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Original poster

Stress in pregnancy & leukemia?

17 replies

alicemama · 30/04/2006 08:34

Saw an old friend for the 1st timw in ages last night. Her dd is the same age as my dd1 and enjoyed our pregnancies together.
Sad to say her dd now has a very rare form of leukemia and in & out of hospital and has very slim chances Sad
I know that during her pg her dh had a lengthy affair which obviously put her under a huge amount of stress.
I know I cannot directly say that his afffair has caused his dd's illness but do you think that a pg woman under such stress can have a bearing upon the child's longterm health

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 30/04/2006 08:49

No!

desperatehousewife · 30/04/2006 08:50

my feeling is that without lots of scientific and medical evidence to back this type of claim up, it's actually a really dangerous thing to suggest - many women experience different stresses throughout pregnancy - through no fault of their own and the last thing they want to be worried about on top is if they are seriously harming their unborn baby.

Sorry, don't mean to 'have a go' but i just think people need to be so careful about what they say...

Blandmum · 30/04/2006 08:50

POsted the same thing on the other thread. And not helpful for this woman to feel guilty about being stressed as well as worried sick about her child IMHO

Blandmum · 30/04/2006 08:52

Just think about the huge stresses women undergo all over the world in conflict/ natural disasters/ poverty/ ill treatment etc etc. Are there elivated leveals of cancers as a result? No. A load of old cobblers

threebob · 30/04/2006 08:55

What did they find with the 9/11 research - I seem to remember that those babies had elevated incidences of something - but I can't remember what.

threebob · 30/04/2006 08:58

Just googled - and that was attributed to the smoke and dust.

\link{http://www.mailman.hs.columbia.edu/ccceh/research/wtc_pregnancy.html\research here}

So in short, no I don't think that stress could cause cancer.

Pruni · 30/04/2006 09:12

To truly believe this you'd have to look into which hormones are elevated as a result of stress, then see if there's any research to connect those hormones with the development of the foetus and from there the malfunction that's causing the leukaemia. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. So until you have even had a cursory look at factors like that, you are doing a lot of harm by suggesting it to her. I sincerely hope you haven't.
Sad

ItalianJob · 30/04/2006 09:17

The only thing I have ever heard of is that stress in PG may make your children prone to anxiety:-

\link{http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4286512.stm\this}.

Do hope that you are not sharing your theories with your friend.

WigWamBam · 30/04/2006 09:24

Sorry, I don't mean to be nasty but this is an awful thing to be thinking. Like other posters I sincerely hope you're not sharing such a horrible theory with her.

Blandmum · 30/04/2006 09:28

If you think about it there would have been a huge surge in cases of Childhood leukemia after WW2, In Vietnam etc. When you take out of the exquation the use of known or suspected carcinogens (Like depleated uranium) out of the equation there is no surge!

There would be a higher risk of leukemia in women who were abused by their spouses.

there would be an expected rise in the area affected by the Tsunami.

That poor woman who gave birth in the tree.....she'd be a sure case.

Sorry this is utter bollocks and is most unhelpful for your friend. I can understand why you want to find a reason .....that is a natural human insinct. But sometimes shit just happens. Like it has to my DH. I'm not going to go an quiz his mother about how happy she was during his PG Sad

As a matter of fact she was a damn site more stressed with the PGs of his two younger brothers, because by that time her husband was an alcoholic and their marriage was breaking down.

misdee · 30/04/2006 09:36

like i said on the other thread. if this were true, then my 2 youngests dd are going to be in for a rough ride.

sh*t happens.

not dismissing your poor friends dd, but life happens, there doesnt have to be a reason. you can live your life by 'what if's' i prefer to deal with things not worry too much about what caused it or if it could have been avoided.

Original poster
alicemama · 30/04/2006 19:44

Oh no please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying its her fault at all. I know that her dd would be ill no matter what but if I was her I couldn't help but think about it being partly his fault, he's a scumbag in general not just the affair thing.
I was just thinking out loud and have never said such a thing to her.
I've never liked her dh, have known him since I was a child and when I found out about his affair with a close friend and then his dd becoming seriously ill, it just made me think....hope I haven't offended anyone Sad

OP posts:
joanna4 · 30/04/2006 20:00

Someone in my family has cancer found when she was pregnant and her baby is fine and thriving so I say no it has no bearing on what your friends dd is going through.

tamum · 30/04/2006 20:03

There's no conceivable known mechanism by which this could have happened, so I wouldn't think any more of it. Very sorry to hear about her dd.

threebob · 30/04/2006 20:12

I don't think the two are connected in any way other than your friend has had 2 shit things happen to her in a short space of time.

batters · 30/04/2006 20:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

blueshoes · 30/04/2006 21:43

My dd was born with a heart condition. I was so stressed during pregnancy because the scans picked it up but the doctors could not confirm the extent, except to tell me to expect corrective surgery possibly within days of the birth. Do I think anything I did caused this?? Big fat NO. I don't see any reason why your friend should think this way. I would suggest that you banish these thoughts - don't want to sound harsh, but it is not your place.

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