Complete thyroid newbie here so please bear with me!
Recently had my thyroid tested by my GP following 2 consecutive miscarriages.
It was well within range but still above the 2.5 or even 2 that my previous fertility clinic said was optimal for conception and keeping a pregnancy on track.
TSH 2.65
T4 12.7
Problem is I’m not with that clinic anymore and even though 2 GP’s and my current NHS IVF clinic have agreed it would be preferable for it to be under 2, no one will prescribe me any medication as it’s technically within range.
One GP said they’ve seen people reduce their TSH through diet and yoga - can anyone offer any thoughts on this? Am I better off paying to see a private endo or will they refuse the medication too?
We’ve had complete heart break from these 2 losses following years of fertility treatment and it’s beyond frustrating for 3 drs to essentially recommend something but be unwilling to prescribe it.
Sorry so long and thanks for any thoughts!
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Solly-44
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So sorry to hear about your miscarriages. It must be hard. But, there's no point in trying to reduce TSH by diet and yoga, unless it also raises your FT4. Because it's not the high TSH itself that causes problems. Your TSH is too high because your FT4 is too low, and it's your T4 that the baby needs, not your TSH.
TSH - Thyroid Stimulating Hormone - is just and indicator of hypothyroidism, not the cause. TSH rises when T4 and T3 are too low, and stimulates the thyroid to make more. Then, it drops when they rise. It does not have any direct bearing on fertility or anything else.
Knowing that you are trying to conceive, your GP should have prescribed levo, but not all GPs know anything about thyroid. Seeing a private endo might help, but make sure your chosen endo knows what he's doing first - ask for feedback on here.
Thank you! Reading everyone’s replies has confirmed how little I know about this area and how complicated it all is (even to GP’s it seems!). I think a private endo may be my way forward, I’ll likely be back for recommendations 😀
GPs know nothing much about thyroid - especially when it comes to conceiving and pregnancy.
To help you find a private endo, ask for recommendations on here from people who have already been through this. Start a new thread asking for responses by PM;
Thanks so much - lots to digest! I’m with a very small practice and have been turned down by both doctors so unfortunately looks like I’ll be going private. Can’t afford it really and very frustrating but I don’t want to end up wishing I had if I were to have another miscarriage.
No my tests were done last thing, around 5.30pm as my dr didn’t mention they were time specific 😫. I did have the other tests you’ve mentioned but didn’t even get the results - they just said they’re all within range so didn’t want to go through them. I will contact the surgery again and ask for a printout.
Re my diet I’m vegetarian, I eat pretty well, always cook from scratch, loads of fruit and veg and try to get enough protein. No intolerances. Probably overdo the sugar and carbs considering I have PCOS though if I’m being honest!
I do take B12 but just in a multivit so not a particularly high dose.
My ferritin when tested (definitely not yearly but maybe 3 times over the last 7 years) is always lower end of normal range - say 19 with a 13-120 range. I take ferrous fumarate pills as recommended by a dermatologist following an episode of severe hair loss a couple of years ago but it’s always remained low.
Will post back with the rest of my test results thanks.
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.
Never supplement iron without doing full iron panel test for anaemia first and retest 3-4 times a year if self supplementing. It’s possible to have low ferritin but high iron
There was a time, really quite recently, when the NICE guidelines suggested that TSH be under 2.5 before attempting to conceive. But obviously treating all those women with a TSH above that level cost too much because they removed it a couple of years ago.
I think it is more important that you find out the values of your Free T4 and Free T3 because they are the actual thyroid hormones. TSH is produced by the pituitary.
And getting your nutrients optimised will help a lot too.
Pregnancy is irrelevant to me (I'm too old) but this is what happened to my Free T4 and Free T3 when I improved my basic nutrients - Ferritin (iron stores), Serum Iron, vitamin B12, folate, vitamin D :
Thank you! The point about Nice guidelines could be really helpful in me going back to my GP to push for more help. Really useful to know.
Also thanks for the link to previous post - my diet is carb heavy and I’ve definitely seen improvements in my overall well-being before when upping protein/fat so I need to get back to that.
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