ThyroCare
Herbal and nutritional support for the thyroid gland.*

How's Wilson's Temperature Syndrome Diagnosed?

The steps of diagnosis are essentially,

1. Does the patient's story sound typical of Wilson's Temperature Syndrome?
2. Is there any other great explanation for the patient's complaints?
3. Is there any reason the patient shouldn't try the treatment for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome?
4. Try the T3 therapy protocol for WTS and see how well it works.

Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is largely a diagnosis of exclusion and is best identified with a therapeutic trial. What does that mean? It means that there are several identifiable medical conditions that can cause symptoms similar to WTS that can be easily ruled out or excluded by a qualified medical professional through tests. A "therapeutic trial" is a medical phrase that means "trying a treatment on a patient to see how well it works." Therapeutic trials are especially helpful in establishing the diagnosis of conditions that are not easily identified with tests. The thinking is that if a patient responds to the treatment, there's a good chance s/he has the condition. Sometimes doctors need to try treatments for different problems to see what works. Doctors recognize and are comfortable with these terms, and the treatment of WTS is "standard of care" medicine.

Does the patient's story sound typical of Wilson's Temperature Syndrome?

The best overall description of WTS, how it comes on, and its typical manifestations in patients' lives, can be found in the book, Wilson's Temperature Syndrome -- A Reversible Low Temperature Problem (there is a free web version as well as a paper version). For a list of WTS symptoms please see the sidebar to the right.

To recap,

• The symptoms of WTS are classic for low thyroid problems.
• When the symptoms come on together they are more likely to be related.
• The symptoms often persist even after the stress has passed.
• Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is characterized by body temperatures that average below 98.6 measured orally, typically below 97.8.
• WTS is 4 times more common in women than men.
• WTS appears to be more common in certain nationalities (especially those whose ancestors survived famine) such as American Indian, Irish, Scot, Welsh, Russian, etc.
• For a complete description of the syndrome, please see the book, "Wilson's Temperature Syndrome--A Reversible Low Temperature Problem".

Is there any other great explanation for the patient's complaints?

Before starting patients on T3 therapy for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome, it's a good idea to make sure they don't have any obvious and undiagnosed kidney or liver disease, anemia, leukemia, diabetes, and other problems that could explain some of the patients' complaints. This can be accomplished with standard routine blood tests such as a multichemistry blood test or panel and a complete blood count (CBC). Depending on the laboratory, these tests may run about $42 combined.

Other causes of low thyroid symptoms such as primary and secondary hypothyroidism should also be ruled out. This can be accomplished by routine T4 and TSH tests. For an explanation of why Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is undiagnosable with thyroid blood tests click here.

Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is not the only possible explanation of all the symptoms it can cause, but it is one of the most treatable and "curable". Curable is in quotes here because although WTS can be corrected, it can possibly recur. WTS can be thought of as a coping mechanism gone amuck. As long as that coping mechanism is there (which it will be) it can become unbalanced again.

Is there any reason the patient shouldn't try the treatment for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome?

Before patients try the WT3 protocol for WTS it's good to try and rule out obvious problems that could be made worse with T3 therapy such as an underlying heart condition or Addison's disease. This can be accomplished with a history and physical, EKG, and review of the multichemistry test mentioned above.

Try the WT3 protocol for WTS and see how well it works.