Body Temperature to Evaluate the Thyroid

The thyroid gland regulates body temperature, which makes testing body temperature an important tool for evaluation.

When the thyroid gland starts to slow down, the body temperature will start to drop.

This drop in body temperature will first be noticed in the feet and hands.  Then, as it slows even more, there will be a temperature drop under the tongue.

Most doctors, like myself, who practice functional medicine will test the temperature under the big toe with a laser thermometer and then have the patient take their own temperature under the tongue at home.

Temperatures should be taken over a week and then averaged out.

-Under the big toe, temperature should be above 90 F.

If the average temperature is lower than 90 F, this means the thyroid gland has begun to slow down.

-Under the tongue, temperature should be 98.6 F.

If the average temperature is lower than 98.6 F, there has been a more severe slowing down of the thyroid.

Inflammation raises body temperature

If you have inflammation in your foot or toes, this can give a high body temperature, which must be considered.  In this case, the temperature reading will not be a good indicator of thyroid performance.

If the temperature under your tongue is above 100 F, there is probably an infection in the sinuses or a head cold.  While the infection is active, the under the tongue temperature will not be a good indicator for the thyroid.

Blood Work does not provide all the answers for the Thyroid

It is a very typical scenario for me to get a patient who comes in with complaints of thyroid problems such as: low energy, weight gain, cold hands and feet, missing the lateral 1/3 of their eyebrows etc..

It is also very common for this same patient to say that they went to their primary care doctor and got blood work done to test their glands and hormones, but when the results came back, the doctor said the blood work was normal.

I suggest you read the other thyroid articles I have written on this website and then make a decision on how you want to approach your problem.  Here is a link to more article (click here)