November 30, 2008

Thyroid-related Infertility?

Putting together the pieces of my spotty health over the last five years and wondering why--after all this time--we haven't found ourselves expecting another.

For more than ten years, I was the family joke: "Fertile Myrtle." Every time I called a family member and said, "Hey! Guess what!" the response was invariably, "You're pregnant." Even when I wasn't.

Over the past three years when we were "trying" but not really trying, nothing. Just couldn't figure it out.

I did some research on the symptoms I've been having lately. I suspected my thyroid, and the search results included all of the same old signs: intolerance to cold, insomnia, dry skin, irritability, etc.

But then, the word jumped out and crushed me: infertility.

What???

That would explain a whole lot. It's quite possible I haven't been ovulating at all.

I read it. The possibility is 100% based in fact. But the only way I could know for sure is to see the doctor, and then get a referral to an endocrinologist, because every family physician I've ever seen has less of a working knowledge of Hypothyroidism than I do.

So, I don't know for sure, and this is worse than knowing it's true.

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