How Does Body Temperature Effect Health?

We all know that the average normal body temperature of humans is 98.6. However, in recent years it is now considered normal if anywhere from 98.6-99.8. 

When a person runs even a low grade temperature, they are considered contagious, sick and fighting infection somewhere in their bodies. Fevers are God's design to help heat up and kill off bacteria and viruses. 

What happens when a person begins having a below normal body temperature? 

I recently discovered this to be the case in myself. My average basal body temperature was 97.5! For years I have struggled with being cold. Feeling cold most of the time even to touch my arms, feet and nose. I have never liked winter time and being cold because when I am cold, my muscles stiffen up and then my joints and body hurt and ache. As I have aged, I figured that I just had poor circulation and that was due mostly from age and lack of exercise. A month ago, while visiting a chiropractor that specializes in natural path internal medicine, we discovered my low body temp. He recommended natural thyroid medicine because low body temperature is a sure sign of a thyroid problem. (BTW, in Nov. 2017 I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's - a thyroid autoimmune disorder. Dr. has told me to stop saying I have that because we are on the road to fixing it) After a month of medicine, I have more energy and my average body temp is now 98.3! I rarely feel cold and shiver anymore! 

Now that I have learned of low body temps and the symptoms and health issues associated with it and the thyroid, I can look back to the age of 34 and the symptoms I began having, and realize that I have been unhealthy and chronically ill for many years. I am now 51. I was just unaware! I knew I didn't feel right. I knew I struggled with issues but had no idea it boiled down to fixing one main thing in my body. You can have symptoms before having anything show up in lab tests. - possibly for years! I chalked it up to aging quicker than normal because I had such trauma to my body when I was in the car/train collision. Along with my thyroid medicine, I am also taking a liquid iodine daily. This is supposed to help shrink the uterine and breast fibroids that also began at age 34 - I was unaware of this back then too! 

Here are some facts and symptoms about Low Body Temp ...
A low body temperature is more than enough to explain many health problems, such as: Fatigue, headaches, migraines, PMS, easy weight gain, depression, irritability, fluid retention, anxiety and panic attacks, hair loss, poor memory, poor concentration, low sex drive, unhealthy nails, dry skin and hair, cold intolerance, heat intolerance, low motivation, low ambition, insomnia, allergies, acne, carpal tunnel syndrome, asthma, odd swallowing sensations, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, muscle and joint aches, slow healing, sweating abnormalities, Raynaud's Phenomenon, itchiness, irregular periods, easy bruising, ringing of the ears, flushing, bad breath, dry eyes/blurred vision, and more.

This does not mean that if you have one or many of the above symptoms you automatically have low body temp and a thyroid issue, but it is something to keep in mind. BTW... a one time low body temp is not the same thing. To find out if you have a below average body temperature you need to have an accurate working oral thermometer and take your temp first thing in the morning for five mornings in a row. Take it before rising from bed and before drinking anything! Keep the thermometer and a piece of paper to keep track next to the bed where you can reach with little movement. After the five days add all temps together and divide by 5. This will be your average temp. If it is below 98.0 then you are experiencing low body temperature and the good news is it can be fixed!  Ask your doctor about some lab work to test your thyroid function including antibodies. Ask for Armor Thyroid or one of the generic natural thyroid medicines. 

It remains to be seen if the thyroid medicine will help with my antibodies (Hashimoto's) or the iodine with the fibroids but I will keep you posted. I will say that my monthly period was lighter than usual for the last one and that was after being on the two supplements for only a couple weeks! It has been heavy for 7-10 days for about ten years!