Having once been a midwife who had plenty of clients with insulin resistance issues… PCOS and Gestational Diabetes mostly… I have long known that one of the most common medications for infertility is Metformin. I know many babies that have been born thanks to Metformin.
And now we have the GLP-1s to amplify the benefits of Metformin. These benefits will not just be on our diabetes and our weight, but also our fertility.
Conception Questions
Most certainly, the GLP-1s have not been tested on pregnant or nursing women. It will take anecdotal experience before we know how the medication affects, not only fertility, but also the embryo, fetus, and baby. We will only know over time how the woman tolerates a pregnancy begun on the GLP-1s.
Pregnancy Questions
Women with PCOS or Insulin Resistance all too often have irregular cycles, so it isn’t unheard of to be a couple-three (or more) months (12 weeks) pregnant before they might know they have conceived. If they don’t know they are pregnant and continue taking their weekly shots or (in the future) their pills to help with diabetes and obesity, what will the effect be on the baby?
Because nausea is a common side effect of the meds, one can’t use that as an indicator for possible pregnancy either.
The biggest concern I can think of is the lack of nutrition as she continues losing weight in the first months of pregnancy. In the first three months, the baby grows arms and legs, muscles, bones, and is the sex he or she will be at birth. Before the fetus is eight weeks old, the brain’s electricity starts firing.
I share this, not as a debate, but to point out that if someone wants to be pregnant, what might be affected if they are on one of the diabetes or weight loss medications and their eating is strictly diminished. We simply do not know yet how fetal development will unfold on the GLP-1s.
Care Providers, Watch and Learn
This will be an important topic for Obstetricians, Gynecologists, Fertility Specialists, Genetic Counselors, Neonatologists, Certified Nurse Midwives, Certified Midwives, Women’s Health Nurse Practitioners, Licensed Midwives, Doulas, Lactation Consultants, Perinatal Counselors, and anyone else who works with pre-pregnant, pregnant, postpartum, and lactating women. I see Continuing Medical Education classes exploding for all of these people. I see these as topics in conferences and many given by pharmaceutical companies.
This topic is in, and please excuse the analogy, an embryonic state. I want all of us to watch and learn. Whether you are a care provider or a family member, people around you will be getting pregnant on these meds. It will be good to have an idea of where the research stands at the moment and who to refer them to.
I Have More to Say
I will talk more about this because I believe it’s a deep topic that will carry a great deal of emotional and physical repercussions in the very near future.
Afterthought: The First Article I Have Seen on a
Related Topic
This came into my feed today.
Taking a New Obesity Drug and Birth Control Pills? Be Careful – not quite what I am writing about here, but still, just something to consider.