diagnosis guide
If you’ve just received a medical diagnosis, or you’re concerned that something in your present or past health history might be jeopardizing your fertility, check here for quick info on common medical conditions and how they can affect conception and pregnancy.
Directory Content
Hashimoto's Disease
What It Is
An autoimmune disorder in which the body produces antibodies that attack cells in the thyroid and slow down production of thyroid hormone, resulting in hypothyroidism. It is the most common thyroid disorder in the United States.
Who Gets It
Hashimoto’s disease is an inherited disorder that affects approximately 14 million Americans, according to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. It is seven times more common in women than in men.
Symptoms
An underactive thyroid can cause constipation, heavier periods, weight gain, decrease in appetite, lethargy, depression, cognitive problems, fatigue, dry skin, intolerance to cold, and muscle aches. In many people, the first sign is an enlarged thyroid gland in the neck.
How It's Diagnosed/Detected
Hashimoto’s disease is diagnosed by blood tests that measure levels of the thyroid hormones or antithyroid antibodies. The doctor also may detect an enlarged thyroid during a physical examination.
How It Affects Fertility (And Pregnancy)
An underactive thyroid can cause infertility by preventing ovulation, even when a woman has regular periods. Women with undiagnosed hypothyroidism who do conceive have an increased risk of miscarriage.
Some women with underactive thyroid have elevated levels of prolactin, the hormone that induces production of breast milk after delivery. Excess prolactin can prevent ovulation. Hypothyroidism also can shorten the luteal phase of the monthly cycle, which normally lasts about 12 to 16 days. If the luteal phase is shorter than 10 days, the uterine lining cannot build up sufficiently for an embryo to implant.
Hypothyroidism is treated with a synthetic version of the hormone thyroxine. The body responds as it would to the real thing. Treatment usually prevents further thyroid enlargement and may shrink an enlarged gland.
Pregnancy Prognosis
Of the various threats to fertility, thyroid disorders are among the easiest to identify and treat. If you have symptoms that you think might be cause by Hashimoto’s disease, insist on testing, even if doctors have dismissed your complaints. If you already are being treated for hypothyroidism, you can still conceive and have a healthy pregnancy with a little extra planning and vigilance. Your doctor should monitor blood levels closely to ensure that thyroid hormone levels are in the normal range.
Reader Faves
A few months after my first child was born, I wanted to be pregnant again—as soon as possible. I wanted my children to be close in age, the closer...
You might have spent most of your life (and an excruciatingly embarrassing high school health class) learning how to avoid getting pregnant, but...
There’s no need to feel deprived when you’re trying to get pregnant. Quite the opposite. Check out these foods that taste great and can help keep...
By now you’ve probably heard of Clomid, the most commonly-used fertility drug in the United States. But do you really know how it works and what the possible side effects can be? If fertility drugs are your next step in the attempt to get pregnant, then here is a quick rundown of the seven medications your doctor is most likely to prescribe.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 15 stories
You’ve only been trying for a few months, but you’re already starting to get annoyed rather than excited when you see a pregnant woman. Or you’ve been trying a lot longer. . . and you can’t even bear to look. Here’s how to get over it until it’s your turn.
Eileen Garvin of Susanville, California, became a client of a fertility clinic the way most women do—she was referred there by her ob/gyn.
Everyone knows about maternity leave, but sometimes women need to take time off before a baby arrives. If you’re having fertility treatments or trying to adopt, here’s what you should know to get the time off you need. Whether—and when—to tell your boss that you’re undergoing fertility treatments or arranging an adoption depends a lot on your relationship with your supervisor. While most workplace experts caution against revealing too much personal information, how do you explain being late for work because of blood tests and ultrasounds, and then needing to get home for hormone injections? Or what if you must travel abroad to bring home a baby, and then want three months to bond with your adopted child?
In an effort to attract patients and compete against the more-than 400 fertility centers providing IVF nationwide, fertility clinics today routinely...
As kids, we all learned about the birds and the bees. But we probably didn’t learn enough about fertility to know how babies can be conceived when nature doesn’t work perfectly.
When a couple is having trouble conceiving or carrying a pregnancy, sometimes a “third party” is enlisted to help. These women—egg donors and surrogates—are giving one of the greatest gifts of all. Find out why they do it.-
By now you’ve probably heard of Clomid, the most commonly-used fertility drug in the United States. But do you really know how it works and what the possible side effects can be? If fertility drugs are your next step in the attempt to get pregnant, then here is a quick rundown of the seven medications your doctor is most likely to prescribe.
No one wants to hear a doctor utter the dreaded word “infertility.” But couples can use the diagnosis as an opportunity to learn the skills they...
