🌿 Why Your Thyroid Is So Important for Your Fertility - Understanding Hashimoto’s, Proper Testing, and How Your Thyroid Impacts Ovulation, Hormones, and Your Ability to Get Pregnant

By: Dr. Alyssa McPeak

If you’ve been trying to get pregnant and something feels “off,” your thyroid may be the missing piece. Most women never think about their thyroid when they think about fertility — and unfortunately, most doctors don’t either.

But the truth is: 👉 Your thyroid is one of the most important organs for your fertility, your cycle, and your hormones. If it’s not functioning properly, getting pregnant becomes much harder.

Let’s break down why.

💛 What Your Thyroid Actually Does

Your thyroid is a small gland in your neck, but it controls nearly every system in your body, including:

• Metabolism

• Hormone production

• Ovulation

• Body temperature

• Energy levels

• Mood

• Digestion

• Detoxification

• Menstrual cycles

When your thyroid slows down — even slightly — it can disrupt your entire hormone system.

This is why women with undiagnosed or untreated thyroid issues often struggle with:

• Irregular cycles

• Anovulation (not ovulating)

• Low progesterone

• Recurrent miscarriage

• Difficulty conceiving

• Long or short luteal phases

• PMS or PMDD

• Low libido

• Fatigue

Your thyroid is literally the hormone “thermostat” of your body. If it’s off, everything else is too.

💥 Hashimoto’s: The Most Common Cause of Thyroid Issues in Women

Up to 90% of all hypothyroidism in women is actually Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis — an autoimmune condition where the immune system attacks the thyroid.

Hashimoto’s often goes undiagnosed because the symptoms can look like:

• Fatigue

• Cold hands and feet

• Anxiety

• Depression

• Brain fog

• Hair loss

• Weight gain

• Miscarriage

• Infertility

• Heavy or irregular cycles

Women are frequently told:

💬 “Your labs look normal.”

💬 “It’s just stress.”

💬 “Your TSH is fine.”

💬 “Everything is in range.”

But the truth is, TSH alone does NOT diagnose thyroid problems — especially Hashimoto’s.

🚫 Why the Medical Community Often Misses Thyroid Problems

Most doctors only test TSH, which is NOT a thyroid hormone. It is a brain hormone that tells the thyroid what to do.

TSH does not measure:

• How much thyroid hormone your thyroid is actually making

• How much hormone is available to your cells

• Whether you’re converting T4 → active T3

• Whether you have autoimmune thyroid disease

• Whether inflammation is suppressing thyroid function

This is why so many women are told everything is “normal”… while they’re struggling with infertility, irregular cycles, fatigue, or weight gain.

You deserve better.

✔️ The Thyroid Tests You Actually Need

Ask for these full thyroid panel markers to get the complete picture:

1. TSH

A starting point — but not enough on its own.

2. Free T4

Shows how much hormone your thyroid is producing.

3. Free T3 (the most important!)

Shows how much active, usable hormone your body has. Low Free T3 = low metabolism, low progesterone, low ovulation.

4. Thyroid Antibodies

This is what diagnoses Hashimoto’s —but most doctors never test them.

You need BOTH:

• TPO antibodies

• TG antibodies

If these are elevated, you do NOT have a thyroid problem —👉 you have an autoimmune problem affecting the thyroid.

This distinction matters because treatment is very different — and supporting fertility requires targeting the immune system, gut, inflammation, and stress response… not just thyroid medication.

🌸 How Thyroid Issues Impact Fertility

Thyroid hormones communicate directly with your ovaries. When your thyroid is low:

• Ovulation becomes irregular

• Your luteal phase shortens

• Progesterone drops

• Your follicular phase lengthens

• Miscarriage risk increases

• Egg quality decreases

Even a slightly underperforming thyroid can lead to:

• Trouble conceiving

• Recurrent pregnancy loss

• Poor cervical mucus

• PMS

• Spotting

• Low libido

If you’ve been trying to get pregnant without success —you must look at your thyroid.

🌱 The Good News: You Can Heal Your Thyroid and Improve Fertility

When you address the root causes — not just TSH — your thyroid can rebalance. This is where functional medicine shines.

Look at the whole picture:

• Gut inflammation

• Nutrient deficiencies

• Autoimmune triggers

• Endocrine disruptors

• Stress response

• Blood sugar balance

• Hormone conversion

When these are supported, your thyroid has the environment it needs to thrive — and your fertility improves tremendously. Your thyroid IS your fertility. Understanding it is the key to unlocking natural conception.

👉 Learn more about supporting your thyroid inside the FERTILE Plan, where T is for Thyroid.

Your body is not broken. It’s communicating — and when you listen, everything changes. 💛