Your thyroid controls your metabolism and in basic terms, your metabolism is how many calories you burn sitting still. Since calories are a measure of heat, your body temperature (oral) should be right at 98.6 degrees F if you are burning the proper number of calories. When you burn less calories sitting still, your body temp will tend to be less. Oftentimes, we see patients with 96.__ or 97.___degrees. Think about that…. you are burning less calories, but you are eating the same and exercising the same—–that would usually add up to some extra pounds! The typical patient with hypothyroidism (low thyroid) will present with extra weight, tiredness, low libido, dry hair, dry skin, brittle nails…—if most of these match you and your body temp runs low, give us a call and we can make some suggestions to bring up at your next visit with your doctor. There are specific labs that you will want to request—nothing complicated, just a deeper dive into what might be going on with your body. The good news is that if it is your thyroid, it is usually fixed pretty easily!
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