Miscarriage Treatment – Is your thyroid causing fertility problems

Miscarriage Treatment – Is your thyroid causing fertility problems

Miscarriage Treatment – Is your thyroid causing fertility problems

Transcription :

Last week I shared my seven tips to help support you if you’ve had a miscarriage, and this week, I want to dive deeper into one of those seven tips. Actually, the inspiration for that topic, or actually, this topic this week was because of an email I got from one of the members of my Hope Coaching program, who shared a baby announcement from her baby that was born as a result of the support she was able to get from us, and one of the things she shared, which we’re going to share on the screen right here for you, is that we were able to discover her thyroid issues, and as a result, she believes that that was impactful in helping her conceive and have a healthy pregnancy. That was the inspiration or is the inspiration for this video right here. If you’ve had a miscarriage, first and foremost, I’m sorry to hear it, but second, I always wonder if you’ve had thyroid issues, and more importantly, have they been checked? I know that many of you are going to tell me that they have, but I scratch my head because I actually wonder, “Have they been checked completely?,” so let’s get into this week’s topic. Before I dive into this week’s topic, I do want to give a quick shout out to this week’s sponsor of the video, Fair Haven Health.

Fair Haven Health produces great products. FH PRO for Women is one of them. If you want more information on their products and how they can support you, use the link in the description below. My name is Dr. Marc Sklar, also known as the Fertility Expert, and I’ve been working with couples for over 19 years, to support you through your fertility journeys through my online coaching programs and my clinic here in San Diego, and this topic, as I mentioned last week of miscarriage is one that we address on a daily basis, but actually, taking it one step forward, this topic of thyroid issues impacting your fertility and your ability to hold a pregnancy is one that I discuss multiple times a day, and why I’m bringing it up today with all of you. Last week I did mention that thyroid issues are one of the seven areas that we need to look at when we’re investigating deeper on our potential issues of reoccurring pregnancy loss and inability to hold a pregnancy, and often, what I hear, especially from those who join my program, my Hope Coaching Program, is that they’ve had all the testing done, and one of the things that we do when they join the program is they have to do some additional testing so that we can have a comprehensive analysis of what’s going on, so when I review the labs that they’ve already had done, even though they’ve been told they’ve had all the thyroid tests done and they believe that all the thyroid tests have been done, typically, what I only see is that they’ve had TSH, maybe T4 or free T3, and that’s about it.

That’s not a comprehensive thyroid panel. That’s not a comprehensive look at thyroid disease. That is a small fraction of what we really need to do, and in reality, we need a much more comprehensive view. We need to take a step back and get a more comprehensive panel done as it relates to our or your thyroid disease or thyroid health. Now, many times, this is done because so many of the physicians that you’re working with really can only do so much with the information you give them so they don’t order more than what they can actually support and treat, and that’s why typically, they’re only looking at those variables, TSH being the number one variable, because the medication that you’re going to be prescribed, Synthroid or levothyroxine, is directly impacting your TSH, your thyroid stimulating hormone, and so that’s why they’re only looking at those values, but why would we have all these other thyroid values if they were not important, if we didn’t need to look at them, if they were insignificant to your overall health, and in this case, your reproductive health?

There’s a reason why we have those labs. There’s a reason why we’re looking at those numbers, because they do matter. They do impact your health and how you feel and your fertility, so wouldn’t it make sense to test and investigate all of those areas? Well, of course, the answer is absolutely, but the reason why it’s not done is because there’s only so much that your physician can do, and it’s directly focused on your TSH. You might be asking, “Well, what are all the labs that we should be checking?”

Well, I’m glad you asked that question because I’m going to share them right now, especially if you’ve had reoccurrent pregnancy loss, but even if you’re just trying to get pregnant and you haven’t had any losses, thank God, we still want to look at and have a comprehensive understanding of your thyroid function, so yes, we are going to start with TSH, thyroid stimulating hormone because that is one of the primary hormones that we need to look at and investigate, but we’re also going to go beyond that. We need to look at your primary thyroid hormones. TSH is produced in your pituitary and stimulates your thyroid to produce its primary hormones, T3 and T4, and we have two versions of each. We have the total or just T4, or total and just T3, and we also have the free aspects of each one, which is free T4 and free T3. We want a comprehensive understanding of both of those, or in this case, all four of those, and then we also want to especially check our thyroid antibodies, that is TPO antibody and thyroglobulin antibody.

These are important because they tell us if your body is attacking its thyroid. That would be equivalent to having an autoimmune thyroid sometimes, and often referred to, and you might know it, as Hashimoto’s disease, or on the other side, Grave’s disease. Now, I have dove much deeper into thyroid issues in the past, so I’m going to leave that to the other video that I have created in the past so that if you want more information on that, you can check that out, but for this purpose, for this video, I want you to understand that these are the main hormones that you should be checking and that are important to rule out or kind of confirm that they are normal. I love finding out that everything looks good, okay, and so wouldn’t you have some peace of mind if you tested them, and then found out that yes, everything looked good, no problems, you could move on to looking in other areas? Exactly, and that’s exactly why we think it’s important for you to check these hormones. Right now, I’m going to put up a shot of all the different hormones and the reference ranges that we like to see for all of these.

Now, why is this important? Well, first and foremost, you’re going to find that our reference range is a little bit more narrow than the reference range you might see in the lab results that you get. Now, why is that? Well, first and foremost, we’re looking at things in two ways. One is we want to make sure that your hormones, any, and all your labs, not just your thyroid labs, that they are telling us that your body is functioning optimally.

That’s first. We don’t want you to be on the fringes of anything because that tells us that something is about to go wrong, that you’re trending in the wrong direction. We want all of that to be roughly in the middle, and that it tells us your body is functioning optimally, and two, we’re also looking at these from a fertility perspective. The biggest pushback that I get is, “My doctor tells me that my labs look normal, so we’re not going to do anything, or they’re not going to do anything about it.” They’re not incorrect from one vantage point.

Yes, based on the clinical range that you get on the lab results, they fall within the normal range, but from a fertility perspective, it needs to be a little bit more narrow or controlled, and that’s where these reference ranges come in. We’re going to take TSH, for instance. I think this is the easiest one to give an example for. The reference range is 0.45 to 4.5, and in some, it’s actually even more than that. It’s 5.4.

I have seen very rare occasions where that reference range is about 3.5 or 3.7. That’s actually the one I like the most, but for fertility, we want to see your TSHB between 1 and 2. I’m comfortable with kind of edges towards 2.5. I really don’t want to see it at 3 or above, and so this tells us that your thyroid needs more support. It might be fine if you’re not trying to get pregnant, but for fertility and conception, we do want to see that be in those reference ranges, and that’s why those numbers, those tests, and these reference ranges are so important for you and your fertility.

The other thing that I hear is often, is that, “I went in, and then I spoke to my GP, or primary, or OB-GYN,” maybe even your REI, and you asked for a full and complete thyroid panel, and they said, “You don’t need it. We’re not going to order it, or we can’t order it for you.” So then, what do you do? How do you get this information? For all of you out in the world, what do you do?

Well, the fortunate thing for all of you is I want you all to know is that for the most part, in most countries, you can actually order your own lab, so you can be proactive about doing a comprehensive thyroid panel to get more information about your results. I cannot speak about if you can get these tests in all the countries or the resource I’m about to give you in all these countries, but in many countries, you can, so I’m going to leave a link for a testing company that you can use to help collect your blood, send it off for testing, and then you will get those results, and I’m going to leave that link in the description below for you so that you all can be proactive and empowered with your fertility and thyroid health. Then, the next step becomes, “Well, what do we do with this information if it comes back abnormal?” Well, that’s where you’re going to need support. There’s two reasons you’re going to need support, and maybe even two ways that you’re going to need support.

One is you’re probably going to need your primary or OB-GYN or someone who’s supporting, your general physician, or hopefully even your REI, to support you if your thyroid levels are out of range to help them get back into range and prescribe medication. Why do I say medication? “Mark, you always talk about doing things naturally, so why are you talking about using medication?” Well, medication’s not all bad and we need to understand that, and in thyroid health actually, especially, I think medication can be really useful and important and valuable. Your thyroid is really volatile and can be very difficult to control in a natural way with natural supplements, and this is an important hormone to really keep in balance and in check, and that’s the first reason why it’s important to be on thyroid medication if you need it, and you do need to consult with your physician about this, but number two, the second reason is once you get pregnant, and that’s right, you will get pregnant, once you get pregnant, your thyroid, your TSH has the tendency to rise and increase, and so we want to make sure it’s controlled and stable, and that it’s not fluctuating back and forth, and so that’s another reason.

Now, if you weren’t trying to conceive, I would feel more comfortable with you trying to control it naturally, but on this journey, and especially if you’ve had a loss, I want to make sure that we’ve got that under control, and I do believe in this situation, that medication would be the best option for you. Now, there’s a lot of other things that will have to be done to support all the other hormones, so I’m just talking about TSH for medication. Your physician is not going to support any of the other issues that are found with your lab work if it’s outside of that TSH, that thyroid stimulating hormone, and that’s where we come in, or working with a natural healthcare provider or functional medicine provider is really going to be valuable for all of you to get those support. Additionally, if you want, you can always join my Hope Fertility Coaching program, and that’s how I support all of these couples on their fertility journey, and this is one of the things that we look at and support you with if you are in that program. If you want to join my Hope Coaching program, all you have to do is apply by using the link in the description below.

When I posted my video last week on seven tips to support you or help you prevent an upcoming miscarriage, I did receive one comment, one post feedback back saying, “What do I need all these tips and tricks? I just need real support.” Well, unfortunately, I’m sorry that you feel that way, but I feel like it’s really important that I say this right now. I can’t look at your specific case through YouTube. I can’t look at your specific needs and give you specific guidance, so giving you these tips, this support is my first step to getting you moving in the right direction, to give you the support that you need, and then if you want more support, if you want more support from me to look deeper into your case, that’s when you start working with me in my Hope Coaching program, but these tips are important, and they’re not meant to be tricks or nuance recommendations that are not meant to be helpful.

These are real things, and for many of you, you haven’t done these things, and that’s why I’m talking about them now, so that you can start moving in the right direction, and hopefully, like many who have messaged me, this is the key that opens the door and helps you conceive, hold a pregnancy, and have a healthy baby, and that’s what I wish for all of you. Again, if you want more information on my coaching program, use the link in the description below. I also want to hear from all of you. What did you find valuable about this video? Comment below and let me know.

What questions do you have that I can support you with on your fertility journey? Comment below and let me know. If you like this video, give it a thumbs up. If you’re not already a subscriber to my YouTube channel, then please subscribe and hit that bell to get notified when I put out a new video for all of you, and until the next video, stay fertile.