Okay so you’ve picked out your gluten free prenatal vitamins and started taking them and you’re all on board for your diet adjustments, so all you have to do now is get pregnant, right? Ah, if things were only that easy. As many would probably agree, trying to get pregnant is almost as stressful as the actual pregnancy itself, from ovulation schedules to fertility issues and for some of us the impact of a gluten free life. There are so many ways that the stress of getting pregnant can become overwhelming; thankfully though there are some methods and some studies to relieve at least a few of your worries. Thanks to ovulation kits and so many other indicators of fertility, conception has been made simpler in a lot of ways. In addition to predicting the best time for conception, some of us also have the added worry of whether or not our pre-gluten free life or current gluten free diet will affect our ability to get pregnant. There’s just so many questions and worries that I for one faced when I was trying to conceive; so by sharing what I experienced during my pre-pregnancy time before little one, some of these questions may be answered for you.
Ovulation:
One of our best friends when we were trying to get pregnant with our little one were the Clearblue Digital Ovulation Tests. We tried the line reading ones but the digital by far were easier for result reading, no guessing if a line was darker because it’s actually darker or because you’re willing it to be darker. Back then my days were so much more predictable so I had some idea of when things were supposed to happen, which is a huge help if you’re able to do that. The digital ovulation tests just took so much of the guess work out, confirming the specific days that were most promising. These tests can really be your best friend especially if you’ve never had a regular cycle or are not quite as regular for trying for baby number two as you were for baby number number one. Either way, the digital ovulation tests are a godsend and really helped us out and will hopefully be helpful for us next time around too.
Gluten Free & Fertility:
Unfortunately, predicting your ovulation days is only a small piece of the puzzle of conception. Before my husband and I had tried to get pregnant with our little girl, I was concerned about the effect of my gluten free life not only on a pregnancy, but also on our attempts to get pregnant. I had no idea if a gluten free diet could negatively impact our chances of getting pregnant or have the opposite effect. So to take away some of the worries that I had before we even tried to have a baby, I googled away trying to find some type of evidence that would make me feel better.
What I learned from all of my research is that there is definitely a link between gluten sensitivity and fertility, but not in a way that I was fearing. Research has actually convinced medical professionals that an undiagnosed gluten sensitivity or celiac disease, while negative in a lot of ways, may contribute to or actually cause fertility issues in both men and women. This theory suggests then that a gluten free diet is in no way a hindrance on conceiving but can rather be a beneficial adjustment if fertility issues are known to exist.
While everyone knows in the gluten free community that if individuals with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity were to consume gluten they would suffer from physical distress in the form of noticeable symptoms along with internal damage. An impact of gluten consumption in these individuals that was relatively unheard of until a few years back were fertility issues. In 2010, there was a study that demonstrated undiagnosed celiac disease to be a common denominator in women who had unexplained infertility, recurrent miscarriages, and other pregnancy complications. From this study, it was suggested that if women are experiencing infertility or any other pregnancy complications then they should consider getting tested for celiac disease. In those with celiac or a suspected gluten sensitivity, treating with a gluten free diet could then resolve or at least reduce risks of pregnancy complications. Feel free to read more of Dr. Kumar’s fertility study here.
Reading studies of that nature definitely eased my worries of a gluten free diet possibly affecting our ability to get pregnant in a negative way. In fact, I was incredibly grateful that I had gone gluten free before we had contemplated adding children to the mix seeing as the damage that gluten was doing to my body could have gone as far as inhibiting our ability to get pregnant. That connection is incredibly disturbing and saddens me that so many individuals may succumb to this negative side effect without ever realizing the culprit. This is yet another reason why doctors should be thoroughly educated on diagnosing not only celiac disease but also gluten sensitivity too. Since I had gone to a doctor who never suggested the possibility of a food intolerance or celiac disease, I had never heard anything about either one of these let alone their possible effects on my ability to have children. As a woman, and let me just say that there is proof that gluten can affect men’s fertility as well, who has lived her life almost entirely consuming gluten until the past few years of gluten free living, it’s extremely overwhelming to hear side effects of this nature that could affect you and your future family.
As I always say, there’s so much more to living a gluten free life than just literally living gluten free. From the day you realized that your body couldn’t handle gluten or wheat your world changes drastically and becomes so much more than just omitting certain things from your diet. It’s so much harder than that, you truly feel like you live in a world that just wasn’t made for you. Aside from the challenges of just eating, the lack of knowledge and/or understanding of the severity of this lifestyle in the general public and medical field is really tough to adjust to. You really do feel like you have to justify your lifestyle to everyone around you, not to mention with minimal help from anyone with a medical know how. Hopefully though, by doing just this and getting the word out, the knowledge and importance of understanding this diet will grow and we’ll find ourselves in much better company in a few years.
So, if you find yourself ready to take the next step to trying for a baby make sure you’re aware of your own health. If you’ve just gone gluten free, congratulations! Give your body some time to recuperate and then hop on board the baby making train. If you’ve been gluten free for some time, go for it, and don’t worry about your gluten free diet during this stage of the game. If you’re not gluten free but are having some difficulties conceiving, talk to your doctor first and discuss trying a gluten free diet, there’s no harm in trying. Regardless if your gluten free or not, try to enjoy this time. I’ll let you in on a little secret, my husband and I are hopefully on the road to adding baby number two and I have to say that I forgot how tough and stressful this whole process can be. I welcome all of you to feel free to share your experiences, remember your story could help someone else or at least make others feel like they aren’t alone.
I hope all of you are blessed with that little one that you’ve been praying for. I’ll send some prayers your way too!
Sincerely,
Lindsay