Your thyroid is a butterfly shaped gland in your neck. If it is functioning well you may not even know it is there. If it starts to go off-kilter it can cause symptoms from hair loss and weight gain to dry skin and exhaustion. In addition to a long list of other symptoms, hypothyroidism can destroy your fertility. In addition to causing infertility, thyroid problems can cause recurring miscarriage. Even if you manage to get pregnant with a low thyroid level, your baby can suffer from mental retardation if your levels are too low during pregnancy.

Even when you have symptoms of hypothyroidism, your doctor can miss the signs. For several years every doctor I saw offered me Prozac to deal with the crushing fatigue. Finally one doctor did the simple antibody test that revealed a serious autoimmune thyroid condition called Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Simply put, my immune system was attacking my thyroid and that was the cause of my fatigue, dread of cold weather, and part of the cause of my infertility.

The good news is that hypothyroidism is usually easy to treat. Most patients take a simple pill every day and report good success with this easy treatment.

Living Well With Hypothyroidism is an excellent book by Mary J. Shomon. A long time patient advocate and author of many articles about hypothyroidism, Shomon covers every aspect of life with hypothyroidism. Her explanations are clear and she explains what you can do to get the treatment you need.

Shomon covers the stuff your doctor won't tell you, such as whether the common drugs used to treat hypothyroidism are actually the most effective. She backs up her claims with current research. This is one of the most complete thyroid health books available.

You may also be interested in Shomon's other books The Thyroid Diet and The Thyroid Hormone Breakthrough. The latter book also addresses hormone problems including infertility as they relate to thyroid health.