Five weeks pregnant with Hashimotos and can’t get a doctors appointment until the 31st of October

[MaxSolway]

Hi all,

i haven’t posted in a while as my symptoms thankfully drastically improved after some diet and lifestyle changes and a slight in increase in my levo dose.

My reason for posting is I just this week found out I was pregnant (I think I am roughly five weeks) and even though I explained to my doctor I have Hashimoto’s they have not booked me an appointment for a consultation until the end of this month. I am slightly worried, as that will just be a consultation and I imagine it will be another week at least until blood tests and results, by then I will be 8 weeks pregnant and am worried that I really should have had an increase in my levo dose by then.

Has anyone else been through a similar situation? I have read that the first 12 weeks are the most important to get your levels right to carry full to term and have a healthy baby…and I am just worried something as basic as a blood test and dose increase could help decrease the risk of any problems, but I won’t get either of these things for several weeks.

[Hj101]

Congratulations! NHS guidelines do state that levo should be increased as soon as you find out you are pregnant, however if your levels were good pre-conception you might find that this isn’t too urgent. Could you see if your GP will issue an extra prescription without seeing you? If you Google nhs guidelines for thyroid management in pregnancy you should find plenty of examples of local guidelines that you could take along to show a receptionist and insist on a prescription?

[MaxSolway in reply to Hj101]

Thank you, I’m very excited but also quite nervous. I will ask my GP for another prescription of levo, they’re usually quite good at giving me a script without seeing me

[SlowDragon Administrator]

congratulations

Exactly what were most recent thyroid results?

Insist on blood test next week, ideally early morning. Last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

TSH, Ft4 and Ft3….plus vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 if not been tested recently

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Previous post

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Was dose levothyroxine increased to 75mcg daily 3 months ago

Have you had further increase in dose since this?

Did you get vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 tested 3 months ago

GP should also do coeliac blood test if you’re not already on strictly gluten free diet

.

Pregnancy guidelines 

thyroiduk.org/having-a-baby-2/

gp-update.co.uk/files/docs/...

See pages 7&8

btf-thyroid.org/Handlers/Do...

Also here - dose increase in levothyroxine as soon as pregnancy test confirms conception 

cuh.nhs.uk/patient-informat...

thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

Low ferritin, low thyroid levels and miscarriage 

preventmiscarriage.com/iron...

Low iron and hypothyroid 

endocrineweb.com/news/thyro...

[MaxSolway in reply to SlowDragon]

Thank you Slow Dragon, and thank you for your kind wishes.

I have been taking a pregnacare pill every day which is a good multivitamin with most of the stuff I would usually take.

My last test results taken a few months ago were:

TSH: 1.20 mU/L (normal 0.30-4.20)

T4: 12.0-22.0

All my vitamin levels were okay apart from iron, I have been anaemic for many years and intermittently take supplements to get my levels up (don’t like taking them all the time as they make me so constipated)

I am still on 75mcg and read online the other day that pregnant woman should increase their dose by 30% so doubled my dose two days a week.

My doctor seems very nonchalant about it and says I will be fine till I see him in two weeks. The same doctor that didn’t get think levothyroxine can give you headaches 🙄

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to MaxSolway]

You missed the Ft4 result…..just have the range there

[MaxSolway in reply to SlowDragon]

Ooops! Sorry, the result was 14.0 pmol/L

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to MaxSolway]

FT4: 14 pmol/l (Range 12 - 22)

Only 20.00% through range…..so you were likely in need of dose increase in levothyroxine after this result