Suboptimal or Subclinical Thyroid

Before I got pregnant with little Miss J, I went to see a naturopath. I was tired of hearing that I was normal from doctors. Ready for the run down? I have:

So I deal with all of these things pretty much on a daily basis. Some days I have more energy, but for most, I feel pretty run down. You can look at each of those ailments separately and try to treat them that way, or you can look at them as a whole and ask if there is something causing all of it.

My naturopath ran a lot of blood work. I think there are a few more tests he could have run, but that is in hindsight. I am tempted to go do a little more actually. Upon doing the blood work, we learned that according to conventional medicine, my thyroid levels are in the “normal” range. I also learned that I am low in B12, sometimes my glucose is low, and I have a mutation of a gene called MTHFR (I call it the motherfer) that prevents me from properly metabolizing B12 and folate. Still, taking these things at face value led us no where.

I decided to dive deeper and find out where these range values come from for the blood work and what are they in other countries, and why. I learned that according to other countries, I was VERY low in B12. Being low in B12 can cause a whole host of problems including depression.

I began to gather some supplements that would help replenish the nutrients my body was missing and then we began our IVF procedure.

It wasn’t until recently, as I’ve begun to feel run down again – never mind the constant lack of sleep from a baby that still doesn’t sleep through the night – that I decided to look at the results of my blood work again. My husband has been listening to some very informative podcasts and several times they have brought up the thyroid and the adrenals.

9 years ago we tested my TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone). I was feeling horrible and couldn’t keep myself awake. That came back normal. It has since been tested multiple times, and despite having most of the symptoms of a messed up thyroid, my tests always came back normal….until I was pregnant with Miss J and I couldn’t get out of my bed for over 2 months. My numbers came back extremely low. Ever since then I have been wondering, is it possible that what is considered normal for other people, doesn’t work for my body? This led me to discover the terms sub-optimal and sub-clinical thyroiditis. Most doctors do not have a specialty in the thyroid system and so do not know what to look for, let alone that there is in fact an “optimal” range to be in.

After listening to people like Chris Kelly and Yuri Elkaim, I learned that my TSH and my Free T3 is actually considered low! I’m not crazy! I just needed to know what to look for!

Anyhow, after doing even more online research, I decided to add a few things to my pre-pregnancy regimen to hopefully bring my numbers into a normal range. I couldn’t find a blend I liked with the amounts of each supplement that was needed, so I just take several different pills. Looks a little like this:

It seems like quite a bit, but it’s really not so bad. In case you are wondering, those are my BCAAs in the drink behind the pills. Time will tell, but I know I do feel the slightest bit better. I’ll be sure to fill you all in more as time goes on. Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to get a 3rd Livingston baby.