General Medicine

» Elaine Moore - Avoiding Iodine

Hi Heather,
Congratulations on your pregnancy!! I'd definitely add dairy. Just don't over do it. And take whatever prenatal vitamins your doctor recommends as long as they don't have more than 150 mcg iodine. You want a vitamin that has adequate folic acid. I take DHA in an essential oil capseule with GLA, DHA that I get from Life Extension (www.lef.org) Ask your doctor if something like that would be ok. I agree with you that DHA is very important. Even my puppy gets it in her food. See if your doctor has any samples you can try. I used to get rashes from supplements that contained iodine.

During early pregnancy, thyroid levels normally rise. The ranges are 1.5 times higher than usual for T4 and T3 and you can expect TSH to fall as low as .01 mu/L but not less than that. During the second half of pregnancy levels fall because of the increased estrogens using up all the binding proteins. So people on replacement hormone generally need more and people on ATDs need less. You'll probably not need anything but these are normal changes you should be aware of so you don't worry about them. Take care, and again, congratulations!! Elaine