Hashimoto's Thyroiditis

I had an ultrasound today. Except this one was of my neck, to look at my thryoid gland.

Verdict of the endocrinologist:

- I have Hashimoto's thyroiditis and will most probably be on thyroxin for the rest of my life given the way my TSH shot up between January (when it was tested by my GP) and March (when it was tested by my OB)

- Pregnant women need about 20-30% more thyroid hormone (T4) than normal

- A woman is considered to be post-partum by endocrinologists for 18 months after birth. During pregnancy, your immune system is slightly depressed. After birth, it goes back to normal, but doesn't do it gradually, rather goes up to a peak then comes back down to a normal level again over 18 months.

- During these 18 months, your immune system becomes quite aggressive. If anti-thyroid antibodies were already there then during the post-partum period they can start aggressively attacking your thyroid glands.

- For me, being post-partum (anti-thyroid antibodies on the attack) combined with being pregnant (needing 20-30% more T4 hormone) means my thryoid gland started giving up the ghost.

- He cannot guarantee no effect on the foetus, but usually major problems are caused when a woman is, say, in her 8th month of pregnancy, has been complaining of tiredness all the way through and her doctor put it down to the fact that she was pregnant, and then it turns out she had an untreated hypothyroid problem. Since mine has been caught early, there shouldn't be any detectable effects.

- There's no point really testing for a bunch of other auto-immune diseases. Vitiligo and hypothyroidism are the two most common auto-immune diseases.

- (Assuming I make it that far) he won't need to see me again after about 4 months of pregnancy.

- My swollen legs were most probably caused by hypothyroidism, which can cause water retention

- It's quite possible that because of the thyroxin I am going to lose some weight before the pregnancy pushes it back up again

So I'm seeing my OB again next Tuesday. I really am thinking, what disease will I be diagnosed with next? Since V. died, I have found out that I have Factor V Leiden and now I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Let's hope the next thing has an exciting red pill to take - the little white ones are getting dull.

On the other hand I am feeling looked after by the medical community. They talk to each other (as it turned out, my OB called this same endocrinologist to ask him advice on what dose of thyroxin to start me on, before I had even seen him, and the endocrinologist is going to call my OB to update her, and my GP faxed over all my results to the endocrinologist as well as getting me to the top of his waiting list) and are taking everything quite seriously.