Why Thyroid Health is so Important for Fertility | Fertility Naturopath
Thyroid function is incredibly important for optimal fertility outcomes.
In fact, a good amount of the patients I see in my practice are managing thyroid issues.
Let’s start from the beginning so you can understand why the thyroid gland matters.
The thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped gland located just above your collarbone on the front of your neck.
It is responsible form managing metabolic function.
I relate thyroid function to driving a car… Imagine you’re sitting in the driver’s seat with your foot on the gas as your driving down the road. You need to speed up so you press your foot down on the gas to rev up the car engine. Later on in your drive you need to slow down so you take your foot off the gas. Your thyroid does a similar job. It takes messages from the brain to decide whether our metabolic rate needs to go up or down.
Optimal thyroid function is incredibly important when you’re trying to conceive because it can impact menstrual cycle function, as well as when you are pregnant because the fetus relies on your functioning thyroid gland in the early stages of pregnancy.
Sometimes thyroid disfunction can be very obvious. It can present as:
Hypothyroidism: fatigue, dry and coarse hair, weight gain, constipation, and a feeling of cold, and more
Hyperthyroidism: jittery-ness, weight loss, greasy and coarse hair, diarrhea, a feeling of heat, heart palpitations, inability to sleep and more
Sometimes thyroid symptoms can also go unnoticed, or be a little more quiet.
Either way it’s always helpful to understand what your thyroid is up to when you’re trying to conceive.
Here are a few tests I run in the clinic:
TSH
Free T4
Free T3
Thyroid Antibodies - thyroperoxidase antibody and anti-thyroglobulin
The first 3 tell us about overall thyroid function.
The antibodies tell us about any autoimmune activity against the thyroid. This latter group of tests is often very important for understanding fertility impacts by the thyroid gland because having elevated thyroid antibodies impacts the likelihood of maintaining a pregnancy even if your TSH level is normal (PMID: 19121990).
Curious to learn more about how your thyroid might be impacting your fertility outcomes? You can find me at Conceive Health to book an appointment.
🚨 Before You Go!
Don’t forget to reward yourself by joining my Preconception Challenge that will help you learn ways to up your preconception knowledge. It’s free and you can access it right away by clicking here:
