TTC or Pregnant with an under-active Thyroid.

Hi, can I join in? :)

Been diagnosed hypo for 3 years, though they diagnosed me with m.e. 6 years prior so I think I was probably subclinical back then. TSH 21 at diagnoses (ironically, I actually felt fine and it got picked up on a screening for something else), then up and down and up and down ever since, in no particular relation to the level of medication I'm on. I have an endo appt in an hour, so fingers crossed it's ok atm.

Been TTC since March, so not too long, but it is frustrating - I spent the past ten years trying desperately not to conceive, and now I'm ready nothing's doing!

Also came off antidepressants (depression caused by thyroid-related fatigue) and cerazette in March -- in hindsight, coming off antidepressants and having hormone-fuelled periods returning at the same time was probably not the wisest choice I've ever made!!! Ha ha

My periods returned really quickly and they've been really regular after coming off cerazette, which is a relief after everything I've read since starting ttc, but they're 5 weeks apart and they're comparatively light and short so I've no clue if I'm actually ovulating - those pee-sticks always show negative but I've also heard they're not that reliable.

So that's me, in a nutshell :o)

I've just started reading Alan Beer's book about getting/staying pregnant. It's amazing how often thyroid stuff is cropping up.
Thanks for the welcome Supersunnyday

Hi I am about to TTC and my TSH has come back 7.2 all other t-levels in good range my thyroxine has been upped should I wait until thyroid is lower before ttc or should i be ok?

Hello, just refound this thread after a long time away, hope I can pop back on? Nice to see some familiar faces
I'm still ttc - well, having a month off after a 4th mc at the end of May - and supposed to be getting my thyroid levels checked again soon. The last couple of times I've been tested T4 was at the upper end (20ish) and tsh was very low, about 0.19 last time. Am hoping being at that end is better than being too underactive! Who knows.
Lovely to hear of babies/pregnancies, congratulations

Hope everything is going well everyone. Can I join the TTC Club again? After being stable at 1.5 naturally (no increase in dose just losing weight) we are trying again. So far only one cycle in but excited.

Hey hippy lovely to hear from you! Glad to hear your thyroid is behaving itself, fx the clomid gets those eggs to play ball too xx

Try to get hold of a book called "taking control of your fertility" - it explains EVERYTHING!

You are correct that taking your temp will only tell you that you have o'd, but OPKs only tell you that your body is gearing up to ovulate (not that you are definately going to). Also, by knowing when you did O you can check how long your luteal phase is as that being too short can indicate problems.
There are also other signs you can look for to tell that you are about to O. I liked to use all this info (& CBFM) to become obsessed make an educated guess of when I would O!

Thanks sunnyday, doesnt charting only tell you when you have already ov'd though? I fell pg 1st month of trying with Ciaran (just dtd a lot) then used the cbfm after we lost him and got pg 2nd month with that but found it really stressful. I have decided to wait at least until my next af to ttc as I need to get my tsh down anyway. Ideally i want to wait 2 months but dont think i have the willpower! How do you know when your fertile time is with charting? I just think it might be a bit less stressful than the cbfm. Hope all is going well with you x

Might try it bessie, was trying not to obsess but i seem to be doing that anyway. DH has just been to get me some ov tests to see if its ov, i really hope it is as my last af was really normal for me so i really thought i was settling down. Going to see an acupuncturist for my thyroid so I might speak to her about it too. I have heard they are good at sorting that type of thing out. I am already impressed with her as I get swollen legs (water retention) and she treated me for that last week. Since then I have been peeing loads and my legs are a lot better! yay for acupuncture

ciwi have you thought about charting? It only takes a minute to take your temp each morning & can often give you more clues as to what's going on (as well as telling you when you have actually ovulated so you can stop the SWI! ) There's a lovely thread of friendly charters over on the conception board who can give you more info.

Thanks ladies, might see what the GP has to say. sounds like its more likely to be related to the mc than the thyroid then. definately having a wtf cycle! Seems like its more spotting than AF which I have read can be related to stress and I have had my fair share of that lately!

ciwi I've heard that thyoid probs can give you irregular cycles, but not that it can give you short ones. I've never had cycles that short, mine were very irregular when I came off the pill (anywhere between 2-4months) and i only got them down to 5 weeks after some acupuncture & herbs. (makes me wonder just how long I had undiagnosed thyroid problems!!)

As you probably know, the cycle after a mc is often refered to as the WTF cycle as it can be all over the place, but don't know if it often it takes more than one cycle...

Sorry I can't be more help!

Hi ladies,
More advice needed! I had a very short cycle last month (2 and a half weeks) and now I am spotting again after what I thought was a normal af and I am only on day 11. Has anyone had this with their thyroid or do you think its to do with my mc? I usually have fairly regular 28 dayish cycles. Any words of wisdom welcome x

definately the main thing bessie! Congrats x
I think I am a bit like you, the consultant said my mc was not becasue of my thyroid as my t4 was in range (just about)but i still want to get my levels better first. I also think he only said that because i would have cause for complaint if it was as my thyroid should have been rechecked earlier. I am quite clued up on my health so am annoyed that i didnt know there was a problem but at the time (losing my baby) my head just wasn't with it and so I really feel let down by the health services. oh well, you cant change the past and at least i know now x

Yeah, I was amazed to get pg again so soon! Had mc jul 2009, then another may 2010 so I thought it would take another year to get pg again. As I was 37 at the time I went to the GP to get some tests done (I chart, so knew we were doing it at the right time & ovulating). I'd been feeling absolutely exhausted since Jan/Feb 2010 so I thought something wasn't right.

My GP said that although my TSH was high (showing my thyroid was having to work really hard) my T4 wasn't that bad (although right at the low end of the scale) so I did have a reasonable amount of thyroxine in my body. DD2 seems ok anyway, which is the main thing!