My wife hasn’t felt like herself since giving birth to our daughter 2 years ago. Trouble sleeping, fatigue all the time, low libido, low motivation. She’s 32 y/o, has a Mirena IUD, family history of thyroid issues. She recently got labs done and they are as follows:
I’m not seeing any thyroid issues, testosterone looks fine. Also I don’t see any estrogen labs, but these labs need to be measured on the 19, 20, 21 or the 22 day of your wife’s cycle otherwise lab values will be worthless.
It sounds like your wife might have chronic fatigue syndrome which can persistent for years after childbirth.
Thanks for the response. I’m not sure why they didn’t include estrogen in the labwork. They were done on the 3rd day of her period as directed by the ordering physician.
Her progesterone is lacking and her thyroid is way less than optimal
Her testosterone is also lacking with regard to optimal levels.
There is no need to measure estradiol in a press menopausal woman as it will be high half the time and low the other half. You also don’t give estradiol to a premenopausal woman.
She needs progesterone, THYROID, and testosterone
Okay man. I don’t frequent forums anymore but attention was made about your post and I can’t help it.
PLEASE don’t give anymore advice on forums. I know the intentions are good but the advice in most instances is not.
Instead of spending all of this time on forums you need to spend that time getting your health in tip top shape from what I can gather.
You are doing much more harm than good
While hormones are all over the place post partum, this has been going on too long.
The hormone in Mirena is a progestin, a synthetic version of progesterone. It does not offer some of the benefits of progesterone (because it is not) and also can have some unhealthy side effects. Progesterone is important for quality sleep and its calming effects. She could be tired because she is not sleeping, low libido and motivation also because she is tired. We have the women take their progesterone right before going to bed. It is great for promoting good sleep.
I wouldn’t give up on thyroid. Sure, number are numbers, but what about her symptoms? I’ve placed women on thyroid with these numbers. To cloud the issue, many low thyroid symptoms cross over with symptoms due to other hormones.
Low thyroid patients will get a good nights sleep and wake up tired, but she probably does not get a good nights sleep so this cannot be used for determination. They always feel like a nap. Thinning hair, eye brows, dry skin, brittle nails. They carry some fat that seems impossible to lose. Of course, they feel tired all the time.
She could try melatonin.
Testosterone could help with her libido. Her free testosterone is around 1%, which is low. Test would also help with her energy levels, strength and lean muscle.
She could be looking at several options. To begin, I would stop Mirena. I encourage every patient to do this. Yes, you’re looking at another form of contraception, however, synthetic hormones are not healthy.
Thank you both for your contributions and your time. Another result initially missed, that being her Vitamin D level, is low (25). We didn’t think this would be an issue because she supplements, but clearly it’s not enough.
So, with this new development, we’re not sure which route to go down (hormone replacement or just starting with D3). I doubt the vitamin d would be causing a non-existent libido but I could be wrong. Perhaps she has no libido/desire due to the exhaustion from the low vitamin d levels. Can vitamin D affect the hormones of the body to the degree we see on her labs? I know it’s now considered essentially a hormone itself.
Highpull, I agree wholeheartedly on the cessation of the Mirena. We have sperm frozen for future attempts at pregnancy and I’ve offered to have a vasectomy performed so she can get the IUD out of her body. Another question I had was whether her progesterone level was normal given that she was 3 days into her period. I’ve read that <0.5 can be normal in that phase, but that’s just random internet babble.
This right here is one of the countries leading experts on woman’s hormones. Listen and trust. My wife is under their care and the results between them and defy are night and day. With defy my wife had nothing but problems. With this doc my wife doesn’t bother and say anything about her therapy except how she feels wonderful… finally a
You just got some free advice that you can trust. Most doctors in the world have zero clue what they are doing with woman’s hormones. Be careful.
Thanks again for the input. She’s very back-and-forth right now about the decision to be on therapy. She’s concerned about starting at a younger age (32) and possible long-term consequences/side-effects despite reading numerous studies to the contrary. Do you have many younger women on therapy in your practice?
I’ve suggested to her that the decision should be based on how her symptoms are affecting her quality of life. I feel for her with the decision to begin therapy, it can be a big one. I couldn’t wait for testosterone treatment because my body felt like it was falling apart. I don’t inhabit her body, but from what she tells me and what I can see she could probably use some help.