How Having A Baby Makes Your Body Eat Itself

I have been thinking and thinking about why I have had such health problems only lately and not really before I had kids. The truth is that I had joint pain before I was pregnant with my first child, which leads me to believe that the process (whatever the heck it is) started earlier. For me, if it really is food sensitivities that are causing inflammation and autoimmune reactions, that makes sense.

It also makes sense that pregnancy, surgery, and emotional stress exacerbated the whole problem.

A friend sent me this link on Facebook awhile ago:

Having A Baby May Make the Mom's Body Turn On Itself: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43155988/ns/health-pregnancy/t/having-baby-makes-moms-body-turn-itself/

It says this: "The scientists knew from previous work in this field that cells from fetuses normally begin circulating in their mothers' blood very early in pregnancy and can be found in the bone marrow and other tissues of these women for decades afterward. They speculated that in attacking these foreign cells, the body inadvertently attacks itself as well."

This article says the same thing, that fetal cells persist in a mother's body for decades and that it seems like moms with autoimmune problems have more fetal cells leftover than others:

Pregnancy May Hold the Key to Autoimmune Diseases: http://www.womenshealthresearch.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5334&news_iv_ctrl=0&abbr=press

I included this next study because it's interesting. In the summary, the author basically says that they still can't figure out why a mother's body doesn't reject the baby, since the baby is obviously foreign. I love that because it means that only God, in his infinite wisdom, understands how he put us together. :)  http://www.jleukbio.org/content/63/3/281.full.pdf

I asked Gastro Doc #2 if surgery would worsen bowel issues of any kind, or even trigger them, and she said, "Yes, of course." When you take into account that after a c-section they give you a crapload of antibiotics that kill the natural flora of your gut, well....autoimmune problems and food sensitivities aren't surprising at all.