Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Ode to Joy!

Finally got a minute to sit down and update this blog. If you've read my previous post you will see that in April of 2011 after a 4 year battle with Hashimoto's disease I was able to rid myself of my TPO antibodies and bring my thyroid back from the grave naturally! I had my thyroid monitored for the next 5 months and when all my labs kept coming back in the perfect ranges, I decided it was time to get pregnant! To me and my husbands surprise I was pregnant at the end of August 2011! I immediately got in to see an OBGYN so I could continue to be monitored through my pregnancy. I had my TSH, FT3 and FT4 checked every 6 weeks. I had your normal morning sickness through the first trimester but luckily had the glorious drug ZOFRAN to get me through! I continued to take the vitamins and minerals that I have listed on my blog in the same doses that I took before I got pregnant. I wasn't the best at taking them everyday. If you've been pregnant you know that it's not always pleasant to take pills. Every time I was checked my TSH was always in the 1.0 - 2.0 range and my FT3 and FT4 were always in the upper 1/3 of the range.  I actually LOVED being pregnant! I felt pretty amazing through the whole thing! I had a very healthy, uneventful pregnancy, labor and delivery. Our little girl is perfect, healthy and very bright! If I do say so myself! :)  I was very nervous that my thyroid would crash after the pregnancy.I had my thyroid checked at 11 weeks postpartum and all my results were great! I even ate dairy in moderation and my TPO antibodies are still gone and I'm feeling wonderful! It was worth it for me to deal with my Hashimoto's disease naturally before trying to conceive. I did not want to be on medication during my pregnancy and have to constantly be upping my dose. If you are planning on becoming pregnant I would suggest trying to overcome the disease if you can before you conceive. If you are already pregnant and on medication I would NOT recommend stopping your medication. I would stick to what your doctor is telling you. I hope this gives some of you women out there with this horrible disease some hope that you can overcome it and go on to have a normal pregnancy!

10 comments:

  1. Dear Crystal, I was very happy to read your post. I can imagine how busy you are with your beautiful baby and I am so glad your pregnancy went well. Mine was going really fine until few days ago when I started having insomnia porblems ( again, as I had them before the pregancy and then they disappeared) and nervousness and tension. Could be due to the fact that my T4 has dropped a bit under the normal range. I will probably continue with the homeopathy or not but would like to give your supplements a try. I will discuss it with my homeopath, of course. As homeopathy does not seem to be working for me thoroughly. I am gluten free but need to go dairy free probably. The problem is that I am a vegetarian. Cannot try anything severe while pregnant as well. I read and reread the whole blog and just would like to make sure that this is what you have been talking:

    Calcium Citrate, Now, Zinc 15, copepr 1mg, magnesium 5mg, calsium 600, vit d 100 + Zink, Swan - 22 mg ( did you ever add the extra 1 mg of copper, from what product?)- in the evening

    Selenium + vit E ( at one place you say 50 + 100) on another a bit more, what dose exactly?)

    And have you still been taking the probiotics?

    Is there anything that I am missing?

    Thank you so so much for giving me/ us your time and experience.

    p.s. I live in Europe, in Bulgaria so finding the exact same supplemtns is a bit of a challenge but not impossible;)

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    1. Hi! I take 400IU of Vitamin E from this website
      http://www.swansonvitamins.com/q?kw=dry+vitamin+e
      And 200mcgs of Selenium
      http://www.swansonvitamins.com/swanson-ultra-selenoexcell-200-mcg-60-caps
      They should be able to ship to Bulgaria! Hope everything is going well with your pregnancy! :)

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  2. First of all, congratulations on having a baby girl! You really had a tough time having your health tested by different illness. I would suggest that it is much better if you are taking good care of your immune system according to what I've read from an article about zinc deficiency symptoms. Having a strong immune system could even save your from being prone to other sickness. Congratulations and have happy life for you and your family.

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    1. Thank you! Yes it is really important to have a good immune system. I take extra zinc, vitamin C and 5,000 if Vitamin D! :)

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  3. So happy for you and your sweet little family! I'm looking forward to getting my levels back on track and continuing to get healthier and healthier. It will be time to hit the natural foods shop Saturday

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  4. Hello, my husband was just diagnosed with Hoshimotos. He started feeling like crap in June and it has gotten progresively worse. They started him on levothyroxin, but his tsh is still high. But it is just barely high. His other level which I can't remember the name of is at 900. He feels fatigued,all his muscles and joints hurt, he has headaches all the time etc. his mother, aunt,and grandma all had Hoshimotos. They have tested him for lupus, Addison's disease, celiac disease. So far these are negative although he does have vitiligo disease. I was wondering. Did you take these supplements while taking thyroid replacement hormones. And if not could you? Thank you. Kerry

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    1. Hi Kerry! So sorry to hear that your husband has Hashimoto's and is feeling so unwell. You said he was tested for a gluten allergy? The problem with the test is it is very sensitve and unless you've comsumed tons of gluten before the test it can come up with a false negative. The best thing for him to do is go off gluten for a few months and see if he feels any better. I had to do that. I didn't feel better so I moved on to going off Dairy and I could tell the difference with in a few weeks. You can take the supplements while taking synthroid. He may notice that he needs to reduce his amount of synthroid as the supplements start to do their job! My DR. has been able to get people off their synthyroid completly! Hope this helps and you hubby is feeling better soon! :)

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  5. Hello,

    I am new to your blog and have really enjoyed reading it!

    Could you please advise what multivitamin you took while pregnant for folate? Most of the ones I have found are with Iodine.

    Your tips have been very helpful!

    thanks again,

    :)

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    1. Hello! I took Spring Valley Prenatal vitamins during my pregnancy. They don't contain iodine and are easy on the stomach. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Spring-Valley-Prenatal-Multivitamin-Multimineral-Dietary-Supplement-240-Ct/10325013

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  6. Hi, I know this is an old post but it's helped me get my subclinical hypothyroidism under control and now I'm pregnant. Currently I take folic acid, vitamin d, selenium and vitamin d. I try to take zinc/magnesium but the tablets are tough to swallow. I was wondering if you took iodine at any stage?

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