Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Hypo, Not Hyper

So at my 13 week OB appt when Dr. P was going over my blood work she said that my TSH levels were kind on the high side of normal, but my actual thyroid levels were normal. She said that it wasn't anything to be overly concerned about but that we would want to do another thyroid check at 16 weeks and then again at 28 weeks. This didn't really bother me because my mom has hypothyroidism so I know it's manageable.
This past OB appt, they took blood at the end. I thought it was just to check the thyroid levels again but I somehow ended up agreeing to get the alpha-fetaprotein test as well. Not that I didn't want to get it but I had to look it up afterwards because I had no idea at the appointment what they were talking about. Anyways, they called me yesterday with the results.
The alpha-fetaprotein test came back negative so the baby is healthy so far. However my TSH levels were over the normal range. So Nurse J told me I had hyperthyroidism. NP/Midwife C was gonna call in a prescription for me and I was to start taking it right away.
When I got to the pharmacy (which was suprisingly efficient) and saw the name of the drug(Levothyro.xine) I texted myMom. She replied that she takes the same stuff. So I was confused. Because if my mom was hypo and I was hyper, why were we taking the same stuff? I even looked it up on WebMD and it said that drug was used for hypothyroidism. So this morning I called Nurse J back to ask her and she tried telling me that hyperthyroidism was not enough and hypothyroidism was too much. I knew this was wrong and so I kept arguing with her until eventually she got NP/Midwife C on the phone right before I was going to ask to speak to her. NP/Midwife C goes into detail the test and how high TSH levels mean that I have hypothyroidism. So I asked her to repeat herself and then told her that Nurse J was saying the opposite and that is why I was confused. But seriously, you're a nurse and you don't know the difference between hyper and hypo?
So anyways now I'm on a new drug and hopefully everything will be okay with the baby. I was reading this article and kind of freaked myself out about the developmental delays and lower IQs for the babies seen in mothers with hypothryroidism but then on the next page it said that the baby takes over thyroid function at 12 weeks. I was normal pre-pregnancy and was tested at 8 weeks and was still normal so hopefully GV will be okay. NP/Midwife C thinks it's pregnancy related and that I'll be fine again after birth.

2 comments:

A said...

Yikes, I'm glad you stuck to your guns and got it straightened out!! I'm sure your little one is doing great :)

Rachel Parton said...

I took natural thyroid supplements about a month before I really noticed a difference. It has helped a lot! My nails are growing again. I've lost some of the weight around my middle and arms and I feel better overall.