Hi, I am Dr. Ankita Srivastava. I am a gynaecologist and obstetrician with over 10 years of experience. I currently practice at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi and at Zoe Nutrition For Life. I am the co-creator of the conceive effortlessly online program. It is a 3 month online program designed to provide personalised care and attention to you from leading experts in the country and help you get pregnant faster, naturally, easily & most definitely. 😊
I often interact with several patients who are a part of my online program to give them personalised consultations and guide them regarding the problems that they are facing in their pregnancy journey. This, along with my experience practicing at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi, have together helped me understand and know some of the most common and unaddressed queries, issues and concerns that modern couples face when they are trying to start their family and conceive a baby. I also believe that we can all learn from each other's journey as well as the experiences, hence, I document interactions with several of my patients so that others can learn from these documentations as well. One such case has been shared by me below.
Patient's query:
"What is Hypothyroidism and what can I do to manage it?"
This is something that I get asked quite often. Several patients that I see everyday are facing issues with hypothyroidism. I've tried to address several common queries I get about hypothyroidism in the recommendation section below.
My recommendations:
"Hypothyroidism is very common among women. The female population have hypothyroidism. So what really happens during hypothyroidism is that the TSH levels go up. Now, You must have see in your reports that there is a mention of your TSH, then there's a mention of free T3 and a free T4. So, free T3 and free T4 are the active forms of the hormone. Now, when the TSH levels go up, they suppress the active forms of the hormone and the active forms of the hormone go down. This then causes some gain in weight. You know, you start feeling cold, start gaining weight, there is some hoarseness in your voice, your periods become irregular, your periods become scanty, etc. All these problems can happen due to hypothyroidism. And all these will ultimately lead to inability to conceive. Infertility can be a result of hypothyroidism. But, here's the good news, as soon as you treat hypothyroidism, you will conceive because it is a very easily treatable disease. So, if supposing there is hypothyroidism diagnosed, according to your reports or your symptoms, do not get disheartened, because that is something that we've caught as your cause of infertility. Now you know that if you treat this, you can conceive. Also, we've seen in girls who have had hypothyroidism, who are taking 150 microgram, you know, 150 is a very high dose. If they're taking 150 microgram, few lifestyle modifications, like reduction of weight, good exercise, all these things, they have gone to 50 microgram or 25 microgram of Eltroxin, which is the hypothyroid drug. So, the dosage of the drug will come down substantially if you're following the lifestyle modifications on the side. So, reduction of weight really helps. But, if the girl is already lean, what can she do? Doesn't mean that weight reduction will help her, but good exercise, being active, meditation, relaxing techniques, etc. All these things will help you bring down the level of the medication that you need to take. If you've had hypothyroidism, it doesn't mean that you have to take the medication for the rest of your life. You take it for a few years, you keep following up with your reports every three months or every six months and you see, that eventually, the dosage will come down and you may even have to stop the drug. So there's nothing to get scared of. All we need to do is see and treat the condition and conception will be achieved. If you've conceived, even if you've conceived with hypothyroidism, you have to make sure you're following up with your thyroid levels because if you've conceived, your thyroid levels will derange even more. So the hypothyroidism will get even more nasty after you've conceived. So you have to keep following up and you may have to increase the dosage just for the pregnancy duration. Why should you do that? Because if you don't do it and with thyroid levels remain deranged during pregnancy, then, there is a chance of miscarriage and even a chance of abnormal brain development in the baby. So, you don't want all these complications to happen. Thus I advice that you adjust the dose according to your need during pregnancy and before pregnancy and you'll have a good and healthy baby with a healthy brain and no miscarriages, even when you conceive. So the hypothyroidism is very, very important to catch. And once you've caught it, you have to follow it up with a good dose, and don't miss your doses, don't stop it without medical consultation and keep following up with your medical reports."
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I hope you found this article useful. If you want a detailed consultation with me, you can write to me or drop me a whatsapp. You can also read another article by Dr. Parul Chopra Buttan on understanding all about PCOS by clicking here.
You can go Zoe's 3 month fertility program- Conceive Effortlessly, to boost fertility and achieve pregnancy faster by clicking below. You can also check out some of our other programs that help you improve your overall lifestyle:
2. Deep Sleep Meditation for a healthy and fulfilling sleep, every night.
4. EASY30’ Workout Program: At-home workouts for weight loss & fitness.
Love and good health,
Dr. Ankita Srivastava
Gynaecologist & Obstetrician
MBBS, MS, DNB, MRCOGII (London)
Email: drankita@zoe.menu | Whatsapp: 8527198370
At Zoe we have created an online program to help you improve fertility and get pregnant faster by adapting small lifestyle changes that focus on weight, nutrition, sleep and mindset. This video series is your and your partner’s perfect pregnancy planner. Check it out here.
