I have recently been diagnosed with hypothyroidism - this came to light as I had been trying to conceive for a year with no luck so went to a fertility clinic who run some tests. I was diagnosed with low AMH and told this was why I hadn’t conceived - I am only 28 so this is very unusual. At first they said my thyroid was boarder-line over active and to re test with my GP. Within a couple of weeks it went from borderline over active to under active & stayed under-active for the next couple of tests. I was then treated with 25mg levothyroxine daily. I then had a round of IVF and everything went well but the embryo failed to implant even though it was the highest grade. I have re tested my thyroid privately in more depth as my clinic doesn’t seem to think it’s important my results are -
My TSH is now 1.7mIU/L
Free T3 4.77 pmol/L
Free thyroxine 14.8 pmol/L
Thyroid peroxidase antibodies 9 kUI/L
Thyroglobulin antibodies 575 kIU/L < 115
I’m really confused that my tsh is normal but my Thyroglobulin antibodies are so high . I informed my clinic and they have said that as long as my tsh is normal it will not effect being able to conceive. Is this true???
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HollyCG
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Please add the ranges on these results (figures in brackets after each result)
Was this test done as early as possible in morning before eating or drinking anything other than water and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test?
Standard starter dose of levothyroxine is 50mcg
Your results look low....need ranges to be certain
Extremely important to regularly test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12
What vitamin supplements are you currently taking
High TG antibodies confirms autoimmune thyroid disease also called Hashimoto’s
However because you only have high TG thyroid antibodies, NHS won’t diagnose autoimmune thyroid disease based just on high TG antibodies
Replacement therapy with levothyroxine should be initiated in all patients to achieve a TSH level of 0.5-2.0pmol/L.
Dr Toft, past president of the British Thyroid Association and leading endocrinologist, states in Pulse Magazine,
"The appropriate dose of levothyroxine is that which restores euthyroidism and serum TSH to the lower part of the reference range - 0.2-0.5mU/l.
In this case, free thyroxine is likely to be in the upper part of its reference range or even slightly elevated – 18-22pmol/l.
Most patients will feel well in that circumstance.
But some need a higher dose of levothyroxine to suppress serum TSH and then the serum-free T4 concentration will be elevated at around 24-28pmol/l.
This 'exogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism' is not dangerous as long as serum T3 is unequivocally normal – that is, serum total around T3 1.7nmol/l (reference range 1.0-2.2nmol/l)."
(That’s Ft3 at 58% minimum through range)
You can obtain a copy of the articles from Thyroid UK email print it and highlight question 6 to show your doctor please email Dionne at
Welcome to our forum HollyCG. Due to you having thyroid antibodies it means you have a condition called Hashimoto's which is the commonest form of hypothyroidism.
Difficulty with pregnancies is common and I'll give you a link from another forum whose owner found pregnancies difficult.
When you state your results, you also have to put the ranges. Ranges are in brackets after the results. The ranges help members to respond.
To make changes in your post click on the down arrow next to More and select what you want to change.
The following re pregnancy is from Thyroiduk.org.uk who is the one behind this forum and Lyn Mynott started Thyroiduk.
This is the procedure to follow when having a blood test:-
Make the earliest possible appointment, fasting (you can drink water and allow a gap of 24 hours between your last dose of levothyroxine and the test and take it afterwards. This method keeps your TSH at its highest as that seems to be all the doctor takes notice of and rarely test Free T4 and Free T3.
Also request B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate.
Even if we don’t start on full replacement dose, most people need to increase levothyroxine dose slowly upwards in 25mcg steps (retesting 6-8 weeks after each increase) until on, or near full replacement dose
Consider starting levothyroxine at a dosage of 1.6 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day (rounded to the nearest 25 micrograms) for adults under 65 with primary hypothyroidism and no history of cardiovascular disease.
Traditionally we have tended to start patients on a low dose of levothyroxine and titrate it up over a period of months.
RCT evidence suggests that for the majority of patients this is not necessary and may waste resources.
For patients aged >60y or with ischaemic heart disease, start levothyroxine at 25–50μg daily and titrate up every 3 to 6 weeks as tolerated.
For ALL other patients start at full replacement dose. For most this will equate to 1.6 μg/kg/day (approximately 100μg for a 60kg woman and 125μg for a 75kg man).
If you are starting treatment for subclinical hypothyroidism, this article advises starting at a dose close to the full treatment dose on the basis that it is difficult to assess symptom response unless a therapeutic dose has been trialled.
A small Dutch double-blind cross-over study (ArchIntMed 2010;170:1996) demonstrated that night time rather than morning dosing improved TSH suppression and free T4 measurements, but made no difference to subjective wellbeing. It is reasonable to take levothyroxine at night rather than in the morning, especially for individuals who do not eat late at night.
I have underactive thyroid which is hypothyroidism. My baby is 13 months old now. This is what I did. I tried conceiving for almost 2 years with no success. I decided to go on a low carb diet. I did it for a month and got pregnant. Some people do go on a gluten free diet to get pregnant or for the embryo to Implant.
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