Pregnancy With Hypothyroidism 

The good news is that you are finally pregnant but the equally scary news is that this pregnancy with hypothyroidism does have its fair share of risks associated with your thyroid condition; but luckily they are quite manageable. Study shows that if you are hypothyroid and pregnant, you may need to increase your dose of thyroid hormone replacement very early into your pregnancy because of the developing baby.

What Are The Effects Of Pregnancy With Hypothyroidism

There are several ways that hypothyroidism can affect pregnancy including causing infertility by stopping the production of eggs, an increased risk of miscarriage and a greater risk of developing high blood pressure and early delivery when the condition is untreated toward the end of the pregnancy. Those babies born to women with untreated hypothyroidism can have serious cognitive problems and even stillbirth. This is why it is imperative that all pregnant women are tested for thyroid function during their pregnancy.

Tips For Pregnancy With Hypothyroid Mothers-To-Be

Having a condition like hypothyroidism and being pregnant does require extra care during your pregnancy in order to protect both your own health and that of your unborn fetus. These tips should be helpful with regard to monitoring your condition as well as taking good care of your baby.

It’s important to take any vitamins containing iron; including prenatal supplements (as most of these have some iron in them) at least 4 hours apart from your regular thyroid hormone. Failure to do so could impair the thyroid drug's effectiveness. Likewise any calcium supplements, antacids that contain calcium and calcium-fortified orange juice also need to be treated in exactly the same manner.

Thyroid medication is deemed as safe to take during pregnancy. It has been found that during pregnancy; the body's increased demand for the drug levothyroxine manifests as early as the fifth week of gestation which is one of the reasons that those pregnant women with hypothyroidism need to be carefully monitored throughout their pregnancy. It is recommended that they raise the level of the thyroid drug immediately upon confirming they are pregnant. They may need to increase by as much as 50% but this of course should be monitored by their doctor.

Did you know that one in twenty women will develop the condition hypothyroidism after their pregnancy ? The reason this happens is that they have developed antibodies to their own thyroid before the pregnancy which then caused thyroid inflammation after giving birth. It commonly occurs between around four months to a year after delivery but the good news is that it repairs itself. If however it doesn’t disappear but becomes chronic, it can be treated with medication easily enough so don’t be too concerned.

Lots of pregnant women with hypothyroidism have no problems with their pregnancy and report only having to be tested once during each trimester. If your thyroid antibodies cause any troubles your doctor will advise what to do. So how about just enjoying being pregnant and leave the worries; if any to the doctor!