Hypoactive Thyroid - Tsh Pre-pregnancy?

Hi Darklady

your level of tsh, which you said has been stabilized at 4.27 is perfectly normal to maintain pregnancy

in fact, the healthy level of tsh has quiet a range.
And the normal range is between 0.35 to 5.5


so don't worry, your level is fine

Now, it sounds like in your situation, depending on your diet, there some adjustments that would be beneficial to make.....

Dear Darklady,

I hope you no longer need this info, but maybe it will help someone else.

The information posted by panther12 (above) is WRONG and OUTDATED - please be aware of the NEW PHYSICIAN GUIDELINES of 0.3 to 3.0 being "normal". Keep in mind that even this is considered to be conservative by many on the cutting edge of thyroid disease, and many people have thyroid problems even when testing within this range. There are many reasons for this. I am a perfect example of being a hypothyroid at TSH of 1.17.

I am fortunate my doctor treats me by my symptoms and not a number on a lab test. I miscarried twins at TSH of 1.19, and I feel absolutely terrible at a TSH of 1.19, "normal" according to some but NOT for me. After my miscarriage, I was physically unable to conceive at 1.17 TSH! I feel best and am healthiest when I'm closer to zero. It's not like that for everyone, but that's how it is for me. That's why my doc treats me based on my symptoms using labs as a guideline.

In case you are wondering, I take Armour and Synthroid, both at the lowest doses once a day in the evening and I feel great! Studies show that many if not most patients do best on combination treatment, but it depends on exactly what is going on with your thyroid (T3 vs T4 levels) to figure out the best treatment for you. It's not rocket science. You can easily educate yourself by researching these things on the web.

We are working on our family now with our RE and there is no doubt that I will concieve easily within a short period of time.

One place you can read about this change in the thyroid range is an article by Mary Shomon which can be found on the web, she writes: "The new guidelines, however, the range for acceptable thyroid function, and thyroid treatment should be considered for patients who test between the target TSH levels of 0.3 to 3.0, a far narrower range." The article can be found at

http://thyroid.about.com/cs/testsforthyroi d/a/labs2003.htm

Mary Shomon is a thyroid patient who suffered for years before she found proper treatment. She too suffered with infertility. She now devotes her life to educating the public and providing information to doctors on thyroid disease. She is brilliant and probably the most knowledgeable non-physician in the USA when it comes to the thyroid. Mary and the information she has provided on the web has literally saved my life. I couldn't possibly give you all the info you should know here, so go a Google search on "mary shomon" + "thyroid" and look it up for yourself.

I can tell you I've done extensive reading on the subject of ideal TSH levels for fertility/pregnancy, and that while some may be able to get pregnant and maintain it at 4.27 TSH, others may not. Also, when pregnant, your body supplies thyroid hormone to the baby which can leave you with a deficit or greater deficit, if you have started out with near low levels or low levels of the hormone yourself. In my case, this is what led to the miscarriage.

You must educate yourself and find a doctor who will actually listen to you and work with you on this subject. These docs are not easy to find but Mary has a list of some of these docs, from all over the country. Info from patients like us. I found my doc there and he saved my life.

Best of luck to you and anyone else reading this.

LoveHealth

There could be other reasons for not concieving or infertility/fertility problems, sometimes they are similar to hypothyroid symptoms, such as low ferritin aka low iron. I had this too, which has now been easily corrected with supplements. Keep in mind you can't take the supplements when you take the thyroid meds because they'll block the absorption. I wanted to mention it because many people I talk to seem to have both hypo and low ferritin levels. The only way to know is by doing a blood test. Problem is, these easy low ferritin tests are hardly performed these days. Many docs were never really trained on these things much, and don't seem to test for them. Most docs focus most of their attention on aches, pains and common plagues of modern society such as diabetes and blood pressure. While this is important and good, for someone in our position, with a thyroid problem and fertility challenges, I urge you to find a good doc that you like and are comfortable with, who is really knowledgeable about these things and who will work with you.

Best of luck.

Ideal THS levels for conception should be between 1.0 & 2.0
I agree with above poster, Mary Shoman is great. If it was not for her sharing her knowledge, I would still be in the dark about my THS reading of 7.9. Initualy it was my Clinic in Czech Rep where i was to have DEIVF treatment who alerted me that this level was decremental to pregnancy, I googled subject found Mary Shoman and was shocked at what i found. I found the reason I had had 5 miscarriages, my difficulty conceiving and the children managed to of carried to term, why one a son had probs with Dyspraxia/fine motor skills affected. I now also suspect my daughter who is o.k but cannot spell age 14 ,might have something to do with this as well
I live in UK where old levels are still used and Hypoth is not treated till levels reach 9/10. I suspect this is because a patient on Meds to treat Thyroid get all her meds free on our NHS, not just for thyroid probs, so it would cost NHS millions �£.
I had to fight with my GP to get treated with meds before going ahead with my DEIVF treatment, dispite my gathering all the info off Mary Shoman and showing him the email from my CZ clinic. After holding him Hostage(Joke) I did get the meds but was only on them about 6 weeks begore getting my +ve HPT. I had a blood test due for THS the day of my test date and it came back at 5.5 still to high, but a Consoltant from HSP actually rang my GP to tell him to up my meds immeadiately. Is this not proof that it is known about the problems Thyroid can cause.
My daughter was born healthy and well and walked at 14mths, But she did bum shuffle like her brother who walked at 18mths, she is showing slight probs, at 20mths trips over the pattern on a carpet. I hope its just her age and she will grow out of it. She is also left handed like her affected brother whom looks aucward with it, all my other 6 children are right handed like myself & husband.
Regards
Karen

hi very informative well heres my story im 32 two previous miscarriages before my daughter who is 4 now. when i got preganant with daughter i found out i had low progestone i was prescribed prometrum 100mg 2 times a day at that time i was not hypothyroid i maintained a healthy full term preganant with advice of bed rest. but its been 2 years i am hypothyroid i wasnt taking my med regularly but few months before my conception i took it regular low dose of synthyroid at 75 mg but when they tested me when i was preganant at 4 to 5 weeks it was 8.63 so i was put on an increase of thyroid meds at 1 and last test came to 3.63 along with that problem i was taking prometrium and folic acid and prenatal vitamins but unfortunately i miscarried at 9 weeks but found out even though i was bleeding first ultrasound baby was fine but showed 7 weeks but my bleeding got heavy and i lost the baby so i need any help and advice thanks

I think you should read this link. It sounds like you should have a level that is lower.

http://www.thyroid.org/professionals/publi cations/clinthy/volume22/issue7/clinthy_v2 27_6_8.pdf