As your baby develops their brain and neurological structures during gestation, thyroid hormones (T3 and T4) play a critical role. Up until birth when their own thyroid gland develops, they depend on you for these essential hormones to stay alive.
If you have a thyroid condition, it’s essential that it be diagnosed and treated prior to trying for pregnancy. Undiagnosed hypothyroidism may lead to irregular menstruation as well as anovulatory cycles – making conception even harder! Untreated hypothyroidism may cause menstrual irregularities as well as lead to anovulation which makes conception even harder.
What is the Thyroid?
The thyroid is a small butterfly-shaped gland located at the front of your neck, surrounding your windpipe (trachea). It produces hormones which regulate how your body uses energy; producing these hormones are crucial to healthy development as they control how energy is utilized by your body, as well as helping manage heart, digestive, and metabolism issues.
Your doctor may order a blood test to measure levels of thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) hormones produced and released into your bloodstream by your body – they play an integral part in metabolism and proper brain functioning.
Your thyroid requires the mineral iodine in order to produce thyroid hormones. Iodine can be found in seafood, seaweed, plants grown with soil rich in iodine content, as well as table salt with added iodine. Without enough iodine in your diet, hypothyroidism could occur.
The thyroid is part of your endocrine system, a network of glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream directly. Hormones act like messengers that send messages throughout the body to coordinate various processes like heart rate and sweat production, so these chemicals must travel somewhere to have an effect. Your thyroid gland creates and releases two of the main thyroid hormones: Thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) – with T4 being more commonly produced and converted to T3 in liver or other tissues where T3 acts on specific tissues where it acts on effects or acts on specific tissues where T4 acts.
What are the Symptoms of Thyroid Imbalance?
An effective thyroid produces hormones to control growth and other bodily systems. When these hormones become out of balance, symptoms such as heart problems, high blood pressure, joint pain and depression may arise.
Thyroid hormones play a vital role in fertility for both men and women. Hypothyroidism occurs when your thyroid produces too little thyroxine hormone; this condition can result in missed ovulation cycles and irregular menstruations making pregnancy harder to achieve.
Hyperthyroidism occurs when a thyroid produces too much thyroxine and can interfere with normal ovulation and menstrual cycles, as well as increase miscarriage risk for women, as well as impact sperm production, movement and shape.
Thyroid antibodies, produced when the body attacks its thyroid as part of an autoimmune disorder, have been found in up to 30% of infertile women and have been found to increase pregnancy loss risk fourfold.
Women are five to eight times more likely than men to develop thyroid disorders, with symptoms appearing at any age. Thyroid imbalance may include unexplained weight gain, fatigue, hair loss, depression and difficulty sleeping; other indicators could include hoarse voice, memory or concentration lapses, dry skin/brittle nails/numb hands/feet/lump in neck(known as nodule); left untreated extreme low thyroid levels can lead to myxedema leading to coma or even death.
What are the Treatment Options for Thyroid Imbalance?
The thyroid produces hormones to keep our bodies working normally, but sometimes too much or too little are made, using up energy too quickly (hyperthyroidism), or too little (hypothyroidism). Women consuming too little thyroid hormone may become anemic, have slow heartbeat, heavier periods, lose weight quickly and experience nerves or anxiety more easily than usual, while hypothyroidism has the ability to affect fertility by slowing ovulation and keeping their uterine lining from thickening enough for implanting an embryo.
Women with a history of thyroid disease or an autoimmune thyroid disorder should undergo testing with TSH and anti-thyroperoxidase antibodies prior to becoming pregnant or seeking fertility treatments. Untreated hypothyroidism in pregnant women may result in miscarriage and abnormalities during gestation, and decreased birth rates among infertile women.
Graves’ disease, in which an overactive thyroid releases too much thyroid hormone, results in lighter periods and can make conception more challenging. When these disorders are treated successfully, normal menstrual cycles and ovulation will typically resume.
Sometimes the thyroid may need to be removed – this can either be performed surgically or non-surgically depending on its severity and whether there are any growths present on its surface. A CCRM Fertility specialist can assist you in choosing the most effective course of action in your unique case.
How Can Thyroid Imbalance Impact Fertility?
The thyroid gland produces hormones that control how energy is utilized by our bodies, as well as vital functions like breathing and heart rate regulation. If too much or too little thyroid hormone production occurs, this could negatively impact fertility as well as other processes within our bodies.
Women suffering from thyroid disease may be affected by infertility due to decreased egg release from their ovaries and low thyroid hormone levels, making ovulation harder and making pregnancy harder to achieve. Men’s thyroid conditions can lead to erectile dysfunction and poor semen quality; typically bringing thyroid levels back within normal range will resolve these problems.
Pregnancy can have a direct impact on thyroid function by increasing demand for thyroid hormone. This is due to the unborn baby relying on thyroid hormone from its mother through her placenta for several months until their own thyroid gland develops.
Studies have linked thyroid autoimmunity (TAI) and/or dysfunction with adverse pregnancy outcomes, including miscarriage and fetal deaths. Unfortunately, however, relationships can often remain unclear due to variations in study design and TSH reference ranges; thus it is essential that TSH levels be tested regularly when trying to conceive.
