When I got home yesterday, there was a message on the voicemail from the OB
office to call them. I called back, and the nurse that had called me was
with a patient, so they said she’d call me back. In the 10-15 minutes
between my call and her return call, I was a WRECK, so i called Amy.

“If it was bad, the doctor would call, right? Not the nurse?” “Right, Gretchen, relax, I’m sure it’s fine.” “So I probably don’t have HIV that has lain dormant for years and years?” “Oh, they would have you come in for a positive HIV test, I’m sure.” “But what if that’s it! Is the nurse calling to schedule me?!” “No . . . I bet it’s iron. Yeah, you probably just are low on iron and need
a supplement because you don’t eat a lot of meat.” “But what if it ISN’T?!” “Gretchen, RELAX, I’m sure it’s fine.”

The nurse called back pretty quickly, and again, Yay on the new practice.
(My last one, you’ll remember, took 2 DAYS to call me back, and then it was
a nurse who hadn’t looked at my chart apparently, because her advice for
“I’m 10 days late and the blood HCG is negative” was “take an HPT.” Right,
helpful one, you are.) “The doctor noticed an elevated TSH count, so she’d
like to have you take Synthroid.”

Oh, that’s all?

And, I FUCKING KNEW IT.

It’s interesting, this thyroid business. I was tested for it 3 years ago,
and was considered ‘borderline,’ but don’t know what the results were. This
one, my TSH was 2.9, and the doc likes to see a max of 2.5, and the biggest
risk for that level is lower IQ. (As my coteacher said, snorting, “well, any
kid of yours can afford to lose a few points on THAT and still be a genius.”
Aww.) There are other things that are more frightening, if left untreated,
preeclampsia, placental abruption (ergh, a family I babysat for had this
happen and I will never forget being called from school to watch the older
kids while the mom was in her room, crying, smoking, and sleeping. It was
right before christmas, and I had to wrap all of their presents, too, and we
watched “Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas” and the younger one was very upset
that “gretchen the fox” was mean because “Gretchen ISN’T mean!” ANYWAY.),
low birth weight or preterm labor. Treated, you’re okay.

I’ve had so many symptoms of hypothyroidism that even my mom wondered about
it, but none of my other docs saw it as a problem. Maybe I should have been
more pushy, and now I’m thinking that screening for it should be part of the
PREconception exam, because HELLLOOO, it can cause long cycles and fertility
hindrances. And it can also put you at higher risk for miscarriage, but from
what I understand, 2.9 isn’t THAT hypo, I guess it can really get up there
to around 6? Still reading up. ANYWAY. It would have been nice to know. But,
now I do, and I feel almost relieved that this big suspicion I’ve had for
years is sort of confirmed. I wish I’d known BEFORE, but whatever. I know
now. I’m anxious to see how Synthroid affects me, and I hope it improves
some of the issues I’ve been having for the last few years, and I’m hopeful
that it’s been caught early enough that treatment will be effective and I
won’t have to worry about the big scary complications.

Again, though, can’t wait til the ultrasound. One week!

I’ve gotten some good stuff about hypothyroidism from IB, but I’m just
wondering if anyone has had it while pregnant and has any info to share? I’d
love to hear (I think!) how it affected others.