Community post

Hi. I just felt the need to reply to this post of yours. I don't have a thyroid condition. However a good friend of mine does. She had a lot of issues with her weight and her thyroid condition was overlooked for years. She finally got to the bottom of her problem, and then her and her husband decided they were going to ttc. They knew it may be difficult due to her thyroid condition. So, she began exercising and eating healthy-within her first 2 month s of trying, she conceived.
So, I just wanted you to keep your hopes high, and don't lose the faith. It'll happen for you girl! No tsh level is going to stop you from having success with your #2! xoxo

Hi,

I have a thyroid condition as well, however it seems to be well regulated. I am currently trying to conceive baby number#2. Baby #1 took 3 and 1/2 years so I hope we can get our BFP a little faster this time.

Don't give up!

So glad to find other's in my same situation. Here is my story.....

5 years ago, I noticed my neck seemed bigger. A professor of mine had a lump removed from his thyroid and for some reason it made me think something was wrong with my thyroid but I had no idea and didn't even know what the thyroid did. Summer of 2008 I started having heart palpitations and panic attacks, along with my first bouts of acid reflux. When I saw my doctor she said maybe my thyroid was just bigger b/c that's how mine was and she did a work up on my heart and diagnosed me with anxiety and started me on Lexapro. At a visit a year later she thought it was a little weird my thyroid was larger and I thought she said she was going to test it. My next visit my bloodwork came back normal, which I assumed meant my thyroid test. I thought my thyroid was fine until this year. I started ttc in Aug 2011 and by Sept I met with a new primary care doctor, she referred my to an OB/GYN and they both said my thyroid was enlarged and it was not normal. Come to find out that my original doctor never ran any thyroid tests and my grandfather was hypothyroid. My OB/GYN did an ultrasound and referred my to an endocrinologist b/c my thyroid was enlarged and I was diagnosed with a goiter. I saw the endo in Dec 12 and after blood tests, diagnosed me with Hashimoto's and prolactemia (high prolactin levels). My thyroid peroxidase antibodies came back at 291. My other antibody test was normal.

My first TSH came back at 4.07, which although in the normal range is too high for ttc. We want to get me between 1-2 but as close to 1. I was started on .25 mcg of Levothroid in Dec. My 2nd TSH was 3.06 and my third from two weeks ago was 3.23. My prolactin levels have been 21.8, 24.3 and 21.1. I am now on .50 or maybe 50 mg, not sure which of Levothroid and 2.5 mg of Bromocriptine for my prolactin. Prolactin really can mess with your fertility yet I appear
to ovulate and my periods are normal each month.

Sorry to have written a book, LOL, but I wanted to give my full background. My endocrinologist does not think its my thyroid giving my problems but the prolactin level. He thinks it will work to bring it down and then I will get pregnant. I go back for follow-up tests in April.

Anyway, I am so frustrated and angry that my thyroid problem wasn't diagnosed 5 years ago but oh well. I wonder if it really is my slightly high prolactin level or something else. My DH does have slight motility issues but nothing that should keep us from having kids (IUI will be considered later this year).

AF came this past weekend and I am now CD 5 and AF is actually back to normal, the past two cycles it was very heavy.

I also have no one to really talk to about this and would love to have support from someone else that can relate.

Hi asuperfreak & pbc910!! Thank you for sharing your story.
A little background on myself: I'm 28 and my DH is 33 and we are TTC #2. Baby #1 is when I found out that I had hoshimoto's disease (2009) and after 1 month of being on medical and 1 month of being off of birth control I got pregnant instantly!! This time is definitely not so easy. I even am healthier and thinner this time around. I'm 5'8 and 126 lbs so my weight is not the issue.

It is soo nice to know that there are other woman out there struggling with their thyroid. I just went back to the doctor on February 14th and she sent me to get my blood drawn on the 19th which was 6 weeks from the last time my blood was drawn and my TSH was at 9.73. I never ended up getting AF so I was anxious for my follow up appointment with my doctor. I saw her on Friday last week and I was 5 days late for AF at that time and she said my TSH levels had gone from 9.73 all the way down to 0.32 which is now in the hyperthyroid!! ugh I'm so frustrated. She said that my gyno put me on way too much medication and basically overdosed me into hyperthyroidism which is why AF was so late. (I had been taking 75 mcg of levothyroxine for the past 3 years and she bumped me to 112 mcg after the 9.73 TSH levels)

Now I have been prescribed 100 mcg of the brand name Lyvolthyroxl which I haven't filled yet due to insurance craziness. She gave me samples of the name brand of Synthroid so I'm on that. I kind of played doctor with my self and didn't take any medication on Saturday and Sunday and started taking my new medication on Monday and BAM!!! AF showed up on Monday night. I somehow knew that if i didnt take the medication that maybe the TSH level would go up just that tiny bit to put me back in the "normal" range. Now I hope today on CD 3 that my levels are back in the normal range so that we can really try this month.

Today I sit here and wonder if all these doctor visits are enough and hopefully I can do it this month for a December baby.

It sounds like we are cycle buddies too which is great!!! Let's keep in touch throughout our cycles and maybe the support will be the trick!! :)

Btw, I am 29, DH 33, trying for our first, his 4th! I am overweight but my other hormonal levels are just fine. My doctor, when explaining what is going on with my thyroid, said that its a process to figure out the right dose of thyroid meds b/c too much you go hyper, too little you go hypo. I'm hoping my new dosage works for me.

I don't know a lot about this "disease" but I have been doing research. I came across an interesting blog where this woman got all her thyroid levels in the normal range just by supplements, selenium, zinc and copper to be exact. Selenium is something you'll hear a lot about for Hashimoto's patients b/c it helps lower antibodies. I ordered some from Amazon and am going to try them. I also ordered like 3 books too. Information overload! The good news is that even though this sucks, its very treatable!!!!

I have read tons of success stories by women getting their tsh levels lowered so I hope it works for us.

Any tricks or anything else you are trying this cycle?

I'm really not trying anything new this cycle. Although I did buy a basal thermometer and I might give that a try. Not sure what good it really does though when you use OPK's. I did give up on buying the digital OPK's because they were getting too expensive but i'm using the cheap internet ones. Along with my new medication dose and I'm back to taking prenatals again I'm hoping this is the month!!!

My gyno said I could come back at the end of this cycle and she would put me on Clomid if I wanted to try that, I'm a bit nervous about doing that with this disease, i'll do some research on that first before I do that. Good luck to you and keep in touch!

How goes it? Did you ever found anything out about clomid with thyroid issues? I doubt it would be an issue as Clomid helps stimulate ovulation. My drs have never mentioned it. I think they assume once my prolactin level is down I will get pregnant. I hope so.

Nothing new for me. Taking my meds and not having any side effects, knock on wood! I hope the bromocriptine works and lowers my prolactin! I've also started taking selenium to help with my antibodies.

Hey there! I'm Hypothyroid, diagnosed for 4 years, only been TTC for two cycles, so I'm still new to some of this.

I found out a week before my wedding. I had lost my voice and gone to the doc to get checked out. He asked if my neck had always been that big! Kinda hurt my feelings but then I started looking at pictures and I could see where my thyroid was enlarged. Its the only thing I really hate about my wedding photos, and no one even notices usually!

Any way, now I'm all regulated, which is great for TTC (my body is 'normal' now). I've done some research into how Hypo affects TTC. Pretty much I've found that as long as you take your replacement therapy (levothyroxin for me) you'll be ok. Just make sure you are proactive in your treatment: do your research, talk with your doctor.

Baby dust to you all!

Good Morning Ladies,
I've been kind of MIA lately, keeping myself busy with projects around the house. I'm on CD 18 today and I was getting nervous because I wasn't getting a positive OPK this month but I finally got the little smiley face last night which was a huge sigh of relief. As for the Clomid situation I'm going into the gyno after this cycle is over and if we are not successful this month I will probably try the clomid to see if we could try that. I've done some research and this condition can cause anovulation and possible the clomid could help. Who knows at this point, I'm so overwhelmed with all the information out there. I'm hoping today is my ovulation day since I got the positive OPK last night. I tested this morning and it was still positive so we shall see.

Just checking in to see how everyone is...

Manda_Mandy - thats great that your thyroid is now regulated, thats an important step in being able to conceive!

sugah0927 - I am waiting until my bloodwork next month to take any next steps. I've been on an increased dose of levothyyroxine and bromocriptine for my prolactin levels since Feb 19. I dont know any difference but I wasn't have any thyroid symptoms either. I seem to be tolerating both meds very well. I hope they have lowered my levels. I am 8dpo and I already know I am not pregnant based on my very intense pre menstrual cramping (which is the biggest sign of AF I get every month). I am ok with this since I wasn't really trying. But it's disappointing. I'm going to be setting up an appt for further testing with my ob/gyn next month.