2nd Opinion: Kind of Different, Kind of Not

You'd think after nearly six years of infertility that I would have learned my lesson: Ask two doctors to look at the same test results and information, and you'll get three different answers.

2nd Opinion Endo isn't convinced that the thyroid issues mean it will be impossible for me to carry a successful pregnancy. But, he doesn't really have any data to back that up, either; he's just going on experience - he said he's had some patients have very high TSH levels (translation: extremely hypothyroid) who still were able to get pregnant and stay pregnant with those abnormal levels.

I received my Thanksgiving week blood results from 1st Endo last week, and my TSH has continued to climb. That wasn't a surprise to me, because I can barely stay awake during the day, and fatigue is one of the main symptoms associated with high TSH. But what's odd is that the hormone levels that are usually low when TSH is high were not low - they, too, are continuing to climb and are now abnormally high.

2nd Opinion Endo thinks what I'm experiencing is intermittent thyroiditis, meaning occasionally my thyroid suddenly goes into overdrive, causing me to become hyperthyroid, and then when it tires itself out, it hits bottom and bounces in the opposite direction, making me hypothyroid until it settles back down to normal. I asked if pregnancy could trigger it to go into overdrive, and he said yes, absolutely. So I guess that would explain my high blood pressure during pregnancy, since it starts to happen pretty much immediately, whereas pregnancy-induced hypertension usually doesn't begin until sometime in the second trimester.

All of that said, he doesn't think that my levels are a cause for concern, even though they are climbing. He says they're "close enough" to normal that nothing needs to be done other than just continuing to monitor them at this point. Like 1st Endo, he also said he doesn't think the levels are abnormal enough that they would be creating any of my symptoms.

All of which leads me to wonder, what the heck is the point of a "normal range" if you're just going to look at people outside of that range and say, "eh, close enough..."?

So, I'm going back to my PCP tomorrow to share all of this information with her and see what she recommends. She's a DO rather than an MD, so she tends to have a more holistic approach. I think she's my best shot at getting someone to address my health based not just on numbers on a piece of paper, but also on symptoms and how I actually feel.