TTC or Pregnant with an under-active Thyroid.

[hippychick66]

Hi,

We were talking about this a lot on the charting thread and thought it would be good to start a separate thread.

There's about 3 of us at the moment but please do join us too if you are TTC with this added probem.

My results were 9.07 and then a few weeks later 5.5. I'm due another blood test in 5 weeks and hopefully my GP should be starting me on Thyroxin soon.

Quite worried cos the NHS guidelines say your numbers should be a lot lower when pregnant. still i haven't got that BFP yet so I guess I'll worry then.

ladygonegaga and Bessie26 - hurry up and join me here .

Hi ladies,

This is probably the wrong thread, but does anyone know about TTC with hyperthyroidism? Have been diagnosed recently and off to see endocrinologist, although that was weeks ago and still waiting for appointment. We have been TTC for 18 months with no joy (I'm 34, DH is 36).

Thanks v much.

hippy I'm only on 25mg!! But that's because when I last checked I was "normal" and my doctor figured it wouldn't hurt just in case my levels changed.
I am lucky enough to have been referred quickly by GP and my private insurance is paying for all the endo stuff (well, for now at least!)
I am going to have a loooooong list of questions for him tomorrow :(

Morning ladies, I hope one of you can help me with issues about BBT I have been charting every morning and for the last 3 mornings my temp has been above 36 degrees the highest being 36.30 is this a good sign? Also, I have been doing OPK's since day 14 but still nothing been detected. Could I have missed it? Have a good day :) waves to all

Thanks for referring me to this thread supersunny as you will see on my MC thread it's sadly (still) bad news but I am now focusing on getting over it and getting my thyroid sorted so that I can try again as soon as we can :)

So my endo gave me test results - on Oct 2, without previously taking meds my TSH was at 2.44. I asked about antibodies - he didn't give me the result but said they were fine (they have been fine since I first tested them in May). I will have my results on Monday which will show how my levels changed after a month of taking 25mg lewothyroxine daily.

Because someone here mentioned that ideally the level should be at 1.0 when ttc/pregnant, I asked my endo and he said that it's an ideal number that he will try to get me to but that it hasn't really been proved to be that significant(?) and that at 2.44 I am perfectly within the normal range. Now I must say I feel absolutely fine and I did conceive naturally and very quickly and this is even before taking any thyroxine so I don't think my thyroid is affecting my fertility in any way. I am not sure if a 2.44 level in the first 2-3 weeks of a pregnancy would be a cause of miscarriage? He said my MC had nothing to do with my thyroid but obviously am paranoid so want my levels checked and rechecked before I ttc again :(

Thanks supersunny I think I am now at the "paranoid" stage of things. It's funny that the more you know the more worried you start getting and it's easy to get absorbed in the nuances.

My endo has now increased my dose to 25mg one day and 50 the other day and I will see him just before Christmas to check my blood again.

I also asked him about the whole mixing thyroxine with meds/iron and he said that if I take 25mg half and hour before breakfast then it should be absorbed by then but yes, if I do take the iron immediately after it may cause a problem. Now I got a bit annoyed at him because he certainly didn't mention the iron thing last time I saw him and he seemed to not want to admit responsibility to it but then I just let it go because if my levels were normal anyway that thyroxine I was taking was sort of "just in case" as he had put it - will def remember it for the future and now I'm being very careful about how I take the thyroxine.

The good news is that I don't have an autoimmune issue so seems like my thyroid can hopefully be easily controlled. We're hoping to start ttc after Christmas and really praying that I will have a 2011 baby after all, even if it won't be a gemini :)

I will def stay on Mumsnet - thank you again to everyone here, it is funny how "virtual" friends can have such a huge positive impact :) I am so glad I found this Forum :)

beesok I know what you mean. I googled everything with my first MC - looking for an answer. I know that both of my MC's could be down to my thyroid but I think in my case it is far more likely to be old eggs.

I feel now that all i can really do is hope for a decent little egg and try to get my thyroid under control. the rest is out of my hands.

I don't think anything you did would have changed THAT pregnancy. You're doing all you can to make sure the next one goes ok. I wish you all the best and as my GP says to me, "Step away from Google!"

ha ha ha hippy , my husband says that to me all the time! :)

On a funny note I laughed when I went to my GP a while ago to ask about CMV blood tests (preconception) and she looked at me and said "hmm I've never come across it and then....googled it right in front of me:) I was about to tell her that I already know THAT info ;)

Hi super thanks for replying, my cycles are roughly every 34 days but like I said in a previous mess I was on that stupid depo injection until July but hopefully now my periods have settled down to what they used to be before going on it so fingers x'd. No, I dont do the CM thing just yet, waiting to see what happens with this temp charting before I do anything else SWI on a VERY regular basis tho x

Hi again, just slipping back to recommend the services of the woman who looked after me during my thyroid pregnancy.

She's Dr Stephanie Baldeweg at UCLH and as you can see from this link they have a rapid access referral system into a clinic for maternity services for women with thyroid disease.

She may even remember me...I'm the woman who had an 11lb 11oz baby on her kitchen floor:)

nb. MY kitchen floor, not Dr Baldeweg's

note that the clinic also deals with TTC according to the link

random PMSL at your post (the kitchen floor bit, not the 11lb 11oz baby -ouch!)

It's my birthday today (I am a spritely 38!) so have just popped in with some wine & cake for brunch, afraid I can't stay long though, need to get DD ready for pub lunch :-)

Random thanks for the message and post! I will try to get referred to her by my GP but if can I just schedule an appointment with her?

I think you have to be Dr. referred into the service.

Phone appt, no I had face to face - in fact she did my Obs care. It was her who noticed baby was big at 36 weeks and sent me for (wildly inaccurate) ultrasound.

I did wonder if extra thyroxine caused bigger babies, until my my grandmother piped up with 'your grandfather was 13lb at birth. your uncle was 10 10 and your younger uncle 11 7'

beesok, if any problem, she does private practice, so could ask to go there if needs drive you to it!

He was born quite nicely in the end actually, shoulder stuck a while, but had brilliant midwife. Just took so long to get underway, in retrospect because he was so long (the size of an average 3 month old) that he kept disengaging.

Randem wow that is a big baby :) and the stuck shoulder ouch ;)

Thanks - i will see how I feel about my endo when I speak to him about my results this week and will try to go see her for a second opinion

Happy birthday Bessie!!

Can I join this thread? Just read the all the posts - amazing reading.

I was diagnoised with an under active thyroid in feb of this year. Felt terrible, exhausted, down and like I couldn't cope with life. Had just started a new demanding job, so put it down to that, but turns out it wasn't. My TSH was 9.7 and my antibodies 2845! The GP totally panicked and referred me to an endo. We were considering trying TTC #1 but were told to wait.

Endo was very reassuring and updated my dose to 100mg, by June TSH was down to 2.7. He said we could start TTC.

Sept. blood test revealed that TSH back up to 6.5, so dose upped to 125mg, GP said it was ok to still continue trying to conceive. Feeling better again now and less tired and have another blood test next week. Still not pg, but only been 4 months (v early I know).

I am concerned about the discussion regarding Iron. I am also anaemic, so take Iron tab every day at same time as Thyroxine - first thing in morning. Noone has said not to, but comments above concern me??

I am 34, but getting stressed by the whole thing already. Using OPK and they suggest I ovulate.

Any advice would be welcome.

A mnow getting fed up with OPK's - still says I am not ovulating :( One doctor said they are really reliable and another said dont bother with them as they were waste of time so who to believe??

Louin just saw your comment on OPK - in my (very limited) experience they can be quite unreliable, I read that even the time of day matters and some women test in the morning as well as later in the day..I tried using them - never got a + but was def ovulating (had blood tests done) and got pregnant so the OPKs were a waste of time (and some source of stress too :)

Welcome nicnic

I also had antibody levels in the thousands when I was first diagnosed. These levels mean that you probably have autoimmune hypothyroidism and it does mean that it can take longer to stabilise as the body attacks the thyroid and so you need to keep upping the thyroxine.

Definitely you should not be taking the thyroxine tablets with your iron tablets. The patient information leaflets I have, for the thyroxine says inform your doctor/pharmacist especially if you are also taking iron tablets and the iron tablets say do not take with other medications. Doctors are not always the greatest when it comes to medicine interactions, always read the leaflets and you can then double check.