High Thyroid Antibodies and Pregnancy/Miscarriage

[jrbkk]

I am 35 years old and had two miscarriages very early on in the pregnancy. One was at 6 weeks and the other was at 8 weeks. The doctor said it was a bligted ovum. Since the miscarriages, I had some bloodwork done and the only thing that came back abnormal was "high thyroid antibodies." I have had an underactive thyroid since 11 years old and my TSH levels are fine (I take a thyroid supplement). I have asked several doctors if the thryoid antibodies can be the cause of the miscarriages and some doctors thought it could be but the one fertility doctor said absolutely not. I have done some research on my own and it seems that there is indeed a link between high thyroid antibodies and miscarriage. Has anyone out there had high thyroid antibodies and had a normal pregnancy? Could this be the cause of the miscarriage or was it just bad luck?
Thanks for any info. that you can provide.
Karen    

[micaela27]

no personal experience, but i too have read in several places that miscarriage is linked to untreated hypothyroidism and specifically to autoimmune thyroid issues.  i know i will be VERY vigilant about testing my blood when i become pregnant in the future, as i have Hashimoto's thyroiditis (which it sounds like you also have if your antibodies are sky high) and i desperately want a healthy and uneventful pregnancy!  i'm sorry about your two losses.  that must have been very emotionally draining and difficult for you.  i hope you are able to conceive again and carry your baby full term this time!

[casablancas]

Hi
Yes you are right there is a definate link between miscarriage and high antibody levels. Do you know what your levels are?
My TPOAb level is 286 at the moment. I had a miscarriage last year at 9 weeks, the babys heart just stopped(I had seen the heartbeat at 7 weeks) and I had to have it surgically removed.

http://www.thyroidmanager.org/chapter14/ch01s03.html

This is a very good website that someone on here posted me when I asked a question the same as yours. Since then I have done lots of research and it appears our only hope is to take 200 micrograms of selenium daily to reduce our antibody level. There is a scientific paper which suggests the miscarriage rate decreases in TPOAb +ve women who are suppplemented with selenium. Try searching the PubMed website to find the paper(it's by a group in Turkey and was published 2006).

There are women out there who are antibody positive who have successful pregnancies so don't lose hope. Just do everything you can to get your body healthy and keep trying. I'm going to start trying again in August, took me a long time to recover mentally from having a miscarriage.
Good luck.