Is a permanently low body temperature (34 - 35.5 C) a problem?
Hi - I always have a low body temperature. It used to be around 36 C, but lately it has been quite a bit lower around 34 - 35.5 C and wondered if this could be related to my health problems. Should I be worried about it? Would it lead to a treatment path that may be effective for my general sense of fatigue and anxiety.
A brief history of my medical problems are:
* Crohn’s disease, with related liver condition
* Depression and anxiety
* Fatigue
* Head aches and just feeling really unwell
* Also I’ve missed my last few periods and am 47, so probably menopausal
Lately the anxiety and panic attacks have been fairly extreme for no obvious reason.
I read that low body temperature could be related to thyroid problems that may cause these symptoms. I have previously had a brief thyroid problem - my iodine levels were about 1000 times above normal and it was probably because I had been making myself lots of (healthy?) smoothies with spirulina. Once I stopped doing this my thyroid levels returned to normal, but I still have a benign growth on my thyroid.
Anyway - does anyone know if my low body temp 34 - 35.5 C is an issue I should be concerned by and could it be causing my general feeling of just being really unwell, fatigued, poor memory, less organised and motivated than I was before, less able to think clearly and lots of anxiety and panic attacks.
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Thanks - Heidi
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March 21st, 2010
All these symptoms point to being hypothyroid. Your doctor may say that your thyroid range is ‘normal’ but there is great debate around this as the range is used in isolation and the patient’s symptoms and temperature are not taken into account.
Being hypo slows your metabolism so your digestive system doesn’t work so well, your temperature drops and you generally feel unwell - the exhaustion is both mental and physical as there is no cell in your body that is able to work correctly without sufficient thyroxine.
Find a good doctor, research the topic (many doctor’s have limited knowledge of this and make out the solution to it is simple (not!) so you need to be well prepared.
From experience, this is not easy to resolve - you need tenacity and lots of knowledge of the conditon - otherwise the doctor is very likely to label you as a hypochondiac.
Even though I was hypothyroid, I was told that I was stressed (hair falling out - another common sign)and offered counselling and told I had IBS - plus my blood pressure was extremely high - another common sign which the doctor had no idea about. All these have been completely resolved by upping my dose of thyroxine - as well as the flu like symptoms and foggy head. I got myself a fantastic result by sorting it out myself.
Shocking but true!
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