Well, I’ve been really focused the last three months. I’ve follow a strict diet and gotten really good blood sugars. I had my quarterly doctors appointment yesterday and one thing stuck out like a sore thumb was my temperature. Low. Two weeks ago, I was sick. I am hardly ever sick. My wife had just been diagnosed with strep, and I had some symptoms, so I went to get a checkup. I had checked my temperature at home, but it kept measuring 96-97. I figured the thermometer batteries had gone bad. At the doctors office, I measure 97.6. Yesterday, they took my temperature again, 97.4.
I always have had a slightly high average normal temperature, 99-99.5. My temperature is low. I have had some fatigue and exercise recovery issues. But beyond that I’ve not noticed anything.
Have any of you had lowered body temperatures or hypothyroid issues? Do you believe they are low carb or diet related? There are some, like Jenny Ruhl who beleive that low carb downregulates the thyroid and can cause hypothyroid. Do you believe it?
Someone on another list of mine referred to low carb affecting thryroid, yesterday. I am interested because I have Hashimoto’s - autoimmune thyroiditis that affects many Type 1s and LADA. I get the low pulse thing, can’t lose weight in spite of diet and exercise, and the top number on my blood pressure goes up and comes down when my thyroid is regulated. Sometimes, I really can’t see much difference between the complaints of type 1 diabetics and those with Hashi’s.
I’ve had a low body temperature all my life. Normal temperature for me is 97.5 or thereabouts. If I’m running over 99, I have a fever, although no doctor or nurse ever believed me. However, even after I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, and went on medication, my temp did not go up. My energy level improved, and I stay awake more hours of the day, but the temp is stubbornly low. And I didn’t go on low-carb until 7 months ago, so it has to be unrelated in my case.
I’ve been hypothyroid most of my life with low body temp, though doctors conistently said I was borderline low & didn’t need supplementation. Hashimoto’s wasn’t discovered until diabetes was diagnosed. I had low thyroid way before diabetes & a previously high carb diet.
Pre D I had a normal temp. Post D it has always been normal at 97.6. I havent ever really questioned it. I am curious to see what the replies are going to be like here.
I “think” I had a normal body temp until thyroid diagnosis – I know right before my thyroid went out of whack was when I went from always being warm to always being cold. I actually have the original doctor’s chart from where I went when I was diagnosed with thyroid so looked to see if they had temps in there & they did not. My current temp is usually about 96.
From what I read with low carb & thyroid, it can make a difference when you don’t have your meds at an optimal level but once you are optimized, it doesn’t matter.
Thyroid problems too often go undiagnosed because docs check TSH only, if they test at all. Every female in my family is hypo, but I was told I was fine when I wasn’t. I didn’t have every classic symptom, so it was dismissed.
Gerri, I had been on thyroid meds for about 10 years before it really tanked. The doctor I was seeing told me my thyroid was fine – I had copies of my labs sitting on my lap with my Free T4 so low it wasn’t even registering a number but my thyroid was fine because my TSH fell into lab range.
I too have had a consistently low temp in the 97’s. This started when I was in the hospital at diagnosis and pre dates low carbing.
A couple months ago I found myself very tired and sleeping a lot on the weekends. For some reason I decided to start taking kelp for the iodine content as this can sometimes help borderline thyroid problems. Now 6 weeks later I have regained my energy. Is this because of the iodine? Who knows. About the time I started the kelp I had a Dr appointment. I requested an iodine test but his lab didn’t offer one. Thyroid came back OK
Like Sheila Fitz I can’t seem to loose weight despite being very good about sticking to my diet and exercise. Also, like Shelia, have had problems for the last year, with systolic blood pressure number (the first #) being high, diastolic has been fine.
Here’s an interesting link claiming to be able to detect thyroid problems by taking your temperature immediately upon arising, preferably before even getting out of bed. If your 3 day average is 97.8 or below you have hypothyroidism. This same site claims that the standard thyroid test is not very accurate and is prone to missing problems.
Very interested in reading other reply’s, including low carbers with normal temps.
Insulin is easier in my book - all I need is a script for insulin and I can adjust the amounts. We are at a doctor’s mercy to get the right thyroid dose!
Badmoon, you said that your thyroid came back OK., What was run and what were the results. What should be run are Free T4 and Free T3. FT4 should be midway of the lab range and FT3 in the upper 2/3rds. Most doctors look at TSH and say your thyroid is fine.
True! I had a knock down fight to get free T3 & free T4 tested. My doc still won’t prescribe Armour despite my efforts. I’m on liothyronine. Hate taking it twice daily trying to work it around food. With gastroparesis, how do we know how to take it at the right time!
I am taking the Canadian version of Armour. I am able to do that sublingually and let it melt under my tongue. At least I don’t have to worry about my stomach, but before I found out about that, it was a big problem with gastroparesis. I went to a new endo last week & he told me about 2 minutes into the conversation that he would not prescribe desiccated thyroid. I told him that was a problem and there was no point in continuing the conversation! I am getting brave in my old age - I even asked him for the copies of labs back that I brought him. I am tired of wasting ink & paper then not going back.
I bet it was only the standard test. From reading this and other threads it seems very hard to get more than TSH run by a GP. Anyway whatever was causing my extreme fatigue seems to have passed. I may try the temperature test just for the heck of it, the hardest part will be remembering to do it first thing in the morning for three straight days. I’m not sure I’m up to that challenge:)
The Dr. who developed this test is Broda O. Barnes M.D any one familiar with this person?
Sublingual–that’s great. Didn’t know this was available. I question how much liothyronine I’m even getting with gastro screwing it up. My liothyronine is compounded & expensive. Most docs are opposed to desiccated, which is a shame.
I have heard some pills are harder to do that with than others but my thyroid ones dissolve very easily. I have questioned that stuff for years because I am on a diuretic and sometimes that takes forever to kick in. I figured that if food is sitting there, other stuff is also.
I am still looking for a good doctor. The one helping me actually gets thyroid but he only wants to help as a temporary fix. He is a GP but specializes in wounds
Takes forever for meds to kick in for me, too. For some reason, I don’t have a problem correcting lows, which is odd. So, your thyroid isn’t sold as sublingual, but you take it that way? I take some vitamins as sublingual because they sit in my stomach & make me queasy.
I was in the hospital when I had the first big surgery on my foot. They had it scheduled for 1. The nurse did not understand why I did not want to take a diuretic that morning – she kept insisting it would be out of my system before surgery started.
I have a lot of problems with lows coming back up also. Do you use glucose tablets? I recently heard that Dr. B says the dextrose starts working faster because it starts working in your mouth. I never knew that before, but I usually do use glucose tablets and recently switched to Smarties.
They don’t sell the thyroid meds that way but I read on a thyroid board that was the best way to take it. I never thought about trying vitamins that way.
