Is Your Thyroid Low?
As you go through the questions, rate your answers to each question between 1-3 (1 being sometimes or a little, 3 being always or intense)
- high cholesterol?
- An additional few pounds (or 25) that you just can’t lose
- Cold hands & feet? cold intolerance? heat intolerance?
- Drawn to heat & sensitive to cold
- Fatigue, especially in the morning – fail to feel rested even after sleeping long hours?
- Slow brain, slow thoughts, difficulty concentrating?
- Lethargy (you feel like you’re moving through molasses
- thin, brittle fingernails?
- Hair dry, brittle, dull, lustreless, lifeless, scanty, tangles easily?
- Flaky, rough or dry skin?
- hair loss, including the outer third of your eyebrows and/or eyelashes?
- Low pulse rate at rest?
- Clogged sinuses?
- lumpy or cystic breasts
- menstrual irregularity, excess flow, or PMS
- fluid retention or swollen ankles?
- irritablility, mood swings?
- depression that doesn’t get better even with antidepressants?
- diminished sex drive or lack of sexual desire and you don’t know why?
- cracks in bottoms of heels?
- poor response to exercising?
- recurrent headaches?
- muscle or joint aches or poor muscle tone, especially stiff in the morning?
- nauseated in the morning?
- motion sickness when travelling?
- bowel movements less often than once per day, or you feel you don’t completely evacuate?
- tingling in your hands & feet?
- sluggish reflexes, diminished reaction time, even apathy
- enlarged thyroid/goiter? Difficulty swallowing? Enlarged tongue?
- a family history of thyroid problems?
- infertility or miscarraige? Preterm birth?
- Basal Body Temperature below 97.8 during day 2-4 of your cycle? ***
Did you rate 5 or more of the questions a “1” …or rate 3 or more of them a “3”?
You may be suffering from low thyroid.
***The Basal Body Temperature Test***
Your body temperature is often related to your thyroid function. Low body temperature usually indicates a low thyroid. Your temperature is usually lower in the morning & evening and higher in the afternoon, so its best to check your basal temperature when you first wake up in the morning, before you get out of bed.
***Your temperature will also fluctuate throughout your cycle if you are still menstruating, so I recommend taking your BBT on the 2, 3 & 4 days of your cycle and then take an average (the first day is your first day of menstruation).***
Keep a thermometer beside your bed, and as soon as you wake up take your temperature. Write it down, and do this for all three days. Make sure your thermometer can measure temperatures as low as 96 degrees, or you could get a false reading. Normal is between 36.6-36.8 celsius (97.8 and 98.2 fahrenheit) , but it can vary significantly. You should consider this reading in context of all your other symptoms and blood testing. If, however, your morning BBT is consistently below 97.8 degrees, this does count as another (strong) symptom of low thyroid.
