Dhea for ivf and effect on thyroid

[Orla9298]

Hello,

I'm just wondering if anyone can help. Sorry for the long post! We are sadly dealing with infertility, with me having a very low ovarian reserve at age 32. Probably due to me having an underactive thyroid for 10 years that my GP managed very poorly until recently. We will be having IVF in January.

I've been getting to the bottom of all my thyroid issues and identified it as autoimmune around 5 moths ago, TPO antibodies were 90 (range 0-30) but going gluten free they have dropped to 64 then 48 at my last 2 tests. The clinic will also be putting me on steroids during ivf to try and prevent implantation issues due to antibodies.

I've also just started DHEA a week ago - having done a lot of research as it is supposed to help with egg quality and quantity especially for people like me with low reserve. It's one of those - there isn't enough research to prove that it does help, but there are a lot of success stories. My consultant has said it won't do any harm.

My one concern now is that I have read a couple of times that it must be used very cautiously in people with thyroid problems. My consultant hasn't expressed this. I don't want to stop taking it but I'm worried it could upset the balance. My tsh is currently 0.9 and t4 19. Do you think maybe I should keep going but test thyroid monthly maybe?? It's important it stays at good levels or my ivf won't be able to take place in Jan

What do people think I should do???

Xx

[Clutter]

Hi Orla9298,

I'm sorry you've not had any replies. I suspect your question is a little beyond the scope of anyone who hasn't had IVF. All I can say is that your TSH is in the low-normal range 0.4-2.5 recommended and FT4 19 is in the recommended upper range. I hope your IVF cycle is successful.

[Orla9298 in reply to Clutter]

Thank you! I just thought a lot of people seem to know a lot about thyroid levels so it was worth a try! I'll ring my GP and ask but I'm just aware that GPS are likely to say don't take the dhea! I'll post the same question in the fertility forum thanks xx

[CBann in reply to Orla9298]

Hiya, found your post interesting as I am facing a similar issue and am a similar age (31), haven't quite got as far as IVF as last year just before I got referred for IVF I discovered I had thyroid problem which they said I needed to sort out first. Sorting that out has been slightly more problematic than I'd hoped and I am still trying to stabilise before I go back to the IVF clinic. Wishing you all the best. I haven't had a ovarian reserve test yet either xx

[jacrjacr]

all I can say is dhea can turn into other hormones in the body and I think what someone may be saying is...estrogen can suppress the thyroid so as long as your thyroid panel is okay...I think you are fine.....