What it is
You are exhausted and cold months after birth, or your heart is racing and you cannot sleep even when the baby does. Both can be your thyroid. Postpartum thyroiditis is the immune system inflaming the thyroid gland in the first year after birth. It affects about one in twenty mothers.
What's typical
It often runs in two phases. First, one to four months after birth, too much hormone: racing heart, anxiety, shakiness, weight loss, poor sleep. Then, around four to eight months, too little: deep tiredness, feeling cold, weight gain, dry skin, hair loss, low mood. Some get only one phase. Most recover within a year to eighteen months. About one in four stays low and needs thyroid medicine.
What's known
The American Thyroid Association notes the low phase is often mistaken for postpartum depression or normal new-mother tiredness. A blood test for TSH tells the difference.
What helps
- Ask for a thyroid test at any visit where you are told it is probably just sleep.
- If you are treated for low mood and it is not working, ask whether the thyroid was checked.
When to call someone
- Now (go in): a racing heart with chest pain, trouble breathing, or fainting.
- Todaya resting heart rate that stays high, shaking, or no sleep even when you could.
- At your next visitexhausted and cold past three months, low mood, or hair loss. Ask for a TSH test.
Who helps
Tools: My Birth Team
Related
- Anemia and exhaustion after birthPostpartum: Your Body
- Postpartum depressionPostpartum: Mind
- Postpartum hair lossPostpartum: Your Body
- Sleep deprivation: what it does and how to survive itPostpartum: Your Body
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Sources
- American Thyroid Association — Postpartum thyroiditis patient brochure
- Office on Women's Health — Thyroid disease fact sheet
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