Graves Disease/Hyper and Hypo Thyroid Disorders?

[jenny9276]

I have Graves, and my husband and I have been NTNP for 2.5 years, and actively trying to conceive for the last 6 months.

This month is weird. In the beginning of March, I was getting super duper faint lines on FRER 6 Day Sooner (FYI I HATE those tests now). Went to the OB/GYN, and had a faint positive on his test too. So had betas done - 5 on 3/5 and 4 on 3/7. Period came on 3/22. Then on 4/4. Then on 4/26.

My "fertile period" this cycle was consistent brown spotting/brown cm. On 3/17, I had EWCM (which I hadn't had in years until I started taking Vitex in February). Of course, seeing that (I don't temp or use OPKs - I should but I have a 14 year old in baseball, a 17 year old diabetic, an 8 year old horseback rider, and 3 step sons, 1 of whom we have custody of. I know - you're thinking "and you want MORE!?" lol. This is my 2nd marriage, we want one child together) we DTD. FF to CD 27 - longest cycle in a while! I test with a $ store cheapie - faint positive. Refuse to call the doc until it gets darker - I've read they can read 10MIU. Next day, slightly darker. FRER 6 Day Sooner = SUPER DUPER faint lines, as usual. Negative digi. FF to CD 32 - CVS plus/minus, sensitivity 25. Get my best faint positive since actively TTC! Yes, blue dye - BUT showed up in the first two minutes, line was the same color blue throughout, no bleeding, and was the same width as the control all the way through. All this with NO HOLD! I had a digi say "NO" and I got mad and squeezed out just enough 20 minutes later to dip another hpt. Yippee! Right?

WRONG.

I call my doc today after taking probably 2 dozen tests and getting either faint BFPs (ClearBlue plus/minus, FRER, $ Store cheapie) or nothing (on First Signal Walmart cheapie). They squeeze me in at 2 this afternoon. Doctor pee test = BFN. I couldn't believe it. How could I get a positive on a 25 sensitivity and a negative on a test that reads as low as 8? (I overheard the nurse tell the doc the sensitivity).

WHY do I have ANY readable level of HcG in my urine? I'm 37. According to my doc, I am no where NEAR menopause.

I've had 3 kids. My husband had 4 boys (he lost his oldest to cancer when he was 6). One of his boys was a one night stand 10 years ago (before me lol). I mean - we are talking SUPER sperm. Like, Iron Man couldn't produce the swimmers this family produces. He is 1 of 5. His dad is 1 of 5. His grandfather 1 of 14. His great grandfather was 1 of 23 (GAWD that poor woman's vagina). His cousin has 5. His brothers each have kids. My sister in law (his brother's wife) was told she had a small window to get pregnant due to health issues. NO LIE she got pregnant THAT NIGHT. (They know this because she was sick with the flu for a week, then he was on nights for 3 weeks). I mean, these boys tell their sperm go forth and multiply, and they LISTEN. So what gives?

Me? My first was a BCP AND Condom baby. My 2nd was a BCP baby. My 3rd - I wanted another, I went off BC, and bam - 60 days later I'm holding a gorgeous, bright pink positive HPT. (FYI, they don't make them like they used to). The only difference is when my youngest was 3, I was diagnosed with Graves Disease. I get my period every 2-3 weeks, or every 2-3 months depending on whether or not the witch hates me that month. So I started Vitex. My periods were 2/16, 3/22, 4/4, 4/26, and - nothing. I FELT like she was coming last week, but NOTHING. My cervix (great deceiver) has been almost unreachably high the past 10 days. Lotiony CM. Headaches. Monday I peed twice for every 16oz water bottle I drank. The day I got the dollar store faint positive, I also got a positive OPK. Yeah, I know I said I don't take them. I don't - not like I should. I ordered them with the Vitex, used them for a few days, and decided trying to determine whether or not they were positive was a real PITA. But I do have them, and I NEEDED to see a line on SOMETHING else, and we've all heard OPKs can turn positive with HcG present...So I grabbed one, and dipped it. It wasn't darker, but it was AS dark as the control, so I figured....well, ok. Since it was CLOSE to positive, why pass on the opportunity, just in case? I mean....all these thoughts went through my head. Like...if the OPK can pick up HcG, who's to say the HPT isn't picking up LH? I know in THEORY it doesn't, but why take the chance? I told my husband we better, ahem, just in case. Broke his heart, I tell ya.

I'd love to hear from you ladies TTC with thyroid disorders. Or if you HAVE conceived. What did you do different? What meds were you on (for hyper)? Any supplements that worked for you? I find so little info from actual women TTC with thyroid issues.

 

[Hope39]

Oh that post was way longer than your post in rmc thread

I am not sure i am going to be of much help actually as i have Hashi and no experience with Graves whatsoever

I was diagnosed with thyroid antibodies (hashi) after my 3rd mc, my thyroid tsh was not good either.

Through my own research i found that some doc's prescribed prednisolone for thyroid perixidose antibodies, im not sure how that would stand with Graves

I tried them for my 6th pregnancy and miscarried on a dose of 20mg. I went on to have an nk cell test and tested positive for them too, treatment was prednisolone but a higher dose

I also went gluten free having researched that gluten is an immune trigger, i managed to half my antibodies after gluten free despite my doctor telling me that the antibody level only ever goes up, well mine came down

I am now pregnant for a 7th time and have reached 23w, never made it past 6w before. I think the prednisolone has helped, the gluten free has helped, i also had a septum removed and treated two infections detected via mentstrual blood with antibiotics. So as you can see, i have had some sort of success but i cant say if one particular thing did the trick or the whole lot

You seem to be having chemical pregnancies, maybe have a progesterone check

To give a bit of hope, my friend had 6mc and then went on to have a little boy. She did have a chromosome issue but she also had graves too

I took aspirin, vitamin d, omega 3 and pregnacare 3 months before ttc, at ovulation i took prednisolone and carried on if i got a bfp, i also added in clexane and progesterone at bfp

I have my thyroid tested every 6-8 weeks pregnant or not to make sure it stays stable

xx

 

[jenny9276]

Congratulations on your pregnancy!

I just moved not too long ago, so I've been trying to find a PCP because I need a referral for an endo. I had blood work done today, so I will find out what my levels are.

I never knew that about Gluten - Maybe I will try to cut back on it. My sister has an underactive thyroid, and she began herbalife to lose weight and went gluten and lactose free because of allergies - she no longer even needs her thyroid meds.

I know a lot of women conceive with Graves - I'm just not one of them. I did read that a lot of women with Graves have a progesterone deficiency. Once I get my levels, I will order some cream and see if that helps. I do spot a LOT during my luteal phase.

Thank you so much for responding - it's comforting knowing there are other REAL women out there TTC successfully with thyroid disorders.

 

[Briss]

jenny, I do not want to worry you but there are other reasons to have HcG in your blood. cancer is one of them unfortunately. the only reason I know is because I had an ovarian cyst that doc thought was suspicious and they made me do all cancer markers and one of them was HcG. I asked why they are checking me for pregnancy and they said it is not just for pregnancy, anything above 1 on HcG scale can indicate presence of cancer cells (provided you are not pregnant of course and obviously you need all other markers as well, just one HcG reading is not enough). But the simpler explanation is a chemical pregnancy although with chemicals your HcG should go back to 0 when AF arrives.

I am sorry I do not know much about thyroid, I've recently discovered my TSH (3.7) is on the higher end of normal but my endocrinologist completely dismissed my concerns that I am developing under active thyroid because my T4/T3 are mid range and no antibodies. I still worry because I started spotting for 3-5 days before my period (although my progesterone is high) which has not happened before and I think it might be related to thyroid.

 

[Hope39]

Briss - the doctors work to a range of 0.5-5 for tsh, my endo likes my tsh to be between 1-2 but ive had 6mc and I have antibodies

Antibodies are sort of irrelevant as not everyone with an underactive thyroid has the antibodies

You are not way out of range at the moment but your tsh would go up once pregnant which I think would put you out of the range they work too

My endo upped my meds when my tsh went to 3.7 in second tri

Xx

 

[Briss]

Hope, thanks! I also read that TSH goes up in pregnancy. the endocrinologist did not put me on synthetic hormone and said my levels may fluctuate and I may never develop under active thyroid. I am so confused as I know our IVF clinic would insist on bringing TSH down to 1-2 for IVF. the endocrinologist just said they should contact him in that case and he will explain. I am torn cos I obviously want IVF to work but also do not want to screw my thyroid. anyway, I am just waiting what fertility clinic will come back with, they may not even take me on in the first place cos of my high FSH

 

[Hope39]

Good luck with your Ivf. This is an incredibly hard journey to be on

I would push your endo, a little 25mg isn't going to hurt. I know private docs that treat recurrent miscarriage prescribe thyroxin when it's over 3

Xx

 

[jenny9276]

I have heard that HcG is a cancer marker. I try very hard not to think about that.