Thyroid testing at home

[June]

I'm so confused. I'm a cold to the core type of person yet when I use my digital thermometer under my tongue to test my basal body temperature , it gives me 99 degrees. When I use it under my armpit, I get 96 degrees. I'm sure I have infections which might affect the results. I've been cold for years to the point where i couldnt move without a heater pointed at my feet or chest. I'm on a crazy dose of progesterone at the moment and it helped the cold body issue a bit but I do find I reach for my heater often still. So which testing mode is correct? how can I be so cold, yet i'm 99 degrees when I test orally. They say to test under the armpit if one has infections. I have Lyme, candida, SIBO, etc. I'm not sure why that is the case. Why is my mouth warmer than my armpit?? Many have said T3 will help me absorb the progesterone. So is the 96 degrees the actual temp?

 

[Gila]

From Dr Broda Barne's book:
"Dr. Ehrlich and I found that in the absence of oral infection, the temperatures of the mouth and of the armpit were almost identical when thermometers were left in place for ten minutes. The rectal temperature averaged almost a degree higher than either oral or armpit temperature."

Note that they had analog mercury thermometers back then. Also from that section:
"In that time, based on many thousands of readings, it has been established that normal values for underarm temperature are in the range of 97.8 to 98.2 degrees Fahrenheit. A temperature below 97.8 indicates hypothyroidism; one above 98.2, hyperthyroidism."

Peat would probably say basal temp of 98.0 to 98.3 F are good in addition to pulse ~80 bpm. If temp drops after breakfast, that's a sign you could be running on adrenaline/cortisol. So basal temp test + after breakfast test allows you to discern the effects of adrenaline vs hypothyroidism.

Cold extremities (outside of stimulant use and etc) tell me low metabolism. I've the same thing all my life. I've played around with armpit temp using a modern thermometer and it's finicky. Heck, even mouth temp is sort of inaccurate it seems. Definitely be cautious of the infrared thermometers. I have one that doesn't match anywhere near my digital thermometer.
Anyway, I'm not sure why your oral temp is so high. Maybe try logging accurate-as-you-can-get values of armpit and maybe rectal if you're brave and see how they line up.

I'm going to try multiple thermometers and a readout+thermocouple and see how they compare. I'll probably report the results in the other thread I have up.

 

[akgrrrl]

I'm so confused. I'm a cold to the core type of person yet when I use my digital thermometer under my tongue to test my basal body temperature , it gives me 99 degrees. When I use it under my armpit, I get 96 degrees. I'm sure I have infections which might affect the results. I've been cold for years to the point where i couldnt move without a heater pointed at my feet or chest. I'm on a crazy dose of progesterone at the moment and it helped the cold body issue a bit but I do find I reach for my heater often still. So which testing mode is correct? how can I be so cold, yet i'm 99 degrees when I test orally. They say to test under the armpit if one has infections. I have Lyme, candida, SIBO, etc. I'm not sure why that is the case. Why is my mouth warmer than my armpit?? Many have said T3 will help me absorb the progesterone. So is the 96 degrees the actual temp?

Same here for 2 decades of "hypothyroidism". While prescribed doses have been wildly inappropriate the last 5years, the 15 stable years include longtime athleticism, vigorous lifestyle, bodybuilding including one FitnessContest win, and very cold feet. I have slept with a heating pad at night, forever. Yeah, medication never upped my body temp to where I FELT warm.
I have never, ever had a medical doctor respond to my complaints of inexplicable cold chills. A comment " really,? Huh...)
Thats it.
And so here my offering:
I ripped out the dinky tub that manufacturers sell us, as the American home trend to take a shower took over. I installed a soaker tub that is now the highlight of my existence. What a pleasure! After reading on the longterm benefits of a sauna and the worldwide historical and now scientific proofs of soaking in hot water, you would have to wrestle me to the ground to keep me from getting in that tub. Of course I add therapeutic grade oils, or salts, or clay or some combination. Afterwards, I stay warm for HOURS same as when I get out of the woodfired sauna. So much more comfort, true healing time, and a good foundation for holding the heat in with comfy clothing.

 

[June]

From Dr Broda Barne's book:
"Dr. Ehrlich and I found that in the absence of oral infection, the temperatures of the mouth and of the armpit were almost identical when thermometers were left in place for ten minutes. The rectal temperature averaged almost a degree higher than either oral or armpit temperature."

Note that they had analog mercury thermometers back then. Also from that section:
"In that time, based on many thousands of readings, it has been established that normal values for underarm temperature are in the range of 97.8 to 98.2 degrees Fahrenheit. A temperature below 97.8 indicates hypothyroidism; one above 98.2, hyperthyroidism."

Peat would probably say basal temp of 98.0 to 98.3 F are good in addition to pulse ~80 bpm. If temp drops after breakfast, that's a sign you could be running on adrenaline/cortisol. So basal temp test + after breakfast test allows you to discern the effects of adrenaline vs hypothyroidism.

Cold extremities (outside of stimulant use and etc) tell me low metabolism. I've the same thing all my life. I've played around with armpit temp using a modern thermometer and it's finicky. Heck, even mouth temp is sort of inaccurate it seems. Definitely be cautious of the infrared thermometers. I have one that doesn't match anywhere near my digital thermometer.
Anyway, I'm not sure why your oral temp is so high. Maybe try logging accurate-as-you-can-get values of armpit and maybe rectal if you're brave and see how they line up.

I'm going to try multiple thermometers and a readout+thermocouple and see how they compare. I'll probably report the results in the other thread I have up.

Thank you for this. I may not have been accurate enough but went with the armpit temperature using my digital thermometer. I thought I'd see how much of a difference there would be in temp right before and after I had lunch. Interestingly enough, my armpit temp went from 97 back down to 96. So considering that I've been moving around and had a small lunch, would the lower temp indicate I am hypo? Would T3 help in this case? I have liver issues+thyroid antibodies, so I assume T3 is less risky as some here have suggested.

 

[June]

Same here for 2 decades of "hypothyroidism". While prescribed doses have been wildly inappropriate the last 5years, the 15 stable years include longtime athleticism, vigorous lifestyle, bodybuilding including one FitnessContest win, and very cold feet. I have slept with a heating pad at night, forever. Yeah, medication never upped my body temp to where I FELT warm.
I have never, ever had a medical doctor respond to my complaints of inexplicable cold chills. A comment " really,? Huh...)
Thats it.
And so here my offering:
I ripped out the dinky tub that manufacturers sell us, as the American home trend to take a shower took over. I installed a soaker tub that is now the highlight of my existence. What a pleasure! After reading on the longterm benefits of a sauna and the worldwide historical and now scientific proofs of soaking in hot water, you would have to wrestle me to the ground to keep me from getting in that tub. Of course I add therapeutic grade oils, or salts, or clay or some combination. Afterwards, I stay warm for HOURS same as when I get out of the woodfired sauna. So much more comfort, true healing time, and a good foundation for holding the heat in with comfy clothing.

That is terrible to be dismissed like that. Thank you for sharing your story. Healing is a long journey.

 

[Gila]

Thank you for this. I may not have been accurate enough but went with the armpit temperature using my digital thermometer. I thought I'd see how much of a difference there would be in temp right before and after I had lunch. Interestingly enough, my armpit temp went from 97 back down to 96. So considering that I've been moving around and had a small lunch, would the lower temp indicate I am hypo? Would T3 help in this case? I have liver issues+thyroid antibodies, so I assume T3 is less risky as some here have suggested.

Personally, I would go by basal temp (the temp immediately upon waking). Anything later in the day isn't as relevant although I would assume the temps then would be higher. If you're getting 96, that's pretty low but again, digital thermometers can be inaccurate +-1.5 F probably and when you factor in that maybe your armpit temp is lower than your oral temp, that's further making it hard to get a good picture. I don't have advice at this moment for accurate temp measurements.

Now, despite me suspecting most people are hypothyroid these days, I wouldn't declare yourself hypothyroid until you have good accurate temp measurements. If you were hypothyroid, starting at half a grain or one grain of desiccated thyroid should be pretty safe. Broda recommended staying at a dose for a month and a half before changing anything (that seems excessively long until you realize maybe T4 has a half life of two weeks in slow metabolizers and then 1.5 months really would be the time it takes to develop a steady state concentration). T3 just by itself could help more going by what Peat says. I don't have advice there. Whatever you do, best to be patient.

 

[June]

Personally, I would go by basal temp (the temp immediately upon waking). Anything later in the day isn't as relevant although I would assume the temps then would be higher. If you're getting 96, that's pretty low but again, digital thermometers can be inaccurate +-1.5 F probably and when you factor in that maybe your armpit temp is lower than your oral temp, that's further making it hard to get a good picture. I don't have advice at this moment for accurate temp measurements.

Now, despite me suspecting most people are hypothyroid these days, I wouldn't declare yourself hypothyroid until you have good accurate temp measurements. If you were hypothyroid, starting at half a grain or one grain of desiccated thyroid should be pretty safe. Broda recommended staying at a dose for a month and a half before changing anything (that seems excessively long until you realize maybe T4 has a half life of two weeks in slow metabolizers and then 1.5 months really would be the time it takes to develop a steady state concentration). T3 just by itself could help more going by what Peat says. I don't have advice there. Whatever you do, best to be patient.

I can't thank you enough for your guidance, I decided to go with T3. Something in my gut tells me that T4 will not agree with me. I literally took one sip from my water bottle with one drop of Tyronene in it. I have a slight headache but fine otherwise. If it has an effect at that low a dose I guess slow is the name of the game. I'm new to this. I see half a grain and one grain mentioned often. Is that for dessicated thyroid only? What does that mean in mcg terms?

 

[Gila]

So, desiccated thyroid is usually of porcine origin which, similar to us, excrete a 4:1 ratio of T4:T3. Bovine thyroid is more like 9:1 ratio. I have Tyromix at home from Haidut's store which is 2:1 ratio. 1 grain of desiccated thyroid is 38 micrograms of T4 and 9 micrograms of T3 I believe. For my own use I made a little chart to compare dosing for desiccated and drops

However, my comparison is based on total micrograms. If you don't convert much of the T4, maybe the T3 is more important and 3 drops might be comparable to 1 grain. I'm still working out temp monitoring and thyroid dosing. For now I'm not taking any because I think I took too much over a couple weeks (brain fog, fatigue, neuropathy). I'll probably experiment again in a month. I don't think I can help you with advice. Maybe someone else can.

 

[Gila]

I'm here to update the tables I posted last time. For some reason I did things by total micrograms of thyroid hormone (T3 + T4) but this isn't correct. That's assuming 100% of T4 is converted to T3. In a normal person, only about 1/3 is converted to T3. Furthermore, going by Idrees T, et al., Liothyronine and Desiccated Thyroid Extract in the Treatment of Hypothyroidism, Thyroid 30:10, 1399-1413, 2020., it seems that 25 ug of T4 is approximately equivalent to 5 ug of T3. However, there is a range to this so I calculated three values assuming T3 is either, 4x, 5x, or 6x more active than T4. For anyone taking 4:1 desiccated thyroid, 2:1 T4:T3 drops, or pure T3, this should be a guide for dosing relative to the concept of 1 grain of desiccated thyroid (~38ug T4 and ~9ug T3)

 

[cdg]

I found that the outside temperature make a big difference. If it is hot I get good reading if it is cold not so good!

 

[June]

I found that the outside temperature make a big difference. If it is hot I get good reading if it is cold not so good!

Dang, thats not good since im in Canada with our winters. But this is interesting. Its warmer here at the moment so hopefully i can get accurate readings. Whats ur technique to do it? Thx!!