Did your levels fluctuate in pregnancy? How did you know?

[Shoey1]

Hi,

I was diagnosed as hypothyroid just before getting pregnant, though I've had all the symptoms since puberty.

I felt fantastic on levothyroxine for a few weeks until I started hormones for IVF. I could feel myself slipping back into symptoms, if that makes sense. I was right, as my next bloods showed my TSH had doubled to 2.45. As I was pregnant by this point my dose was increased to keep me under 2.0 and at the following blood test I was 0.22 which I was told was fine, and I felt fine at.

I'm now 20 weeks and for the past couple of weeks I've felt myself slipping again. The first trimester I had awful morning sickness but I felt I knew the problem was pregnancy not thyroid.

I've never made it to trimester 2 before so now I'm not sure if these issues are pregnancy or thyroid...though my gut feeling is thyroid.

I had a few weeks of feeling good after the morning sickness subsided and had a fair amount of energy. I read a lot of books, one of the things that felt like slipping was the last one I couldn't finish as I can't concentrate. My sleep has got worse and I'm feeling much more tired. I've been getting irritable and frustrated with simple things and over the last few days my mood has really lowered and I'm struggling to motivate to do things.

I had bloods done on Monday morning with the endocrinologist I'm seeing privately (my top TSH pre levothyroxine was 4.05 so the GP wouldn't recognize it as hypothyroidism). I'll know the results this coming Monday.

I just wanted to ask if this is how others recognize there might be problems with meds. I spent a few decades being told there was nothing wrong with my by GPs. To be told from a young age that you don't feel how you feel is a strange thing to go through, and it becomes hard to trust and understand your own body after that.

Although I always really felt something wasn't right, and I was right about that, there is still the tendency to doubt myself, particularly as I'm pregnant and it could be that. I just want to be able to advocate for myself and my baby effectively without thinking I'm some sort of neurotic. I suppose I'm just looking for some reassurance at the moment, particularly as I'm not feeling very chipper.

[Jazzw]

Sending a big hug. x

One thing to know—your baby is now making all their own thyroid hormones (and has been making some since 12 weeks onwards). So if you are undermedicated it won’t be affecting your baby’s thyroid hormone levels.

And not everyone glows during pregnancy (I certainly didn’t—although I’ve always wondered if I was hypothyroid even then, it’s just my TSH was still in range). It can be exhausting growing a new human, especially as it starts to get trickier to find a comfortable sleeping position.

You’ve absolutely done the right thing to get some bloods done to see what’s going on. And blood test results can come back quickly so it might be worth seeing if you can find out what they say ahead of seeing your private Endo—do they have a secretary you can ring? If not, waiting until Monday isn’t too long to wait, especially if you take it easy and try to rest as much as you can this weekend.

Meanwhile, make sure you’re taking your levothyroxine well away from food and supplements to optimise what you’re getting from your current dosage.

[Shoey1 in reply to Jazzw]

Thank you for the reassurance. Although I wouldn't wish it on anyone, it helps to hear not everyone feels great at this point. All the pregnancy sites make you feel like you should have the energy to paint the Forth bridge in the second semester so I've been feeling like a bit of a let down so far.

Glad to hear the baby will be ok even if my levels aren't spot on. The reason I went to an endocrinologist very early on was because I knew it could cause problems at that point and was eager to make sure we did everything we could to make things go well.

I'm not sure who to call about bloods so I think I'll wait for Monday's appointment, the main worry would be about the baby...my levels.can wait a couple of days.

Thanks again, I've been feeling a bit low and isolated with all that's going on at the moment, your message has really helped.

[Serendipitious]

Shoey1,

Congratulations on your pregnancy. I wanted to point you towards these two articles which may help you. Written by Dr Izabella Wentz, known as The Thyroid Pharmacist.

thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...