In reviewing my own thyroid journey I realised that I was wrongly misdiagnosed with Post Natal Depression after the birth of my eldest son and that it was in fact Post Partum Thyroiditis and that's when I went overactive for the first time in my life. It was the usual insomnia, anxiety, heat intolerance and weight loss which I have come to know so well and lasted for about 4 months. I was never tested for thyroid problems (didn't even know I had inherited any then) and GP at that time put me on tranquilisers as she was worried I might sleep through the baby crying (fat chance of that when I was so wired and could hardly sleep at all). I came off them myself around 4 months later when I felt "completely normal" again and just couldn't believe it when it happened again two years later following the birth of my second son when exactly the same thing happened. In reading through posts on here I have seen several people who believe their thyroid problems started after giving birth and I now wonder how many people like myself were misdiagnosed with Post Natal Depression.
Post Natal Depression or Post Partum Thyroiditis - Thyroid UK
Post Natal Depression or Post Partum Thyroiditis
Delgor,
Pregnancy is a time of such hormonal change that any 'weakness' we may have stoically carried beforehand ensures a forced exposure. Both Hashi & Graves frequently present for the first time during pregnancy or post-partum.
However, you might have felt something unknowingly even before when approaching or going through pubescent years, but another well known time for Hashi/Graves’ 'coming out' is menopause which was my own homecoming even though undiagnosed symptoms had been felt since childhood.
I am sure you are right Radd but maybe GP's or Health Visitors should be made more aware of the condition so that they can question the person properly. I was in tears but not with depression but with exhaustion as I just couldn't sleep and had to accept that I was being put down as an over anxious mother and it wasn't very funny when it happened the second time and the GP said "oh not again"! Perhaps there are people on another site who may well be grateful to know that there could be a reason for them feeling weepy etc.
Delgor,
Yes, I totally agree. Yet another area that needs a complete over-haul. And poor you, just at a time when you wanted to enjoy your baby. I had similar & was eventually offered prozac which I rejected.
I think postpartum thyroiditis & other thyroid issues are more common than realised, and the thought that it reverts back to a euthyroid state after pregnancy seems to only happen to a few.
No I did revert back to normal state after 4 months (well at least I thought I was normal) but possibly was still a little overactive. It took another 5 years before I went down with a Coxsackie B virus and then went madly overactive again which resulted in a thyroidectomy and subsequent diagnosis of CFS and all the rest. At least I am beginning to put the pieces of the jigsaw in place and beginning to understand what has happened to me and why.
me .
it was 4 yrs later when anyone thought to do a thyroid blood test. they found raised TSH (only 6.8 but going up each test and T4 going down) and very very high TPOab . and gave me Levo.
But with hindsight i think the thyroid problem was in evidence from the start of that pregnancy , utterly dreadful fatigue and nausea during the whole pregnancy from day 1 , i said i would sooner die than be pregnant again , then dramatic weight loss a few months after the birth and being a bit 'too' energetic ( i was enjoying this bit , as it was the first time i'd felt OK for nearly a year) and the rather precarious state of my head at the time, (quite a lot of shouting and some hiding !)
This lasted a few months , and was then followed by a slow decline into the cold , tired , 'walking up hill through mud' state that we all know so well (which is somewhat ironic because i lived at the bottom of a muddy hill and had to walk it 4 times a day to take a kid to school)
At some point, some counselling was suggested by a visiting GP , but i didn't fancy it , so didn't attend , and thought no more of it ....... (but i see it does now say 'post natal depression' on my medical summary record.. incorrectly dated to the year before .... when i was pregnant ! ...)
There is a strong family history of thyroid dysfunction and/ or mental dysfunction after the 2nd child.
Oh dear me Tatty - you sure went through it as obviously you then went underactive for quite a while before it was picked up. I'm so wanting to figure out what has happened to me so that I can at least warn family members plus grandchildren as my life may have been slightly easier if I had of only known there was a problem running through the family instead of wondering if I was going mad at times. Probably like you, I feel as if I could write a book on all the things that have gone wrong with me and yet I'm still here to tell the tale so I'm very grateful for that and know there are always others that are worse off. I am so pleased that I have found this forum and it's really good to know that there are some extremely kind people out there even if we can't find doctors to help us. Take care!
I think what's most frustrating is that i had an utterly lovely and supportive midwife and GP for that pregnancy .. both of whom had also practiced in third world countries around the world , as well as in UK .. so neither of them was closed minded at all, and they certainly weren't uncaring or dismissive ... but still, no one thought to do a thyroid blood test during/after that pregnancy .. they just kept writing "Tired ,but well" on my maternity notes for 9 months. So in this instance i can't blame lazy rotten doctors .. they both went the extra mile (literally) and took a fair amount of risk on themselves professionally , to allow me to have a home birth miles from a road .. .... So , it must just be that due to 'thyroid' not being taught as a proper subject .... they really didn't know about hypothyroidism as a possible cause for the state of me ,and mistook it for the usual pregnant /post natal issues .. and i certainly didn't know it could be thyroid at that time.. i'm not even sure i knew what a thyroid was .
I just don't understand why routine testing of thyroid function isn't 'a thing' if someone has unusually severe fatigue during a pregnancy, or within the following year. or has anything that might look 'a bit like depression' in that same year., or unexplained weight loss etc
It's so incredibly common for thyroid problems to start then. and a £5 set of bloods would probably have shown it up .............. and it would save so many of us the trauma of thinking we were just failing / going nuts / both .
I totally agree with you and yes I did have a very supportive Health Visitor who came often knowing I had no family around and she was very encouraging but yes there have been lots of times when I thought I was going nuts. Even when I sat in my GP's office some 5 or 6 years later complaining of huge weight loss, anxiety, insomnia and terrible heat intolerance she wanted to palm me off with antidepressants then but I stood my ground and asked to be referred to a specialist. I actually thought she was taking the ..... when she wrote to the Infectious Diseases unit at the hospital and she must have felt a bit embarrassed when they wrote and told her that I had a goitre and had gone badly overactive. Yes, it all comes back to the same thing in that GP's and even doctors just don't know enough about the thyroid and it's absolutely criminal!
I had the same , even when i eventually went to the doctors, after getting very slowly worse every winter for 4 yrs and not knowing why.... it still took me over 6 months of monthly visits to different GP's each time (where depression /Seasonal Affective Disorder antidepressants were discussed) .... before thyroid bloods were even done, and that was only because i kept going back and kept declining antidepressants. To be fair to the last GP. he was a pretty decent doctor/human, and the only visible sign of hypothyroidism i had was a puffy face . which unless you knew me wasn't very obvious. I had put weight on , but due to how much i'd lost in the year after the birth, that wasn't obvious either. ( the fact that i was still wearing a hat and a body warmer and long johns and a coat indoors in June, was though !)
Once he'd finally started to consider "thyroid ?" he know enough to have a stab at testing the speed of return of my ankle reflexes.. which is what prompted him to order a TPOab , the result of which was so high it led to immediate Levo.
But.... if i hadn't kept going back for 6 months ?.. if i'd accepted the antidepressants ? ..... if i'd seen a different GP that day ,who hadn't met me years earlier and remembered 'who i was' when i was well ?
I used to think i'd been 'missed' for so long because i was never fat enough to make anybody think ?hypothyroid ... but since coming here i realise that if i had been fatter .. i'd have probably been told my weight was the cause of my problems.
and while i'm on the subject of lack of awareness..... why have i NEVER seen any information on a GP's notice board about thyroid conditions ?
It's not just the GP's who are unaware..... i had no idea that hypothyroidism was 'a thing'..... despite having an aunt on Levo who'd had a thyroidectomy shortly after a birth.. but she'd had a goitre and gone overactive. i had absolutely no idea that hypothyroidism could occur without a goitre, or without having the thyroid removed.
Where were all the pamphlets that i should have seen in passing when i was taking a kid to the Doc for a cough ?
And why are there still none now ?
So sorry I couldn't reply to you before as I was very poorly (nothing new these days). Even now I'm not sure whether I have been diagnosed correctly in the past and this was my last ditch attempt at trying to sort out all that has gone before as I seem to have been overactive, underactive and now overactive again and yet no antibodies to speak of - it's just one big flaming puzzle. Yes I did resort to antidepressants in the end but not because of depression but chronic anxiety and insomnia and with two young sons to care for and hubby abroad a lot and no family around whatsoever I had to do what was best for all three of us and I don't reget it for one moment. I have learnt so much and far too late but then the internet wasn't around years ago and I was reliant upon library books but I'm certain that has been the case for so many.
I'm feeling very emotional at the moment but want to take this opportunity of thanking you so much for writing and for all the lovely funny comments that you make here on the forum - it wasn't just Pennyannie you had in tears of laughter the other day but me as well. Good on You!
xx
I had severe tiredness during pregnancy, I felt about 100 yrs old and suffered postpartum psychosis after my first birth. They said if I got worse I'd have to go back to hospital ( a mental one I presumed). Somehow I pulled through, also suffering a post partum haemorrhage having a D&C operation under general anaesthetic days after the birth, (evacuation of womb contents by scraping) It was years later before I discovered I had Hashimotos and b12 problems. (Anaesthetic depletes B12) Why during all that wasn't I checked, the correct diagnosis given? Sorry I have no great advice except to say reading and this forum has been the life saver for thyroid and b12 problems. I self treat now.
I wish you good luck.😀
You are another member who' ve gone through an awful time with regard to your health.
In the past - before blood tests were introduced for diagnosing a dysfunctional thyroid gland, all doctors knew all symptoms and we were given a trial of NDT (natural dessicated thyroid hormones) and if we improved we were hypothyroid but our lives were saved due to NDTs - before NDTs were introduced we just died.
I hope you were tested for Pernicious Anaemia before being prescribed B12.
Thanks Shaws and Delgor .Not tested for b12 deficiency. I have only been taking large doses of b12 daily especially increasing when foggy minded or numbness in toes etc. as we know once we supplement I’d have to wait six months without any b12 for an accurate test. I couldn’t manage that long without taking b12. I’ve seen my results like enlarged MCH , MCHC for years on my tests I’ve paid for (medichecks). My Dad had Pernicious Anaemia, my brother has it …undiagnosed mixed in with M.S. very sad for him. Thanks.
So sorry Mary to hear what you've been through and yes it makes me very humble hearing some of the sad stories on here. This truly is a fantastic forum and has helped me greatly in learning more about the thyroid than any book that I've read and I feel very indebted to the wonderful people on here who give up their time so freely in order to help others. You take care now!
If you wish, Delgor, if not already a member of TUK you can become a member of Thyroiduk.org.uk who work behind the scenes, and meet with people who may help/assist to change attitudes towards the treatment/replacement hormones. The more members the stronger TUK becomes. They also have a Conference every few years in different parts of the country.
Yes I had a similar problem with diagnosis post partum. I only went to the GP because I'd been feeling so awful I got private bloods done and they highlighted my TSH levels being too high. Despite this and my long list of symptoms my GP said that my symptoms could also be depression and she'd like to try me on antidepressants first🤯. (I did push back and say I didnt know feeling cold, dry skin and weight gain were also symptoms of depression, and would the antidepressants help with the thyroid issue the blood test showed😂) . In the end I declined and self treat. I wonder how many women are in the same boat and go on feeling awful and wondering if they're going crazy!
I suspect there are quite a few who have had this and went on to develop hypothyroidism which was never picked up for years. I haven't fared as badly as some as I only went overactive for a while but it is sad that endo's and GP's don't get the necessary training in order to really help patients and I can't see that changing in my lifetime. I personally feel that a pamphlet should be given out to pregnant mothers explaining that whilst it is natural to have some baby blues soon after birth that it isn't natural to have a whole host of other symptoms. I have found out so much from being on this forum and hope it's the same for you!
😀
i agree , some information on post partum thyroiditis and autoimmune thyroid disease should be included in antenatal information packs . (and some mention of the less common possibility of post partum psychosis)
Hi there, this is exactly what happened to me after the birth of my first son but I still felt unwell after 7 months and had lost so much weight. I thought I was just getting used to looking after a baby. My husband actually made me an appointment with the GP and when my Dr saw me he took bloods. This was at 10am, he was knocking on our front door st 3pm, rushed in and gave me a prescription for all the meds to slow everything down. Unfortunately I then had partial thyroidectomy when my son was 15 months old. Had second son with no problems.
Oh Dear Me - it does very much seem to be the case that major hormone changes can bring thyroid problems to the fore. I expect most first time mothers are being told that it is normal to be tired and anxious and probably feel they are to blame in some way. Having said that, how many people even now are being made to feel they are hypochondriacs when they complain of not being well on thyroid medication and being told that they should as their results are within range. I have learnt so much from this amazing forum and although I don't have all the answers as yet, I at least now understand a lot more about the thyroid and it's associated problems which don't always get mentioned in books. Hope all goes well for you in the future!
👍
That is one of the biggest problems for people on the forum - if your bloods are in range (TSH) then all is well. I have been on Levo for over 30 years but knew nothing about my blood test results or management ( or lack of) by my GP. It was only when I discovered this forum that I started to discover and learn about the thyroid. I now request any test results and I don't accept any drops in medication without questions to the GP which they don't like at all. I think to be clued up is the biggest gift you can give yourself. Good health to you.
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