Hashimotos and Menstrual Cycle

[crw2ddd]

Hello everyone,

I've been tracking symptoms, meds, supps, along with my monthly cycle for about a year or so. At least for the past four months, I have terrible nausea and increasing hypothyroid symptoms including the "feeling like I got hit by a bus" i.e. widespread pain, muscle aches and fatigue on day 17-18-19 of my cycle every single month, same day. I tend to have 35 days cycles.

As women tend to have more issues with autoimmunity, and the diseases tend to present themselves at puberty, pregnancy, menopause, when there are huge swings in hormones -- I've got to wonder where the connections are. I have read that estrogen has a prohibitory effect on thyroid function. Could it be that during ovulation, on day 17, the estrogen spike is negating my thyroid hormones? My cycle symptoms are clear as day...sore and tender breasts during luteal phase, Moody and crampy in days just before period, nausea and exhausted during ovulation. I just wonder if anyone else has strong symptoms relating to their cycles and/or especially notices issues around ovulation.

[soupybp]

Yes, my daughter has aches/pains, nausea, motion sickness, noticeable uptick in fatigue 1-2 days at ovulation. She is being treated for hypothyroidism, not positive for antibodies. She has also been found to have estrogen dominance and low progesterone. Note - this first testing was for estradiol and progesterone on days 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 after ovulation...doctor stated he didn't like to get a single reading in the luteal phase, multiple check points better for diagnosis.

Initial treatment included 200mg prometrium (bioidentical progesterone) on from after ovulation to a few days before menstruation (peak+3 thru peak+12 when observing cervical mucus). After 4 cycles, additional testing found that the prometrium was bringing up her progesterone level, but not enough. Her symptoms were actually a little worse.

They are trying a more aggressive approach now - 400mg progesterone starting cycle day 7, take for 3 weeks, stop. Repeat from there. The idea, as explained to us, is that by propping up the progesterone for more of the cycle for a number of cycles, it will help reset the processes to help the inbalance resolve. If numbers/symptoms come in line, we will continue this approach. If not, he will consider doing a period of progesterone every day, and perhaps in a topical (trying to avoid topicals if possible due to sensitive skin).

[crw2ddd in reply to soupybp]

Thank you for your response. I've had my hormones checked a couple times but just in random days during the cycle, which obviously has large swings depending on the day. The range are quite large as to what's considered normal, do it almost doesn't reveal anything if you don't do as you said and test on multiple days. I'll ask my endocrinologist about it next time I see her. Estrogen dominance seems ever increasing these days. I already avoid eating soy for this reason and I'm moving away from plastics.

[soupybp in reply to crw2ddd]

Yes, the ranges are large. That is why the relationship to each other can be very important. Key to good testing is having a clear understanding of when/if you ovulate. Creighton Model (you can find good info online to get a gist) or basal temp (also good info online) can help you pinpoint ovulation (or determine that you aren't ovulating at all). We used both methods together for my daughter. I am able to go just by temps.

Some doctors (I noticed that my endo fell into this camp), just said to do draw on day 21 of cycle (which assumes 28 day cycles). I asked for clarification. Optimally, they wanted 7 days after ovulation. I scheduled based on that because I knew I had ovulated and was having a "short" cycle that month.

[crw2ddd]

I know there had to be a connection of some kind. I saw somewhere or another somebody claiming that their estrogen dominance /PCOS maybe a trigger for hashimotos in the first place. I just now made the connection...day 17 every month I'm knocked out, I can't hardly get out of bed and the nausea is extreme to the point that I can stomach any food and I want to throw up. I am also considering birth control options

[hjh88]

Someone more experienced may be able to specify exactly, but there is definitely an effect on TSH throughout the menstruated cycle. I presume that also means that T4 and T3 are effected too.

I presume it has something to do with oestrogen which spikes just before ovulation and is know to increase the need for thyroid hormone. I wonder whether that change might be enough to cause symptoms.

[hjh88]

As far as I’m aware, T4 has a half life of about 4 days in the body but in terms of cells catching up after a low, it can be 6-8 weeks before they fully respond. I’ve certainly heard of others changing their dose of levo seasonally but I’m not sure about shorter term. I could well be wrong but, because of delayed effects of increasing or decreasing, my guess would be that it would be hard to do.