Friday 1 June 2012

Pregnancy & autoimmune illness

Interesting programme from Radio Scotland on the seemingly miraculous remission of autoimmune illness sometimes experienced by pregnant women (some, on the other hand, get worse). Presented by journalist Elizabeth Quigley who herself has MS and felt better during pregnancy. She asks scientists what they are doing to replicate pregnancy hormones in a therapeutic context. I know that some women with ME too feel better during pregnancy, but crash afterwards. Fascinating stuff.

And, of course, today is the day of the fabulous Invest in ME International Conference 2012. Wish I were there! Would be a joy to hear a gathering of such enlightened medics speak.

And very excited about this young lady's news in the upcoming weeks.

1 comment:

Sabine said...

Thank you for this link. I have been affected by various autoimmune diseases for the past 12 years (and possibly much longer) and every medical expert I have met - there were many - has listened up when I mentioned that I had one very premature child and several miscarriages. Some have speculated that one of these pregnancies may have caused my immune system to go haywire, i.e. setting off the "programming error" of producing autoantibodies. Apparently this hypothesis has been around for some time. But I do believe from my personal observations that hormones and the cyclic imbalances that occur in women play an important role in the disease pattern with noticeable changes in symptoms.
Anyway, thanks again, very interesting and look after yourself!