• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

Infertility Worries

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
I

Ivy

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
I'll give a bit of backround info - I'm 21 and have had diabetes since I was 8. I had very good control up until the age of 14 when I developed an eating disorder and abused my diabetes to lose weight (stupid, I know). I didn't have periods for four years but they returned when I regained slightly better control. At one point I had an Hba1c of 18. :S I now have retinopathy and cataracts and am on Simvastatin and Ramipril for my eyes, cholesterol (which was 7 at one point) and kidneys. My last Hba1c was 8 and I'm awaiting my latest result. I'm hoping it has gone down to 7 and then I am aiming for 6.

I try not to fall into a pit of depression about what I have done to myself and how I can't ever reverse it but lately I've been worrying about whether I could be infertile. I'm too young to have kids and have never tried to get pregnant but this thought is just haunting me. :( I have regular periods now and try to take good care of myself but as I still suffer from bulimia my sugars fluctuate so much I have to test every hour. Do you think there's a good chance I might have wrecked my chances of ever getting pregnant?

Sorry for the long post!
 
Welcome to the forum, Ivy.

It's not possible for forum members to give medical advice, as we're not qualified to do so. However, members can share their experiences or knowledge.

There are a couple of issues here: getting pregnant, then having a healthy baby at the end of a pregnancy.

Body weight and regular periods are some of the issues that can affect getting pregnant, while current HbA1c score has an effect on pregancy outcome. Rapid changes in HbA1c, whether pregnant or not, are not a good idea for mother or baby.

Finally, there is help available - you should ask your GP and / or diabetes clinic and / or eating disorders clinic (assuming you have contact?) ask for referral to a pre-conception (joint diabetes / obstetrics) clinic.

If you don't already know, then you might find it helpful to search Diabetics With Eating Disorders website - see http://www.dwed.org.uk/
 
PLEASE don't even accidentally get preg whilst taking statins, Ivy. They cause foetal abnormalities and really I'm fairly shocked a doctor would prescribe them in the first place for a woman of child bearing age!

You might like to query that .......
 
trophywench said:
PLEASE don't even accidentally get preg whilst taking statins, Ivy. They cause foetal abnormalities and really I'm fairly shocked a doctor would prescribe them in the first place for a woman of child bearing age!

You might like to query that .......
Click to expand...

I didn't know that :S I've been prescribed them since I was about 17. Like I said, for my eye and cholesterol problems, which have partly cleared up now. I will query it next time I'm at the diabetes clinic.
 
Ivy, i also thought that i would not be able to have children as i have always really had high hb1c ( max was 10 ) and never really looked after myself

i went four years just using fast acting ... i am so very lucky i have not done any damage ( that i know of yet )

I had been hoping to have kids with my partner and after 6 months of trying i started to think that i would not be able to get pregnant ... i started really trying to look after myself and diabetes and fell pregnant.

Look after yourself as this is the home for a little one . and when your all good then start thinking about kids ! from my experience 🙂 x
 
Ivy. You must have had a horrible time. I'm so sorry to hear about what you've come through. As someone else said, not being your doctor it's not for anyone here to say whether you are - fertilitywise - likely to have problems conceiving a baby but I'm sure it's ok just to ask them, though it must be a hard question to ask. And remember fertility is a weird individual thing you can't entirely predict - people with no reasons to expect difficulties find they have them, and my neighbour who was told she could never have kids after having treatment for skin cancer, now has two.

As other have also said, a lot of keeping a baby's chances good during pregnancy come from what happens during and just before that pregnancy. that's not about looking back: it's about having the strength to look forward.

You sound like someone who has had to be very strong to get through- even though it didn't feel like it at the time - and who could rise to the challenge of maIntaining low BGs through pregnancy. The best way to do this is to PLAN it.
 
Kerry - That's really great and reassuring that you managed to get pregnant once you starting looking after yourself. 🙂

Lizzie - Thank you for being so kind. 🙂 I always worry people will judge me for being such an idiot and think I could get away abusing my health like that.
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top