Perhaps i was, but don't honestly know . I was only diagnosed autoimmune hypo 4/5 yrs after this pregnancy, due to the lack of anybody thinking to do a thyroid blood test any earlier, But with hindsight there were clues:
I'd felt so utterly dreadful during that pregnancy, right from the very early weeks ... you need to be able to increase T4 levels in the first few weeks... perhaps i couldn't ? and i wonder if maybe that's why i felt so awful ?
Then i felt absolutely great from a couple of weeks before the birth to about 5 months after, when I suddenly lost LOADS of weight despite eating shed loads of mars bars and 2 dinners and everybody said i was a bit too energetic and volatile .
Then descended into debilitating hypo symptoms over 4 years .... and THEN somebody tested my blood... Doh!
I've said it before and i'll say it again ~
Why OH Why isn't a Thyroid blood test part of ROUTINE ante-natal and post-natal testing for mothers ? .. at least for the ones who repeatedly report extreme exhaustion .
"oh well, you're pregnant . what do you expect ?"
.... I expect Doctors (and health visitors and midwives) to know that thyroid conditions often show up as a direct result of pregnancy .. i mean it's not exactly 'Zebra' territory is it ... being female , being pregnant , developing autoimmune hypothyroidism....
I doubt they would have been taught about any symptoms of a dysfunctional thyroid gland when training to become doctors,
I wasn't pregnant but none of any doctor I consulted thought the patient could have hypothyroidism. Even at the highest point of my TSH - no blood tests had ever been taken - which was 100 I was told I had no health conditions that was causing me to feel unwell. I had even undergone anaesthetic to remove a 'web - whatever that is - no wonder doctor didn't come to see me after the op as nothing was removed as there was no 'web' it was probably an enlarged thyroid gland.
I felt fantastic during my pregnancies a huge uplift- a private doctor years later said this was due to the counteractive effects of increased progesterone - then crashed massively after giving birth each time.....was at one point after my second birth convinced my son was purposefully crying to manipulate me. I was almost having psychosis I think.
Ended up taking him to my next door neighbour in the middle of the night crying and begging her to take him, whilst gibbering some incoherent nonsense about him trying to 'get me' She took him without question. Thank god she was a retired nurse and didn't phone social services. Instead she brought him back after 6 hours and said I was being a silly moo. Made me a cup of tea. I had got some sleep. I literally handed my baby over to a neighbour and fell asleep on the sofa. She bought me some iron tablets and malt formula and made me take them. That was key looking back.
I later went to the doctor and told her I knew all new mums got tired, but something else was going on, I could barely think and had even forgotten a full bag of food shopping. Just paid at the till and left it all there in the trolley and I had had feelings of intense 'off feeling' before pregnancy and periods of forgetfulness (which I had gone to her about previously) I also had such dry skin on the back of my knees it was cracked a bleeding something I had never had before. She just did a test for anemia which came back positive. But announced 'well your iron has been lower before, you've been anaemic for years' Well considering I was early twenties that meant I had been anaemic in my teens but no one had given me anything
After I went back in 6 months and my blood count levels were better, but I still felt rough, she did a thyroid panel and said it was fine.
For years afterwards I was complainibg about not sleeping, dizzy spells etc.
I can see now that I was likely subclinical or full hypo but just outside the range and I later learned that when my TSH had been as high as 11 it was ignored by my GP. Only when it reached significantly above 10 was I considered needing treatment for hypothyroidism. And I was eventually identified and treated by the locum not any of my main GPs.
I actually feel a lot women sufffering oost partum psychosis are unidentified hypothroid and a lot of complaints about disturbed sleep, memory loss, anxiety etc are also dismissed 'baby blues' when they ought to be investigated and hypo/hyoerthyroidism ruled out. It absolutely ought to be part of pre/post pregnancy care.
That said I can imagine the errors giving pregnant women measly amounts of T4 etc and making them worse. The expertise would have to improve.
yes i agree that a lot of that 'nearly' psychosis we hear of could be unrecognised thyroid issues. My grannie was found trying to gas herself and her (2nd) baby in the oven.. they committed her for 5 yrs and gave her electric shock therapy. (1933) but she got out later, and went on to be a headmistress and get a degree from Oxford. (then she went wrong again age 80, found burning her clothes inside the house and got committed again, for some more electricity. She wasn't really 'here' after that. I don't know if she was ever hypo , if anything she looked more 'hyper' from what i remember.
Her daughter (the one rescued from the oven) got Graves . 2nd pregnancies do seem to be a problem in my family. I went wrong in my 2nd .
Between you and me we could be great at having babies . you enjoy the pregnant bit and then i'll happily give birth to it.
I felt great giving birth both times and for a full 3 weeks afterwards, don't need no drugs and can do it in 2 hrs flat and walk up a big hill 3 hrs later to show the baby off to mates who lived at the top.... whatever concoction of natural drugs my body makes when giving birth , i wish i could have them all the time. But pregnancy . nah ... i remember saying i would rather die than ever be pregnant again, and i really meant it.
I was trained as an NNEB (nursery nurse) ,, and i don't remember ever being taught anything about thyroid issues for mother or baby other than ?the heel prick test for newborns.
This lack of training around thyroid /maternity issues really does need addressing.
Poor grannie! giving people a dose of electricity sounds so draconian and painful. But it was probably the default position then. Interesting that it clearly worked though. Would she have even been given a thyroid panel by a doctor or consultant.
Do they test people who arrive in A&E or who are sectioned for mental illness for thyroid problems today? They ought to.
Between you and me we could be great at having babies . you enjoy the pregnant bit and then i'll happily give birth to it.
Ha! I'd say deal and you're on, except that I suspect my baby carrying days are over, I still have regular periods surprisingly, as my mother went into menopause in her early 40s and my doctor told me that meant I likely would too. But in any case I suspect I'm not always producing the precious egg, and frankly these days I prefer Easters!
Truth is my thyroid levels are too dicey and up and down for me to carry any offspring. In the words of Tolkien: I diminish and go into the west. Or in my case my sofa or bed for a rest😄
It's amazing and somewhat mysterious that you can push out a child and then feel energised to that degree considering all the blood loss etc. So you're one of those mothers who are beaming and on their feet making dinner 2 minutes post birth? Is it natural endorphins??
Yes it's truly strange that thyroid disorders aren't considered in routine pregnancy care. They check for gestational diabetes, urine infections, anaemia, and a host of other things... then as you say heel prick for baby....why not thyroid?
Couldn’t agree more tattybogle! I had all of that with my last pregnancy, apart from the weight loss. But then you get past your productive years and then the answer becomes “but you’ve never been this age before…”Can’t bloody win, whatever… 🙄
My first born (my daughter) was a breech birth in 1973. We were both in intensive care for a week. No caesarean offered in those days. I lost a lot of blood and it took me months to recover. Had a dreadful doctor and a room full of students watching. Went on to have two more babies, both boys with normal deliveries. My daughter’s first born son was also breech so born by caesarian section. I think she may be undiagnosed hypo.
Interesting! I was breech (had my mum in labour for 25 hours, maybe that's why we don't get along!) and she was diagnosed with hypothyroidism about 10 years later.
I was a breach birth 75 years ago and inherited hypothyroidism from my mother who became hypo later in life, not sure when but I was in my late 50s when I got it.
My 4th Child was breach. I have suspected a change in my health since his birth, depression feeling cold at work I kept my coat on whilst others opened windows very interesting.
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