Hypothyroidism after IVF?

[Rubylou01]

Morning all - I was on some pretty strong IVF medication in June (cycle abandoned before egg collection due to unexpectedly poor response but 3/4 injections a day) and then repeated with slight modifications August for for egg collection. In that time my TSH has gone from 2.5 to 2.79 and now is at 3.59. I can only think that the IVF medication has knocked my thyroid out... Has anyone had any previous experience of this and did you find it went back to normal naturally (although I am aware it's now 3 months since I stopped treatment) or do you think I need more medication to get it back to normal? My GP is distinctly unhelpful and when I pointed out in July it had gone wonky they told me to go private! So am trying to avoid them if at all possible! Am wondering about an endocrinologist but don't know where to start. Any advice appreciated! Xx

[Whartdog86]

so after my third cycle when I had a use a high a dose, I was getting symptoms that I was worried was early menopause, went to GO to find my levels were at 9.14 doctor put me on levothyroxine for 6 weeks, retested and it had come down to 3.1 which is healthy by NHS standards. I contacted my clinic to let them know as I was due to start a FET cycle shortly after and they said for fertility they like it to be below 2.5, so they took over monitoring my thyroid levels and prescribing Levothyroxine. My levels then stayed steady, until I got pregnant at which point I was passed back to my gp (unfortunately lost that pregnancy) and then I’ve been kept on ever since. Gave birth to my son in July and now trying to lower dose to come off completely but have been warned my thyroid may have got lazy and I may be on the medication forever. Never had any thyroid issue pre fertility treatment

[Rubylou01 in reply to Whartdog86]

Thank you for sharing your experience - can't help but think that it is the fault of the IVF meds in both our cases. Many congratulations on the birth of your son and that's good news that you managed to get it down to pregnant as in truth that's what I am most worried about; If I don't have the energy to move from the sofa by 7pm I can't see that my eggs are going to be very energised either .... I've also read it needs to be below 2.5 but frustratingly NHS thinks anything below 4 fine ....I think will just see how this test goes and then go private from there if I need to (I've told my clinic in London I don't think I can afford to continue further IVF but they might help with this ) xx

[Rox28]

Yep, I had 2 rounds and tested thyroid before 3rd to check levels with the 1st 2 round being unsuccessful, thyroid was above what was required for fertility so put me on levothyroxine, it was fine prior to ivf. 3rd round ended jst as covid started & was also unsuccessful so I stopped taking the thyroxine. Just started ivf again this year tested thyroid & still not back to where it was so had to go back on the thyroxine and if ivf doesn't work or try naturally in between still need thyroid levels at a certain level so will have to keep on it.

[Rubylou01 in reply to Rox28]

Hey am sorry to hear this. Hopefully getting it back down will result in success for you. Was also just hoping that by stopping IVF it would normalise but am slowly realising that likely won't be the case xx

[CaffeineKate]

Going through stims does make TSH higher. I went from 1.15 to 5 during stims and I’m on Levothyroxine anyway. It does seem like 3 months is plenty of time for it to go back to normal though. Could your clinic refer you to an endocrinologist? Mine did that although I didn’t end up meeting them. Xx

[Rubylou01 in reply to CaffeineKate]

Thank you for sharing your experience. Im also on a low gluten and cows milk diet as have IBS so reckon it could have headed higher if it were so inclined. Think will send through my current results to my last clinic (I had said to them that I didn't think I could continue further IVF as I can't afford to) but they might help me with this if my GP wont help xx

[CaffeineKate in reply to Rubylou01]

Ugh it’s all so hard isn’t it. The issue with the GP is that the range is wider but if you are trying to get pregnant they really should take this into consideration. My GP does. This is the doctor that my clinic referred me to so possibly you could just go directly markvanderpump.co.uk/. Xx

[Rox28 in reply to CaffeineKate]

Yep but that depends who you get for your GP mine were telling me it was fine but just before I started ivf this year thankfully a different GP reviewed my latest thyroid results before completing the form the clinic sent & she told me to take thyroxine. Shocking really.

[CaffeineKate in reply to Rox28]

Yes exactly!