Thyroid health is essential for optimal fertility an is one of the root issues of infertility.

There are a few ways that a poorly functioning thyroid can contribute to difficulties with fertility and conception.:

1. Delays ovulation: lack of adequate thyroid hormone can prevent ovulation or delay it. We have to ovulate in order to release the egg from our ovaries and then conceive.
2. Lower progesterone: we only make progesterone when we ovulate.
3. Can lead to higher insulin and androgens (male hormone) levels.

One eyeopening study shows how suboptimal thyroid health can impact fertility and conception here:

“A study showed that women who never achieved basal TSH <2.5 mIU/l or Thyrotropin releasing hormone-stimulated TSH <20 mIU/l had lower conception rates. Women with TSH ≥2.5 mIU/l have significantly higher BMI, fasting insulin concentrations, total testosterone and free androgen indices and decreased sex hormone–binding globulin concentrations.”

Recurrent miscarriages and pregnancy complications have also been shown to be impacted by thyroid function:

“Pregnant women with subclinical hypothyroidism or thyroid antibodies have an increased risk of complications, especially pre-eclampsia, perinatal mortality, and miscarriage. Universal screening for thyroid hormone abnormalities is not routinely recommended at present, but thyroid function must be examined in female with fetal loss or menstrual disturbances. Practitioners providing health care for women should be alert to thyroid disorders as an underlying etiology for recurrent pregnancy loss.”

Thyroid health is important for conception and a healthy pregnancy, but it’s also essential for quality of life postpartum. I’ll be talking about different ways to assess your thyroid health next week!

PMID: 21772747, PMID: 12660260

Want to learn more about thyroid health? I have a free thyroid mineral webinar that you can watch here.

We also dig deeper into thyroid health and fertility in our Nurture Your Fertility program.