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Sunday, April 22, 2012

..:: Q & A ::..

THE Q & A

Welcome to The Q&A with Elaine Moore. Registered members are invited to ask any question of Elaine Moore on autoimmune diseases, Graves' disease, other thyroid diseases and subconditions, laboratory work, traditional and complementary medicine, triggers and environmental influences, thyroid and immune disorders in pets and animals, and other relevant areas of inquiry.

Each thread represents one question with one answer and will only appear at the time it is answered. Once answered, further replies cannot be made to the same thread since each thread represents only one question. A new thread will need to be started for additional questions.

Questions are answered solely by Elaine Moore, a medical writer and clinical laboratory scientist, MT, CLS, with more than 30 years of experience in immunology. Moore has also authored and edited over a dozen books in the area of health sciences and is an editor for McFarland Publisher's Health Topics Series.

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The Q & A with Elaine Moore

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4/3/2012 9:33 PM

hyper M

Joined: 8/23/2011

Posts: 9

pregnant with Graves

Hi Elaine,

Hope you are doing good. If you refer to my previous posts, I am now 17 weeks pregnant.

To recap my thyroid status since being pregnant:

Prepregnancy: Taking Carbimazole 1.25mg eod

Week 5: Stop Carbimazole as ordered by Endo

Week 8: Bad hyperemesis gravidarum with very high FT4. Endo started PTU 150mg od.

Week 13: Results as follows - Stop PTU as ordered by Endo

Free T3 3.07 pg/mL(1.71 - 4.20)

Free T4 1.47 ng/dl (0.70 - 1.85)

TSH < 0.01 uIU/ml

Now at Week 17: My levels are dropping further.

Free T3 3.05 pg/mL(1.71 - 4.20)

Free T4 1.21 ng/dl (0.70 - 1.85)

TSH < 0.01 uIU/ml

My questions:

1. Is my FT4 levels too low that it warrants starting on thyroid replacement?

2. My endo appointment is only end of April. Should I be seeing her earlier for her opinion on this?

3. What are the typical signs of hypothyroidism that I should look out for at this point?

4. Is it Ok to take standard prenatal multivit containing 100mcg lodine, 5mg iron, 85mcg zinc, magnesium, calcium, copper?

Thanks very much.

4/3/2012 9:58 PM

Elaine

Joined: 8/1/2008

Posts: 3424

Re: pregnant with Graves

Hi HyperM,

Your current levels are ok with FT3 around mid-range and FT4 being slightly below mid-range. You wouldn't need replacement hormone just yet especially since your baby is now making his own thyroid hormone. You should have your levels checked around the end of April, and then, if your levels have fallen and you have any hypo symptoms, you can ask about replacement hormone.

Hypothyroidism can cause many different symptoms, and as with hyperT, most people just develop a few predominant symptoms. Some hypo symptoms include sleep disturbances (falling asleep ok and then feeling wired and waking up after a few hours), depression, hair loss, constipation, joint pain, weight gain, mental fog, thickened tongue, etc. Since some of these symptoms can occur in pregnancy, you might have to rely more on lab results.

Your prenatal vitamin is fine since it has 100 mcg of iodine and problems can occur when levels exceed 150 mcg. Your immune system also slows down in mid-pregnancy so you're not as responsive to triggers. To your continued good health, Elaine

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