Trying to conceive, thyroid nightmare

[MaryF33]

Hello,

I wondered whether any of you have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and are trying to conceive?

My husband and I have been together for over five years and I have never been pregnant. We have been actively trying to conceive for over three years. I have had basic tests done on NHS and everything was normal. The only thing I know I have is Hashimotos Thyroiditis. My husband recently had a sperm analysis and this was normal. I’ve been referred by the NHS to an infertility clinic and I guess the next step will be IVF. I’d like to avoid IVF if possible and conceive naturally.

I would be grateful for any suggestions.

Thanks!

Sorry you are going through this op, what was your last tsh level?

my TSH is supposed to be less than 2 to stop my thyroid from growing back but my last test result in November was 5.5 so they increased my dose to 100mg /125 mg on alternate days.

I was told I was boderline underactive thyroid when i started ttc back in 2021. TSH level was 6.5 when they checked them at the start of my ttc journey. I was put on 25, then 50, then got pregnant and was upped to 75mg. I am now 32 weeks pregnant with my 2nd and I am on 125mg a day to keep tsh level under 2! I think getting that tsh under control and taking ovulation supplements really helped me! Without them my cycles were 70+ days! My body wasn’t ovulating like most people! Do you track ovulation? X

5.5 that’s far too high, good that they adjusted it, hopefully the next test will be better. Mine needed to be below 2 to be successful and I’ve heard other stories like that too. What dose were you on when the tsh was 5.5? Was it a big increase they made?

When levels of t4 are low the level of prolactin increases.

Prolactin is produced in higher quantities when breastfeeding and this (in theory) hinders ovulation.

This is what was explained to me when I had difficulties (more than 30 years ago). I have Hashimoto's.

I was on 50mcg t4 then - TSH was 2.5 on that.

The consultant tripled the dose to 150mcg which pushed TSH to less than 1. I conceived quite quickly afterwards.

I was eventually prescribed a t3/t4 combination. (TSH had crept up to >60 within one year.)

PeeBeee if you don’t mind me asking what ovulation supplements do you take? Yes when I have time I track my ovulation. It varies from month to month, some months I can clearly see when I’ve ovulated and other months it’s less clear and I even wonder whether I’ve ovulated at all.

My TSH was under 2 for the past couple of years (1.8 in June) but suddenly it went up to 5.5 in November. The only thing I can think of is that I might have gained a couple of pounds. To get my TSH levels back under 2 the dr only recommended a small levothyroxine increase of an additional 25mg on alternate days. I was previously on 100mg daily.

MyOtherCarIsAPorsche thanks for the info about prolactin I hadn’t heard about that before. I don’t take T4 as such, I take levothyroxine which is thyroid replacement as I had my thyroid removed in 2019 due to a large cancerous nodule. Conversely I have heard that if your TSH is too low then this can make it difficult to conceive. With this in
mind my dr actually lowered my dose of levothyroxine a while ago to see whether this made any difference but no luck.

@MaryF33 both times I conceived, I was taking conceive plus ovulation support. I can’t say if they really helped but I am convinced they did help me ovulate.

I also used the premom ovulation strips and tested very often around cd20 onwards to find my peak as my cycles were so irregular.

first cycle with dd1 lasted 79 whole days. I started taking the ovulation support on cd 60 something and then cd79, af came. Again, could have been a coincidence but I don’t think it was. 2nd cycle I kept taking the ovulation support and fell pregnant with dd2, we started ttc in May, first day of that cycle was around the 5th, ordered the ovulation support and started taking around the 12th May, ovulated after 2-3 weeks on them again and fell pregnant first time!

@MaryF33 just reading the rest of your previous message, I am no expert but if your tsh level shot up to 5.5 on 100mg, i reckon it is going to take more then 125mg to bring it down. That’s the dose I am on and I was only seen as ‘borderline’ hypothyroidism, meaning if I wasnt ttc, I wouldnt have been put on levothyroxine at all. Do you get your bloods done regularly? I get mine done every 6 weeks to make sure the dose is still correct x