Has anyone read 'Hypothyroidism-The Unsuspected Illness'...

[crackalyn]

by Dr. Broda O. Barnes???? I am reading it now and it is all making way too much sense already and I'm still just on the 2nd chapter. I am just curious. I had asked if anyone was familiar with the basal temperature test but didn't get an answer. This guy studied the thyroid for 35 years and calls himself an "investigator" of the thryoid gland and he also discovered the basal temperature test, which apparently is a lot more accurate than blood tests.

Jax

[Nicole05]

What is the basal temperature test?  I've run across it here and there but never really understood what it is.  Can you give more details?

[crackalyn]

Absolutely! I don't have the book with me at the moment but according to this doctor it is the most accurate way to test your thyroid. Men can do this any day but for us, we need to do it on the 2nd day of our period (assuming we are all still having one). Basically you just shake down a regular mercury thermometer at night and keep it where you can reach it easily and in the morning put the thermometer in your armpit for 15 minutes. You have to try to stay as still as possible, almost doze off again so as not to effect your temperature. If you are 97.6 to 98.2, you probably have a low fuctioning thyroid... according to this dr's theory that is. My temperature has always been 97.6 even in the middle of the day, my whole life. So when I do this test, I am between 96 and 97.2. Of course, I also have a lot of the symptoms as well so I am convinced I have low thyroid. This method supposedly is the least likely to be effected by other things going on in the body, as the way the blood tests are notorious for.

[crackalyn]

Oops, I meant to mention that since doing the thermometer test... I started taking a thyroid supplement that has vitamins, iodine and thyroid gland, just as another test really. I did the thermometer test again this morning and for the first time in my life, that I am aware of (without a fever) I was above the 97.6 at 98, which is what dr. Barnes says will happen. It's too soon for me to notice any change in symptoms since I have only been taking this stuff for 3 days but the temperature change is certainly interesting to me. I plan to discuss this with my dr. See... I'm on of those many people who have a lot of the symptoms but who blood test negatively for hypo.

Anyway, hope that helps!