• It remains disabling
• Lasts more than six weeks after delivery
• Stops you from performing normal activities

This refers to inflammation
of the thyroid gland that occurs in women after child delivery. Thyroiditis can
cause both thyrotoxicosis (high thyroid hormone levels in the blood) and
hypothyroidism (low thyroid hormone levels in the blood). In postpartum
thyroiditis, thyrotoxicosis occurs first followed by hypothyroidism.

The exact
cause is not clear, but it hypothesized that it results from an autoimmune response
(whereby your immune system is overactive and attacks your own body tissues; in
this case, the thyroid gland).

The
classic clinical presentation description of postpartum thyroiditis includes
thyrotoxicosis followed by hypothyroidism, but not all women show signs of
going through both phases: an estimated 1/3 of patients will go through both
phases, while 1/3 of patients will have only a thyrotoxic or hypothyroid phase.
The thyrotoxic phase occurs 1-4 months after delivery of a child, lasts for 1-3
months and is associated with symptoms including anxiety, insomnia,
palpitations (fast heart rate), fatigue, weight loss, and irritability. The
trick is that these symptoms are often attributed to the postpartum phase and
the stress of having a new baby, so the thyrotoxic phase of postpartum
thyroiditis is often overlooked. As such, affected women are much more likely
to present in the hypothyroid phase, which typically occurs 4-8 months after
delivery and may last up to 9 –12 months. Typical symptoms include fatigue,
weight gain, constipation, dry skin, depression and poor exercise tolerance.
Most women will have return of their thyroid function to normal within 12-18
months of the onset of symptoms. However, approximately 20% of those that go
into a hypothyroid phase will remain hypothyroid, and thus will need to be on
thyroid hormone replacement – this is determined based on the thyroid hormone
levels in the blood.