TSH levels pre-pregnancy with no diagnosed thyroid disorder.

[Yellowtulip96]

Hello,

I have recently had an advanced thyroid check which have all come back 'normal'.
TSH - 3.38
Range - 0.27 - 4.2

T4 - 21.5
Range - 12 - 22

T3 - 4.8
Range - 3.1 - 6.8

My doctor has said that there is no indication of a thyroid disorder and my antibodies have also come back negative. All in all, on the face of it, looking good. However, I have read multiple sources that say in order to conceive, your TSH should be less then 2.5. When I asked the doctor this, he agreed. I asked what I need to do in my situation then as I am TTC. He said 'good question' and told me to retest in a month for piece of mind but told me I shouldn't worry as my thyroid is behaving as it should. He seems to think that the <2.5 rule only applies to those ladies who already have an existing thyroid disorder as management as otherwise it would be a routine thing that all women would have a TSH check before and during pregnancy.

My question is, is there anybody who has had successful pregnancies and A) not known their TSH levels so is irrelevant or B) has had higher TSH levels then 2.5 in pregnancy with no existing thyroid issues and had a successful pregnancy?

This information about TSH is really not well known for pregnancy so I am struggling to understand if mine is an issue or not as I have no thyroid disorder.

Hi @Yellowtulip96 my TSH levels were 3 early on in my pregnancy (5 weeks maybe?) and I was worried about it for the same reasons you had mentioned. I use a private GP and she got in contact with a consultant endocrinologist who echoed the same thing that you have been told which is that 2.5 is the level they focus on for individuals with an existing thyroid problem. I wasn’t convinced and ended up having an appointment with a consultant obstetrician who advised she wasn’t worried and they didn’t see a need to retest. I’m currently 24 weeks pregnant so it has had no negative impact for me so far, but I appreciate that I don’t know what my levels were when I was TTC. If it were me personally, I would park it for now but have it in the back of my mind and push my GP about it more if I was unable to conceive. Hope that helps and wishing you all the best x

I had a missed miscarriage in April 2022. So I paid for a private test (Superdrug) to check my thyroid just to make sure. My mum has a thyroid issue so I thought that combined with a miscarriage I would like to check.

Technically I had the test done while still miscarrying but I thought it had ended (it was long winded and took 7 weeks until I had surgery).

TSH 2.48 (0.6-4.8 normal range)
FT3. 5. (3.5-6.5 normal range)
FT4. 13.7. (11.5-22.7 normal range)

The normal range is just on the graphic I received I haven’t checked anywhere else.

Sorry that doesn’t fully help you because my TSH is just below the threshold you said. I just thought it’s in the middle of the normal range so I would just forget about it.

I conceived 4 months later and had a successful pregnancy.

I had a similar situation recently. I’m currently on fourth pregnancy after 3 miscarriages and just before this pregnancy I flagged concerns to my GP as my TSH is 3.6 and I also had read that it should under 2.5 when ttc and pregnant. He told me to stop worrying, it was fine. However, fast forward a few weeks and I’ve finally managed to see a gynaecologist who specialises in fertility and miscarriage, and she said to me it should definitely be below 2.5. Ie anything above that should be treated. I feel like I was properly fobbed off by the GP and wish I’d pushed harder! They won’t start treating me now as I’m pregnant and apparently it’s a bit risky as it’s easy to ‘over correct’ and that can also cause miscarriage.

Thanks for everyone's messages back!

@TTCbb1 so did you conceive whilst your TSH was around 3.6? Have they said if you need any regular tests to keep a check on your TSH whilst you're pregnant? I hope you're not feeling too stressed and worried about not being treated for it! Were your T4/T3 levels all okay?

I didn't have my thyroid checked pre-pregnancy, but it was checked at my booking appointment and TSH was 3.4 so I was prescribed levothyroxine which had brought it down to around 2.

I do have type 1 diabetes so am already under an endocrinologist, so I don't know whether that's a standard blood test they do at booking or an extra one I got because of the diabetes.

I didn't have any issues conceiving and thankfully have never had a miscarriage, so I don't think the raised level had any negative impact, but the doctors said they preferred it to be lower.