Newbie looking for advice re: basal temperature

[BlueStringPudding]

Hi everyone. I'm new here. My health is a bit complicated and I've recently discovered through private testing that I also have less than optimal thyroid levels and high thyroid antibodies. I present with typical and severe Hypothyroid symptoms and have done for three years.

After quite a lot of research I decided to self-medicate and have been taking 12.5mcg T3 three times a day for a couple of weeks. Within a couple of hours of the first dose I could feel my head clear so I suspect I'm onto a winner with this and as I increase the dose I might see other symptom improvements too.

My basal temperature is still low. 35.3 degrees. My resting heartrate (which is abnormally low at 25bpm lower than when I was healthy and active) has increased from around 58bpm to 64-66bpm since taking the T3. But my basal temperature isn't budging.

I'd be grateful for any advice or others' experiences of T3 and basal temperature. How quickly should I increase the dose, and when should I start to see an improvement in my temperature? I don't want to increase too quickly or take the dose too high.

[Clutter]

Bluestringpudding,

Temperature is not a good guide to whether or not you are optimally medicated. Some people have low temperature and it will not necessarily improve after they are optimally dosed. Taking temp is useful in so far as a sudden spike in temperature can indicate over medication.

I would hold at 37.5mcg for 6-8 weeks and have a thyroid function test including FT3 before increasing further.

There is no cure for Hashimoto's which causes 90% of hypothyroidism. Treatment is for the low thyroid levels it causes. Many people have found that 100% gluten-free diet is helpful in reducing Hashi flares, symptoms and eventually antibodies.

chriskresser.com/the-gluten...

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

[BlueStringPudding in reply to Clutter]

Thanks for the advice, Clutter. Having just read Dr Peatfield's book on the subject I thought basal temperature was a key monitoring and diagnostic tool.

I'm already gluten free having been on a variation of the Autoimmune Protocol Diet since 2014. I found it helped my IBS-like symptoms and greatly reduced chronic pain (but not acute pain). But unfortunately it's done nothing for my fatigue, brain fog, balance problems etc. My symptoms are complex because I have a diagnosis of severe ME/ CFS and Fibromyalgia amongst other things, so by self-medicating with T3 I'm slowly unpicking which symptoms are more attributed to the Hashimoto's and which to the other conditions.

However T3 did quickly make a dent in the brain fog which is quite exciting and so I hope that continues to improve.

I'll retest my bloods in a month or two. Thanks.

[Marz in reply to BlueStringPudding]

Good to read of your improvement on T3. How are your B12 levels ? - also Ferritin - Folate - VitD ? If levels are low then they could be contributing to many of your symptoms 😴

[BlueStringPudding]

Thanks for your reply.

Vitamin D is supplemented to 108.

Ferritin was tested last year and was "fine" but I don't have the result on paper - a doctor's concept of fine isn't necessarily a patient's. I've never knowingly had B12 and folate tested but I heavily supplement both with the methylated form of the vitamins as I have the screwy MTHFR gene from both parents (swines!), and I have severe ME and they help with that.

It'll be a few months before I can get those levels checked again coz I live on pittance and am waiting to hear my PIP result. I'll be doing a Blue Horizon thyroid test hopefully, which looks at the whole lot plus thyroids to see what the T3 has done to my levels as well.

I only check my basal temp one week each month because it will fluctuate with my cycle, and this month it's 35.9 so it's gone up by 0.6 degrees since I first started this thread. However my improvements symptom-wise have plateaued out.