What happened to my baby?
I wailed.
In New York City on a cold, snowy day January 2009
Lying on a medical exam table awaiting a D&C
The surgical procedure to remove my miscarried baby
From my body at 12 weeks.
I thought back to the times I frantically called my doctor over and over.
I told you I was sick.
I felt toxic.
And you said I was just pregnant.
A few days later up all hours of the night searching the internet
For published studies on hypothyroidism.
You should know that I was once the team leader
Of a Columbia University professor’s research team
While completing my double Master’s degrees there.
I know my way around scientific literature.
I combed the internet for everything that I could find.
The Endocrine Society’s 2007 guidelines for pregnancy.
That’s it. Let me read this.
The guidelines recommend a thyroid stimulating hormone TSH less than 2.5
In the first trimester of pregnancy and
Less than 3.0 in the second and third.
I repeat LESS THAN 2.5 in the first trimester.
TSH is considered the gold standard for testing in hypothyroidism
In conventional medicine that is.
Wait let me get my lab report taken when I was pregnant.
There it is.
I dropped my head on my desk and sobbed.
There in bold letters to the right of my TSH lab score was the word HIGH.
My TSH was roaring too high at close to 10.0 during my pregnancy.
Too dangerously high for my child
So that my child was not receiving adequate amounts of thyroid hormone.
During the early months a fetus relies on the mother’s thyroid hormone supply.
This lack of thyroid hormone meant my child was unable
To properly grow and develop.
Do you mean to tell me that I lost my baby
All because my doctor didn’t read a guideline?
This must be some cruel joke.
I knew something was terribly wrong during my pregnancy.
My instincts roared at me.
Yet I squelched the screams because “doctor knows best”,
Or so I thought.
I should have fired that doctor and found a new one
Someone who really understood hypothyroidism.
Why did I create Hypothyroid Mom?
I’m asked all the time.
Rage and guilt.
I failed to protect my child and paid the ultimate price
But I vow never again.
I will never stand by while people with hypothyroidism
Are struggling for care
And while babies are lost and harmed so unnecessarily.
Not while I’m on this earth.
Do you know that major endocrine associations around the world
Have issued multiple public health statements to warn
About the dangers of hypothyroidism in pregnancy
Including miscarriage, still birth, infertility, maternal anemia, pre-eclampsia,
Placental abruption, postpartum hemorrhage, premature delivery,
Low birth weight and deficits in intellectual development in infants?
Probably not.
No one knows this including the majority of doctors.
Understand that there is NO universal thyroid screening in pregnancy.
There are 750 million people around the world with thyroid disease
Majority women
And half are UNAWARE of their condition.
Patients and their doctors have no idea that
Their hypothyroid state is a danger
In pregnancy to both the mother and child
And this must stop.
All hours of the day and night spent researching
Published studies on hypothyroidism
Hours of turning myself into a guinea pig
To find the thyroid treatments that really work
And the ones that don’t
And a quest to find the best thyroid health professionals
In the world
And now I am in the best health ever.
When doctors told me that I would never carry another pregnancy again
Because of my extreme hypothyroidism
I proved them wrong.
I got myself so thyroid healthy that
I became pregnant with my second son Hudson naturally at age 40.
Miracles do happen.
And there is hope to feel fabulous with hypothyroidism.
I know
Because hope happened to me.
Hypothyroid Mom.
Now I will help every person with hypothyroidism that my website can reach.
Women, men, children.
I will help them all.
That’s my life’s mission.
I had tears streaming down my face when my book
Your Health Pregnancy with Thyroid Disease
Released with the incredible Mary Shomon
Thyroid expert at Very Well Health.
There is hope to have miracle babies
And we won’t rest until every person knows even
More than their doctors
About a healthy pregnancy with thyroid disease.
There are no words to describe my sorrow, my sweet little one.
I should have better protected you.
I am sorry.
Mommy knows better now helping over one million people with hypothyroidism
and it’s all for you.
Until we meet again,
Mommy
May 25, 2018
World Thyroid Day
Thank you for sharing your story. It’s so unfortunate that the medical community believes a single pill cures such a complicated disease. Not only am I struggling with this chronic disease but both my kids were finally diagnosed at the age of Ten. I noticed my kids were starting to struggle with learning, became chunky and shorter then their peers. My daughter was diagnosed first, it was such a struggle to figure out what happened to my daughter. Unfortunately her symptoms correlated with ADD/ADHD or becoming a strong willed child. I had to believe in my child before I could help her, I requested labs, her TSH was high. It took 2 yrs to finally get her back to her cognitive level with multiple set back along the way. The school system was a nightmare and pretty much remains a nightmare. My son was easier to diagnose so he didn’t suffer too much from the foggy brain because I caught his symptoms early on. I’m sharing my story because hypothyroid in children is ignored. Hypothyroidism in children is easily passed as a child with a learning disorder ( which a foggy brain is but the treatment isn’t a special education class) ADD/ADHD. For those who have autoimmune disorders in your family and your child struggle with learning , unable to tolerate sensations or stress and if they are not meeting growth goals and they’re gaining wt, have them tested!!!!!!!!!
I’m sorry to hear what you and your children have been through with thyroid disease, Susan. You make an incredibly important point. You’ll find this article at Hypothyroid Mom helpful about the connection between thyroid and ADD/ADHD. Wishing your children good thyroid health.
https://hypothyroidmom.com/hypothyroidism-addadhd-what-you-must-know-as-a-parent-to-protect-your-child/
Thanks for the beautiful post of May 25 2018. Please continue your site… You have changed more than just my life and that of a couple of my loved ones in a positive way. If your site is ever shut down for any reason (big money and truths seemingly make poor friends) : please keep me as a contact. I would love to continue being updated on your new knowledge and ‘how you are holding up’. I am so so so grateful. Thank you for your strenght and courage.
I highly suspect there is something wrong with my thyroid but doctors will only measure TSH. I have had 1 live son and then went on to have 4 miscarriages (6 weeks, 13 weeks, 17 weeks, 20 weeks). They did test TPO before I was pregnant and that was normal. I was wondering if TSH can be normal while not pregnant and then change during the pregnancy?
I wonder if your blog is God sent. I had my baby 2 yrs ago, he was born a month early w/ low birth weight. He spent a week in the NICU. I suffered through postpartum anxiety. I thought surely after breastfeeding and him (and I) finally sleeping through the night my symptoms would improve. I was wrong. They got worse. I have been tired, foggy brain, anxious, gained 20lbs, severe dry skin, no sex drive, constipation, and just not feeling myself. I told my husband, something is just not right. Finally, I went to my OBGYN and she felt my neck and said to me she just didn’t like the way it felt. She asked me if I had issue with my thyroid. I have always been heavy and have had the hardest time losing weight, so i have had my thyroid tested many many times, and it was always “normal”. After a neck sonogram and another blood test w/ a new endo dr., it was discovered i have Hashimotos disease. I started on my meds and i am happy to say i am feeling better. Not 100% but i do feel good. However, i am worried about pregnancy. We are trying to have #2, and i assume i have not been able to get pregnant b/c of the Hashimoto. Thank you for this blog, i will keep reading now that this is the new chapter of life. I have been looking into going gluten. Any advice for a newbie that hopes to get pregnant? Thanks again for all the great info and all your research on this subject. I will add that my endo dr. is not very helpful, so if you know of any in the DC / Northern VA area that would help too. Much love. Mel.
Blessed to have you at Hypothyroid Mom Melisa.
Hi Dana,
Do you recommend any good resources for people that went through total thyroidectomy? My husband went through it 1 year ago and I observe hypothyroid symptons on him but the endocrinologist says that all his lab results are fine. Thanks!
Daniela, almost all doctors use only the “normal range” for the thyroid values rather than the “optimal range.” When one is in the low end of the “normal range,” one is functionally and even symptomatically hypothyroid. Likewise, almost all doctors use only the TSH (which is utterly useless) and almost no doctors use the Free T4 and Free T3 values, let along the Reverse T3. Please research “optimal range” on Dana’s site and on other places on the Internet. Please be your husband’s advocate. Then go and find a knowledgeable doctor who will give him the best treatment.