Pregnancy and labour - Ms. Yumiko Takahashi

Ms. Takahashi was diagnosed with BD ten years ago, but had suffered from the disease since childhood and was misdiagnosed many times through the years. Of all her experience she felt it most important to tell of her pregnancy and labour.

"I was 26 and had been married for 18 months when I asked my doctor about pregnancy. He said I seemed well enough at the time to go ahead with it. I took it like he said it. Indeed, I was pregnant three weeks later.

At that time I was not taking any drug therapy.

I did not suffer particularly from morning sickness or eclampsia, but I did suffer a lot from other things through the pregnancy. At the moment I knew I was pregnant, I already had a genital ulcer, and it was very difficult for my obstetrician to examine me. It was too early in the pregnancy to take any medication."

Ms. Takahashi then said she kept having genital ulcers and other problems after that, sometimes she had to be hospitalised for treatment, and often she could not sleep at night for the pain. She thought of killing herself, but ended up consulting her doctor, who put her on large doses of painkillers, which helped her sleep. She took it for four months.

"I still had some pains and high temperature, but on the eighth month of the pregnancy I was hospitalised for pancreatitis. The doctor there said the medicine could cause my baby to be born prematurely, and asked if I was ready to take that chance. The baby was important, but my physical health was more important."

Ms. Takahashi gave birth to a small but healthy baby (she had been told before it would be a small baby) in a natural, easy delivery, at the expected time. The baby was not affected by the painkillers. However, the scarring that resulted from many genital ulcers had to be surgically removed.

"My situation quickly improved, and I went back to work a month after delivery (as is normal in Japan). Maybe I worked too hard and I found myself suffering many symptoms more often than before, but I was breastfeeding, and did not want to take any medication. I waited for several months, then I stopped breastfeeding and started taking colchicine, but it did not seem to help. I then had arthritis and changed to prednisone, and here I am today". (Ms. Yumiko Takahashi, May 2000)

Looking back, Yumiko Takahashi said the worst thing was her lack of knowledge of the disease. She had no idea how bad it could get, or that it could also affect her mentally. She strongly recommended patients and their families to learn about Behcet's as much as possible before getting pregnant.

Ms. Takahashi also said that through her pregnancy she had to see many doctors, and some of them did not seem to recognise the disease. When she asked if her complications could be due to her BD, she was told "you can't have BD if you don't have any eye involvement" and "don't talk about such serious ailments so casually". She stressed the importance of choosing the right hospital.