One woman's mission to prevent a miscarriage

Q: After several miscarriages, doctors found that I had lupus antibodies in my blood. During seven months of my next pregnancy, I had to take high doses of Prednisone. I would like to have more children, but am concerned about the steroid treatment. What changes can I make in my diet to reduce these lupus antibodies? And is this at all related to lupus?

A: Recurrent miscarriages are unusual, but always very sad. Occasionally, we can find and treat a cause, such as the lupus auto-antibody. Unfortunately, there are no good ways – dietary or otherwise – to control your body’s production of this antibody.

However, there are other treatment options besides steroids. First, I would remeasure the antibodies in your blood stream, as the levels can vary. Also, other medications have been used to treat this condition, including aspirin and heparin, the anti-clotting medicine. I would talk with a perinatologist about these options, to see if these might be reasonable options for your particular condition.

Although we call these antibodies “lupus antibodies,” few women with them develop clinical lupus. Most remain entirely symptom-free – it is only their childbearing capacity that is affected. You should receive regular follow-up medical care, but do not spend time worrying about developing clinical lupus -just enjoy your baby, and hopefully more children.

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