly to believe that and I guess wasn’t smart enough to ask for a specialist and it wasn’t til last year that he decided that I needed one as well. The kidney specialist in my area that I go to is one highly recommended by my new diabetes team and I feel very confident in what he says. He says that probably I will need it but that he would be there every step of the way if I decided to continue this journey. I do live out west and that limits me from going to Joslin or that Jacksonville facility though. I’m comfortable with the team I have now.
You said that you are currently pregnant? Congratulations! I’m guessing that you don’t have the kidney issues but others related to the diabetes from what you said about looking into the pancreas transplant. Thanks for the encouragement about getting pregnant despite the possibility and liklihood of the dialysis and need for a transplant after. I’m hoping that someone can tell me what dialysis is like, if I can continue to work some, care for an infant and do the dialysis at the same time.
Again, thanks for also being willing to do whatever it might take to have your own child.