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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Blood test results: low TSH

9 replies

secondtimerr · 14/02/2019 13:27

I'm 9 weeks pregnant and just got my blood tests back, everything is normal except "TSH" is below the reference range by quite a lot! Is this normal in pregnancy? A google search seems inconclusive, although I may just not be smart enough to understand it all. Some sites seem to say it's normal, others don't.

I've emailed the results to my OBGYN but was wondering if anyone here knew anything about it while I wait for her to reply (could be a while!)

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physicskate · 14/02/2019 14:24

What was your actual tsh? Did they test t4 as well?

secondtimerr · 14/02/2019 14:44

Yeah they tested T4 and it was in the normal range.

My TSH was 0.21 and the results gave a 'reference range' of 0.55–4.4

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physicskate · 14/02/2019 15:21

You are slightly hyperthyroid, by those results. Might be a case of wait and watch, or they might want to start you on meds. Either way, I'd ask for a referral to endocrinologist. This is an issue for a consultant, not your average gp...

Em39ma · 14/02/2019 15:27

Hi
I’m in the same situation as you. My TSH is very low.
I have just found out I’m pregnant and they are saying my TSH might be related to the pituitary gland.
I was supposed to be having another blood on the first day of my cycle, but for obvious reasons that isn’t going to happen now.
I’ve got an appointment on Tuesday with the midwife so I’m going to check what I do next about it then

beforeihit30 · 14/02/2019 17:56

Agree that this is a endocrine consultant matter (presume the OBGYN is also a consultant?). If you’re under the OBGYN’s care specifically then follow up with them for a referral to endocrinology, or if you also see a midwife they can do that.

In my hospital, all consultants working with pregnant women hold their appointments in the same clinic so all know each other - eg in my case I have hypothyroidism, I am under a consultant OBGYN for a separate matter, an endocrine consultant for me thyroid, but the two hold their appointments in the same clinic and know each other, work together etc. So basically it may be really easy and straightforward to get you in for an endo consult.

secondtimerr · 14/02/2019 19:02

I'm not in UK so my OBGYN is a private consultant yes. I've sent her another email chasing up because I'm quite worried about it and she hasn't yet replied. Can it affect the baby?

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beforeihit30 · 14/02/2019 19:32

I’m not familiar with how it works for hyper (which is what you would be looking at), but I wouldn’t worry given it’s only slight (TSH a little below range, it’s not by much, and T4 within range, so they may even say it’s not enough to really do anything about but they’ll keep testing to monitor in case it continues to decrease).

With hypo, the baby doesn’t start producing it’s own thyroxine hormone until early in the 2nd tri so it’s important to make sure the mum has enough hormone as the baby is dependent on the mother’s stores for that time period - for the general development of the baby, thyroxine is a ‘multipurpose’ hormone that helps various functions in the body.

With hyper, it’s that you’re actually overproducing thyroxine - but in your current scenario, only very slightly and they would like already have intervened if it was a concerning level. Thyroid disorders are very easily managed (medically speaking) so it is rare to reach a serious level of hypo or hyper - you would likely have to leave it a while before it reached the point of posing a risk to you or your baby, and again, very rare, and as far as I know hyper doesn’t affect development as such, more it can lead to things like pre-eclampsia. But again, we’re talking if it was to be left completely unmanaged for a while and the levels were significant enough to cause that.

It’s my very clumsy way of saying you are very likely fine and nothing to worry about, but an endo consult is very useful in ensuring how best to manage your levels throughout pregnancy - and routine if you were already hypo or hyper pre pregnancy. I’m pg with DC3 and have had the same routine each time - bloods as soon as I know I’m pregnant (through GP), adjust meds as needed, see the endo, they say, “You’re fine, or, you’re a wee bit under but not much, we’ll keep testing but we don’t need to see you in a clinic again”.

I hope that ramble is somewhat reassuring!

secondtimerr · 14/02/2019 20:09

It actually did, thanks! Hopefully my doctor will get back to me at some point tonight too.

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BeeYouTiful · 14/02/2019 20:37

Having had thyroid cancer I'm under an oncologist, endocrinologist and on lifetime thyroid meds. Although my levels are being monitored I've been told I will probably need to increase my medication but not quite yet, further on in the pregnancy. So don't worry OP, my levels are all over the place, and they aren't concerned just yet so you have time to question your results with the right people. Good luck Smile

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