Hashimoto’s disease and pregnancy that’s a wide-open topic I’m not I’m not sure if you’re asking can you get pregnant or what happens when you get pregnant or what happens after you get pregnant so I’ll try to answer all three of those um so hashimoto’s can first prevent you from getting pregnant and i think that’s pretty well accepted out there today i’ve even had some patients that came in and their medical doctor treated their thyroid for their infertility and they got better and there’s a couple reasons for that the most direct reason is that hashimoto’s has a very very specific relationship with progesterone and progesterone is the hormone that allows you to to hold the the egg so when you when you ovulate and then the ovulate embeds and then when the egg embeds itself in into the wall the uterus it is progesterone and that allows it to stick if you will and then it is progesterone that allows you to carry through the pregnancy and if your progesterone is very low because you have hypothyroid hashimoto’s hypothyroid then there’s a good chance that you’re not going to carry through on top of that hashimoto seems to have a very direct relationship to polycystic ovarian syndrome in which your blood sugar goes off and your blood sugar is controlled by your diet but it’s also controlled by your adrenal glands by your pancreas and by your liver all of these can be affected by hashimoto’s in different ways the end result ends up being usually that the person develops um an insulin resistance which is kind of high blood sugar but it’s not diabetes it’s it’s it’s kind of pre-diabetes insulin resistance is kind of in the same category and then that usually increases testosterone production in the ovary also uh in addition to what is happening with your adrenals and your pancreas and your and your liver from the low progesterone and then the chances of you having a baby reduced by i believe it’s like about 50 i do know that the last statistics i saw is that polycystic ovarian syndrome which is very closely related to hashimoto’s is responsible for as much as 50 of infertility in this country then hashimoto’s during pregnancy um it it it certainly you know it’s better to be healthy when you’re having a pregnant child uh you’re when you’re when you’re planning on having a child and getting pregnant and and so um you know from that perspective you know i tell my patients who have hashimoto’s who are coming in here not to get pregnant until after we’ve cleaned up a lot of things because i don’t know if somewhere in there is the question can this affect a child and the answer is yes and and i probably should do a different segment on that because it’s a long that’s a long topic and then and then as far as the mom’s health during that period of time it is not unusual for me to hear that’s the best i ever felt i felt wonderful everything was great my fibromyalgia went away and things of that nature and that has to do with immune shifts that take place while you’re carrying the child particularly in the third trimester where you’re shifting antibodies to your child so that when your child is born they have um they have the ability to build an uh an innate immune response and a human immune response after they’re born and and so so if you were asking me about how do you you know what do you do during that period of time if you understood you had hashimoto’s you would be following the right diet which would be knowing your food sensitivities removing all removing all inflammatory foods and i mean those are really the biggest things and then of course take your prenatal vitamins but but it really is about dampening immune responses even though your immune responses are being dampened while you are transferring the antibodies over to your child and then hashimoto’s and pregnancy um once you deliver the child then there’s a chance that if you have had hashimoto’s symptoms before and then they went away they’re going to come back if you didn’t have them because you had silent autoimmunity and you went into the pregnancy not knowing that you actually had a genetic propensity to develop hashimoto’s the having the child itself your chemistry changes back immune responses uh revert and now you ca or if you’ve never had it before they become active and and now they will create a exacerbation against your thyroid and you’ll suddenly go to me doc i was fine until my second child and then everything went to crap and so at that point the latest thinking on that is not to immediately declare personal hashimoto’s if they went into the pregnancy not diagnosed as hashimoto’s but to wait a year i’m not a hundred percent sure why uh why i i on the thinking on that you know what what the thinking on that is or why that is um but usually what i find is is like if i hear that i’m thinking like okay you felt fine you got pregnant you felt great you had a child boom everything went bad i mean in my world your hashimoto’s until proven innocent at that point in time but you’re supposed to wait a year so if you go to your endocrinologist and they’re aware of this they might wait a year before they’re willing to diagnose you with hashimoto’s so that’s kind of the again that’s kind of the cliff nose version of before during and and after the delivery of the child hashimoto’s in pregnancy you – So we’re gonna talk about, we’re going to try to answer the question of Hashimoto’s disease and pregnancy.
That’s a wide open topic. I’m not if you’re asking can you get pregnant, or what happens when you get pregnant, or what happens after you get pregnant? So I’ll try to answer all three of those.
So Hashimoto’s can first prevent you from getting pregnant. And I think that’s pretty well accepted out there today. We’ve had some patients that came in and their medical doctor treated their thyroid for their infertility and they got better.
And there’s a couple reasons for that. Most direct reason is that Hashimoto’s has a very, very specific relationship with progesterone, and progesterone is the hormone that allows you to hold the egg, so when you ovulate, and then you ovulate embeds, and then when the egg embeds itself in the wall of the uterus is progesterone that allows it to stick, if you will.
And then it is progesterone that allows you to carry through the pregnancy. If your progesterone is very low because you have hypothyroid, Hashimoto is hypothyroid, then there’s a good chance that you’re not going to carry through.
On top of that, Hashimoto’s seems to have a very direct relationship to polycystic ovarian syndrome, in which your blood sugar goes off, and your blood sugar is controlled by your diet, but it’s also controlled by your adrenal glands, and by your pancreas, and by your thyroid.
All of these can be affected Hashimoto’s in different ways. The end result ends up being usually that the person develops an insulin resistance, which is kind of high blood sugar but it’s not diabetes, it’s kind of pre-diabetes, insulin resistance is kinda in the same category, and then that usually increases testosterone production in the ovary also, in addition to what has happened with your adrenals, and your pancreas, and your liver from the low progesterone, and then the chances of you having a baby are reduced by, I believe it’s like 50%.
I do know that the last statistics I saw was that polycystic ovarian syndrome, which is very closely related to Hashimoto’s, is responsible for as much as 50% of infertility in this country. Then Hashimoto’s during pregnancy, it certainly, you know, it’s better to be healthy when you’re having a pregnant child, when you’re planning on having a child, getting pregnant, and so from that perspective, I tell my patients who have Hashimoto’s who are coming in here, not to get pregnant until after we’ve cleaned up a lot of things, because I don’t know, somewhere in there is a question of can this affect the child? And the answer is yes, and probably should do a different segment on that, because it’s a long topic.
And then as far as the mom’s health during that period of time, it is not unusual for me to hear, “That’s the best I ever felt.” (laughs) “I felt wonderful, everything was great.
“My fibromyalgia went away.” And things of that nature. And that has to do with immune shifts that take place while you’re carrying the child, particularly in the third trimester, where you’re shifting antibodies in to Your child so that when your child is born, they have the ability to build a immunoresponse, and a humeral immunorespone after they’re born.
And so if you’re asking me about what do you do during that period of time, if you understood Hashimoto’s, you would be following the right diet, which would be knowing your food sensitivities, removing them all, removing all inflammatory foods, and I mean, those are really the biggest things, and then of course, take your prenatal vitamins, but it really is about dampening immunoresponses.
Even though your immunoresponses are being dampened while you are transferring the antibodies over to your child, then Hashimoto’s and pregnancy, once you deliver the child, then there’s a chance that if you have had Hashimoto’s symptoms before and then they went away, they’re gonna come back.
If you didn’t have them because you had silent autoimmunity and you went in to the pregnancy not knowing that you actually had a genetic propensity to develop Hashimoto’s, having the child itself, your chemistry changes back, immune responses revert, and now if you’ve never had it before, then they become active, and now they will create a exacerbation against your thyroid, and you’ll suddenly go, to me, “Doc, I was fine until I had my second child “and then everything went to crap.
” And so at that point, the latest thinking on that is not to immediately declare a person Hashimoto’s if they went in to the pregnancy, not diagnose as Hashimoto’s, but to wait a year. I’m not 100% sure why on the thinking on, you know, what the thinking on that is or why that is, but usually what I find is like if I hear that, I’m thinking like okay, you felt fine, you got pregnant, you felt great, you had a child, boom, everything went bad.
I mean in my world, you’re Hashimoto’s until proven innocent at that point, but you’re supposed to wait a year. So if you go to your endocrinologist and they’re aware of this, they might wait a year before they’re willing to diagnose you Hashimoto’s.
So that’s kind of the, again, that’s kind of the cliff notes version of before, during, and after the deliver of the child, Hashimoto’s in pregnancy.
