Physically falling apart after first child

[jujumum78]

Just wondered if anyone else has been plagued by new health problems since having children and in particular feels ancient? I had DD Sept 2010 and although I was very fit beforehand I feel I am falling apart now. For example my hair is brittle and skin is dry as a snake, my joints creak and crick, my muscles are inflexible and sometimes seize up and are painful (i know this could be down to carrying baby etc) and to top it off I now have a rare auto-immune disease that can interfere with my blood clotting. I'm mid 30's but feel like I've got accelerated aging or something!

Weird, I was also diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disease a year after having DD! Unlikely to be related to her birth, but I know how you feel...

My back has gone again (gone where I dont know, if you find it let me know )

It used to have a bad back because of the amount of driving I did but I'd have good and bad days. During pregnancy though it was brilliant, think all my joints softened and everything felt fab. As soon as I had dd last summer, it's got worse.

Now she's 8.5 months, picking her up is agony, even if I bend at the knees!

I walk around sometimes feeling like a 60 year old; all aching and stiff. Have been referred to a consultant now following advice from my chiropractor who thinks it's my hip that's causing the problems, not necessarily my back

But I do try to stay up beat, can be hard when physically you feel beaten down!

I know how you feel

I fell apart after having ds, same thing, snake skin, bone crushing tiredness, hair fell out in clumps, turns out it was Graves disease (also autoimmune) and had to have thyroid removed. Then the problems really began.

What exactly is the auto disease you had dianosed op? x

Perfumedlife that sounds awful! What auto immune diseases do you have metalhead? I have ITP (idiosyncratic thrombocytopenia purpura), bit of a mouthful! With ITP the immune system attacks the blood platelets and prevents clotting. A poor man's haemophilia (dr's joke!). When I was diagnosed in December 2011, more than a year after I had DD, they asked me if I had the anti-D injection during pregnancy - which I had because I'm o neg. They later denied there could be a connection and although I'm not anti-vaccinations it has made me wonder?

My back is a mess too. I do yoga once a week to 'balance' things out but it seems to just get worse and worse. I'm thinking about going to see the dr and maybe an osteopath.

Have your experiences made you think twice about having more children?

oh forgot to mention my eyesight has gone too after perfect 20/20 for decades!

Dry skin and brittle hair are symptoms of underactive thyroid - not uncommon after birth. Get a blood test for it. Undeactive throid makes you feel pants generally.

I've got sarcoidosis - for me that meant recurring iritis and inflammation of the kidneys, which made me lose weight and feel really tired all the time. Been on low-dose steroids now for nearly a year, which seem to do the trick, but meant I couldn't get life insurance when we bought a house...

Oh, and my back is also killing me!

I don't think I'll be having any more kids, but not necessarily because of my health problems - I just don't think I'm very maternal, and am finding coping with one child hard enough!

I'd second the suggestions to get your thyroid checked. The skin and hair are common symo-mine went wonky after my 1st baby.
Hope you feel better soon

Before DC's I went to the gym 6 times a week and had sports massages. You can imagine how shredded I felt after 2 dc's (and 2 sections).

IBS is off the scale, my knees hurt for months when I used to be down changing nappies, back is creaky, skin is worn out...... . My GP has been brilliant though and tested me for everything under the sun.

But now they are 5.5 and 3.7 I am forcing myself to get healthy again. I've been able to go to 3 hard gym classes a week over the last month and will get some reflexology sorted out. I can't afford to get old and creaky just yet. I swear I've only muddled through the pre-school years with vitamin supplements and the odd diazepam.

And it's one of the reasons I stuck at 2 DC's. I knew that eventually I could get fit again after just 2 kids, but more children would have floored me.

I know exactly what you mean. Pre DC's I was fit, healthy, hadn't been to GP for literally years. After DC's my previously mild and manageable eczema flared up and was uncontrollable for years. My hair was like straw, and I had the energy of a tortoise.

But, now the DC's are 8 and 6, I'm feeling much, much better. Am getting the chance to take care of me as well as the DC's and it makes a huge difference.

I had no idea about hair and skin being common thyroid symptoms. It literally feels like a moisture vampire has been feasting on me. I was on steroids too for 4 months for the ITP and wonder if/how they have complicated how I feel.

I want to have another child but the thought of feeling like this for another 5-7 years, or feeling worse puts me right off!

I'm sure my mum, who single handedly raised 3 of us without all the mod cons, would laugh at me if I mentioned this to her! Stiff upper lip and all that!

On the flip side I used to get cold sores all the time, literally every 3 months. Strangely I haven't had a single tingle on my lips since I became pregnant or after birth.

Yep. I've had inflammatory arthritis since I had my first, plus kidney stones and developing kidney disease. Had my first mental breakdown, complete with a psychotic episode, and been diagnosed with an anxious personality disorder now with recurrent depressive disorder. Was such a healthy person before kids, lol.

Had two though, second pregnancy was a nightmare with joint problems, but glad I did it,.

How on earth did women in the 1800's survive having 9 kids! Are us women less hardy these days? :o

hmmm weirdly a friend of mine was also diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disease in the year following the birth of her second child

Quite a few of them didn't, jujumum78!

Definitely seems to be a pattern emerging here on this thread though with regards to auto-immune conditions... conspiracy theorists would have a field day! :o

The consultant I see at the hospital is convinced that the majority of all ailments/diseases in life have their root in the immune system, but no-one yet knows why or how.

I'd like to know why childbearing may be a trigger? Maybe the conspiracy theorists would say it's the effect of drugs during childbirth? I swear I had such an overload of drugs (pre-eclampsia then induced with resulting c section)!

Auto immune diseases are often triggered by pregnancy. I've had one after each of mine.

Me too! Autoimmune condition after the birth of my second child (thyroidistis which resolved itself after 12 months), and I developed a gluten intolerance. And I also had the Anti D...

I think that it is considered to be due to cells from a different genetic make up being introduced into the body.

The scientists knew from previous work in this field that cells from fetuses normally begin circulating in their mothers' blood very early in pregnancy and can be found in the bone marrow and other tissues of these women for decades afterward. They speculated that in attacking these foreign cells, the body inadvertently attacks itself as well. The act of giving birth can lead blood from the fetus to mingle with that of the mother, especially in the case of cesarean sections, where more blood crosses the placenta into the woman.

Quoted from something i found on the net and am too lazy to check...

The anti D is essential ladies - don't be put off having that

I understood that onset of auto immune disease was linked to pregnancy. I got RA during my 1st pregnancy and understood that it was the change in hormones that speeded up the onset. Whilst I would still have got it had I not had children it might not have come on until the hormone change caused by menopause instead. Is there anyone medical who can confirm this?

I know so many people that were healthy until pregnant then diagnosed with coeliac, cancer, RA etc that I presumed there was a proven link to the effect of the hormone change. I guess it would have happened to a lesser extent in previous generations because the average age of having first baby was much younger and nearly all of those I know who have been affected are well above average age for first time mums.

Also I guess the conditions are often not easily diagnosed as doctors think it is pregnancy related as was in my case. However RA typically goes into remission in pregnancy but it demonstrates that hormones do affect auto immune diseases.

I am sure many of those having 9 kids in the 1800s would not have survived to the age many now have their first child.

x posted. agree with the previous posters who say the damage is from early in pregnancy not from labour.

me too!I have an auto immune condition rare for my age, i have gynae issues, pelvic probs and have awful skin/hair/nails and pmt is much worse!!! I'm 26 by the way and ready for the scrap heap!

wow this is interesting. I had a quick look around the internet after reading your post toothbrushthief, and there does seem to be some evidence to suggest fetus cells are to blame, the transfer of cells is known as microchimerism. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microchimerism

Eczema is auto immune so fits the theory. I also had a mental breakdown after my second pregnancy. Pregnancy definately triggered something in my body/mind and not in a good way.