Does this sound like an underactive thyroid?

[WesternBelle]

I had my baby in January this year and have had the following symptoms since then:

Aching joints
A LOT of hair loss
Spots
Failure to shift the weight despite eating healthily
Exhaustion (yes, to be expected after a baby but baby has slept through since March and this is not just tiredness)
Irregular periods

I put the symptoms down to general "new mum" issues, but have since pondered whether it is a thyroid issue since looking into irregular periods and discovering an underactive thyroid is a cause too.

Any thoughts?

Oh and I have got excema type peeling skin as well...

Could very well be.

When my thyroid function was v. low I got a "spacey" feeling along with the exhaustion. Does that sound familiar?

If you do get your thyroid tested make sure the dr tells you the actual numbers of the results. You'll find loads of threads on here and elsewhere explaining TSH levels and how the UK "normal" range is pretty broad.

Good luck

yes that sounded like me a few weeks ago and my dd2 is 9 months old and had been sleeping since she was 1 month old. Tiredness makes me spotty, exhaustion etc and period is still not spot on. (we got money stress since baby was born so hence the tiredness/exhaustion).

The only way to find out is to get a blood test

dd1 was 9 months old when i started to feel more awake and same to DD2....must be cos my body taken 9 months to get used to it!..i really dont know

dd1 was 9 months old when i started to feel more awake and same to DD2....must be cos my body taken 9 months to get used to it!..i really dont know

Agree, go and get a blood test.

Mine was really low when I was tested and I had what appeared to be very bad PND. Crying all the time, couldn't cope with anything, as well all the things you describe.

Within a week of starting on the thyroxine tablets I was pretty much back to normal.

It's a very simple test so it would make sense to rule it out.

Plus, if you do have it, you get free prescriptions forever .

Could be (my DH has hypothyroiditis). apart from general aching joints, are your achilles tendons sore by any chance.

The good thing is its very treatable with no real side effects. Get thee to the GP!

good luck.

Thanks for replies. I have been putting off seeing the GP because it's so hard to get an appointment and I thought I would be dismissed as it just being "new mum", but I am pretty hardy generally so I think there's more to it than just that.

I went about the peeling (well, cracked actually) skin but was just given some topical steroids which haven't made any difference at all.

I had undiagnosed gestational diabetes when I was pg too, they said it was a big baby when it was actually a huge amount of amniotic fluid caused by the GD. I wonder if its linked or has made me more susceptible to a thyroid problem? Anyway, am definitely ringing the docs tomorrow and I won't be put off

Hypothroidism can be triggered by pregnancy. Mine was. According to my GP it's to with the immune system going into overdrive and attacking the thyroid. (I'm a bit hazy on the details, I wasn't exactly in a receptive state when I went to see him!) It's surprisingly common once you start talking to people about it.

My hypothyroidism was also triggered by pregnancy. It is indeed very common.

GP will probably suggest this also but I'd also ask for a full blood count. Anaemia is another possiblity for some of your symptoms I think.

I will post back out of interest, when I have had the blood tests!

Its lucky I haven't gone back on the pill yet as that might have masked the irregular periods. My plan was/is to have some pill-free time to track my cycle so have been puzzled when there were 7 weeks between the 1st and 2nd periods, 4 weeks between the 2nd and 3rd and now 6 weeks (and still counting) between the 3rd and predicted 4th.

and no, I'm not pg, did a test yesterday

X posts Korma, gosh, that is bad, so sorry you have had that experience.

Its one of those things that people haven't heard of or don't think is very serious (like my DH) but left untreated it can only get worse, I guess.

I hope your symptoms are under control ATM, korma.

it takes a while for your af to get back to normal as mine used to be every 4 weeks before i had dd2 but now its still every 5 weeks !

BarbaraWL, sorry forgot to reply earlier, yes, spacey feeling does sound familiar but there again put that down to new mum.

I was anaemic when I left hospital but presumed it would have corrected itself (which it may or may not have done I guess).

Haven't felt depressed though although have been a bit irritable at things like traffic. Also getting to the top of the stairs is a big effort as is finding the energy in my arms to lift the baby out of the cot - I feel all weak sometimes (and I am a usually strapping 5'8").

I'm guessing what Grimma meant is that the treatment doesn't give any side effects once you're diagnosed and on the thyroxine tablets.

Korma, how long was yours untreated for? I was undiagnosed for maybe 3 months (hard to tell, it coincided with having a newborn dd and 19mo ds1) and when I was first tested my TSH was in the 70s. Considering it should be about 2ish, that seems really high. I do worry sometimes about how much damage could have been done but the docs seem quite blase about it all. Your problems sound awful.

It's weird isn't it Biglips?!

At least its unlikely to be an ovaries issue like PCOS, as I had an EMCS and the surgeon advised that my ovaries, tubes and womb etc all looked in great shape so that's something.

Olihan, I can beat that. My TSH was 91!

WB, I certainly think that you are justified in getting a blood test done. Put it this way, you would in no way be wasting NHS resources. And yes, please do report back.

Korma, please don't take my questioning the wrong way but are you definitely talking about an underactive thyroid? It's just that I've only ever come across the symptoms that you mentioned in reference to overactive. I'm so sorry that you are having such awful problems. I wish you all the best.

Sorry Korma, x-posted.

Sounds awful