[Anonymous]

#1024370

I see a lot of people talking about getting pregnant after they get the levels straight. Can this Graves Disease be what is keeping me from getting pregnant by the hormone levels being all out of wack?
I am female 34 been married for 12 years and haven’t used any form of birth control in 10+ year and me and my husband have decided we do not want kids now. If I have treatment for GD either by pills or via RAI am I going to be able to get pregnant easy? I guess what I am really asking is could GD be what is causing me not to get pregant in the last 12 years?
Thanks,
Stacie

[Anonymous]

#1088417

Hi Stacie,

It doesn’t look like anyone’s answered your post, so I will! Unfortunately, there’s not much we can tell you ~ there is no way to know if it’s been Graves’ that’s kept you from getting pregnant. Wacky thyroid hormone levels can certainly have an effect, but there are also a million other variables that need to be considered. I think you’re very lucky NOT to have gotten pregnant in the last 12 years! This is really a better discussion for you and your ob/gyn ~ they are the only ones that know ALL the variables. I think the bottom line is that you have decided you do not want children right now, so you really ought to do SOMEthing about that besides talking.

~Ski
NGDF Assistant Online Facilitator

[Anonymous]

#1088418

Thanks Ski, I see my ob/gyn on wednesday next week and will talk with her about some permanent birth control options.
Stacie

[Anonymous]

#1088419

A week or so ago, we had a couple of posts in which the topic of fear was discussed, relative to surgeries. I’ve been mulling these thoughts over since then and would like to share some of these thoughts.

First, I think it is extremely helpful for everyone to acknowledge the presence of a fear. Fears interfere with our ability to think through issues constructively. If we acknowledge that, yes, we are afraid of something, I think it can help us to overcome the irrationality that fear introduces into decision-making.

But a further thought came to me during this past week: there are things we are (all?) comfortable with that perhaps lead us to complacency which adds another irrational aspect to decision-making. If we are comfortable with something, we assume it is safe, or at least safER than something we fear. This is not necessarily true.

I doubt that any of us here are afraid of driving. But many are possibly afraid of flying. Well, flying is demonstrably SAFER than driving. But because we are comfortable with driving, we don’t worry about it as much as we do flying (in general). The same can be said for taking pills. Probably 90% or more of us take pills all the time. Have a headache, take a pill. Take vitamins. Pop a supplement. Feel blue: take pills. We are a pill-swallowing culture, in general. So, when an option is presented to us to take a pill or have a surgery (or RAI), it is not surprising if the majority of us would prefer the pill, even if we are told by our doctors that it is not our best choice. We are more comfortable with a pill.

So, I would suggest that when the decision comes for treatment options that we try to put away both fears AND complacencies and listen to what the doctors say about the relative safety or dangers of the treatment options when it comes down specifically to each one of us as individuals. Medicine is not a one-size-fits all issue. It could well be that the best, the safest choice for someone is not the one with which they feel most comfortable.

Bobbi — NGDF Online Facilitator

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