The good news is that if you have MS and get the right medical care, chances are you can have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.
There is no evidence that MS causes infertility. Studies have shown that pregnancy, delivery, and rate of birth defects are not significantly different in women with MS compared with those without MS. During pregnancy, you will need close monitoring to keep track of the disease and the health of the fetus.
Contents. You may have to adapt your daily life if you're diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), but with the right care and support many people can lead long, active and healthy lives.
MS doesn't appear to increase the risk of problems that can occur during any pregnancy. The risk of having pregnancy-induced hypertension, also called toxemia or preeclampsia, or early delivery (premature birth) does not increase with MS.
Changes that take place in a woman's body during pregnancy are believed to contribute to less inflammation, less MS activity and fewer relapses. If you experience a relapse during pregnancy, treatment with corticosteroids (for example, methylprednisolone or prednisone) may be considered.
The researchers found that over the past 25 years, life expectancy for people with MS has increased. However, they also found that the median age of survival of people with MS was 76 years, versus 83 years for the matched population.
In general, MS does not impact fertility. After assisted reproductive technology (ART) cycles, some small historic studies suggested elevated relapse risk but, this has not shown to be the case in larger modern studies where women are more actively managed with DMTs (Bove et al., 2020) and (Graham et al., 2023).
Race. White people, particularly those of Northern European descent, are at highest risk of developing MS . People of Asian, African or Native American descent have the lowest risk.
The recent prevalence study shows that MS is 3 times more common in those assigned female at birth than male. This suggests that hormones may also play a significant role in determining susceptibility to MS.
Factors that may trigger MS include: Exposure to certain viruses or bacteria: Some research suggests that being exposed to certain infections (such as Epstein-Barr virus) can trigger MS later in life. Where you live: Your environment may play a role in your risk for developing MS.
Pulmonary complications.
MS can weaken the muscles that control the lungs. Such respiratory issues are the major cause of sickness and death in people in the final stages of MS.
Four disease courses have been identified in multiple sclerosis: clinically isolated syndrome (CIS), relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), primary progressive MS (PPMS) and secondary progressive MS (SPMS).
After many years of saying that MS is not passed down the generations, new research now says the opposite. Although past studies have suggested that genetic risk factors could increase the risk of developing the disease, up until now, there has been no evidence that the disease is directly inherited.
Breastfeeding and MS
Breastfeeding has many benefits for parents and babies. For parents with MS, breastfeeding exclusively for 6 months may help to decrease relapses, but the science is not clear on this yet.
Generally, women with MS can accept most types of pain relief during labour, such as pethidine, entonox (gas and air) and epidural anaesthesia.
You're not born with symptoms of MS. If you develop MS it's usually diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40. However, it can also develop earlier or later than that. There's currently no way to tell whether someone will develop MS later in life.
The early signs and symptoms of MS can be the same for women and men. One of the more obvious first signs of MS is a problem with vision, known as optic neuritis. This is often because it's a more concrete symptom as opposed to vaguer neurological symptoms like numbness and tingling.
Every week in the U.S., about 200 people are diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, or MS. According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, four times as many women have MS as men, and more and more women are developing it.
People with MS can benefit from at least 30 minutes of physical activity at least three days a week.
Telling people you have multiple sclerosis can be hard, but talking about your MS to friends family and colleagues could really help. Especially if you need some extra support. Accepting your MS diagnosis yourself can be difficult, let alone having to break the news to others.
The study found that people with MS lived to be 75.9 years old, on average, compared to 83.4 years old for those without. That 7.5-year difference is similar to what other researchers have found recently.
A number of factors, including an individual's genetic makeup, history of infections or other autoimmune diseases, environmental exposures, and demographic traits, have all been linked with an altered risk of developing MS.
Women with MS can usually take the pill and other hormone-based contraceptives, just like other women. But some medications and herbal supplements can raise the chances of them not working. The evidence suggests that hormonal contraceptives don't increase relapses or make MS progress more quickly.