Dr. Steven Roach, DC, Charlotte Thyroid Doctor Comments:
Many of my patients can trace the start of their hypothyroidism to pregnancy. The question is WHY does pregancy trigger hypothyroidism?
During pregnancy your body goes through natural immune shifts. When you combine this with a genetic tendency and other predisposing factors … pregnancy can set up the perfect environment to trigger hypothyroidism.
For 90% of patients low thyroid is caused by an underlying autoimmune attack. The condition is called Hashimoto’s and your doctor may have already diagnosed you with this.
During the last trimester of pregnancy and then 3 months post-partum your body makes huge shifts in the immune system and this is a perfect recipe for turning on the Hashimoto’s process in genetically predisposed individuals.
Pregnancy can also cause hypothyroid symptoms secondary to chronic stress. Stressors such as gut infections, food intolerances, blood sugar imbalances, and hormonal imbalances can depress the pituitary gland, which controls hormone function in the body.As a result the pituitary fails to signal thyroid activity. For many women this manifests not only as low thyroid function, but also postpartum depression.
Because so many women enter pregnancy dealing with multiple chronic stressors, the increased demands of pregnancy overwhelm the pituitary gland and depress thyroid function.
If you can trace the start of your hypothyroidism to pregnancy, or to some other event, then you must start addressing the underlying causes if you really want to feel and function good again.
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