Q: I am 41 years old insulin dependent diabetic. My wife is 35 years and we have been married for 8 years now. Earlier I used to take oral medication. My sugar levels are 150 fasting and after meals 200 mg/dl. My wife is suffering from hypothyroidism. She has no adverse symptoms due to her thyroid problem and is normal with medication. We have no children and we have tried every possible treatment but with no success. Doctors said that thyroid disease might have altered the chances of pregnancy. Is there any hope for such patients with thyroid? What kind of treatment will bring success in conceiving a child? Should we go for adopting a child? We need careful advice for future course of action.

A:I do not know whether your semen analysis results are OK or not, and whether you are having any other problem due to diabetes. Yes, hypothyroidism can lead to infertility and pregnancy wastage. However, if well controlled- pregnancy can occur and there can be a normal pregnancy. Important thing to remember is to be euthyroid before and during pregnancy (TSH needs to be measured in every trimester and dosage of drugs adjusted). Also, we need to get ultrasound done to check whether or not baby is developing a goiter and test the cord blood for thyroid tests,and monitor the newborn baby after birth. I do not know whether or not you have tried IVF-ET (test tube baby) method.If you have, and you have not succeeded, I would advise you to adopt a child. You will give a home and love to a baby who needs it. Remember to adopt from an orphanage rather than from within the family - the latter can lead to problems later on. Also, as far as I remember, one of the requirements of the adoption agency is that both the partners should be less than 42 years of age. In any case you should decide on this early- because, once you adopt a child, you should ensure he/ she is settled in life before you yourself are old. Also, the tolerance levels go down with age- it is not easy to bring up a baby. I have seen a few couples adopting a baby- and then within 6 months of the adoption, conceiving without treatment!! This is a miracle of GOD, and we put it down to removal of stress, which is well known to be associated with hormonal problems leading to infertility.