More evidence pregnancy is safe with MS

(Reuters Health) – A new research review strengthens the evidence that women with multiple sclerosis are about as likely as other women to have a healthy pregnancy — without putting their own health at risk.

The findings, reported in the obstetrics journal BJOG, support the advice generally given to women with multiple sclerosis: If the condition is under control, you can safely become pregnant.

“A woman with multiple sclerosis can consider pregnancy just the same way all other women consider it,” Dr. Yara D. Fragoso, a neurologist at the Universidade Metropolitana de Santos in Brazil, and the senior researcher on the new study, told Reuters Health.

Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a nerve disorder thought to arise when a person’s immune system mistakenly attacks that person’s own nerve fibers. MS leads to symptoms like muscle weakness, numbness, vision problems and difficulty with coordination and balance.

Years ago, women with MS were advised to avoid pregnancy, partly out of concern that it could make their disease worse.

But studies in recent decades have shown that the opposite is true; many women see their symptoms improve or even disappear during pregnancy — possibly because immune system activity naturally declines and levels of anti-inflammatory hormones called corticosteroids naturally rise during pregnancy.

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