Underactive thyroid in early pregnancy

[MeredithGreyFan]

Hi, I found out I'm pregnant a few days ago and went to see the Dr today as I have an underactive thyroid for which I take 100 mcg of levothyroxine daily. With my first pregnancy 4 years ago my Dr at the time (we have since moved) said I should up my dosage as soon as possible to 125mcg and then be tested regularly throughout pregnancy. However, the Dr I saw today wouldn't increase it without a blood test which if I go for today I won't get the results of until Friday or Monday. We are due to go on holiday for 5 days tomorrow so I'm concerned about my dose not being increased quickly enough and given I struggled to get pregnant for nearly 2 years am worrying myself sick about a possible miscarriage if I can't produce enough thyroid for myself and the baby.

I am tempted to go for the blood test and then increase my dosage myself anyway until I get an answer on the results but is that really crazy? Should I just wait for the Dr to confirm one way or another? I guess I'm just worried that he doesn't really know much about it and is potentially jeopardising my chances of making it to 10 weeks when the placenta takes over thyroid production.

Thanks in advance.

[EssentialHummus]

I am tempted to go for the blood test and then increase my dosage myself anyway until I get an answer on the results

This is what I did - bumped up dose from 75 to 100mcg as soon as I found out about the pregnancy. See the NICE guidelines: cks.nice.org.uk/hypothyroidism#!scenario:3

And congrats on the pregnancy!

[EssentialHummus]

I'd add, the subsequent blood tests confirmed that my course of action was correct.

[Sunshinegirl82]

Could you ask for another dr to call you for a second opinion? Perhaps ask if there is a gp at the practice who has a particular interest in pregnancy or thyroid issues? In the circumstances I don't think I'd be happy just leaving it either.

[MeredithGreyFan]

Thanks all, I am going to call the practice first thing tomorrow and see if another dr will see me. If not then I will increase the dose while I'm away and await the blood test results when I get back Tuesday.

[Womble75]

My GP did the same - advised.me to up by 25mg immediately then regular bloods every 3 weeks in first trimester. I ended up going from 75mg to 200mg in the end. It's a sad fact a lot of GP's aren't aware of the NICE guidelines or the importance of managing it in pregnancy.