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Low body temp?
Just curious, having low body temperature between 95.8 - 96.8 lately - could this be a sign of thyroid disorder? I don't ever remember my body temperature being this low.
I have 3 digital therms and use ALL of them to try and get an idea of what my body temp is. Funny some of you mention the old fashioned mercury glass therm - I bet mine is somewhere hidden in the bathroom. I will have to look.
Anyway, I always believed that it can go both ways with the body temp - if it's higher than 98.6 then there is something wrong and if it's lower than 97 then there is also something wrong. Last night I took it before I went to bed and it was 95.3 - is that too low? I am really starting to worry because I have also been feeling VERY cold lately. I know here in NY it is cold, but I have NEVER felt cold like this before.
Anyway, I always believed that it can go both ways with the body temp - if it's higher than 98.6 then there is something wrong and if it's lower than 97 then there is also something wrong. Last night I took it before I went to bed and it was 95.3 - is that too low? I am really starting to worry because I have also been feeling VERY cold lately. I know here in NY it is cold, but I have NEVER felt cold like this before.
I have the good old fashion therm too. I think it was from when I was a kid and my mom gave it to me - or I had it when my boys were small....
Ebay here I come! LOL
From anything I have been told by doctors - or reading - a "mouth" therm is more accurate than any ear measurement.
Yet doctors tell me the good old fashion ones are more accurate - but they use the ear during a nurse's exam
( shaking my head )
Ebay here I come! LOL
From anything I have been told by doctors - or reading - a "mouth" therm is more accurate than any ear measurement.
Yet doctors tell me the good old fashion ones are more accurate - but they use the ear during a nurse's exam
( shaking my head )
I'm glad to know that I now may have the last remaining mercury thermometer on the planet. So I am now going to keep it under lock and key while I accept bids on it. LOL
Since I have only been using this thermometer, obviously accuracy has not been a question for me. I can't speak to the accuracy of today's digital thermometers, however, I had seen a Consumers Report review that also would not recommend ear or forehead contact type of thermometers.
"The more expensive ear thermometers take a reading in just one second. However, Consumer Reports found the readings might not be reliable….The forehead thermometer from Exergen is slid across the forehead to get a temperature. Yet at $50, it is also pricey and was not especially precise. The $10 Accu-Beep digital thermometer from BD did the best job. It beeps when properly placed under the tongue and gives an accurate reading in sixty seconds. If you want a thermometer reading even faster, Consumer Reports found two other very good performers that cost $13. They are the Vick's Comfort-Flex and Omron 20 Seconds Digital. Both thermometers will give a reading in 30 seconds or less."
There was no indication of what they consider as accurate on the ones they did recommend. For most accurate results it's always best to check several times and average the results. To be symptomatic of low metabolism and possibly low thyroid, I believe that average body temperature differential from normal would be several orders of magnitude greater than the variability of even a digital thermometer.
What am I offered for my mercury thermometer?
Since I have only been using this thermometer, obviously accuracy has not been a question for me. I can't speak to the accuracy of today's digital thermometers, however, I had seen a Consumers Report review that also would not recommend ear or forehead contact type of thermometers.
"The more expensive ear thermometers take a reading in just one second. However, Consumer Reports found the readings might not be reliable….The forehead thermometer from Exergen is slid across the forehead to get a temperature. Yet at $50, it is also pricey and was not especially precise. The $10 Accu-Beep digital thermometer from BD did the best job. It beeps when properly placed under the tongue and gives an accurate reading in sixty seconds. If you want a thermometer reading even faster, Consumer Reports found two other very good performers that cost $13. They are the Vick's Comfort-Flex and Omron 20 Seconds Digital. Both thermometers will give a reading in 30 seconds or less."
There was no indication of what they consider as accurate on the ones they did recommend. For most accurate results it's always best to check several times and average the results. To be symptomatic of low metabolism and possibly low thyroid, I believe that average body temperature differential from normal would be several orders of magnitude greater than the variability of even a digital thermometer.
What am I offered for my mercury thermometer?
My question to all of you who constantly argue about the relevance of body temperature as it relates to thyroid disease is this: How do you take an effective measure of your body's temperature? What tool is used?
I have EVERY thermometer known to man. As do my sisters who have small children. I have a basal thermometer I purchased when I was trying to conceive. I bought an expensive thermoscan ear thermometer when I had my daughter. What a waste. It makes me laugh to use it on her as she'd be dead if she really had a temperature that low. (And yes, I do know how to use it!)
The only reliable method of taking a body's temperature as far as I'm concerned is a good old fashioned mercury thermometer. But alas, the last one I owned (and I'm sure the last one on the planet...) slipped through my then 5 year old's hands and shattered to peices about a year ago. (Much to my horror!)
Through the years I've purchased a slew of other digital thermometers which, in my opinion, are only good for land fill fodder! I mostly use the old cheek on the forehead method and rely on my gut instincts as a mother, as to whether or not to send my child to school. If we were to only use these tools, in my opinion, everyone would be below 98.6 and technically hypothyroid.
My point I guess, is this. How can basal body temperature be used as a good or bad diagnostic tool for thyroid issues, when we, the mothers of the world, can't even get a correct temperature for something as simple and frightening as a child's cold?
I have EVERY thermometer known to man. As do my sisters who have small children. I have a basal thermometer I purchased when I was trying to conceive. I bought an expensive thermoscan ear thermometer when I had my daughter. What a waste. It makes me laugh to use it on her as she'd be dead if she really had a temperature that low. (And yes, I do know how to use it!)
The only reliable method of taking a body's temperature as far as I'm concerned is a good old fashioned mercury thermometer. But alas, the last one I owned (and I'm sure the last one on the planet...) slipped through my then 5 year old's hands and shattered to peices about a year ago. (Much to my horror!)
Through the years I've purchased a slew of other digital thermometers which, in my opinion, are only good for land fill fodder! I mostly use the old cheek on the forehead method and rely on my gut instincts as a mother, as to whether or not to send my child to school. If we were to only use these tools, in my opinion, everyone would be below 98.6 and technically hypothyroid.
My point I guess, is this. How can basal body temperature be used as a good or bad diagnostic tool for thyroid issues, when we, the mothers of the world, can't even get a correct temperature for something as simple and frightening as a child's cold?
I couldn't agree more. In fact, my abnormally low body temperature was one of the first things that tipped me off to something being wrong. When your temperature is consistently 1.5 - 2 degrees lower than it generally is, that's your body telling you something is wrong--much like a fever. If your body temperature suddenly drops to < 96 degrees and stays in that range for an extended period of time (a day or two), it is considered a medical problem that should be evaluated as soon as possible. Yet there isn't any standard for evaluating temperatures between 96 and 98.6 degrees, even if you aren't normally that temperature! If any of my doctors paid attention to my temperature in conjunction with my slightly elevated TSH and the countless other symptoms, I'd probably be taking medication to treat my hypothyroidism right now...but sadly, that's not the case.
Yes, body temperature is useful as a symptom of low metabolism and potentially low thyroid levels, for followup with blood testing. I've wondered why it doesn't always get shown as one of the symptoms of thyroid problems, along with the many others such as fatigue, etc. Perhaps it has been somewhat discredited because of being incorrectly used in the past by a few such as Dr. Wilson, as a diagnostic to determine some misguided treatment.
Since body temperature can be measured objectively and correlated with basal metabolism more accurately than the many subjective symptoms, I think it should actually be shown at the top of the list of symptoms to be considered.
Since body temperature can be measured objectively and correlated with basal metabolism more accurately than the many subjective symptoms, I think it should actually be shown at the top of the list of symptoms to be considered.
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