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 .

Thank you! We're so happy and I now think that thyroxine is the best thing ever. I don't think that I will be able to relax for a while, but I'm trying to tell myself not to be so paranoid. I'm feeling quite proud that I've only done two tests so far (one more than my husband thinks necessary!). How far along are you now?

Congratulations Belu!

I am 8 weeks today - not long till first scan, then I think I will be slightly more relaxed :)

Thank you LadyGoneGaga!

hhg - very good luck with your first scan. I'm thinking about whether to book a private early scan to settle my paranoia. A year of ttc has exposed me to too much information on the internet that is making me worry....

I had a private early scan at 8 weeks, Belu. Was especially anxious after mc in September. Cost us £60 but totally worth it for reassurance, especially before Christmas as we wanted to tell our families.

congrats to the upcoming mummies! We are pushing our plans back a year because a slip on health. New GP took my Thyroxine down to 50mcg (after being on 100mcg for 8 months and feeling good) and well.. all the nasty symptoms came flooding back.

Happy new year to all the thyroid ladies .

really pleased to see that things are going well for my mateys ladyg and bessie.

Plus lots of new people too - hello from me, sorry i am absent so often .

No news here. Weighed myself at xmas and am officially huge. I need to address that this year. I had hoped that the thyroxin would magically make me thin but alas I do not live in a cartoon world .

I am gonna get my levels checked again soon to make sure that i am taking a high enough dose. My lovely GP is off having an operation so might wait for her to come back - that just shows how very lovely she really is!

Good luck to all those TTC this year. I will pop back and check on you all soon I promise. XXX

Congratulations Belu!

Hope you've all had a good Xmas & new year? We're driving home from SIL today & am full of new year resolve to declutter the house when I get home (well.., maybe tomorrow!)

Collen that's awful - can you see another GP or ask to be referred to a specialist? Why did they put it down? What were your levels like? But if dose goes back up you should be ok again in a few weeks - no need to wait another year I wouldn't have thought?

Hi Ladies,

I am new to Mumsnet and this was one of the first threads I saw on the "Active" page.

I am not TTC, however I have thyroid issues.

I had to have my thyroid completely removed in 2001 due to cancer and have been on thyroxine ever since (200mg a day so quite a high dose)

I just wanted to wish you all luck.

I have two children (born January 05 and February 08) and my thyroid levels were very closely monitored during pregnancy.

My only issue was that both of my babies were smallish and my second was delivered early as my placenta had packed in and she was no longer growing. I was not aware until afterwards that this was a side effect (for want of a better phrase) of thyroxine.

Both of my babies had to have blood taken when they were a week old to test their thyroid function, and happily all was well (although DD's test had to be repeated as they didn't take enough blood!)

Anyway, I wish you all healthy babies in the not too distant future, I wanted to share my "success" with you!

Thanks mcginger - glad all went ok for you. Sounds like you've been through the mill though, lovie.

Hello and thank you again for congratulations. I went to the doctor today, which makes this pregnancy official! She didn't think it was necessary to put up my thyroxine dose as it was only increased three weeks ago. However, I'm having another blood test next week to see how things are going and I've got my first midwife's appointment booked in for two weeks' time.

LadyGoneGaga - where did you get the scan done? I'm thinking about having an early one as it's taken us a while to get here and I'm getting irrationally worried that it's all going to be taken away again....

hippychick - I know exactly what you mean about thyroxine being the magic thin pills. I had high (but unfulfilled) hopes of that also (although definitely prefer my bfp!) - in fact, my GP even told me that some people use them as a diet aid (which was a very odd thing for a GP to say and she backed off rapidly when she realised what she'd said!).

Can I ask for some advice please?

I have had my thyroid checked between pregnancies (TSH, T4 and T3) and all was lovely and normal, no overall problem. Apart from borderline antibodies.

However my TSH was retested at 5 and a bit weeks and had already gone up from 2.3 to 3.6. Last time it was 6.7 at 20 weeks after pregnancy loss. I am now 7+6 weeks.

If it keeps climbing at what point should I be concerned (given that I am not actually hypothyroid)?

Should they prescribe just for the pregnancy if it looked like my thyroid is struggling, ie. TSH climbing constantly? How often should I be getting it checked? GP said with antenatal bloods, i.e. at 5 weeks, 12 weeks and 28 weeks. That doesn't seem like a close enough eye to me.

Round here they won't give out thyroxine unless your TSH is over 10 which sounds a bit scary.

Any thoughts gratefully received!

spiltthetea - I really think in your circumstances, you should enquire about having levothyroxine prescribed during pregnancy. Have you mentioned to your GP at all?
3.6 is not considered high but for many people their need increases with pregnancy and with your history, I really don't think there would be any harm done by your GP either referring you to an endocrinologist or prescribing you 50mcg initially and monitoring from there.

Hello everyone else! I'm CD1 again and hoping for an October baby now!

This thread has been fairly quiet but hope you're all ok :)

hi spilt - what were your other results? Although your TSH has gone up a bit, perhaps they aren't concerned as long as your T4 etc is ok?

Do you have any hypo symptoms?

I was told the really important times to check thyroid function were during the first & third trimesters, and again after birth, which might explain the "gap" in your testing between 12 & 28wks.

I started on 25mcg at 8wks when TSH was 10.8 & T4 9.4. We waited until I was 14wks to re-test (baby is totally dependant upon you for thyroxin until 12wks so could skew results) but as my TSH had only dropped to 6.14 (T4 14.2), they upped it to 50mcg.

My gyne consultant told me I should aim to keep my TSH around 2-3 during pg, but as long as it didn't go above 5-6 it was ok.

Could you ask for the reasons NOT to give you any meds? Perhaps the risks of making you hyper are worse than those of you possibly being hypo?

You could go see another GP if you're not happy with what you're being told? Or you ask to be consultant rather than midwife led to get someone else's opinion on it?

Hi everyone,

Glad I found this.

I was diagnosed with UAT 9 months ago. My 2nd DC is now nrly 13 months so im still not sure if it's post partum or if im stuck with it.

Anyway, I have been feeling awful lately and I know it's the thyroid.

I get bloods every 6 weeks incase it is Post partum and my last results were 4.4 and 14.

They consider this normal so don't want to up my current dose of 50mg.

I would love to have a third DC and we were thinking later in the summer we would TTC.

I don't really understand the levels but does mine sound ok for TTC or too high.

Ive started the whole feeling anxious, not sleeping properly, constipated, falling asleep mid afternoon with 3 yr old and 1 yr old trying to wake me . I can't get up in the morning bla bla. I know its my thyroid but how do I get them to listen?

Hi sneak if you trawl through this thread you should find a link to the official NHS guidance which says that if you are TTC they should aim to get your TSH to something like 0.5-2.5 (sorry can't remember exact figures)

Have you tried speaking to a different GP? Your tiredness defo makes it sound like you need your dose increased - how about asking for a 6 week trial of an additional 25mcg to see what difference it makes?

Thanks for your thoughts bessie and essence.

bessie my results in November (between pregnancies) were:
TSH 2.3 (0.5-5.5 reference range)
Free T4 16.1 (10-24.5 reference range)
Free T3 5.1 (3.9-6.7 reference range)

Then at 5+2 pregnant my TSH was 3.6 but they didn't measure anything else. I have my booking in at 9+4, so in a week and a half and am thinking of asking them to retest TSH then so I can see if a pattern is emerging. And then book to see a GP on the basis of these results to potentially request being trialled on thyroxine.

I'm sort of hoping TSH has already shot up so I can feel more "justified" in asking for medication rather than being so borderline.

I am utterly bone crashingly exhausted and in tears frequently with how tired I feel. Whilst I am sure that this has a lot to do with being 8 weeks pregnant I can't help but wonder if the thyroid is also contributing to this and if it might get better if I had some thyroxine.

Thanks

Went to docs today and it turns out that even though snippy reseptionist tells me im 'normal' I am not.

I felt awful as I was saying earlier so went to question my 'normal' results.

It turns out both are border line and my chart shows I have been creeping up and up for months without anyone picking up on it.

Just thought I would tell everyone on here.

Make sure you question everything with the doctor and be very on top of your readings if your not already.

They have upped my dose by 25 but he suspects it needs doubled but will do it all gradually.

Damn, 3 months until I can do a poo! .

My GP was apparently only training so after six months of feeling like I got my life back on 100mcg the GP left and had no idea til I needed a repeat. The original GP (before the good one) and refused to keep me on 100mcg. So finally three-ish months later finally back on track on 100mcg. Amazing my periods still haven't came back and put on sooo much weight.. Not to mention all the headaches, anxiety and just all the bad side effects like when it all first started.

Silly thyroid. I hope to get back to one whole year "back to normal" and get my health up. I mean if a dip like this makes daily tasks and work so hard to
manage can't imagine a little one. So will be working out, being healthy and being all mummy to my cats for a while.

Hello, sorry not been on here for a long while. Unfortunately I had another mc at new year, when I was/should have been 8 weeks pg. I see an obstetrician tomorrow, so I am hoping some tests will be done as I really can't face another pregnancy without some change taking place. I haven't dropped my thyroxine dose back to my pre-pregnancy levels yet (200mg at the mo) as I think the last think I need is under-active symptoms!
Hope you all have a good 2011.

iggy so sorry to hear your news take care of yourself xx

sneak is defo important to get your actual results, the receptionists at our place can't see my records, just a note that says "thyroid - normal"

Coleen hope you're feeling better soon too

spilt I think they should be measuring your T4 (& maybe T3) along with your TSH as i think it's important to know how much thyroxin is in your system as well as how hard your thyroid is having to work.

Sorry to hear that iggy.

Im sorry if this sounds in any way bad or upsetting, I don't mean it to.

It's just I notice ALOT of you talking about miscarriages then saying the doctors don't think it was the thyroid.

Is there a link to woman, even when treated, with hypothyroidism or absolutely no chance of a link when treated properly?

Hmm, I don't think the thyroid deficiency can actually cause the mc, if it is being treated adequately. However, it is an immune disorder and immune issues in general are one of the things linked to mc in the books I've read. So maybe it just makes you more susceptible? I definitely think my mc are caused by something to do with my immune system OR (sadly) the age of my eggs.
I did not have u/a thryoid when I had my one successful pregnancy - but I was also a few years younger.

iggi how are you doing now?? What a horrid, crap start to the year for you.

I am off to the docs tomorrow to get the results of my latest bloods. I am convinced that 50mg is not a high enough dose for me. I still feel knackered of an evening and have that awful restless leg thing and pin-pricks in my legs which is what alerted me to the problem in the first place.

It's now been 8 months since my last MC and not a sniff of a positive preggo test. I know I'm even older than last year but it's never taken me this long to get pregnant before so i really do think it might be cos my thyroid is not under control.

Last year at age 43 it took 5 months and 3 months to get pregnant. I will ask my lovey GP tomorrow.

How is everyone else? Hope all the preggos are ok. bessie you must be quite far along now, my sweet.

ladyG all ok????