Elevated Thyroid - undetected

[Counter27]

Okay so having some issues and really freaking out about the latest...

I'm 31 weeks pregnant with my first, had reduced fetal movements last week. All checked out fine however growth scan uncovered I'm in the 95th percentile and need to have a gestational diabetes test.

Secondly my normal midwife (who I've never liked and found very dismissive) is off sick and her replacement reviewed my files and saw that all my previous blood tests have shown a slightly elevated thyroid. She called her consultant who has advised on another test.

Freaking out because the results online for hypothyroidism in pregnancy are terrifying! Increased risk of brain damage and developmental delays. I would love some reassurance or any advice from anyone as I'm really angry this hasn't been picked up before but also very upset something could be wrong.

It was all going so well until last week 😢

Sorry you are having such a stressful time .
Just wanted to say that increased thyroid levels causes hyperthyroidism not hypothyroidism. Hyperthyroidism is associated with low birth weight so given your growth scan was the opposite it hopefully is unlikely that your thyroid is involved.
I think it is quite common to have mildly elevated thyroid results in earlier stages of pregnancy as it can be stimulated by HCG levels. Ladies with HG apparently really commonly have higher thyroid levels but they resolve by week 20 usually and don't require treatment.
It seems really sensible to recheck it, but don't think you need to read horror stories of what can happen if you are hypothyroid, and doesn't sound like your baby is measuring small which would be expected if your thyroid was significantly high.
I hope that makes sense!?
Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy, hope your tests all come back ok.

Thanks @Boredoftryingusernames that does make me feel more at ease! Think it's just been a stressful week with one thing after another.

Thyroid function test is usually a number relating to your thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) if the number is elevated you have hypothyroidism as the stimulating hormone is working hard to get your body to release more thyroxine. This is how my GP explained it to me anyway.
I'm sorry I don't have any experience of raised TSH in pregnancy but finding out how far out of range you are may be useful?
Wishing you all the best and hope your thyroid function is under control soon - it's pretty easily brought under control with medication.

I'd also be asking for some serious explanation from a senior member of staff as to how this had been missed until now, however small the elevation.
The range is pretty big though so hope that a small elevation has little impact

Hello,

baby's own thyroid would have started to kick in at around 14 weeks and be fully functioning by around 24 if not earlier.

It's worth finding out exactly what was raised, when, and what the numbers were as as said above it could be hyper or hypo. You can ring the gp receptionist for a print out or ask over the phone.

I'm on thyroxine myself as my thyroid produces no thyroxine. If your tsh was raised a little your thyroxine would be a little low however, in my first pregnancy due to a faulty batch of meds my levels were really off, tsh 13 (you'd have definitely been treated if it was that bad); first very under till about 15 weeks then very over as I switched brands.

If it turns out tsh was as high as this (and you'd have felt bloody awful), to reassure you, Ds is great and very bright. He had low birth weight actually and a small placenta but quickly caught up. Doing really, really well at School.

Thyroid issues very out of control coupled with iodine deficiencies used to cause lots of issues in baby which might be what you read, but as iodine is in milk (esp winter milk), dairy, fish and vitamins like pregnacare it's not a problem here (vegans need to be careful to take a vitamin.)

It's probably more about making sure you yourself are ok and don't need any medication. Very low thyroxine levels (hypo) can affect milk production and make you feel horrendous. Too high (hyper) is also very difficult to cope with. It might be worth being monitored occasionally for a year post baby incase there's any post partum thyroiditis.

But honestly wait and see as it sounds like actually the GD might be the issue to be on top of.

And as bored says, it's very common to have a very suppressed tsh, the thyroid stimulating hormone, (eg 0.1) which means elevated thyroxine, the thyroid hormone in the first trimester, which is outside the normal range.

And as I said, mine was the opposite and ds is great (believe me I was extremely worried at the time so I do understand).

Sorry if my reply was confusing - agree with above if thyroxine is high means hyperthyroid, if TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is high then usually hypothyroid -so does depend which number they were looking at. I assumed from them saying your thyroid was high they meant the thyroxine total measurement, sorry if that is incorrect.
I still wouldn't panic though, slightly out of range is unlikely to cause baby any issues as said by Ekphrasis. Hopefully they are just being cautious and the retest will put your mind at rest.

Thanks so much @Ekphrasis that is so helpful and definitely reassuring! I'm having more bloods done this week so will speak to the surgery when I'm in about numbers.

I agree on the GD but I'm also a bit more hopeful about that this morning. I don't think I have any other symptoms and although baby is measuring large both sides of the family are very tall so maybe that's a factor. Will wait and see...

Let us know how you get on. And do ask if it's worth being monitored post baby.