I’ve been diagnosed with postpartum thyroiditis. Long and painful story but I lost my daughter full term in June and had a mmc in December. My full term loss was a very rare pregnancy complication - nothing to do with my thyroid - it was 1.08 5 weeks after birth. Since august I have known that my prolactin was slightly raised always between 700- 850. And my thyroid had initially been hyper about 2 months after birth but then flipped in November to hypo. My endocrinologist has reassured me that my thyroid did not cause my mmc. I’m sceptical but I guess I have to trust in the professionals.
Since then my thyroid is being treated with 75mg of levo. I’m taking 75mg of Teva. I feel fine on this brand. I’ve had two tests one on the day of the management of mmc in December - my TSH at that point was 1.64. I didn’t ask for T3 or T4 at that point. I had another set of bloods run on 7th Jan - no meds beforehand. I don’t have the reference ranges but they were ran by the NHS. I will be receiving a letter with all this info on but I haven’t had it yet.
TSH:1.29
T4: 20.2 (10-20)
T3: 3.8 (3.1 - 6.8)
Folate: 17.1
B12: 4.97
Prolactin - 711
Cortisol: 3.90 at 8:30am
Liver function - normal
Bone profile - normal
Heomglobin - 1.27
Ferritin - 20 (I’m now taking meds for this)
I have another set booked in for 10th Feb along with an MRI organsised by my endo as a precaution to check to see if I have anything that it causing my prolactin levels to be slightly elevated.
I’ve read that Vit e and b6 are good for naturally reducing prolactin levels naturally - from what I’ve read there does not seem to be any adverse outcomes from taking b6 and vit e with levo but I was just wondering if anyone had any experience to share?
Thanks!
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Rainbowdreamer
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My endo said they would monitor my ferritin - I will keep getting meds so long as I need it. My endo said that my other bloods don’t show anemia. She suggested it might have been because I would have bled a lot after the miscarriage. This has always been low. It’s never been above 29 since I was about 19. I carried to full term with that.
My b12 is 497 - sorry, my error.
Yes, thyroid antibodies have been tested TPO are negative and my TG antibodies are positive but my endo got really angry that I’d had them tested as she said that they are only useful when assessing thyroid cancer patients for treatment.
I raised the t3 conversion with my endo - she was not worried and assured me that I should keep trying straight away. She is very sympathetic to my situation and I trust her - she’s a thyroid specialist. I’d like to think given that she knows what I’ve been through that if she thought there was a chance that I’d suffer another loss she’d advise me to wait or put me on another treatment.
Does a vit b complex not contain biotin? I was told to avoid this.
I don’t take anything with levo. I meant like taking it within the same day. I was told that if my prolactin remains high after my next set of bloods and the MRI then I will be started on cabergolibe to reduce it. I’m wondering if I should just wait until I speak to her before I add anything else in?
Cortisol was tested 3.90 or 390 - I’m not sure how it is measured. My endo also says this was normal.
Is there anything that I can do to help with the conversion of t3 to t4?
Yes, thyroid antibodies have been tested TPO are negative and my TG antibodies are positive but my endo got really angry that I’d had them tested as she said that they are only useful when assessing thyroid cancer patients for treatment.
How high were TG antibodies?
They are often high with autoimmune thyroid disease. But NHS refuses to acknowledge hashimoto’s if only high TG antibodies.
If you do have small amounts in your blood, it may be a sign of certain health problems, such as:
type 1 diabetes
pernicious anemia, a drop in red blood cells caused by a vitamin B-12 deficiency
collagen vascular diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and scleroderma
thyroid cancer
If you have high levels of antithyroglobulin antibodies in your blood, it may be a sign of serious autoimmune disorder, such as Graves’ disease or Hashimoto thyroiditis
High thyroid antibodies associated with symptom burden
I’m getting an MRI so I’m assuming that my thyroid will be visible too? I’ll ask when I speak to them next.
TG antibodies were 326 - I don’t know if that’s high or not?
TPO - 15 (0-34)
I don’t have an autoimmune thyroid disorder - it’s post partum. When my thyroid was tested on aug 5th my thyroid was 1.08 and I made a point of discussing at length the possibility of this having always been present and I was assured that I hadn’t. I only experienced symptoms post partum.
Ok, will do. I’ll be on levo until I get pregnant and then throughout my pregnancy. I’ve been told that I’ll be tested at least every 6 weeks.
I’m taking levo now so even if it does develop into autoimmune I’m still getting it under control and ‘solving the problem’ aren’t I? Or is there more that I will need to do?
75mcg of Teva. I’m having no side effects to it. I did ask about the Teva brand when I spoke to my endo - she says it is working with me as my thyroid results have improved and I’m having no side effects but to keep monitoring it.
We need to stop taking any supplements that contain biotin a week before ALL BLOOD TESTS as biotin can falsely affect test results (it’s used in lots of lab tests)
My endo said that my other bloods don’t show anemia. She suggested it might have been because I would have bled a lot after the miscarriage. This has always been low. It’s never been above 29 since I was about 19. I carried to full term with that.
Ideally you want ferritin at least around or over 70, especially on levothyroxine
Importance of good ferritin levels during pregnancy
Non-anaemic women identified to be at increased risk of iron deficiency should have a serum ferritin checked early in pregnancy and be offered oral supplements if ferritin is <30 ug/l
Hypothyroid patients frequently struggle to increase ferritin levels
Thousands of posts on here about low ferritin levels
Eating iron rich foods like liver or liver pate once a week plus other red meat, pumpkin seeds and dark chocolate, plus daily orange juice or other vitamin C rich drink can help improve iron absorption
This is interesting because I have noticed that many patients with Hashimoto’s disease and hypothyroidism, start to feel worse when their ferritin drops below 80 and usually there is hair loss when it drops below 50.
Thyroid disease is as much about optimising vitamins as thyroid hormones
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