[moonmama03]

Hello ladies,

I need some thoughts and advice. I have treated Hypothyroidsim. Im pregnant, I found out I was pregnant at 5 wks along I was taking .125 mcg of Synthyroid before I became pregnant(baby was unexpected) at about 8 wks my thyroid took a HUGE crap on me, signs and symptoms came on rapidly hair loss, MAJOR weight gain, 27 pds in 1 month. They did my TSH level it was 54 so they up'ed my Synthyroid to .250. Im now 21 wks pregnant and my level is still kinda high 5.4. I have Public Aid and have no accepting Endo's in my area currently. But am being treated by my OB and PCP.

So my question is this, does this seem weird here, I think I should be at a normal level by now, especially since Im pregnant. Im kinda scared of what kind of effect this could have on my baby.

What do you think?

[Erin.minus.thyroid]

from all the reading I have done, it is very common that you will need to raise your synthyroid when you become pregnant and sometimes again during your pregnancy. They should be testing your blood more frequently than 8 weeks and then 21 weeks. It should be at least monthly and adjusting your meds accordingly. If your levels are still that high you should probably be taking more synthyroid. Are they doing more than just TSH testing? Its really more helpful to do free T4 and free T3 tests for adjusting your meds because TSH isnt really helpful with that at all.

I would have a talk with your OB and see if maybe they could get some help on adjusting your meds from an endo if they dont know what to do.

[4 Butterflies]

I agree with Erin. They should be testing you every 4w. I would see about another adjustment if your level was a 5.

[daisyduck]

I agree with the other two replies - more frequent testing. Other than that, that is all I really know about pregnancy and thryoid, so I'm sorry I cannot help more. Have you heard about Mary Shomon? She is a patient advocate for thyroid conditions and she has a facebook page. People write and ask her general questions on her facebook page and she usually tries to answer each one. You could always try that if you felt like you needed more answers, since you are not able to see an endo right now.

[moonmama03]

Thanks ladies for you advice, I will look for Mary Shomon too! I am being test again in 4 wks, I did find out my free T4 is .09 which she said is in the normal range. I will keep looking for an accepting Endo too. Again , thank you!

[brandimomof2]

Hope your levels are doing better by now. It does sound like your dose needed to be upped. Every 4wks testing is a must during pregancy.

[4 Butterflies]

The Free T3 and Free T4's need to be on the highest end of normal without going over. Is she only testing TSH and Free T4? A level of 5 is not in the normal range. You def should up the dose and also look into supplementing with T3.