Hello , I'm.new to this group and have come here as for several years I've been trying unsuccessfully to conceive I'm finally having ivf . my ivf clinic have taken my bloods and say my tsh is 4.08 whilst on a low dose of 25 mc levothyroxine prescribed by my gp , although I dont know what my tsh level was pre levothyroxine several years ago ..... . My ivf doctor says under 2.5 is optimal for conception and my gp needs to alter my dosage but my gp is having none if it and wont alter my dose of thyroxine and says it's fine but here ive got two conflicting opinions...have any if the ladies on here been through similar scenarios and what did they do to get there dosage altered, is there any evidence or anything official I can print off online to put to my gp to get my case across for the need to get my tsh levels to 2.5 or less for conception
Many thanks
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Pixibell
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If you have an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism)
If you are planning a pregnancy you should speak to your GP to arrange thyroid blood tests and ideally aim for a Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) level of less than 2.5mU/l at the time of conception
Thank you for the link seaside suzie , realy helpful.! ....getting an appointment with my gp face to face is urrently impossible! But I can now at least email it or print it off and ask the gp receptionist to pass it to the gp and request another phone appointment to put my new argument across ...many thanks to you for your help x
Bloods should be retested 6-8 weeks after each dose increase (or brand change) in levothyroxine
For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also EXTREMELY important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12
Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially if you have autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's) diagnosed by raised Thyroid antibodies
Do you have Hashimoto’s?
What vitamin supplements are you currently taking?
Ask GP to test vitamin levels
Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and before eating or drinking anything other than water .
Last dose of Levothyroxine 24 hours prior to blood test. (taking delayed dose immediately after blood draw).
This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip)
Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or thyroid antibodies or all relevant vitamins
Thank you slow dragon , that gives me two lots of information now to give to my gp ...fingers crossed they read it and take me seriously ! Thanks for your help x
As others have mentioned your GP is absolutely wrong and your TSH should be 2.5 or under. They provided you will excellent resources so I won't repeat but I did just want to wish you luck with your TTC journey. I have Hashimotos and have a 2.5 year old and am currently 17 weeks pregnant, if you have any questions that I can help with let me know.
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NDT and trying to conceive
Early Pregnancy and slighty underactive thyroid
Hashimoto and amenorrhea when trying to conceive 
