Thyroid antibodies and TTC

[MML]

Thyroid antibodies... anyone else?

I'm desperate for my first baby and have been TTC for 18 months, and had an early miscarriage in February at 7 weeks, which left me and my partner devastated but determined to find answers.

I have been found to have slightly high TSH (4.07, above the optimal number for fertility but not quite bad enough to be considered an underactive thyroid) and my thyroid peroxidase antibodies are elevated at 142.

All the medical papers I've read online and podcasts/audiobooks I've listened to have told me - antibodies = bad. And they are associated with a much greater risk of pregnancy loss. Which is not great.

And they seem to be very hard to fix, and it doesn't look like the normal thyroid meds would help.

I haven't got a treatment plan for this, my NHS GP really didn't seem fussed - I'm toying with the idea of a private endocrinologist, but not sure if it's worth it.

I wanted to know if anyone else has been diagnosed with elevated thyroid antibodies and if so, what you have done about them and if you've got any further down the line into eliminating them?

And has anyone had a successful pregnancy despite having elevated thyroid peroxidase antibodies?

I am full of fear that this means that I am always going to be at a greater risk of miscarriage and pregnancy complications. But I am really hoping this isn't the case!

I'm sure hashis was having an impact due to how quickly I conceived (and lost) post levo vs before. TSH was 7 at one point. Antibodies high. But the output of the Warwick tests was low NK cells and borderline low progesterone leading to poor implantation. Basically my endometrium was not receptive/prepared for an embryo to develop properly. Quite fascinating really!

@Sunflower360 did you already have NK testing then?

@Chasingbaby2 not had NK testing, what would be the remedy for that if there was an issue?

Here's the interesting thing, and please bear in mind I am not medically trained, just personal research :) my treatment was based on low NK activity, high findings I believe would be treated with steroids- which is what I thought pred was used for. That's why I thought maybe you had the tests aleady. Maybe worth chatting with your fertility consultant?

Hi @Sunflower360 I've actually just started my first IVF cycle now. I'm 2 days into injections so far. My thyroid TSH is still hovering between 3 and 3.8 but doctors keep insisting that's fine and they won't increase my levothyroxine dose (annoying but I have to trust them I guess?) - and no idea about my antibodies at all! Since writing this post I have gone gluten-free so I'm really hoping that's lowered them enough to be safe. I'd love to have them tested before I have IVF but I'm exhausted with begging doctors for tests that they don't deem worthy. But I did see a private doctor before my NHS IVF round and she told me that, if I do get pregnant, to go to see Professor Conway right away - he's a specialist fertility endocrinologist, and she said I will need 'micro-managing' in pregnancy if I get a positive test. She also diagnosed me with polycystic ovaries and mild adenomyosis, and my partner has very low motility and morphology, so our struggles with fertility have been a bit of a two-way street.

I hope all goes well for you with your next embryo transfer, and I'm really sorry your FET didn't work out this time.

I'll be having a FET in a few months as we're sending any embryos we get from this round for PGT-A testing. I'm still very nervous it won't work out because of my thyroid, the antibodies or goodness knows what else, but at least we're on the road now.

And @Chasingbaby2 that's really great, congrats on your pregnancy and hope all goes well! Can't believe you had to work so hard to get there but so glad it paid off. I've had a few worries about NK cells but I guess I have no evidence of this for now so need to put it to the back of my mind and investigate down the line if we need to.