[Anonymous]

#1143884

Laura N., I can only tell you my experience. I had my second child after being diagnosed with GD. I had gone into remission, I went through the entire pregnancy with no major complications and the GD came back when my child was several months old. It was not a medically “interesting” pregnancy, it was pretty regular. I was tested regularly. I have the Rh- factor, and that proved to be more of a topic than the GD. The baby was fine, too. I know of two other women who have had children after their GD diagnosis; they and their children are fine.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

#1048223

If anyone has been pregnant and given birth since being diagnosed with Graves I would love to hear from you. I had a very dificult pregnancy and during delivery my daughter went into fetal distress and we almost lost her. It was several months after I had her that I was diagnosed with Graves. I have had my Thyroid removed and am on Synthroid. My Dr. says that even though my Thyroid is removed I still have Graves antibodies ~ Would they affect a pregnancy? My OB said it would be an interesting pregnancy, but I don’t find that comforting.
Laura

[Anonymous]

#1143885

Laura–the chance of the antibodies crossing the placenta is very small. If you want, you can have a level-two ultrasound and ask the doctor to check for a goiter. I also got GD a few months after giving birth to a sick baby. After that I went into remission on PTU, and six months ago I gave birth to another baby. The pregnancy was fine, and so is the baby. My thyroid didn’t give us any trouble, but now I’m having a relapse (that’s pretty common with PTU-induced remissions like mine). But you should absolutely have your thyroid function monitored during your pregnancy, because pregnancy changes your replacement hormone needs. Your endo knows that pregnancy gives you high levels of estrogen, which can make your TSH look lower on the tests than it really is–that’s why during pregnancy, an endo will use free T4 readings instead. By the way, my mother had two children while she was hyperthyroid (before she was diagnosed with GD) and four more after RAI–all of us fine, though I developed GD, too. Best wishes.
Abigail

[Anonymous]

#1143886

Laura:

I had a baby in December. I was diagnosed 2 years ago with euthyroid graves disease. The only trouble that I had was fetal distress during labor. They lost his heart beat right at delivery. Luckily everything was fine. My doctor did not seem to think that there would be any problems. However, he did keep close watch on my thyroid levels (which were never abnormal). I have a beautiful healthy son.-Dee

[Anonymous]

#1143887

When I was first diagnosed with GD my Dr ask
several questions. One of the first was if I
was pregnant and if I thought I might become
pregnant in the future. Secure in my birth control
methods I of course answered with a “no” to all of the above.
That was close to 2 years ago. I just found out I am
pregnant and was wondering about all the questions
I was ask. I thought maybe he based his decision
of the type of medication on my answer or something
like that? I am currently down to 20mg of Tapazole
daily. My question is are there any risks I should
be aware of? I am aware of some risks being
40 years of age anyway but wonder if there are more.
If anyone could enlighten me in any way I would
be grateful. Thanks DNA

[Anonymous]

#1143888

You need to talk with your endo and let him/her know you are pregnant. And let your OB know that you have Graves and are on antithyroid drugs. Here is some information on pregnancy and antithyroid drugs, from YOUR THYROID: A Home Reference, by Drs. Cooper, Wood and Ridgway. (P 166-167).

“Two antithyroid drugs may be used to treat hyperthyroidism: …PTU and methimazole (the one you are on), both of which block the manufacture of thyroid hormone by the thyroid gland. Most physicians prefer to use PTU in pregnancy. Far less PTU than methimazole crosses your placenta to the baby, so there is less chance of the baby becoming hypothyroid or developing a goiter during pregnancy. Since both of these drugs can cross from your system into your baby’s blood stream and may affect your baby’s thyroid function, your treatment dosage must be kept to a minimum….that will keep you healthy and yet minimize the drug effect on your unborn child. In practice this usually means a total daily dose of less than 200 mg of PTU or 20 mg of methimazole, though sometimes it is possible to reduce the amount of antithyroid drug even further in the later stages of pregnancy, when hyperthyroidism often becomes milder.”

Because pregnancy NORMALLY causes thyroid hormone fluctuations, your levels may have to be monitored more closely than normal.

I hope this helps, and here’s wishing you a wonderful pregnancy, and healthy baby.
Bobbi — NGDF Asst. Online Facilitator

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