Pregnancy in couples where the male has Crohns/Colitis

Hi

My partner and I are hoping to start a family soon and I was hoping for an insight in to other peoples experiance when their partner has Crohns.

My other half has suffered quite badly for the last 15 years and has had several ops including the creation of a J-Pouch. He now takes Augmentin, Codeine, Loperamide, Amitriptyline, Citalopram and Azathioprine daily and we have been advised by his consultant that it is safe to do so but we are still worried, particularly about the azathioprine (some studies suggest it may cause birth defects) and Citalopram (lowers male fertility?)

I would really appreciate hearing other people experiances with these drugs during conception please.

Thank you

2522laura said:

Hi

My partner and I are hoping to start a family soon and I was hoping for an insight in to other peoples experiance when their partner has Crohns.

My other half has suffered quite badly for the last 15 years and has had several ops including the creation of a J-Pouch. He now takes Augmentin, Codeine, Loperamide, Amitriptyline, Citalopram and Azathioprine daily and we have been advised by his consultant that it is safe to do so but we are still worried, particularly about the azathioprine (some studies suggest it may cause birth defects) and Citalopram (lowers male fertility?)

I would really appreciate hearing other people experiances with these drugs during conception please.

Thank you

Click to expand...

hi laura,

welcome to the forum. i will share my experience that might give you some information. my husband has been having crohns for 17 years. he got it when he was 15 he is 31 now. he is on remiciade therapy for about 4 years. we have have been trying to have a baby for a bout 6 months and nothing is happening. he did a semen analysis and found out that his counts and morphology is low. he recently met another gi doc who gave him studies that shows remiciade lower sperm quantity and the shape. he is switching to probiotics and some kind of antibiotic that has no effect on sperm production and shape. we are going to give this about 4 months and see if there is any improvement. when i met with my gyn. she suggested that we do ivf/icsi for male infertility that is another possible route for getting pregnant if there is a male factor issue only.

i would suggest talk to hi gi first and tell him your concern. and see what he suggest.

hope this helps.

maryam,

Thank you. He hasnt had that drug for a couple of years so fingers crossed will be ok. I think we will give it a go for 6 months and see what happens.

Hi, here is my/our experience to date:
My hubby has the Crohns and has just been put on Imuran after several bad flares, on pred too long and entercourt didnt work. We have one beautiful 20 mth old son (conceived when he wasn't on any meds) and have not been able to successfully conceive again. We are both 32 and would LOVE atleast 1 more bub, so our oby/gyn sent us to a fertility expert who let us know he totally did not recommend conceiving on Imuran, so we quickly froze some sperm before he started taking it.
The analysis showed that we would have been very lucky to have conceived again naturally anyway (!) so we are have just finished completing the mountain of paperwork to begin the hopefully not too long journey of IVF (using ICYSI?).
Some days I'm a bit peeved at the situation because I'm totally ok but I am very conscious not to make my hubby feel any worse than he already does about me having to take all the drugs etc (now it is not just him!!!)
Good luck to all of you out there trying to conceive - every pregnancy is a miracle, no matter if it starts naturally or in a test tube.
My other two cents worth is DONT wait too long to seek help if you cant conceive - especially with health issues - as the sooner they can assess your situation, the better the outcome.

My husband has crohn's and we had been trying to get pregnant for about a year before we found out he had very low sperm count, low motility and bad morphology.

One GI doctor we talked to told us that Azathioprene and Prednisone are very bad for sperm. Also, at the time my husband's nutrition was not very good and after he got put on TPN (liquid IV nutrition) his sperm count went up considerably but the morphology never changed. We suspect that a lot of his sperm issues has to due with the crohn's medicine, but since we wanted to keep him on his medicine to keep him stable we will never know 100% for sure.

However, the good news is that we did IVF with ICSI (where they inject the sperm directly into the egg) and it worked. We're expecting our first child early next year!

I've had Crohns for nearly 14 years now and been on every med you can think of, including Azathioprene and I still am on Pred and have been for a long time now (until I go for my Stem Cell Transplant which has taken longer to sort out than planned), I also have an ileostomy.
Just over 2 years ago we started trying but weren't really getting anywhere as my partner has PCOS so it's very hard to conceive if at all, so she was given something to help regulate everything for her and I thought my little men wouldn't be up to much after everything I've been on and was still on (pred).
But last February we decided to try again now my partner had been on her PCOS regulating meds for a bit and 2 weeks later shes feeling a bit off, she does a test and Yes, she preggers and not only that but it would have been twins... I say would because she unfortunately miscarried around 6 weeks but we didn't know until the 12 week scan.
After that we waited a month then tried again and what do you know! First time...... shes pregnant again and another multiple pregnancy! This time would have been 3 as there were 3 yolk sacks but only 1 ended up developing and is now 17 1/2 weeks and doing well! Due February 20th

So although it's know for some meds to lower fertility....... it's not always the case!

2522laura said:

Hi

My partner and I are hoping to start a family soon and I was hoping for an insight in to other peoples experiance when their partner has Crohns.

My other half has suffered quite badly for the last 15 years and has had several ops including the creation of a J-Pouch. He now takes Augmentin, Codeine, Loperamide, Amitriptyline, Citalopram and Azathioprine daily and we have been advised by his consultant that it is safe to do so but we are still worried, particularly about the azathioprine (some studies suggest it may cause birth defects) and Citalopram (lowers male fertility?)

I would really appreciate hearing other people experiances with these drugs during conception please.

Thank you

Click to expand...

I believe the studies on Azathioprine that showed birth defects were in mice and the doses were extremely high, far higher than any human would be taking. I had similar concerns when first taking azathioprine, but after reading all of the research I could find, I came to the conclusion that the risks were extremely low and not worth worrying about. I started taking azathioprine in 2005 and my wife became pregnant in 2007 and again in 2009. I now have two perfect and wonderful little boys.

Wow rob, two multiple pregnancies! Was that the pcos drugs? Congratulation and I wish you both well with the rest of the pregnancy.
I really appreciate all the replies I have had on here. We decided in june to start trying after months of researching azathioprine and I'm pleased to say I am now almost 8 weeks pregnant. All being well our baby will be due the end of april :0)

2522laura said:

Wow rob, two multiple pregnancies! Was that the pcos drugs? Congratulation and I wish you both well with the rest of the pregnancy.
I really appreciate all the replies I have had on here. We decided in june to start trying after months of researching azathioprine and I'm pleased to say I am now almost 8 weeks pregnant. All being well our baby will be due the end of april :0)

Click to expand...

Thanks

Surprisingly it wasn't to do with the meds she was on, there is one that can result in a higher chance of multiples but she wasn't on that one, she was on Metformin which is actually just a diabetic medication, so just conceiving one should have still been lucky.
So either I have Mega Super Sperm :lol: or all these drugs don't necessarily always have a bad effect on a guys 'potency'.

Hi Rob,

Just wondered how your pregnancy was going? We are now at 21 weeks and have been told the baby has echogenic bowel which could be nothing but could also mean either an infection, cystic fibrosis or chromosonal abnormalities. I wondered if it could indicate that our baby may have Crohns as I think it is to do with abnormalities in Chromosomes 5 and 10.

Hi Laura,
I was just reading, and couldn't help but say congrats on your pregnancy, and i'm sorry to hear of your concerns. Try not to worry TOO much, ultrasounds aren't always right....My daughter was supposed to have an abnormally large head, they were worried about many chromosomal abnormalities, and she came out perfect, actually with a small head! Best of luck.

Thanks you Tamesis, and glad to hear your little girl is ok

I'm a new member. My husband of two years has Ulcerative Colitis, he is 24 and has had it since he was 17. He is currently on Asacol HD as well as Azathioprine 150mg daily. He had flare ups for 2 years before finally getting into remission with Azathioprine. We are planning on trying to conceive, but have been told that he needs to be off Azathioprine for 3 months before trying to conceive. The G.I. doctor told me it was more due to "infertility" isssues, while what I have read online states it may have potential effects that cause birth defects. I have read about this subject online and there doesn't really seem to have been any real documented accounts of birth defects while the male was on Azathioprine. The studies seem to be have done on mice, with extremely high doses. My question is, should we risk my husband getting sick again and come off the Azathioprine before conception? Or should we go ahead and try to conceive with him on it, and see what happens? Has anyone on here had a successful pregnancy, with a healthy baby born, while the male was currently on Azathioprine at conception?

IBD Medicine has absolutely no effect of sperm count. If your parter has low sperm count then hes got low sperm count, its probably down to the fact he smokes, drinks alot or eats unhealthily.

Nicky

I have had Crohn's for 20 years. I have four children and was on I think a different med when each was conceived. Thank goodness Crohn's has never caused problem in that department.

Hi AubreyFS, my son was conceived while my OH was on Azathioprine. I asked his consultant before hand if he should come off and he assured us everything would be fine and that the reports that mens should come off prior to conception were not reliable.

I am pleased to say we have a perfectly healthy almost 8 month old :0)

All the best, Laura

That makes me feel much better!! Thanks Everyone

I was on Azathioprine when my wife and I conceived our little guy. He is now 18 1/2 months old and healthy.

I've had Crohn for more than 20 years and I have two kids I've been on 6mp for years, which I think is similar to Azathioprine; Doctors said it doesn't have much effect on kids/pregnancy. They explained it might eventually reduce the Sperm Count, but they also advised me not to care much about that, unless we found problems on getting pregnant. I glad to say we didn’t have such problems at all.

Thanks everyone! Please anyone else who has also had an experience with this let me know!! Still trying to decide what to do.

AubreyFS... why don't you start your own thread you might get more replies

Hi all,

I know this thread is a bit old now? But any more experiences? my husband and I are trying to make the difficult decision on whether to try for a baby on azathioprine. Been scared off by my research on the internet but there seems to be a lot of positive experience on here!

Welcome to the forum Sarah321. My brother has 3 adorable kids all while he was on Imuran.

Good luck with the decision.

My husband and I decided to go ahead and try to conceive without him coming off his meds. I came off birth control in December and we are still trying, no pregnancy as of yet though. I'm just now getting used to my cycles though and knowing when ovulated etc. so maybe It will happen.

Hi Sarah,

Speak to his consultant next time he goes for a check up or drop them an email. I am sure they will put your mind at ease. My partners consultants (Miles Parkes and Richard Miller, both very highly regarded in Crohns research) pretty much laughed off the research in to Azathioprine causing problems to babies when I mentioned it. However, it is a personal decision and you have to do what you feel happy with. In my personal experience it has not had any effect on our 14 month old little monkey.

In regards to coming off Azathioprine, my partner had another op back in Feb of this year, 3 strictureplasties and a couple of small resections which resulted in him being in hospital for 4 weeks and off the Aza all that time. Now he is back on it he is having more Crohns symptoms than he previously had, its taking a while for his body to get used to it again so if you can avoid him coming off it I think that would be best.

Good luck with what ever you decide xx

Thanks for the replies everyone. Very reassuring. Think we are going to go for it and will let you know how things go. My husbands consultant also laughed off the research and couldn't see why people would come off the meds to try but as I am a nurse I was more sceptical about this and couldn't help but do my own research!

Good luck Aubreyfs I have everything crossed for you x

Good luck :dance:

One thing I would say is not sure how bad your other half is, mine rarely is in remission and I have found it very hard to cope with looking after him, the baby and work full time. Luckily I have lots of lovely family round me to help but just something to bear in mind. I seriously under estimated how difficult it would be raising a family with someone that has severe Crohns as he is usually on the loo for night feeds or is too sore to pick him up or play.

Its definately worth it so dont want to put you off but just wanted to let you know my experiance x