?'s about Hypothyroidism...

I had my first M/C 13 months ago and have had 2 since that. The last one being only a couple of days ago.. It's been 9 yrs since my last baby so I suppose that anything can happen within the body over that time.
I have previously asked my doctor about some symptoms that I think all lead to hyothyroidism and more to the point, I was worried about the time it was taking for me to conceive. He didn't really think it was time to be concerned just yet.
I am heading back next week and was just wondering how you get tested for it, how long it takes to get the result and also, what is the treatment for it.

Symtoms that I have are:-
1. Very rapid weight gain despite a healthy diet. I am talking 2kg some weeks. I am now to the point of being at least 15kg overweight and it isn't stopping.
2. Sweating profusely, even this past winter I have had puddles over my clothing when I was freezing.
3. A weird tight feeling in my throat.
4. My blood pressure is a little high upon a check by Dr last Friday.
5. Unable to conceive and when I do I m/c
6. Very irritable
7. My hair feels like it is all going to snap off despite expensive protein treatment.

I could go on some more, but I think that you get the picture.. so if anyone can tell me anything else on this condition I would really appreciate it..

Getting tested is a really simple blood test. The Dr will request a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone). If you indeed have hypothyroidism it will come back as very high and sometimes the Dr will then request a FT4 (free T4 or Thyroxine level) this will come back as very low if you have hypothyroidism. It basically means you aren't producing enough thyroxine so your body produces more of a particular hormone (TSH) to try and get the balance back in order. This doesn't work so your body just keeps producing more and more TSH and then you end up with a condition called hypothyroidism. It is relatively easily treatable but it all starts with a basic blood test. You can have the test done via your Dr through any local lab (Sullivan and Nicolaides for eg. in Brissy) and will have the results back the next day.

Good luck, just keep in mind there could be many other reasons for your particular group of symptoms so it's better to wait and see what the blood test shows.

I just had a BT, then when it should my thyroid was underactive I had an ultrasound of my neck to see if there was any underlying cause. It turned out there was no abnormality for me, it was underactive just because LOL! Now I'm on Oroxine tablets every day for the rest of my life. Apparently there are regular BTs as well to make sure the meds are working, but I haven't had one yet as I only found out about 2 months ago.

I just had my medication stabilised at 50mcgms thyroxine a day. A blood test found my free T4 was he lower end of normal and my TSH was skyhigh. My hypothyroidism is autoimmune - my body makes anti-thyroid antibodies which attack it and make it hard for it to work well. It's called Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.

Your symptoms sound like they could be hypothyroidism.

Mine were:

- extreme exhaustion
- cold all the time (even with the heating cranked up in summer!)
- brittle hair and hairloss and losing the outer 3rd of my eyebrows which got very thin
- terrible memory
- joint pain, especially stiff knuckles and wrists in the mornings on waking
- low milk supply

As others have said, it's just a blood test. Ask for your TSH and T4 to both be measured, as you CAN have hypothyroid symptoms when your T4 is within the normal range, if your body is having to make ALOT of TSH to keep it there. This is called subclinical hypothyroidism and often a very low dose of thyroxine can make a massive difference.

My thyroid was swollen (goiter) but towards the outside, not the inside, so it didn't interfere with swallowing etc. but i could see it! It went down on its own and is now relatively normal-sized (still a bit big on one side, but i can detect it where the GP can't, because i'm so familiar with my own throat, iykwim).

HTH

Bec

My daughter has just been diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease as well with 2 simple blood tests (if you can call taking blood from a 3 yr old easy :rolleyes:) She has the TSH and the T4. The TSH was high but the T4 was normal, so we are treating other symptoms first and retesting in a few months.

Thanks for the info girls, it's much appreciated.

Sarah - do you think that is why is has taken you so long to concieve?? Sorry if I ask anything too personal, just tell me to get stuffed LOL, have you had any m/c at all?

Christy - wow, what made you think that your DD had it?

Hoobley - Did you have it diagnosed before or after your m/c's and your pg?

I spoke with my mum today about it and she told me that her brother has a thyroid problem and he can't gain weight at all. I just have a gut feeling that I have hit the nail on the head now and wish I made my doctor listen to me months ago about my concerns and I might be carrying a healthy little bubba by now.

After my PG, but my GP thinks the reason i was chubby before then for years and possibly the MC's (though until you have more than 2 it's not investigated as a problem) was because it's been happening for years, and the reason i only gained 6kg during PG and it wasn't detected in my PG blood tests was because the natural steroids of pregnancy gave my thyroid a boost.

Bec

Hoobley - Gee, you are so lucky to have your gorgeous little girl now. I have only noticed the symptoms since my first mc at 15wks. I have googled a little more and have read that pg can bring on thyroid problems. Since taking your medication, have you found any significant changes in your weight?

I didn't think my DD had any issues with thyroid, we went to an allergist who ran a whole gammit of blood tests & he didn't even tell us he was testing for thyroid as well, but the results came back & I'm glad he did.

Your Dr should send you for a full blood count including TSH + T3 + T4's. If your results come back (usually within 3 days) and you need treatment its for life. Sadly its a one way trip. But you CAN live with it. Once your regulate your hormone replacement (example Thyroxine) you can feel almost normal. There is nothing else at this moment in treatment that can help with this condition - sorry. But in south africa they are trialing a new hormone that may be replaced annually but once again this needs funding and they dont have it.
Ive been stable now for 13 years (except for that yearly spike) but to hold my prg full term I need to double my thyroxine as soon as Im prg. This means overdosing my TSH levels to keep my T3 +T4 stable. It has horrible side effects like MAJOR memory loss even the occasional zombie like state etc. but its worth it. I have a wonderful 3yo and about to have another. Before conception do your research and see an Endo.
Good Luck
K

I am extremely lucky, and i feel it acutely. At the time of my miscarriages i didn't even think to look for this sort of thing, even though my sister had it, i thought it was nothing to do with me. Daft i know.

During PG i only gained 6kg (i was 101kg at term, i'm 181cm tall), after the birth i lost about 24kg in 4 months (unmedicated, breastfeeding). My thyroid, it seems, was normalised by pregnancy then went into overdrive after the birth (post partum hyperthyroiditis) then dropped back to very sluggish because my no-longer-pregnancy-supressed immune system attacked it. I quit BFing when DD was 7 months old and waited to see if my thyroid would recover. It didn't, but it DID improve a bit even without medication. I then gained about 3kg back, but by this time a) i had begun a low dose of thyroxine and b) i was in the middle of training for a half marathon and was running about 30-45kms a week. These things will obviously have helped contain any potential weight gain.

My sister also has Hashimoto's and is morbidly obese (she overeats, i'm not going to pretend otherwise, but though it's overeating that made her so overweight, the thyroid problem does make losing much harder and she's so big exercise is a problem for her, she's been medicated for 10 years or so), and the first thing she said when i told her what was wrong was "But you can't have it, you're not fat". I still (despite training) managed to gain those 3kg on the lower dose of thyroxine and it is only now, 3 months after beginning my higher dose, that i feel normal again and have dropped the 3kg. I still exercise a lot. I was running 70kms a week, then i had to stop after the half marathon due to an injury and switched to the pool, and was swimming about 7kms a week (over 3 60-minute sessions). This week i've begun running again and started up bodypump and to make room have dropped one of the 3 swims. So i now run 3 times (only 4k runs though while i regain my strength), swim (2k-2.5k a session) twice and do bodypump once a week. I think (i've not weighed myself but my flab seems looser) i'm slowly losing still. My BMI is about 24 just now.

I have always gained weight easily and i know now i will never be one of those "naturally thin" types, but through exercise i can see the benefits of this - i store energy well so i'm like the duracell bunny - never quit! I gain weight easily but this means gaining muscle mass is easier for me too, and extra muscle can help improve your metabolic rate. My GP said i will probably always need to exercise to control my weight to within the healthy BMI range, but that isn't a problem for me as i genuinely enjoy it and there are SO MANY things one can have a go at, until you find something you like.

I'm sorry for you Kaylene_01, that you've had problems with pregnancy. :( My GP has told me given my last pregnancy (where the natural pregnancy steroids inhibited my immune response and allowed my thyroid to function more normally) that he anticipates no problems for me now i'm medicated and though he'll be keeping a close eye on me when i try for #2 i shouldn't anticipate problems. So while hypothyroidism can be a problem for conception/PG, once you're treated, depending on WHY you have it, it needn't necessarily be a problem anymore.

Best of luck

Bx

Symtoms that I have are:-
1. Very rapid weight gain despite a healthy diet. I am talking 2kg some weeks. I am now to the point of being at least 15kg overweight and it isn't stopping.
2. Sweating profusely, even this past winter I have had puddles over my clothing when I was freezing.
3. A weird tight feeling in my throat.
4. My blood pressure is a little high upon a check by Dr last Friday.
5. Unable to conceive and when I do I m/c
6. Very irritable
7. My hair feels like it is all going to snap off despite expensive protein treatment.


I thought about you last night after I logged off and just had to add to your thread again. There are other reasons for these symptoms that haven’t been mentioned. Please don’t take this personally ok I’m just adding another suggestion that may help.
Lets say your thyroid tests come back normal (prey they do as being hypo stinks!) maybe look at depression, it affects your hormones exactly the same way and most times you don’t know you’re in it until it consumes you. :wall: Ive been there.
Good luck and big hugs
K

Hoobley - Thanks so much for taking the time to put your story down for me, I really appreciate it. 24kg in 4 months, that is amazing, you must have felt great. You are pretty lucky to have a great GP, mine is ok, but does seem a little blaze' at times.

Kaylene - Of course I won't take your post personally, I am up for any suggestions... I have had a bout of PND with my first bubs, but not the other two. Given that I have had a few mc's, my DP has depression, been through a divorce, had a heart attack at 27 and the 3 family members that I have are a bunch of idiots I really don't feel depressed. ROTFL... I supose I will know one way or another next week after some bloods.

LOL, i like the results, even though i have to workout so much to hang onto them but actually hyperthyroid is as little fun as hypothyroid! I felt out of control during that massive weightloss and my milk supply was one of the casualties of such a dramatic loss. I like to see cause and effect, so watching my body melt away was scary in a lot of ways. Also losing so fast, combined with the goiter in my throat, a lot of people kept asking if it was a tumour...not so great LOL.

You will know by next week and can begin to treat whatever this thing is. I was really upset when i was diagnosed hypothyroid. Having to take medication forever, having to have blood tests at least annually (once everything is stabilised), having to THINK about myself in those terms, with a life-long condition, all seemed so frightening.

BUT i am now on the right dosage and i feel 100 times better, yes, i have to pay attention to diet and exercise, but as a result i'm probably in better health than i have been in years and years. And the pills, well, i still can't think about taking pills everyday, so i think about taking one, today, and that's all.

Bec

Hoobley - How devastating, to lose your milk supply. The one thing that "most" women look forward to is breastfeeding. I love the way that you think - only about the tablet you have today. It is so ironic that it takes such a scare for us to become healthier.

I will keep you posted..

It wasn't ONLY the thyroid. It was a complicating factor in a difficult time. While i was hyper i did ok until 4 months PP, then my thyroid crashed almost overnight, right as i'd moved out from XP's flat into a place on my own (stressy break up when DD was 8-9 weeks old). So i was having to pump for when XP had DD in his care (which was plenty as we were luckily both very determined she should have a 2 parent family, even if it was in 2 locations) but i was so stressed i stopped being able to get let-down for the pump. In addition i kept giving XP 300ml of BM which he continuously "forgot" to refrigerate so it had to get dumped down the sink. Obviously we quickly ran out of EBM that way, and as my supply dininished, when she was 5 months he had to start using formula. Because she spent one overnight and 2 afternoons at his house i could usually send EBM for the afternoons as he wouldn't have time to forget and ruin them, but that meant she had FF once for 18 hours the not at all and, fearing belly aches, i began to supp with 1 FF/day and tried to pump that feed to build up the EBM supply again. Another 500mls of wasted oh-sorry-i-left-it-in-the-fridge too long EBM and i was ready to quit expressing - without let-down pumping was taking 45-70 minutes to get the feed out, and was making my nipples stretched and sore, and i just felt it was all for nothing if he couldn't even be bothered to care for it and feed her it. He preferred FF as it was easier for him (though he continued to beat me with the "you should be BFing her" stick). It was so unbeliveably stressful, i could cry just telling you about it. Eventually my milk supply dropped even more, and i gave her 2 FF's a day. Then my thyroid got worse. I could not get off the sofa anymore, but i managed to hang onto 2 or 3 small feeds for her a day. I was already running by then (to avoid having to medicate my threatening depression from the breakup) and when i got together withmy DP, who i'd known a long time, and who was and is my best friend, my saviour and my soul-mate, i went on the Mini-Pill (to avoid more babies, at that point i was planning on being sterilised so i never had to go through all this again). My let-down got even more sluggish, even with DD at the breast. One day my dad was visiting, DD was playing on her own on the floor, i was lying wiped out on the sofa and telling him i couldn't really go for the walk he was suggesting as i knew from experience that i'd not build up my next feed if i did anything. He looked at me and then at her and said "Becca, is this worth it, for 3 feeds a day? Is it worth it for her?" And i knew he was right, it was going to take things i couldn't get to fix everything the way i wanted it and i needed to accept things as they were and work something out. So i cut down even more until at 7 months i weaned her off the last feed to try to let my body recover. I was retested (all this was post diagnosis but pre-medication as i refused to take it at first) and my bloods were considerably better though still not normal (T4 fractionally lower, TSH substantially lower). So i began meds and here we are.

So it wasn't only the thyroid. But it's one of those things, they say "stress can affect your supply", "illness can affect your supply", "using FF can affect your supply", "hormonal contraception can affect your supply" and i KNEW all these things before any of this happened but it didn't mean i could avoid any of it. I'm glad of the 4 months i was able to feed her myself and the 7 months of BFing we had together, and i know when DP and i have kids a) it won't end up like it did when DD was born and b) i will have a good chance of being able to feed my babies for as long as i want to because i'm much better prepared and much healthier.

LOL, what a novel, sorry! It is ironic about the scare being the wake-up call, but then i guess a lot of people have a stroke or a heart attack before they see what they could be doing differently and this is FAR easier to treat and less dangerous.

I'll be looking out for your results.

Thinking of you.

Bx

Hoobley - you poor soul, what an absolutely exhausting ordeal you have been through. You sound so well educated on the subject and I so hope that when you have more babies things are easier for you. I just feel very let down by my body right now and want to find out why I have mc's and can't fall pg as easily as I did years ago... Thanks again for sharing all of this, I really appreciate it..

Just read your info/experience of post partum hyperthyroiditis Bec. Thanks for taking the time to share. I've just been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism.... doctor rang tonight concerned about my blood results. I hope it is just a case of extended PPH due to my extended BF.

Sorry for hijacking your thread Nic. How are you going darl ?