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This is an answer for Emma Bennions and whomever is wondering about PD and pregnancy. Benedicte Boutet is a newcomer to Parkliste, the French-speaking equivalent to the Parkinsn List. I am Bernard JOLY, the owner of Parkliste : I have translated and forwarded the information, and I am ready to do more, about any relevant topic. Benedicte Boutet wrote : I have had PD for 7 years, and I re-married recently. I then decided to have another child. I visited my neurologist who could not guarantee whether motherhood would increase my symptoms or not. I called Laboratoires Roche, who sent to my doctorsome of the few documents available about that issue.I copy them at the end of this message. I was in good shape when I was pregnant, with Modopar only (6 times 125 mg a day) ; I was "off" more often than when having Parlodel, but I took that opportunity to read books ot have some rest. I gave birth under epidural anesthesia, without any abnormal problem. I remember this birth as a better experience than the birth of my first daughter, when I was in good health ! The baby is now 5 months is perfectly OK and my PD did not worsen. I wish the best for those of you who will have a baby Benedicte Boutet PD strikes 0.5 % human beings, but only 2% cases are diagnosed before the age of 50. Therefore, having both PD and a baby is not frequent. As a summary, no case of baby malformation, nor mother symptoms increase has been reported. -"L.DOPA was teratogenic in the rabbit at doses of 125 mg/kg/day or above but was no teratogenic in the mouse up to 500 mg/kg/day."Institute for Therapeutic Research West Point Penna.USA In spite of the existence of PD-sensitive families, we are not aware of any case of direct genetic PD tranmission. F.Jacquemard et collaborateurs, service gynecologie-obstetrique Hotel-Dieu Rennes France. Levodopa in Pregnancy -We report a 27-year-old who had previously undergone chemotherapy and radiotherapy for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1988. She subsequently developed a progressive levodopa responsive Parkinsonian syndrome and began treatment with co-careldopa (Sinemet Plus) in April 1992. She became pregnant in August 1992 and continued treatement with co-careldopa 375mg daily, subsequently delivering a healthy boy, weighing 3540g at 39 weeks gestation, by epidural and forceps delivery because of delay in the second stage of labour. Apgarscores were 9 at both 1 and 10 min. The mother produced significant quantities of milk but the baby was bottle fed because of the known excretion of levodopa in breast milk. Through-out the pregnancy the patient's Parkinsonian symptoms remained stable. There have been two previous reports of successful outcome of pregnancy in patiens taking levododopa and carbidopa, one of a singleton pregnancy and the other of twins. While the numbers of women of child-bearing potential requiring levodopa is small, there has as yet been no report of of teratogenicity in humans. In view of the limited experience, however, it would seem important to collect all data on outcome of pregnancy in patients taking levodopa. Until a substantial body of data is available, there seems to be no reason to withhold levodopa during pregnancy, particularly in view of the possible harmful effects of poorly coordinated muscular contraction during the later stages of pregnancy and labour. M.C Ball, H.J Sagar Clinical Neurology of Sheffield, England -"L.DOPA was teratogenic in the rabbit at doses of 125 mg/kg/day or above but was no teratogenic in the mouse up to 500 mg/kg/day."Institute for Therapeutic Research West Point Penna.USA