Community› The Bump Message Boards› Infertility
Infertility
New Discussion

IUI experiences with one tube and thyroid issues?

moonstruck1018moonstruck1018 member
in Infertility

Hi all,

Just a little background - I've been going through infertility for 2.5 years.  I had surgery to remove one fallopian tube this year due to a hydrosalpinx.  I also have Hashimoto's thyroid disease with my TSH somewhat under control (I've changed meds 3 times as it keeps going up and down) but my peroxidase antibodies are pretty much out of control and super high.  I also have a short luteal phase of about 8-9 days, and slightly elevated prolactin levels.

We are starting our first IUI with my next cycle.  This is my first medicated cycle and first IUI.  We had to wait until the other issues were sorted out, so here we are.

I know my combination of issues is a long shot, but - is there anybody out there who can share experiences of IUI with one tube and thyroid issues?  Or short LP?  I am trying to get an idea of how realistic IUI success would be or if we should consider moving right along to IVF sooner rather than later.

Of course, I have already asked my RE.  However, she previously encouraged us to go right for IVF, but then encouraged IUI after my surgery was a success.  I'm just not interested in wasting time, resources, and stress on procedures with too low of a chance considering all my issues.

Thank you all in advance for your insight!

Report Reply to Post

Re: IUI experiences with one tube and thyroid issues?

  • adiratadirat member
    Hi! Sorry to hear all you've gone through. I have a thyroid problem and a luteal phase defect. I'm going to tell you something that you may not want to hear...I would recommend not pursuing fertility treatment until your thyroid issues are under control. You may already know this but when you get pregnant, your thyroid has to work double time. If your levels aren't already under control, your risk of pregnancy loss is extremely high. If it would take a couple months to get your thyroid back under control, that seems like an eternity now, I know, but if you go through a loss and have to recover from that -- I know how much worse that is. 

    Are you seeing an endocrinologist for your thyroid, separate from your RE? If not, you really should. I see a thyroid specialist and it has made such a difference. Like you, I went through three meds and multiple dosages before I got my thyroid under control. When I did get pregnant, I had to increase my dosage. My endocrinologist told me that with an untreated thyroid problem, risk of loss is as high as 50% :( I had to get my TSH and T4 tested again before starting IVF to make sure I was still good, and again this month before my FET.


    Report Reply
  • Loading the player...
  • moonstruck1018moonstruck1018 member
    Hi @adirat.  Thanks for the reply (and the honesty!).  Fortunately, yes I am seeing a great medical endocrinologist in addition to my RE.  My med endo is a little more liberal as far as what he'd like my TSH to be for pregnancy.  My RE wants it under 2.5, ME wants it under 4.5.  It was close enough to 2.5 at my most recent test this week, and with a higher dosage it should be right where it needs to be within a couple of weeks.  I think my main concern are the peridoxase antibodies, which are just totally out of control.
    I've been doing a little too much Googling and found some info about the correlation between high antibodies and pregnancy loss but I just wonder why neither RE or ME have brought this up to me.  :/
    Report Reply
  • adiratadirat member
    @moonstruck1018 Close to 2.5 is great! You're definitely on the way there. I don't have high antibody numbers so I'm less familiar with that, but is it a concern that the antibody numbers aren't reducing on the meds? What are you taking now? I'm on levoxyl after going through generic levothyroxine, synthroid, and cytomel.

    A year or two ago I read Your Healthy Pregnancy with Thyroid Disease by Trentini & Shomon, which may be helpful to you. It talks both about meds and about lifestyle changes that can help. I recall that my endocrinologist told me that many people have success following anti-inflammatory diets for Hashimoto's.

    For me, she recommended that I avoid soy foods/additives once we had been TTC for several months with no success. Since I started avoiding soy, my luteal phase increased by one day (to nine days...so still quite short) and my thyroid levels evened out quite a bit -- staying pretty consistently at 2.0 TSH. She said for people who are sensitive to soy's hormonal properties, it can affect your reproductive hormones and your thyroid's ability to absorb the meds. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16571087


    Report Reply
  • moonstruck1018moonstruck1018 member
    Thanks for the recommendations!  I will check that out.
    Report Reply
Sign In or Register to comment.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"