General Update #31

Read the last blog in this series.

There has been a reason why I waited several months before writing another general update blog – you may have seen in my announcement blog post the other week – I’m currently pregnant and expecting my second child!

I have been on the prescribed NDT (Armour Thyroid) and Levothyroxine combination for over a year now and feel well. This pregnancy has definitely been more ‘up and down’ and my thyroid hormone levels have bounced around a lot, but I’m OK. Hashimoto’s is still in remission, too.

Just like prior to getting pregnant with my first child, I prepped my body for a healthy pregnancy in all the same ways. You can read about all of that here.

As I’ll cover in more detailed blogs for my ‘pregnancy’ section of the website, being on a privately prescribed thyroid medication has been easy overall for this pregnancy, despite the need for dosage changes early on and fine tuning what my body has needed.

My overall health has been OK in the last five months. My skin is pretty clear, my vitamin levels are looking good and I retest often so as to check which supplements I still need. The supplements I take each day have obviously changed quite a bit whilst being pregnant as not all were safe to take and I had to alter dosages of others based on what test results came back saying.

I haven’t felt any relapse in adrenal dysfunction, Hashimoto’s, gut health etc. which have all been big thyroid puzzle pieces in the last few years, but my oh my have I felt the thyroid fatigue cloud back over me with each drop in levels! Swiftly helped by another dosage increase.

Exercise wise, I am doing the same as my first pregnancy – yoga, walking and swimming when I can squeeze it in to my busy week!

My mental health has been more up and down with this pregnancy, relating mostly to when my thyroid levels have dropped and I’ve physically felt very unwell again. It has then picked up with each medication increase.

Overall, this pregnancy has not been as straightforward as the first. With a non-thyroid related complication this time around, my pregnancy is classed as high-risk and as such has been more stressful and worrying at times.

Along with other factors that put me at higher risk of complications, I’ve been warned about pregnancy loss, preeclampsia and having a premature or low birth weight baby. So we’re more cautious this time around, however all monitoring and scans so far show a healthy baby and we’re keeping fingers crossed for it to continue this way.

I’ll be posting blogs about how each of my trimesters have been, so if you’re interested in following how appointments have gone, especially with my private thyroid medication and how they’ve managed me as a thyroid patient whilst pregnant, be sure to check those out. The posts about each trimester will replace my General Update blogs for now, until after pregnancy, when I’ll go back to writing the General Update blogs.

I am also considering booking in to see a functional medicine practitioner again after the birth, in preparation for some holistic support in helping my body get back on track following pregnancy and childbirth.

I mentioned in my last General Update post that I was waiting on a dermatology referral for acne. Since being pregnant, the acne has pretty much gone, but I am still in the referral system, currently with an April date to see a dermatologist, finally. A bit frustrating since the acne has finally cleared now pregnant! Hopefully they will agree to see me again after pregnancy should the acne come back.

Do remember that you can keep up to date with my personal health journey via Instagram and my newsletters. My Instagram is updated with realtime updates and you’ll be able to follow along as and when everything happens over there!

Read the next blog in this series.

Have you had a ‘thyroid pregnancy’? What was your experience? Feel free to share in the comment section.

You can click on the hyperlinks in the above post to learn more and see references to information given.