Anyone pregnant and have Hashimoto's Disease?

[stopgap]

I'm six weeks pregnant with DC2, but have yet to see my midwife for my first antenatal appointment. I am having horrid symptomsinsomnia, racing heart, anxiety, random hot flushesthat have been going on the last week.

According to my latest blood test, my thyroid is within "normal" range (TSH 2.6) but my Free T4 was low. For me, I feel best with a TSH of around 1, but my doctor is reluctant to fiddle with the dose right now, as I tend to swing between hypo and hyper states without much warning. I take natural dessicated thyroid as opposed to thyroxine, which never suited me.

So could my symptoms be attributed to early pregnancy, or is my thyroid playing up with the influx of pregnancy hormones, despite all appearing well on paper?

Hi. I took me till about 24 weeks for thyroid to 'behave' it went a bit crazy in early days. > 100!!!! uped dose to 200. I had some horrible days (on top of horrid ms and pg hormones! !!!) Just kept telling myself baby is taking what she needs. I'll be fine. Do make sure they keep testing. Maybe ask gp for early referral to endo/midwife.
Congratulations and hope you feel better soon. Xx

hi stopgap, I'm 32 weeks with DC2 and I've got Hashimoto's.

I also feel best with TSH around 1. How long ago was your last thyroid function test? to be honest, the symptoms you're describing sound more like hyper rather than hypo, so I don't think you'd need your thyroxine increased...? On another hand, I have read that in patients with hypothyroidism the dose should increased by 25% on diagnosis of pregnancy. I didn't manage to get a TFT until i was at the end of the first trimester and my GP wasn't willing to increase my dose without it. I was naughty and increase it a bit myself.

How are you feeling about the pregnancy, could the anxiety/ insomnia be more down to getting used to the news, rather than thyroid related?

I have hashimotos - but my doctor only looks at my TPO antibody levels really, since she says the TSH can be hugely mis-leading. Can these not be checked for you? I take Thyroxine, (Levo-thyroxin). I have found 50mgs to be enough for me, at first it was 25mgs, then up to 37.5mgs, now 50mgs. I live in germany where they start at the lowest possible dose for you and increase in small amounts if required, checking each time to understand the effects based on your TPO levels.

Also - my progesterone was non existent - I had to take this for the first 3 months of my pregnancy too - it may be worth getting that checked.

I would def think it is playing up - mine did.

Oh and also - I see en endocrinologist for mine, plus my Gyn. Is your doctor a specialist in the area?

duende, I was excited about the pregnancy, when I found out last week, as my TSH has gone from 0.03 to 15 over the course of a couple of months, with only slight dosage adjustments, and I thought I would have a year-long struggle with TTC (took three months).

I have a very open-minded doctor, who believes that around 15% of Hashimoto's people don't do well with conventional replacement thyroid treatment and flit from hypo to hyper states every couple of months. In any case, yes, I feel utterly hyper. Even upon initial diagnosis, ten months postpartum, when my TSH was 9, I felt hot all the time, couldn't sleep etc. although I had inexplicably gained 10 lbs after losing all my pregnancy weight.

My last thyroid function test was just a few days ago. I'm going to speak to my doctor this afternoon. Hoping I'll get the go-ahead to maybe take a Benadryl for a few nights, as I've only managed 3-4 hours per night of sleep for the last week.

I was so annoyed with being awake for so many hours last night, that I flung my neatly folded piles of washing onto the floor . Luckily my husband is very understanding.

teaandflapjacks, I take 65mg of Naturethroid, which I don't think is available in the UK (I'm in the US). I did see an endo upon initial diagnosis, but treating with thyroxine did nothing for me, so I had to seek out my current doctor, who is the head of integrative medicine at a big hospital here (essentially a regular doctor who uses some alternative therapies).

He will definitely be open to a progesterone and antibody check, so I will suggest those, if he doesn't suggest them.

Great stuff Stopgap-I only ask as I had a really shocking time of it in the UK trying to get this diagnosed - i even saw doctors on harley street as was diagnosed with ME (!). I get a bit cross still when I think of it sounds like you have the right doctor and he knows what he is up to - I find knowing where my TPO levels lie quite helpful as I can see, for me, a direct correlation between them lowering and me feeling more well, if you see what I mean. Also, I found I was very anaemic, and this added to my symptoms, so I take iron for that (which has it's own issues, but better than not for me).

I must say I really like it when you meet a decent doctor who looks for different routes - mine put me on a herbal supplement to regulate my cycle (Monks Pepper also known as Chaste Berry) which aided me ovulating and getting pg - again doubt I would have got that in the UK TBH.

Congrats BTW!!

Absolutely agreed. Before both conceptions, I took Chaste Berry to regulate my cycle, as well as eating a Paleo diet. I have PCOS and adenomyosis, too, so was willing to go all-out in getting my finicky body ready for pregnancy.

Thanks for the extra tips (and the congrats!). I shall run everything by him when we speak in a mo.

I am so jealous of your doctors checking antibodies and treating with dessicated thyroid, my GP is lovely but I feel I know more about thyroid disease than she. I certainly have more interest in it...In the UK you don't get to see endocrinologist for underactive thryoid, even if it's Hashimoto's. In fact my GP only tested for antibodies after I insisted, after 5 years of me being treated for hypothyroidism. She says it makes no difference to prognosis or treatment.

Anyway, I wish you an uneventful and good pregnancy and hope you feel better :)

duende, it definitely isn't the done thing for doctors over this way. I went through two endocrinologistsboth of whom only test TSH and prescribe Synthroidbefore discovering my current physician.

Did you ever read the website Stop the Thyroid Madness?

I'm going to have my progesterone and antibodies checked, and my doctor does want me to see an endocrinologist, just to make sure, say, that pregnancy hasn't triggered something like Graves, in addition to Hashimoto's.