Pregnancy can be a real B on the body, some women do so well. I am not that woman, but the babies- SO worth it!! I was diagnosed with a rare pregnancy related issue called cholestasis of pregnancy in my 37th week of pregnancy with Gwen in 2010 (and then induced that night). I probably had dangerous levels of bile in my blood around 35 weeks. Around the 25th or so week of my pregnancy with Gwen I started to have gallbladder attacks, which weren't diagnosed until 6 months after I had her. Needless to say that was removed a few months later. I guess biliary issues are a part of my life. Now, sitting at 16 weeks pregnant I am fine- phew! But still apparently have a 60 to 90% chance of getting cholestasis again. I thought- those statistics suck! Let's see what we can do about it!
Here is a rundown of what I've heard/found so far:
Itchy mom's website: only really helpful in diagnosis, not in prevention (p.s. the diet tips suck, never eat a low fat diet in pregnancy you are just starving your fetus): http://www.icpcare.org/
My OB: "nothing can prevent ICP, eat what you want." Really??
My Acupuncturist: "Let's help your liver with blood flow, eat less dairy and no sugar"
My Nutritionist: A New Diet and Vitamin Routine! to help with inflammation, digestion and liver function. She said "you won't be getting it again." She also said that I need to follow this for life, to prevent further biliary/liver issues.
I have been following this New Routine! for a whole week now. I do have less joint pain and other things we won't mention are better, but I need about 20 more weeks to really know if I'm not going to get this again. I will do anything I can to prevent this from happening. I consider myself an experiment.
One thing that I like is being able to do something. Nothing else has given me that power.
If you are here, and wondering what I was told I highly suggest you see a nutritionist, in fact if you are in the midwest, go to Weight and Wellness. That is what I did. The person I worked with has had experience with other pregnant cholestasis moms.
A mini rundown of what I'm doing.
-Really high quality prenatal vitamins (not avoiding fat soluble vitamins)
-Other digestion and pregnancy related supplements (this is where you need a nutritionist)
-Eating liver healthy fats (I had no idea certain fats were terrible for your liver- see a nutritionist!)
-Eating almost no sugar
-Meals that include a small amount of healthy fat, lots of veggies and a healthy meat protein
-Not eating much for carbs, apparently they just turn into sugar before they get to the liver
-Not eating tons of fruit (natural sugar...)
-All organic meats and dairy, the pesticides and crap they load into meat is hard for the liver to process
So basically sugar just makes your liver sad. So does alcohol, but that isn't a problem during pregnancy but afterwards uggghhhhh, I will hopefully be happy as an occasional drinker. Sugar will be my biggest problem. I really really really love sugar, borderline addicted. I have had these feelings of mild desperation and panic at some points just thinking that I won't be able to eat sugary foods regularly. I wonder how much is going to be "o.k." to eat, do I just do Bday parties? Or, do I eat none of it? I haven't figured that out yet. I think I need to conquer my semi-addiction first.
So- we'll see!
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