Posted December 24, 2012. Interesting note and article from an LLMD to her patient. Could be helpful if low body temperature is an issue for you.
Low body temperature and Lyme symptoms
To: Joe (name changed) I’ve added the following to the Treatment Manual and since you have low body temperature I’d like you to read this. Anyone with low body temp has a thyroid that’s not working right even though it usually doesn’t show up that way on the BLOOD TESTS. At the end you will see treatment for this. I believe you may already be doing a few of these things. Let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to get for you.
Low Body Temperature
Aka Hypothermia or Wilson’s Syndrome
Most of the following information was adapted from an article by
David S. Jernigan, B.S., D.C.
This article deals with the problems seen in low body temperature and the profoundimportance of restoring and maintaining normal core body temperature. This is aproblem that is very often seen in Lyme disease patients. If this pertains toyou, please read this section.
Yourcore body temperature is the temperature taken under the tongue. When human physiology books refer to the “normal” core body temperature, it is presentedas a range sometimes listed between 97.0-99.0°F. The optimum body temperature,which all chemical reactions in the human body need in order to maintain health, is 98.6° F.
Much emphasis in conventional medicine is placed upon feverish conditions; however,a low body temperature can be a much more sinister condition. Whereas a fevercan be viewed as an active, adaptive and corrective process of the healthy body, a low body temperature can never be viewed as normal, healthy oradaptive.
According to the theory of Dr. E. Denis Wilson, low body temperature is a problem of conversion of T4 (the inactive form of thyroid hormone) to T3 (the activeform). In times of great stress the body tends to convert T4 to “Reverse T3” which is a storage form. This made sense centuries ago as an adaptive measurein times of famine but the stress response in our day and age is rarely due to fear of starvation! It is interesting to note, however, that people whose ancestors survived starvation (Irish, Scotch, Welsh, American Indian, Russian) are more prone to this problem.
A low body temperature creates a happy home for viruses and chronic infections. The problem with a low core temperature is that no effective immune response can be mounted therefore no fever is generated and infections go undetected. The sickest person is one who gets an infection but never misses a day of work because there is no immune response. These people have a false sense of wellness when they see others having fevers and immune responses that may cause them to miss work. (Ginger’s note: Most of my Lyme patients tell me that they rarely catch what is “going around”. They erroneously consider that this means they have “good” immune systems.)
The effects of low temperature:
When the body’s core temperature is low, there is a decrease in the production of all hormones, neurotransmitters, and other body chemicals necessary for healthy regulation of energy. In this mild hypothermia condition there is an increased susceptibility to infectious disease because as temperature drops, the acidity of the body increases and the normally predominantly negative polarity of the cells become more positively charged. The colder the body becomes the more prone to depression and other psychological abnormalities and all degenerative illnesses of the body, mind and spirit. Lyme disease spirochetes prefer and promote a cold environment and can remain in a chronic state as long as their cold environment is maintained.
When the body cools, the electrical oscillations of the fluids in the body slow down and there is a shift in the body’s polarity, which promotes infectious microbes and cancer. We can better understand what happens in the body by observing the same dynamics in a water molecule. When the electrical oscillations of a water molecule slows down it becomes a solid (ice) but as we speed up a water molecule’s electrical oscillations it liquefies and ultimately becomes a vapor.
The colder a body becomes, the slower the electrical oscillatory rate and thereforethe thicker, more viscous or syrupy the body fluids become. The more viscous the fluids become the more difficult it is for the body to push the fluids through. The lymph fluid that is normally supposed to bathe the outside of all of your cells becomes progressively stagnant, as it is too thick to move efficiently. Now, consider the fact that just like your skin is constantlydying, flaking off and being replaced, so it is that every cell in your body is in a constant state of dying and being replaced. Except now the cold, syrupy lymph fluid can not wash the dead cellular debris away. As a result the body becomes a toxic waste dump!
Muscles normally have a high demand for energy. Through contraction and relaxation muscles assist in eliminating their own cellular waste products. In a cold body however, the liquidity of the fluids inside of the muscles is gone, and the muscles cannot move the toxins and cellular debris. The deeper you go intobelly or center of the muscle, the colder and more difficult it is to move the toxins. Without normal viscosity of the body fluids, muscular contraction and relaxation grinds to a halt, like an engine with no lubricating oil. The belly of the muscle develops a knot that can be felt when massaging the muscle. These are the knotted, painful areas commonly known as “trigger points” of Fibromyalgia, which most Lyme patients have.
Understanding your Temperature
Everyone can afford a simple thermometer. Track your temperature when you first awaken in the morning, before even getting out of bed. This reflects your core body temperature when it is not being influenced by what you just ate or drank or by your activity level. Do this for 5 days in a row and take the average.
It is the hypothalamus that regulates your core body temperature, along with regulating your degree of motivation and sex drive. The hypothalamus isactually “upstream” from your thyroid, helping the pituitary regulate the thyroid. The healthy body has daily temperature fluctuations (diurnal) with the coolest temperature upon awakening in the morning hours of 6-8 a.m. and the warmest being in the evening between 8-10 p.m. Tracking of the difference between morning and evening temperature should reveal, in a healthy person, a difference of at least 0.9° F (0.5° C). People with a low body temperature and an overall degenerative condition will find that this temperature variation is minimal. Another unusual finding of low body temperature is that the evening reading is often colder than the morning reading.
The body’s best chance at long-term healing increases in direct proportion to the restoration of normal body temperature. The effect of even the most perfectly selected medicines is limited by the available energy in the body to correctly utilize those medicines.
(Ginger’s side note: Do not confuse Wilson’s Syndrome with Wilson’s Disease which is an hereditary disorder in which there is abnormal accumulation of copper in the body. Wilson’s Syndromeis not recognized by the American Thyroid Association, which claims there is no scientific basis to it. The vast majority of endocrinologists scoff at the idea of Wilson’s syndrome. Much like the situation with Lyme disease, there are two opposing schools of thought on this. I happen to believe that this is a very important problem to address. However, rather than supplementing with T3 as Wilson suggests, I feel it’s more adaptive and safer in the long run to nourish the thyroid in a way that enables it to function more effectively).
Treatment:
– A good night’s sleep every night is very important
– Eat as much nutritious food as you possible can (according to my nutrition guidelines in this manual). You can’t eat too much food if it is nutrient dense!
– Therapeutic Massage using various homeopathic and herbal ointments and therapeutic essential oils ·
– Very warm baths for 20 minutes before going to bed at night.
– Supplementation to help the thyroid function better – Take the following
Standard Process products:
– Cataplex F tablets 3 in the am and 3 in the pm (take the perles
rather than the tablets if you are iodine sensitive),
– Traceminerals B12, 2 in am, 2 in pm
– Thytrophin PMG, 2 inthe am and 2 in the pm,
– Prolamine Iodine 1in am and 1 in pm (skip if iodine sensitive)
– Thyroid Complex from MediHerb, 2 in am and 2 in pm and Researched Nutritionals ATP Fuel (for increased energy, decreased fatigue) which you can order using the attached form. You can fax the form to the fax number at the bottom of the page. Use My order code for Researched Nutritionals: (SVDNP)
