Thyroid problems and pregnancy

[shellmc]

Im currently 36+6 weeks pregnant, and i was diagnosed with underactive thyroid in april last year!!

I suffered a miscarriage in may last year, doc explained it cud have been that my tsh levels were soo high ????..........not sure.

I managed to get my levels within range within a few months of starting on thyroxine, i now take 75mcg, when i found out i was pregnant my gp explained that my tsh levels wud have to be checked frequently, to ensure my dose doesnt need lowered or increased.

Luckily my results throughout have been good and within range, its just that the last one i had done 2 weeks ago came back altho still in range a little lower than usual, 0.56 midwife says still in range soo not concerned which is fair enough she knows what it all means i suppose, but does anyone know why at this late stage in preg it cud have dropped a bit??? And the fact its gone low does this indicate i cud possibly go overactive rather than underactive?? Also and im sorry for the long post but the headaches iv been suffering with past few weeks cud this be due to thyroxine does anyone know??

Thanks for reading my long post Luv shell xxx

brightonbleach, you have it the wrong way round. TSH stands for thyroid stimulating hormone, it's not produced by the thyroid. So when it's high it indicates an underactive thyroid, because your pituitary(? or another gland) is working super-hard producing TSH trying to get the thyroid to work.

Low TSH indicates an overactive thyroid, or in the case of someone with a normally underactive thyroid, that their thyroxine dose is too high.

I don't know why the dose could become too high late in pregnancy, but given some previously 'normal' women end up hyperthyroid after pregnancy, it seems somehow logical.

As to the rest of it - yes, headaches can be a symptom of too much thyroxine mimicking an overactive thyroid, palpitations, sweats, diarrhoea are others to look out for the opposite of hypo symptoms, things that feel like your body's running too fast.

And yes, it could also have contributed to your mc, shellmc, untreated hypothyroidism is a risk to a pregnancy. Just keep on getting checked out ... oh, and there seems to be no logic to it, I stayed on 100mcg all the way through pregnancy and beyond, despite having put on 3 stone during pregnancy and lost it all again within a month. Still on the same now, having put over a stone back on again!

dontcallmebaby ;-) hi,you're absolutely right, thank you for correction - I was thinking of the range for the other indicator of thyroid problems (T4?), so anyway - yes, its the other way round to what I said, lower is going into the possibility of overactive (Apologies for mix up!)

www.thyroiduk.org is very good source of info, & will be more accurate than me.

apologies again - I would see your GP if you're worried. best wishes.

Oh yes, T3 and T4 - never did read up on those, my TSH was disastrous at 128 so didn't go digging into the details of the other figures!

Good luck ... both? Did I read right that you're pregnant as well BB? All the best ... end product of my pregnancy is five years old now, and is a star.

thanks dontcallmebaby :-) my brain is a bit foggy (first pregnancy! i feel very forgetful, am assuming its normal haha)

Lovely to hear you got a super end result.

I'm due on Halloween - we both feel like a pair of dunces, with all the different new things to learn, but enjoying it all the same. I didn't realise how much of an issue thyroid disfunction can be in pregnancy, glad I'm being monitored closely! I'm on 175mcg normally, so pretty high to start with, my results were all disastrous to start with and have levelled out now, so fingers crossed nothing will go wrong for me or little one during this year...

Shellmc: I guess the message is everyone and anyone with thyroid problems of any level should be monitored closely in pregnancy as levels can bounce around alot due to all the hormonal changes happening in your body :-)

all the best all! Louise

Hiya ladies,

thanks for your replys!!

Yeh i have had my bloods taken every 6 weeks or so truout my pregnancy so im pleased about that, its just this last result has dropped a bit, than usual, not got long to go now tho soo hopfully once baby is ere it will sort itself out again.

Thanks again for your help.

Shell xxx