Infertility and thyroid? My beautiful friend has been trying to conceive for a number of years she could she have thyroid problems too?

[girlfoley]

She has also just had an unsuccessful attempt at IVF too. She is 39 and has one more attempt on the NHS. I've been wondering if her thyroid could be to blame. Her thyroid blood test results are;

Free T4 13.4 (12-22)

TSH 1.94 (0.3 - 4.2)

Unfortunately the doctor wouldn't test T3 or antibodies. Her T4 seems low to me and her Tsh seems only just within the ideal pregnancy range? I have hashimotos but was very lucky conceiving my two kids. I would be so grateful if any of you could advise on this. Is it worth her getting private t3 and antibodies tested? I didn't want to worry her but thought it would be worth making sure her thyroid is ok before her last try at IVF. She sleeps quite a lot and has very thin hair and missing hair on the last third of her eyebrows but other than that there are no obvious symptoms. She is going to find out the latest b12, vitD, ferritin and iron test results. Is there anything else worth checking? We would be really grateful for any advice xx

[HarryE]

I know nothing about pregnancy, but that ft4 looks really low. Can she get some private tests done?

[PoppyRose]

Hi, yes her T4 looks low and the TSH could just be too high for her. (forgetting it's 'within the norm')

x

[Marz]

.....amazing that a GP is happy to put a patient through the hormonal roller coaster of IVF and yet cannot rule out the possible underlying cause - hypothyroidism or LOW B12. Also low VitD can be involved in anaemia.

b12deficiency.info/signs-an...

Hypo and B12 deficiency share many of the same symptoms - and as you can see infertility is one of them.

[Marz]

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?te....

This is from the website I posted earlier.....

[shaws]

Definitely, low thyroid can cause infertility. It affects everything in our bodies.

web.archive.org/web/2010103...

[Trudes]

Hughes syndrome is worth ruling out

[Reny]

For sure her thyroid is a cause! But not so much the thyroid but the medicine. If she is on for a long time. The thing if she has antibodies or not will not make a big change is the medicine she is taking!!!!

[HarryE in reply to Reny]

I can't see that the lady concerned is taking any medicine at all?

[girlfoley]

Thank you all for your replies and advice it's much appreciated x just to clarify, she's not actually taking any thyroid medication

[Charlie3055]

Your poor friend; I have a friend going through similar at the moment. I would say categorically she must get FT3 and antibodies done before attempting IVF again. It sounds to me like she is hypo in some form or another from the TSH and FT4 alone, but she needs to get to the bottom of it. The battle is finding an understanding practitioner but they are out there and people on this site are very knowledgeable so utilise them as they will be able to over advice each step of the way. Best of luck! X

[girlfoley in reply to Charlie3055]

Thanks Charlie, she's going to get the tests done privately so once the results are through I'll get everyone's thoughts and maybe she'll get to see someone who will actually help her. Thanks again x