Community post

Well, good to know that you don't HAVE to have normal iron levels to conceive! Will wait to hear what my RE has to say.

Hi, ladies!! You are all so busy I can't possibly reply to everything.

Essemkay, I will say I've only taken femara and love it.
I do tend to have a messier, darker cm while on it. This month I'm not on anything and its clear and simple. But love that there's no side effects like chlomid.

This TX girl is in Boston for a few days and loving it! Hoping my opportunity to conceive worked last week because I seriously plan to stop drinking in the next two weeks!! Wish me some Irish luck!!

NorthernBabyDream once you do get pregnant the baby will steal all the iron in your body, so it is a good idea to build your iron up if you can.

I was shocked when I became low in iron during my pregnancy because mine is just slightly better than normal . I ended up taking extra during and after

Thanks Opal. I'll let you all know what the RE says. I can't supplement any more than I am without doing iron IV treatments, and I don't think it's lack of iron that's causing it anyhow - it's something to do with how my body is processing it.

Opal- thanks for that! I had no idea... I should probably get them to check my iron soon then. I know that my folic acid which is prescription contains a lot of iron but don't know how much exactly.

Wishing you luck Red!!!

My OB said nearly every woman needs supplemental iron during pregnancy since you have to make and maintain half again as much blood. They had me on so much - unfun consequences! Blech!

CD10, the EWCM onslaught continues. I think I need a bigger boat!

essemkay - That is hysterical! You totally made me snort water out of my nose.

Miracle, Can you direct me to the websites or google search terms you are seeing about needing your TSH level to be between 1 and 2? I've done some googling, but have only seen papers suggesting that below 4.5 is normal. This is also the opinion of my RE, but I'd really be interested to read other opinions and possible share newer research with my RE if it supports the 1-2 regime. Thanks!! Really appreciate your bringing this to our attention as my TSH level was 2.86 last year. I'll have it retested again this week.

TXKadams- there is a lot of controversy on this matter. I know though that within 3 months of synthroid my hormone levels got a lot better than what they were. (my FSH and E2 from being too high miraculously fixed the 3rd month (the month I got pregnant). It could also be each woman is different... Hope this helps!!!

Here are a few links on what other forums are saying about this it's quite interesting to read other people's experiences:

(just tried to copy some links but wouldn't let me for some reason... I'll copy and paste a few forum discussions...)

Here's one to start off:

WHAT WORKED FOR THIS HYPOTHYROID MOM

1. Get Thyroid Testing Prior To Trying To Conceive

I had the great fortune of coming across a book by best-selling author and thyroid patient advocate Mary Shomon called â??Living Well With Hypothyroidism: What Your Doctor Doesnâ??t Tell You..That You Need To Knowâ??. I loved the book so much I read it in a few days. I realized for the first time in reading Maryâ??s book that my doctors had no clue about hypothyroidism. I then read her book â??The Thyroid Hormone Breakthroughâ?? that helped me understand why I had miscarried due to my underactive thyroid, and how to make sure it didnâ??t happen again.

Consultation services with Mary changed my life. Using her United States and International Thyroid Top Doctors Directory, I found the thyroid doctor of my dreams.

My doctor did extensive laboratory testing including TSH, Free T4, Free T3, and thyroid antibodies. Her goal was to get my TSH in the range of 1.0-2.0 mIU/L pre-conception. This is in keeping with the Guidelines of the American Thyroid Association for the Diagnosis and Management of Thyroid Disease During Pregnancy and Postpartum:1

Here's another one:

1. First, be sure you have a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) test, along with the full panel of thyroid levels, including Free Thyroxine (Free T4).

TSH level is a key issue. You may have had a TSH thyroid test already run and been told that you're "normal." Don't accept "normal." Insist on getting the exact number, and the normal range for your lab. Labs in North American typically use a "normal" range of somewhere around 0.5 to 5.5 TSH (with over 5.5 being considered hypothyroid, or underactive, and under .5 being hyperthyroid, or overactive.). Note, however, that there is an ongoing controversy among endocrinologists, and growing numbers of experts believe that the normal range needs to be revised, to 0.3 to 3.0.

My endocrinologist at the time (a 40-something woman who had more than 15 years treating women with thyroid problems and thyroid-related infertility) believed FIRMLY that most women do not normalize unless TSH is between 1 and 2 (considered low by some doctors) and that a woman with evidence of thyroid disease can't get and/or maintain a pregnancy at a TSH higher than 1-2. (Note: I didn't get pregnant at 4, a level considered totally NORMAL, but got pregnant quickly at a TSH of 1.2 and had my first baby in December of 1997.)

So you might want to find out what your TSH level was, and if it's "high-normal" and your doctor is not willing to treat you, I'd advise finding an endocrinologist who has a good success rate working with thyroid-related infertility.