I think I mentioned in an earlier post that since after my DS was born, my thyroid has been “off”. I can’t remember exactly, but maybe when he was around 8 months old I went for my regular physical and as part of the routine blood test we discovered that I had a mildy overactive thyroid – hyperthyroidism. It made complete sense, I was thinner than I ever remember being, my pants were all loose and I was eating like a horse. Thankfully I didn’t have any other really noticeable symptoms. I re-tested in 3 months from the first test and it was discovered that my thyroid was suddenly mildy underactive – hypothyroidism. Great. I had read that thyroid activity can be impacted by a pregnancy and that it can waver up and down but for the most part it would start out as hypo and then become hyper and then even out again and I was going in the opposite direction. So, because it was so mild (I think normal is .3-4 and I was rating at a 4.35), my doctor decided to wait and test again in another 3 months. That was last week and on day 1 of TTC#2 cycle #1, I found out that my thyroid had become even more underactive – now at a 5.22. This is apparently still considered to be mild and according to the nurse, some people don’t experience any symptoms until they hit 10 however, knowing my intentions to have another baby (like asap!), and considering that I was trending in the wrong direction, my Doctor decided that I should start taking drugs to treat it and re-test in 6 weeks to check whether the dosage is right – I guess with hormones it can be very tricky to get it right (great.. ugh).
I don’t completely understand it because I just haven’t had time to do any real research yet, but your thyroid controls certain hormones, most of which are responsible for metabolism (hello weight loss… and weight gain recently!). Somehow, an underactive thyroid can also impact fertility – again, I’m not clear on HOW but it can affect ovulation (cause anovulatory cycles) and shorten the luteal phase of your cycle so that implantation becomes impossible. I also think it can make staying pregnant more difficult. For these reasons, I’m really happy my doctor is being proactive about treating it. On the other hand, I’m not really thrilled to be taking a hormone pill daily starting in the month I want to start trying to conceive. I confirmed with my doctor that it’s safe to start trying regardless, and that since my cycle seems regular I can still get pregnant but that I’ll need to continue to monitor it regularly especially if I do become pregnant.
It’s no secret that I’m hoping for a girl this time. I’ve been charting my cycles to figure out when I’m ovulating so we can schedule the BD before I actually ovulate to improve our odds. Will a thyroid pill affect when I O? I’m starting to question whether I really really want a girl or whether I really really want to just get pregnant right this second. I know that by trying the Shettles method to try to conceive a girl, I reduce my odds of getting my BFP each month… and I worry that if I don’t get my BFP within the first couple of months that I will get too much in my own head and then get too stressed and further worsen the odds of pregnancy. The thyroid issue just exasperates everything. I was feeling good about starting, my cycle has been regular (albeit shorter than usual – 27 days) and now this. It’s a bit like déjà vu – the month before we TTC with #1, my cycle that had been a completely regular 29 days ended up being something like 37 days. Why oh why does this happen only when I’m ready and give the green light to TTC?? I guess if I’m trying to stay positive, we got lucky on your second try with my son so it’s possible we will get lucky again!
Now I am rambling. I still don’t know what I will decide to do. Maybe a month or two of shettles for a girl… and if we have no luck we just shoot to get pregnant and do it like bunnies. I think that’s what I’m settled on for now, but I reserve the right to change my mind. Please cross your fingers for me that my body cooperates and my thyroid settles down.
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