I got the following response from Dr. Robert Bucher, one of the “founding fathers” of the NGDF. He has been very supportive of all the work on the Internet.
Nancy:
Yes. Pregnancy, not necessarily placenta, is associated with lots of thyroid problems. Mom’s immune system is whacky trying to not reject the fetus as a foreign body and imbue the foreign body with helpful
antibodies.
Some estimates suggest up to 25% of pregnant women develop thyroid disease, much of it undiagnosed but fortunately “thyroiditis” which can lead to hypo, as in post-partum depression, or hyper, as in this
lady, is often transient and gets better all by itself.
I personally think all pregnant women should be tested for thyroid disease during and after pregnancy.
I would advise this e-mail person that pregnancy is often associated with thyroid disease and to seek the advice of an endocrinologist to sort her problem out.
A pearl, which you probably know. Women who need to be on thyroxine and get pregnant are always given prenatal vitamins by their OBs. These women should be advised to take the vitamins, which usually
contain iron, in the evening and take their thyroid medication in the morning (or the reverse). Iron gloms onto thyroid in the stomach and the thyroxine doesn’t get absorbed. These women should not stop taking
their thyroid replacement meds because the baby needs mom’s thyroid hormone until the fetal thyroid gland kicks in.
Can I give you my credit card # and download the NGDF monologue on Pregnancy and the Thyroid Gland? [SOON!] Is this helpful? Keep hanging in there! You are doing a wonderful job with zip help.