The thyroid is an important hormone that helps the body to function properly. It is a small, butterfly-shaped gland in the neck, which releases hormones. These thyroid hormones can affect an individual’s health substantially including heart rate and body metabolism.
Thyroid During Pregnancy
The thyroid hormone is essential to avoid many problems. It becomes more important for pregnant women not to have any thyroid-related issues. To deliver a healthy child, it is necessary to monitor thyroid during pregnancy, if it is not within normal levels. The thyroid gland, when functioning abnormally, may produce a higher or lower amount of hormones.
There could be a few symptoms that show the presence of thyroid issues in an individual. Otherwise, it is difficult to detect the actual reasons for hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism.
Many women have this disorder already whereas a few others may develop it during pregnancy for the first time. It is important to get diagnosed and treated if you have any symptoms of hyperthyroidism (higher than normal) or hypothyroidism (lower than normal).
Thyroid and Pregnancy
The thyroid gland produces thyroid hormone and controls the usage of body energy. It has an impact on almost every part of your body including your heartbeats. Producing too much or too little of these hormones has adverse effects on the body.
Moreover, the thyroid plays a huge role during pregnancy. The two pregnancy-related hormones known as human chorionic gonadotropin or hCG and estrogen result in higher levels of hormone release in the blood of a pregnant woman.
The thyroid gets enlarged during pregnancy in healthy women though the regular examinations would not reveal if there is any problem with the thyroid functionality. It is difficult to know whether higher thyroid levels are due to pregnancy or other disorders during this period as the symptoms are similar.
Hypothyroidism in Pregnancy
The lower amount of thyroid hormone in your body is known as hypothyroidism. The fetus relies on the mother for thyroid hormones during the initial months of pregnancy. Thyroid hormone can affect the development of the brain if the maternal thyroid is not functioning at normal levels.
Hypothyroidism causes mothers to deliver babies with lower IQ as their mental and motor development suffers due to thyroid imbalance. The nervous system of a baby relies on the mother’s thyroid in the first three months. Only after 12 weeks, the baby’s thyroid becomes functional.
The symptoms of hypothyroidism are mild and are not easy to detect. A blood test is necessary to measure thyroid hormone levels to confirm the signs of hypothyroidism. The symptoms include:
- Feeling cold
- Tiredness and muscle cramps
- Severe constipation
- Memory and concentration-related issues
Hypothyroidism affects the mother and the baby. It can cause,
- Miscarriage
- Stillbirth
- Low birthweight
- Preeclampsia (raises the blood pressure later during pregnancy)
- Anemia
- Placental abruption happens to separate the placenta from the wall of the uterus before birth.
- Myxedema
- Congestive heart failure (though very rarely)
The first semester of pregnancy is crucial for the development of your baby’s nervous system and untreated hypothyroidism could have serious consequences. You should always be in touch with the doctor and get regular check-ups done.
There might be different reasons for this medical condition, so the doctor also does a few tests to make sure that Hashimoto’s disease is not the reason behind your hypothyroidism. There is always a way for the betterment of the condition, it’s just you need to be aware and in constant touch with your medical professional.
