Featuring Dr. Richard Bebb, MD, ABIM, FRCPC, Endocrinologist

Duration: 2 minutes, 14 seconds

Video Title: Thyroid Stimulating Hormone Treatment and Dosing - Endocrinologist

Thyroid doses can change with aging. As we get older, sometimes we need to downwardly adjust the dose.

In young children, it is important to ensure normal development, that they have got normal thyroid levels, and it is dosed per kilogram. As you grow, you need more.

Sometimes that is true in adults as well. For example, if someone is on a stable thyroid dose and then manages to lose 30 pounds of unwanted weight, that patient may need a reduction in dose, because there is now less of them.

Another very special situation is the pregnant patient. It has been known for many years, that if a mother or a pregnant woman, I should say, is on thyroid hormone and is under replaced during pregnancy, it can have severe manifestations on developments of the unborn child in terms of mental development. It's been shown that the IQ of children who go through pregnancies in a thyroid deficient state are adversely affected.

For that reason, if you are on thyroid hormone, you want to insure as a woman that your thyroid dose is appropriate. When you want to plan to get pregnant, when you have your first prenatal visit to recheck it and then recheck at intervals.

During the pregnancy to make sure you stay normal right through to the end of your pregnancy. It's not uncommon to need somewhere between a 30 to 50 percent dose increase to accommodate the pregnant state.

Then when you deliver, it's common practice to go back to whatever dose you were on before the pregnancy the very next day, and then six weeks later, recheck your blood to see that you're back on target.

If you are considering a pregnancy or you are pregnant and you have thyroid disease or a family history, do check with your primary care practitioner, whoever is assisting you with your pregnancy, that your thyroid dosing is appropriate.

Presenter: Dr. Richard Bebb, Endocrinologist, Victoria, BC

Local Practitioners: Endocrinologist