Thyroid antibodies in pregnancy. Worried. Auto immune diseases.

[Khadijah-x]

Hi I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism a few years back after 2 miscarriages. Both babies stopped growing in the 8th week. I'm 10+3 today and baby is still going strong

I had my regular 4 week bloods and my thyroid peroxidase anti bodies have come back as three times as high as they should be. My t4 and t3 thyroid levels are okay. It indicates I have an auto immune disease such as graves or hashmios apparently.

I'm really worried.. anyone shed some light?

 

[Tink_]

I actually have the same high anti-bodies but no changes to my thyroid function aside from that at the moment. They said the same about it pointing towards the auto immune diseases.

I don't have much information sorry but you aren't alone x

 

[greats]

I do! I have Hashimoto's disease and mine is considered severe. It caused my 2 miscarriages before I had my daughter. Here's what you should do to help aid in a successful pregnancy:

-Take your thyroid meds PERFECTLY!!! Do not skip doses. Take it first thing in the morning with a full glass of plain water. You must wait 1 hour before you eat anything. You also cannot eat, drink, or take supplements containing iron or fiber ideally for 4 hours after you take your pill otherwise it'll mess with absorption. Also you must wait at least 1 hour before you eat or drink something with calcium. If you take calcium supplements you should wait 4 hours. I take my prenatal vitamin at night so I don't even have to worry about it affecting my meds.

-Stay away from soy. It negatively affects your thyroid function.

-Try your best to stay as stress-free as possible. I left my high-stress career last year (law enforcement) because it had caused my antibody levels to skyrocket as well as my tsh. I practice meditation once a day before bed, now, and have seen a HUGE improvement!

-Your doctor should be checking your thyroid levels every 4-6 weeks for the remainder of your pregnancy and after and adjust your dosage accordingly. My dosage had to be raised a lot during my pregnancy with my daughter, but not at all so far this pregnancy. Your tsh should stay below a 3.5 during pregnancy at least. Mine is currently 0.845, the lowest mine has ever been.

-If you need to rest, then rest. Don't over do it.

-Change your diet accordingly. I have found that deep fried foods cause my thyroid to get a little wonky and my tsh rises.

 

[Khadijah-x]

Thank you everyone!

Yes my consultant told me to take my meds first thing, with water, and not to eat for an hour afterwards like you said. I also take my multi vitamins in afternoon sometimes evening. But my antibody levels are still high, will they remain high?

So, a few questions I have;

Can antibodies harm the baby? I've read alot of scary things online, but rare. Ive also read posts from women who said their consultants didn't seem concerned and didn't do any follow up treatment. Everything seems to be going well so I'm hoping things continue that way.

Will they adjust my medication?

It was mainly the t4 and t3 I worried about as that's what possibly caused my losses before but as I've never heard of the antibody one, I'm quite clueless. It's never been raised before. I'm having bloods every month as the first bloods when I was 5 weeks the antibodies came back high but they didn't say anything or seem to worry. Now at 10 weeks they are higher.

What next?

Midwife said she will contact my consultant tomorrow to try and get an appointment. But is there anything they can do?

 

[greats]

The only reason why mine get high is when I am stressed out. I can always tell when my antibody level is high because my thyroid starts swelling into a goiter and my lymphnodes in my neck swell as well. There's not much you can do about them except take your meds, maintain a healthy diet, and keep your stress levels under control. If you aren't getting your levels tested enough you would need to tell your doctor you need them tested more frequently.

 

[Khadijah-x]

The only reason why mine get high is when I am stressed out. I can always tell when my antibody level is high because my thyroid starts swelling into a goiter and my lymphnodes in my neck swell as well. There's not much you can do about them except take your meds, maintain a healthy diet, and keep your stress levels under control. If you aren't getting your levels tested enough you would need to tell your doctor you need them tested more frequently.

Thank you. I didn't have a clue! I had bloods at 5-6 weeks and my levothyroxine was auto increased by 25mg without even checking my bloods as my consultant said it would need doing. I was due for bloods 8 weeks later she said but when my antibodies came back slightly high she ordered them again for 4 weeks. So that was about a week and a half ago. Midwife said my levels were 400 and something when they should be below 100. She could be tell me much more so will have to see what the consultant says. Pregnancy has brought this on so does that mean it will go after pregnancy or will be something I always have?

I am really worried my levels are going to effect the baby and the antibodies will attack it.

 

[greats]

Baby should be ok. Your thyroid antibodies are designed to only attack your thyroid and kill it off. The only worry you should have is if your tsh gets too high. But once you hit around 14-15 weeks baby's own thyroid starts working and things should improve. As for after pregnancy, once you have thyroid antibodies you will always have them. You'll be able to tell when they're high and attacking your thyroid bc you'll feel utterly horrible!

 

[Septie]

I have Hashimoto (diagnosed via antibodies) but they don't even measure the antibodies now during the pregnancy - only the hormone levels! I am now over 18 weeks, though I believe untreated Hashimoto may have contributed to my two losses last year...

 

[Khadijah-x]

That all sounds positive thank you greats and septie. So if untreated hashis can cause miscarriages, how can they treat it? Will they adjust my meds? I've read that when the t4 and t3 are fine, but antibodies are high, they don't adjust the meds?

Speaking to the consultant today, hoping that will put my mind at rest as now I'm freaking out that it's going to cause me to lose the baby.

 

[Khadijah-x]

I have Hashimoto (diagnosed via antibodies) but they don't even measure the antibodies now during the pregnancy - only the hormone levels! I am now over 18 weeks, though I believe untreated Hashimoto may have contributed to my two losses last year...

I'm surprised they don't check them it you think your Hashimoto's contributed to your losses? How do they treat Hashimoto's then? Thank you

 

[Khadijah-x]

So I had an appointment today, they said there is a very small risk and he emphasised on very small, chance of the antibodies passing to the baby causing the baby to be hyper or hypo thyroid forgot which one he said.

I don't know what that means for the baby as I didn't ask, kind of wish I had now...

 

[greats]

It's untreated hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism that can cause miscarriage. I had my first two miscarriages because my tsh was higher than 10.

Very small chance that baby can be born with hypo or hyper, but it's literally a ridiculously small chance that you don't even need to worry about it.

 

[Khadijah-x]

I see. Yes I feel my untreated hypo contributed towards line too. It's the antibodies I have to worry about now as I don't know how they can effect the baby.

Thank you

 

[2have4kids]

Have you seen this site? https://sites.google.com/site/miscarriageresearch/thyroid-and-miscarriage
Unfortunately it's titled around miscarriage however I have Thrombopheia (serious blood clotting that has compromised a number of my pregnancies) and the information is really great. Not only does the supplement section provide studies that have helped hypo/hyper thyroidism / thrombophelia but they have studies for helping out fertility and protecting pregnancies. There are a few sections on thyroid problems and if you look at vit D, for example, it's shown in studies that it's such an important supplement in fertility & pregnancy that it acts as an immune treatment or so they claim.

All of the info is based on studies, the links are provided incase you wish to know specifics about the study. Good luck!