Anonymous
Dear Peggy,
I understand your concerns. PTU does cross the placental barrier which
if on while pregnant will put you in a “high risk catagory” which you
probably already are at age 38. But if you opt for that many women
have delivered normal healthy babies while on PTU. The doctor will
monitor your thyroid levels extremely close. You would probably need to
see a Maternal-Fetal specialist. The doctors told me that GD makes it
harder to conceive, but that didn’t affect my fertility.
I am now 36 expecting my fourth daughter in two weeks. The first two
I know I was an undiagnosed GD pt. while pregnant. My third pregnancy
in 1993, I lost at 24 weeks gestation due to fetal abnormalities that
had nothing to do with the Graves, but it was after that, that my symptoms
really got out of control. I was finally diagnosed, and I knew there was
something wrong for a long time. I opted to take the RAI,because I didn’t
want to wait so long to have another baby. I would rather waited the 6
months after RAI than the two years on PTU, then to only find that I
would need the RAI after all. I could sense my biological clock ticking
away. Anyway I got pregnant with my third daughter 10 months after the
RAI. By the way Synthroid does not pass through the placental barrier.
So my advice to you is to consult with a maternal-fetal specialist and
then go from there.