ttc with a underactive thyroid any experiences

[lostittoday]

Hi
ttc my 2nd dc but I have a underactive thyroid just wondering has anybody on here had to have specialist input ttc with this problem or did it just happen naturally eventually.
I have been ttc 9 months but I am 37 so don,t feel I have much time.
I realise that my age maybe having an impact.
My tsh on last check was 19 my thyroxine was increased but I still feel shitty st times so I suspect it still isn,t right.
I realise that tsh needs to be right to maximise chances of conception but can this condition still mess up conception when its controlled.
I would really appreciate anybody's experiences of this and of any special measures that were taken to help them concieve.

sorry have just posted on your other thread

tsh of 19 is well out of the norm range
what was your dose before and what is it now?

once controlled it should not affect conception

Well my dose before was 50mg and then 25mg on alternate days.
Now it is 75mg and then 50mg alternate days.
I was on 75mg every day but apparently my thyroid became overstimulated at 0.2.
That was when my dose was decreased to 50 and then 25.
However that was too much of a cut and my thyroid went back down to 19 so now it has been increased to 50 and then 75.
However I don,t fee right at all so I don,t think that the new dose is working its magic as yet.
I have been on 50 and 75 since the 11th of April so I would have thought I would have started to notice some improvment.
I have told my gp I don,t feel good and she said I can come back the end of May to have my tsh checked again.
I felt at my best when my thyroid was at 0.2.
The bottom line is that I am worried that it is stopping me from conceiving, but of course I realise that there may be other factors such as my age.

Hi There
I've been on 100micrograms for the last 20 years, and and fortunately managed to get pregnant straight away twice, and gone on to have two successsful pregnancies (having 150micrograms during these periods).

My health and weight have been ok (althought it is harder with hormone conditions to lose weight) and I took up running and completed a 5k in June of this year.

I've had regular check ups with my Endrocrinologist unit at the local hospital all this time, and each time I've been kept at the 100microgram dose.

When I went to see the Endo unit this April for a regular check up I was told that my levels were too high T4 was 22.0, which is the high end of the clinical range, and that I must go on to 75micrograms. I was a bit taken a back by this and I said to the doc that I've been on 100 for the last twenty years. The up shot is that I started to gain weight (all the weight I had lost with running) and became a bit lethargic.

I went to my GP in June,as I felt something wasn't right. Had blood test, results came back as - TSH 25.4 (normal clinical range 0.27-4.20) was sky high and my T4 11.2 (12.0-22.0), so my instinct was right. The fact at this point I wasn't due to see the Endocrine unit until the middle of October, heaven knows what would have happened if I had listened to myself. Needless to say I've been back on the 100 dose since the 1st of September.

The thing is that my DH and I have been trying for a third baby since June and have had no success. I'm sure it is due to my change in dosage. I feel angry at the Doc at the hospital (whom I had never met before, I usually see the Prof who is head of the unit or his deputy). I'm hoping now that I am back to my 100 dose that I'll get pregnant soon.

I feel I don't know my body anymore, and each month I'm hoping to get pregnant, and I don't feel motivated to lose weight as I figure, that if my thyroid is out of whack, why should I bother!

I know this sounds a bit selfish, as my heart goes out to the couples who are ttc their first child, but I badly want this third child as much as I wanted my first. I feel I've been robbed because of the change in my dosage.

I'm due for my regular check up this Tue at the hospital. So hope to get some answers then. I'm hoping to find out soon if my levels are back to the normal range too. My GP mentioned that I could be super sensitive to the change in dose. I just hope that I haven't become infertile while my TSH was so high due to the lack of T4 in my blood serum. So I am going to ask for a FSH and LH bloods to be taken.

Just wondering if anyone else has any experience of this kind. Would be good to share experiences. I have a history of Prolactinoma too.

hi lostittoday!

Great name, can all relate to that I think. Your TSH is too high, you need to be on more thyroxine.

I'm suprised you have never been referred to a Specialist before, especially if your are ttc. I would recommend you be referred asap.

Let us know how you are going.

All the best M

marytheresa i am on tyroxine for underactive thyroid, and recently got referred to endocrinologist and had various of ohormone tests done as, i have very irregular periods struggle to lose weight, ect ect.
I have just had my LH FSH levels done and twice they have shown up abnormal which is a sign of PCOS, also had high Androstendione levels too.
I have just been told to up my thyroxine dose from 75mcg to 100mcg as my last result was 4.15 altho not out of range but heading out again!!! Prev result to that was 2.30 ish??

It may be worth while you asking to have various other tests done just to make sure theres nothing else underlying! Do you have regular periods atm ??

Hi Shellmc. Yes my period is a regular 32 cycle. The last time my period was irregular was twenty years ago, and I was diagnosed with a benign tumour in my pituitary gland. This tumour probably put my thyroid gland out of whack. Once I was medicated for the benign tumour, my periods returned.

Have you had your Proclactin (hormone regulated by pit. gland) levels checked? High prolactin levels usually cause irregular periods and problems to conceiving.

My prolactin was a bit high at my endo appointment last week, and I have been put meds to take once a week to bring the level down and my thyroxine was put up from 100ug-125ug, as I am ttc. My TSH was 11.2 last week (down from 25) after 7 weeks of being on 100ug

Hope you get a clear answer soon.

I'm shocked at the low levels of thyroxin that people are being given. While fighting to get a diagnosis I did loads of reading round. In the US they work on a rule of thumb for 1mcg of thyroxin for every pound of body weight. Also, they allow the levels of TSH to go much lower than the normal range, as they recognise that the under-activity has an effect.

Even the BMA recognise that up to 25% of people sampled to construct the reference ranges for blood tests have non-treated under-active thyroids.

Thankfully, I've found an endocrinologist that will recommend treatment according to my symptoms, not according to my blood test results. However, I've still got 10st to lose after 12 years of the gp faffing round saying that there wasn't anything the matter ....

Sorry, rant over.

Hi tb

You've made some really interesting points. I've never looked at it that way before. What you say sounds so true. If I hadn't noticed the change in myself due to my wrong diagnosis, my symptoms could have been a lot worse. So as soon as GP's etc, start listening to their patients with regards to this issue the better.