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798555 tn?1292787551

Discussion: Is your Basal body temp still low

I have some discussion questions about this seldom talked about topic here.

Many of the well known holistic type of Drs who wrote about hypothyroid make a big deal about basal body temp. A lot of autoimmune people have low body temp. Many hypothyroidians still have low temp after other symptoms have gone away.

Basel body temp taken at the arm pit is usually lower than orally and is supposed to be lowest 5-6 AM but still near the lowest at your waking time before 9 provided you slept at least 6 hrs. Unfortunately, when were at the Dr we are already warmed up and moving around (even if you still feel cold).

[  "An average BBT between 97.8 and 98.2 is considered normal. Temperatures from 97.6 to 98.0 degrees Fahrenheit are considered evidence of possible hypothyroidism, and temperatures less than 97.6 degrees can be even more indicative of hypothyroidism. Some practitioners, however, consider any temperature under 98 degrees to be indicative of hypothyroidism."  ]

Obviously a certain time of the month voids this comparison in some women.

Questions:

1) Do you still have low temp even after other thyroid symptoms have improved : if so, do you take any type of T3 hormone?

2) What time is your lowest temp?

3) Does your lowest temp coincide with when you FEEL the coldest?

4) Do you warm up when your not rested - moving?

4) Are you in a cold climate below freezing?


My stats: I have low temps even though my thyroid is the best its belt in years on dessicated hormone with T3 (Erfa like Armour) My temp is lowest the later I'm up at night. Last night my underarm temp was 96.5 at midnight and I felt the coldest. Mornings are commonly very low 97's for me. I warm up once I move around. Sitting around at night before bed I get very cold. I live in a cold winter temp climate.

Once I'm cold putting on layers is the best and more affordable than cranking up the heat..

thanks for sharing
LM

13 Responses
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1202943 tn?1347840652
My body temp had always been 98.6, pretty much all off my life.  After RAI and going hypo, my temps were averaging 95.2- 96.7.  Since switching to armour and getting my levels balanced out, my temp had been around 97-97.6.  I'm going to try to get a new thermometer and check more times a day.  I am freezing all winter and feel like my body temp must be lower.
Helpful - 0
1756321 tn?1547095325
WebMD has this to say about body temperature:

"The average normal temperature is 98.6F (37C). But "normal" varies from person to person. Your temperature will also vary throughout the day, usually being lowest in the early morning and rising as much as 1F (0.6C) in the early evening. Your temperature may also rise by 1F (0.6C) or more if you exercise on a hot day. A woman's body temperature typically varies by 1F (0.6C) or more through her menstrual cycle, peaking around the time of ovulation."
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thanks for the tips on thermometers........I'll try the sock trick for sure. But I didn't find any mercury thermometers on Amazon under Veterinary supplies or anywhere else...just the digital and "Red Line" ones, which aren't mercury.

While it's true that everyone's temperature can be slightly different, I'm pretty convinced that a temp in the low 97s or below (mine was 96.8 the other day) indicates a low metabolism and coordinates with my symptoms as well.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
My thyroid medication has not changed my temperature. In the morning when I wake up my sublingual temperature is 36,3-36,4C. it is the same as tens of years ago, when I did not have thyroid medication.

I have sometimes a temperature peak early in the morning at about 2 to 3 o'clock. Then it decreases to the morning. When I had menstrual cycles and tried to become pregnant, I found that my temperature dropped when I rose from bed to make breakfast. I did not get a baby. I am now 65 years old. I have had thyroid medication for six years. I think that I am slightly poikilothermal.
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Avatar universal
My doc always said that there is no blood test or temperature that will tell you when you are on the right dose--it is when your symptoms resolve and you don't have symptoms of hyperthyroidism.
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Avatar universal
My body temp has been a degree below normal for almost as long as i can remember---but I also think that i may have had some form of hypothyroidism since i was a very little girl.  My doc has always said if your endocrine system is out of balance, your immune system will be compromised.  I had a couple of really unusual illnesses when i was 3 and 4 yrs old.   When I googled them, I kept running in to "compromised immune system".   Then, I saw an internist and told him about those illnesses, and he told me that they see them in people with compromised immune systems.

Funny thing, when ever there is something"going around"  and a number of my family members get it---I don't usually get it--it's the nasty stuff that I get---osteomyelitis, bilateral shingles, MRSA....
Helpful - 0
649848 tn?1534633700
COMMUNITY LEADER
I've never tracked basal temperature, except years ago, when I was trying to get pregnant (didn't work); my temperature was never a flat 98.6; in fact it was almost always lower, and many times, when my temp was at 98.6, I was really sick and actually had a fever.

Temperature naturally varies, depending on the individual, age, activity and time of day.  It's natural for body temperature to drop in the evening.

I've always been prone to becoming chilly as bedtime approaches and I'm not moving around. I also find that the older I get the more prone I am to being cold.  Just walk into your local nursing home or assisted living facility one day and you'll find nearly 100% of the elderly residents wrapped in sweaters and blankets.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi, I just became a member and saw your post. I recently received a mercury thermometer from amazon. Just put veterinary supplies in the search box!
Helpful - 0
798555 tn?1292787551
"I bought one of the new non-mercury thermometers that looks like a mercury one, but isn't. It was impossible to shake down all the way"

-  They shake down when they fly out of your fingers just before they hit the wall

Trick:  put the thermometer in a long athletic sock and whip / twirl it around.
Helpful - 0
798555 tn?1292787551
Yes some of my points and questions seem a little silly. But if you read about called "healthy body temps", you'd think I'm ready to kick the bucket!

In comparison with other male friends and relatives, I'm still the cold one, and the only one with hypothyroid. I dont think I was always like this, most men are not like that. Up until ten years ago, I dont recall freezing while vegging out during the 10PM news like now. Then again, maybe my awesome memory is failing (thyroid induced no doubt).

I do take summer heat waves a lot better than years ago before getting my thyroid levels optimal, not like superman, but less slug-like.

The snow-bird lifestyle looks nicer every year, need to win the lottery in the next couple decades for that to happen though LOL.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I'm finding it very difficult to take an accurate basal temperature due to breaking my old mercury thermometer and finding it impossible to replace, even from a medical supply company online....they sell them in centigrade but no longer in Fahrenheit (and I assume they won't send a centigrade one to US)

I bought the best digital thermometer I could find, but these are no good for underarm temperatures and I also found it highly inaccurate....if I took my temperature 5 different times at the same sitting, I got 5 different temperatures....while fractional degrees might be OK for fever (really ?) they are not ok if they're off for we "hypothyroidians." LOVE that term ! The  readings fluctuations were true even when I had a raging fever, and if I had a slight fever or was just becoming sick, the readings were below 98.6 F.

Then I bought one of the new non-mercury thermometers that looks like a mercury one, but isn't. It was impossible to shake down all the way and got a bubble in the silver gel (below the 98 line) so I was suspicious of the readings from it too. They were always low, but I didn't completely trust them.

I had a standard 98.6 temperature all my life, or at least that's what it was after an illness had done it's worst. It was 98.6 10 years ago when the overt hypo signs started, including feeling cold all the time and having to wear socks to warm my feet up enough to get to sleep.

At the doctors my temperature started showing between 97.8 and 98.3 but I was told this was "normal" even though I protested it wasn't for me. And REALLY, how often does a doctor measure your temperature these days, and how often are you able to get in to see one ? When I had whooping cough and had a raging fever it barely broke 100 on my lousy thermometer and I've never been so sick in my life.

With my lousy thermometer and taking my temperature under my tongue before I get out of bed, it's running 97.1 and lately with my levels off it's measuring 97.1 - 97.3 during the day too. At the immunologist yesterday, at noon and after I'd been up for 5 hours and running around, it was 98.2. They thought this was fine. In the meantime I live in Santa Monica and am freezing all the time. I'm sensitive to any draft or breeze, and after the sun goes down I'm cold wearing fleece with the heater turned to 77. In the morning when the heater's been off all night and the temp is 65 in the house, I might as well be in the Arctic until the heater warms the house to 73.

Horrible. And nobody cares. If anyone has a source for a real mercury thermometer, I'd like to know. Even the most sympathetic of my doctors just shakes their head and says it's a real problem that leaves them using sophisticated machines that measure the forehead. I'm a lefty CA liberal, but this is one aspect of the nanny state that makes me insane, especially since there's more mercury in an "environmentally correct" lightbulb than in an accurate mercury thermometer, and the lightbulb is MUCH easier to break.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I have no clue since I've never, ever taken my BBT.

However, I'm just wondering if this, like so many other thyroid symptoms, has to be studied in the light of lifelong pattern.  I can remember my mother, when I was a little kid, saying that my temp always ran very low in the morning.  Is low BBT a thyroid symptom for YOU if your BBT was always low???

"My temp is lowest the later I'm up at night."  Is that because the later you stay up, the more time you've spent sitting around without a lot of activity?

"I warm up once I move around. Sitting around at night before bed I get very cold. I live in a cold winter temp climate."  That sounds absolutely normal to me!

"Once I'm cold putting on layers is the best and more affordable than cranking up the heat."  So, we're supposed to be at 98.6, which might lead us to assume that an ambient temp of 98.6 would be "neutral".  However, apparently due to our penchant for wearing clothes, neutral ambient is somewhere around 84 degrees.  Above that, we're too hot, below (and most of our houses are to varying degrees) and we have to pile on more clothes.  If your thermostat is set at 68...

I think it's perfectly natural to cool down if you sit in the same clothes that you were making dinner in, cleaning the house in, whatever, without adding a layer.  

I keep my blanky handy...LOL



Helpful - 0
1756321 tn?1547095325
My temperature goes up and down as i have both hyper and hypo symptoms. Lowest temp prior to starting thyroxine was in the 35C range (95F range).  My temp last time i checked was 37.3 (99.1F).

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