Pregnant mothers with lupus face risks but have better outlooks than ever before, doctor says

Kiana Cornejo has been living with lupus since she was just 11 years old — and after an unplanned pregnancy, she learned the challenges of having the autoimmune disease while expecting her first child. 

“When I first got diagnosed, I felt like I was paralyzed. At one point I couldn’t do anything. Everything was just hurting,” Cornejo told CBS News.

Lupus can affect many parts of the body, with a range of symptoms that can include fever, rashes, hair loss, joint pain, swelling and sensitivity to sunlight. According to the Lupus Foundation of America, while its exact cause is not known, scientists believe lupus occurs due to a combination of genes, hormones and environmental factors. The organization says 9 out of 10 people with lupus are women.

One immediate challenge Cornejo faced after finding out she was pregnant was that some medications for lupus are not safe for pregnancy.

“Their pregnancies are not like the average pregnancy, between the risk of active disease and sometimes the risk of the medications that they need to take,” said Dr. Lisa Sammaritano, a rheumatologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

The Lupus Foundation of America says a healthy pregnancy with lupus is possible, but the disease also raises your risk for certain complications, including preeclampsia.

Luckily, Sammaritano said the chances for a woman with lupus to have a successful pregnancy are better than ever before.

“Having quiet disease before one becomes pregnant is perhaps the best thing you can do. They really have to plan ahead of time, sometimes even years ahead of time, so that they have quiet disease on medicines that are safe to take during pregnancy,” she said. 

The Lupus Foundation of America also notes it’s best to wait until your lupus is “minimally active and your symptoms are under good control on medications that are safe to take during pregnancy” before trying for a baby. 

Cornejo’s lupus symptoms remained stable after the dosage on some of her medications was lowered, and both mom and baby were closely monitored.

“I felt healthy until after I gave birth to her,” Cornejo said, though she added that she’s been dealing with a major flare up since then.

“The symptoms I’m having now are worse than before. I’m losing a lot of hair. I’m getting a lot of headaches. I’m very tired. Going through a very tough time to kind of deal with these sometimes,” she said. 

Cornejo is working with her doctors to try to manage her disease and be able to enjoy more time with her family.