Ttc when hypothyroid

[misswinky34]

Anyone hypothyroid and ttc? Interested to knowing there's a light at the end of this tunnel for anyone.

[Hoxo]

Trying to conceive?

[shaws Administrator in reply to Hoxo]

I wondered as well. Maybe this link will be a bit helpful:-

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

Dr Lowe died through an accident so some of the links within this might not work.

[misswinky34]

Yes sorry it does mean trying to conceive - I'm so used to using the abbreviations so long on fertility forum I forgot people might not know what it means! Sorry ! Xx

[Clutter]

Misswinky34, It's recommended the TSH of women planning to conceive and newly pregnant should be in the low-normal range 04.-2.0 with FT4 in the upper range. TSH 2.5 can make conception difficult an increases the risk of miscarriage.

cks.nice.org.uk/hypothyroid...

There've been severalhealthy babies born to hypothyroid mothers on the forum

[misswinky34 in reply to Clutter]

Thanks clutter. That's what I thought. It can't be all doom and gloom? My going to push for an appt with my gp as they have never given me a breakdown of my blood work. We have been treated up to now with assisted fertility who have said is even more important to keep an eye on the levels which is why I'm annoyed it's me pushing for the blood tests and things.

[Heloise in reply to misswinky34]

Just say you are permitted to see all blood tests and you wish to do so as you would like to see your progress.

Are they afraid of that do you suppose?

[Clutter in reply to misswinky34]

Misswinky34, you can ask your GP receptionist for a printout of blood tests done within 40 days free of charge other than a nominal £1/£2 charge for paper and printer ink. If you want all your blood tests you'll probably have to 'buy' your electronic and manual medical records which will cost up to £50.00.

[misswinky34]

Depends how you evaluate risk I suppose, we've been trying for years long before this diagnosis, just as much chance as a perfectly healthy baby.

[Heloise]

Hypo really interferes with progesterone levels. Are your tests as good as they should be. Low TSH and high FT3 and FT4?

youtube.com/watch?v=U15Pcov...(Not working as expected?)

[RedApple Administrator]

In case you don't already know, there are some links to guidelines for pregnancy documents on the main Thyroid UK website. Might be helpful to print out anything you think relevant to take to your GP.

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

[Wombletor]

Hi

Sorry to read you are struggling TTC. I would like to reassure you that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Make sure that firstly you are properly medicated and your tsh is 2 or under and T4 is in the upper 1/3 of the range. Make sure you are not anaemic or low in folate and b12.

Have a healthy diet, you are what you eat Ask your Gp to check your progesterone levels these can be lower, but not necessarily.

Also having hashimoto which is under control shouldn't affect your ability to conceive , it is when levels are abnormal that difficulties arise. Furthermore, your babies are not necessarily going to be affected by thyroid troubles. I 'be just had a baby, and I have hashimotos disease plus I have graves antibodies too and he is perfect.

I hope everything goes well for you. Take care x

[Hidden]

Miss Winky, much as I revere Reallyfedup, I do not think there is yet any evidence that shows that Asperger's is genetically linked to thyroid disease. There is some evidence of a link, but not necessarily genetic. As you will deduce from my name, I have thought about this and read the research for many years.

I have no relatives with diagnosed thyroid disease or autoimmune disease. I have Hashis (diag long after the pregnancies, but I think I may have had antibodies during both) and a daughter who I suspect may develop it, and a son with a diagnosis of Asperger's. However, I think his condition might have been prevented if I had known about my antibodies, and if I had got all my nutrients up to really good levels before I got pregnant. In other words, it may be the low nutrient levels and the malabsorption problems which go hand in hand with Hashis which are causative. I would have been low in D and - probably crucially - in iron. There is some very interesting research on this, and low iron and low B vitamins in pregnancy have been well linked to autism in children. Low iodine also links to birth defects, and if I could go back in time I would have tested for that too. I would have got my D levels right up, though the evidence on this is less clear.

I would have done an exclusion diet for both gluten and dairy and adjusted my diet for that before getting pregnant, tested for every nutrient under the sun - via a private lab, because the NHS doesn't provide this - and I think that might well have fixed it.

Obviously you would have to be optimally medicated for your thyroid during the pregnancy. too.

[Mabes in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for this information Aspmama. I have found it helpful also. The guy I am dating has Aspergers and I have multiple health problems including AI thyroid disease, so I am very interested in any information about TTC and attempting to create as best as possible chances of a healthy baby.

MissWinky - a friend of mine also had HypoT, and she has had 2 pregnancies. She carried to term, and both children appear healthy.

[Hidden in reply to Mabes]

Aim to have a girl! Aspergers hits boys around four times as often as girls. I read a piece of research on those poor little lab rats, which found that low iron in the womb affected boy baby rats four times more than girls. OK, that could be a coincidence. But I think that keeping iron (and serum ferritin) at a good level before pregnancy and during breast feeding would be kinda helpful. The breast feeding bit wasn't explained to me either, I had no idea that my nutrient shortages were going to be passed to the babes and that I should have been taking supps while breast feeding.

[Mabes in reply to Hidden]

Thank you so much.

I'm so sorry you were not given any advice or taken proper care of during your pregnancy.

I think I will get tested privately for nutrients before TTC, and address any 'holes'. I have issues with D3 so try to keep on top of that, but I don't have up to date results for b12, iron, ferritin, zinc, magnesium etc. Then if I conceive I can repeat test to keep an eye on it during pregnancy/beeastfeeding.

I shall probably need to test for progesterone before even TTC as I have been low on that in the past on private tests, but okay on the NHS one the one time I was checked. I am aware that low progesterone is thought to be implicated in miscarriages for some women.

I would love a girl as I'm one of 2 girls.

I've been working on my gut a lot. I read some time ago about the GAPS diet and I've been reading about Weston A Price way of eating. I've changed my diet completely since, as I was going down a different path (plant based, didn't eat meat, ate some fish).

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Just adding this on vit D deficiency in child/mother possible links to autism.

"Accumulating evidence suggests that low levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in pregnancy and/or early years may be a possible environmental risk factor for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (McGrath et al., 2001; Grant & Soles, 2009; Cannell, 2008).

During the last 5 years several clinical studies from various regions of the world repeatedly and consistently demonstrated that children and individuals with ASD have significantly lower levels of 25(OH)vitamin D than their typically developing siblings, their parents and also than healthy controls (Meguid et al., 2010; Mostafa et al., 2012; De Souza Tostes et al., 2012; Duan et al., 2013; Gong et al., 2014; Kočovská et al., 2014; Fernell et al., 2015; Du et al., 2015; Saad et al., 2015). The Fernell study showed that this significant difference in 25(OH)vitamin D levels between children with ASD and their siblings is present already at birth, suggesting thus a possible impact of prenatal vitamin D deficiency on the aetiology of autism."

[Andrea_P]

I was ttc aged 37 and after six months went to get my hormone levels checked and found out I had TSH of 17. I was told to stop trying until my levels were normal (due to developmental delay risk of being hypo and undermedicated and also increased miscarriage risk). Six months later I got the 'go ahead' to try again and (very luckily) got pregnant in the first month! My daughter is now six and I also have a four year boy born when I was almost 41. They are both healthy.

I must admit I've never heard of any link with Aspergers.

The detailed advice from Clutter and Wombletor just echo what I would say about hormone levels. Make sure you get a good GP.

Good luck. x

[Hidden in reply to Andrea_P]

I am afraid there is research linking low thyroid with autism.

healthline.com/health-news/...

However, those whose thyroid problems have been diagnosed and treated are in a much better position - it is the undiagnosed who are the worry, and it might not, as I say, be a direct relationship with the thyroid, but at least partly with the problems which go along with it.

I have posted a link before on this, but can't find it now.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

OK found my previous post. Doh!

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[Andrea_P in reply to Hidden]

Interesting, thanks for posting the link Aspmama. As I said I was on a stable dose of thyroxine by the time I conceived (but I'm not sure how that affects antibodies?). I think I'm glad I didn't know about this at the time - I was paranoid enough about my pregnancy given my advanced age! In retrospect I'm also very grateful that I didn't get pregnant before getting my bloods checked.

I would note that I've never been diagnosed but I wouldn't be at all surprised if I'm on the 'Autistic spectrum' somewhere.

Both of my parents are hypo too but only diagnosed in their 60s. I will be advising my kids to get checked regularly when they're adults.

[Hidden]

Yes, I think that's essential, well before TTC. My daughter will test for antibodies soon.

[misswinky34]

Ladies thanks so much for your replies. This has just spurred me on to see the gp and I have got a blood test booked for Dec 4th and instead of them fobbing me off with a phone appt which is what they do every time I'm going to ask for a face one. I don't even know what they actually test for other than that tsh thing as they only ever tell me if one reading is within the normal range. I don't know if I have that hashimotos or not as all that has ever happened is going from 25-50-100 Levo within a year

No one has ever actually sat me down and explained things. I'm making a pact with myself to not be so submissive and insist on seeing someone gave to face for some explanations. Great news to hear of these healthy babies! 😊

Don't get me wrong, I understand there are risks. Same with being 35 there's a bigger risk of downs. My brothers son was born with no corneas which has odds of almost a million to one of it happening. Both healthy, textbook pregnancy.

I would treasure a baby regardless of any disability that came with it.

If I need to make lifestyle and dietary changes to prevent any risks then I would be more than happy to do it

Thanks girls xxx

[Hidden]

"Most cases of congenital hypothyroidism are sporadic, which means they occur in people with no history of the disorder in their family.

When inherited, the condition usually has an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern, which means both copies of the gene in each cell have mutations. Typically, the parents of an individual with an autosomal recessive condition each carry one copy of the mutated gene, but they do not show signs and symptoms of the condition."

So this could apply to your husband's parents. You may have a copy of the gene yourself. If it is genetic.

[dorcas70]

Been on T4 12 years and never managed to carry to term . In fact so disgusted was I that despite my taking pills for so long I still had the symptoms, that I threw the pills away. That month was the only time I ever got pregnant! doc said was a 'happy coincidence' but I wonder.

Only lasted to 3 months then no heartbeat. One and only shot. Am now 45. I wonder if pills hindered conception but hypo stopped it developing??

[misswinky34]

Hi I'm sorry to hear that 😞 Do you mind if I ask if you are still trying? I have a doctors apt for 21st as I want to know exactly what my blood work said at my last blood test. I'm still very much symptomatic, even though they said I'm in The normal range. Very frustrating. We were going through fertility investigation when my thyroid flagged up. The fertility specialist said it was really important my thyroid as under control as hypo can cause spontaneous miscarriage and infertility. However it's me that's having to pester for the blood test everytime they even tried cancelling my gp appt as my blood results were normal. I said no and I kept the appointment. As I don't even know if I have the antibodies or if the cause is hashimotos or what. It's rubbish!!!