How are Body Temperatures Measured?
Since
many WTS proponents believe that low body temperatures cause the symptoms
and since most patients complain of symptoms they are having during
the day, it is recommended that the temperatures be measured
during the day.
Body temperatures are
normally lower in the morning, higher in the afternoon, and lower
again in the evening. So if the temperatures are low during the
day when they're supposed to be at their highest, that's better
evidence that there's a problem.
Temperature
patterns are also important and illuminating. How patients feel
can be affected not only by how high or low their temperatures are
but also on how steady their temps are. This is especially important
during T3 therapy. One temperature reading a day is not enough to
see how widely the temperature is fluctuating, but more than three
a day can be too time consuming.
For these reasons Dr.
Wilson recommends measuring the temperatures
- By mouth with a thermometer
- Every 3 hours
- 3 times a day, starting
3 hours after waking
- For several days (not
the 3 days prior to the period in women since its higher then)
for diagnosis.
- Every day during treatment.
Here is a convenient
temperature log you can print out and
use to record your temperatures.
For each day, add the
3 temperatures together and divide by 3 to get the average.
If your temperature consistently
averages below 98.6 then you may be suffering from Wilson's Temperature
Syndrome.
Note: Some people
believe that moving the thermometer around in the mouth very much
can increase blood flow to the area and affect the temperature reading.
It seems prudent to be mindful not to move the thermometer unnecessarily
much.
What
kind of thermometers should be used?
Digital thermometers
are very fast and convenient but can easily become inaccurate from:
- dropping them from
4 inches or more
- low batteries
- exposure to water
or humidity
When they become inaccurate
they can still give a reading, it just won't be right. There's no
way of knowing whether the reading is correct or not. Sometimes,
a digital thermometer will show one reading one minute and another
the next.
Mercury Thermometers
are very consistent
and they hold their readings. If patients are too busy to read their
thermometers (while driving, for example) when it's time, they can
take the thermometers out and read them later.
Mercury thermometers
can take longer (it's good to leave them in for around 7 minutes).
They are also being phased out of the market because of environmental
legislation and are becoming harder and harder to find. The concern
is that when the thermometers are broken the liquid spills out and
some mercury vapor gets into the atmosphere, finding its way into
the food chain. When broken thermometers are thrown in the trash
and then incinerated, that apparently puts even more mercury into
the air. One doctor believes that some mercury can make it through
the glass of intact thermometers. She believes that some of her
patients are especially sensitive to mercury and have noticed episodes
of acute depression, headaches and malaise just from measuring their
temperatures with a mercury thermometer.
We recommend some great
new Liquid metal thermometers
(not mercury). We think they're better than mercury thermometers
ever were. For one thing, they provide accurate readings in only
3 minutes!
Glass Alcohol thermometers
are very consistent but frequently don't hold their readings. They
usually contain a red liquid. These thermometers are fine as long
as you read them right away.
The Big Picture
No matter what thermometer
you choose, no matter how new, it may still not be perfectly accurate.
There is always some variation among thermometers, some small, some
large. The important thing is for patients to be able to see the
changes in their temperatures with proper T3 therapy. Therefore
it would make sense for patients to try to take their temperatures
in the same way each time with the same thermometer for comparison's
sake. The Mercury, Galistan, and Alcohol thermometers are especially
good for this since they are so consistent. The liquids they contain
are going to expand with warming the same way every time (make sure
to shake down the Mercury and Galistan before each use to reset
them). So even if a patient has a Mercury or Galistan or Alcohol
thermometer that is a little inaccurate, at least it will be consistently
inaccurate and in that way still useful (in showing the improvement
in temperature with treatment).
By the same token, if
your story is consistent with Wilson's Temperature Syndrome and you
find your temperature is normal, by all means check it with another
two or three thermometers! Many patients have found that their thermometers
were wrong and their temperatures were low and they have responded
well to treatment. In fact, if your history is classic for WTS your
chances of having a normal temperature are only about 1 in 200.
There's a lot better chance that your thermometer is wrong than
there is that your temperature's normal.
These issues of thermometer
accuracy don't come up very often but they come up often enough
that doctors and patients would be well served to know about them.
For the most part, patients are easily able to see that their temperatures
are low before treatment, that they come up with treatment, and
that their complaints begin to disappear as their temperatures improve.
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