Guides
Hashimoto's and Low Body Temperature: What Dr. Wilson Says
September 20, 2026 · Wilson's T3 Editorial
If you have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, your labs say “normal” or “controlled”, and you are still cold, tired and foggy, Dr. Wilson’s position is that the thing to check next is your body temperature. He has written that Hashimoto’s patients with a consistently low temperature respond to T3 therapy the same way other Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome patients do. This guide collects what he and the site’s other writers have published on it, quoted with sources, and says plainly what kind of evidence each claim rests on.
What Hashimoto’s is, in Dr. Wilson’s words
His 2010 article on the condition opens with the mechanism:
Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis is an auto-immune inflammation of the thyroid gland. This means that the body can sometimes aim an immune attack, similar to the way it might fight germs or cancer, against its own thyroid gland. When that occurs, white blood cells called lymphocytes can infiltrate into the tissue of the thyroid gland. When doctors remove small amounts of thyroid tissue, either with a needle biopsy or during surgery, pathologists are able to see this infiltration, using microscopes. Blood tests can also demonstrate antibodies against the thyroid gland.
Hashimoto’s is more common in women, especially of child-bearing age. It can result in diffuse swelling of the thyroid gland. Patients may not have any thyroid function complaints at all. Sometimes patients can develop symptoms of low thyroid function, and rarely, overactive thyroid symptoms.
The site’s lab-testing page adds how common it is and which antibody test matters most:
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is the most common cause of hypothyroidism. It is an autoimmune condition wherein the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the thyroid gland as if it was an enemy. Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis can often be corrected with lifestyle changes if caught early enough. It is getting so common these days that it is reasonable to test for it in anyone with low body temperatures.
Can you have Hashimoto’s and normal thyroid tests?
This is the situation the whole guide is about, and it is where the standard advice and Dr. Wilson’s advice part ways. From the same 2010 article:
If patients do develop low thyroid complaints it is recommended that they receive thyroid hormone replacement. However, some patients with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis develop classic symptoms of low thyroid function and still have normal thyroid blood tests. They are often told that since their thyroid tests are normal, they can’t benefit from thyroid treatment.
The lab-testing page describes the same thing as a timeline, and adds a second version of the problem: patients whose medication has normalized the TSH but not the temperature.
In the early stages of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, there may be no symptoms and the body temperature and TSH might be normal. Eventually, however, enough of the thyroid gland is destroyed that the TSH goes up and the temperature goes down and the symptoms develop. Even when Hashimoto’s patients are given enough thyroid medicine to normalize their TSH tests, they can still have WTS on top of that, complete with low temperatures…
Jen Palmer, writing on the site’s blog, gives the clinical name for the first version:
Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune disease which leads to hypothyroidism, but can show symptoms long before thyroid tests go outside the “normal” range. This condition is known as “euthyroid” Hashimoto’s disease. Typically doctors don’t prescribe thyroid treatment until thyroid-specific tests, such as TSH and T4, become abnormal.
— Selenium and Thyroid Hormone can Both Help Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
Why check your body temperature if you have Hashimoto’s
The site’s article on autoimmune thyroid disease makes the practical suggestion, and gives the number it uses as the line:
I suggest that if you have antithyroid antibodies, that you check your body temperature. … Body temperatures that are consistently low–97.8 F (36.56 C) or lower–are a sign of low metabolism, which interferes with many of the biochemical processes in the body. This condition is called Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome.
— If you have a thyroid autoimmune disorder, check your body temperature
The lab-testing page runs the same logic in the other direction, from a low temperature toward an antibody test:
It is characterized by antibodies directed at the thyroid gland, more commonly Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPO) and less commonly Antithyroglobulin Antibodies (TGA). Therefore, if you’re only going to test one (because of finances) then it’s usually better to test TPO rather than TGA. Nearly 50% of people with low body temperatures may have elevated TPO antibodies.
That figure is stated on the page without a citation, so treat it as the site’s working estimate rather than a published finding. How to take the temperature properly is its own subject: see how to take your temperature for a log and what the numbers mean.
Do Hashimoto’s patients respond to T3 therapy?
Dr. Wilson’s answer is the central claim of the 2010 article, and he frames it as his own experience:
In Dr. Wilson’s experience, patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome respond indistinguishably from other patients suffering from Wilsons Temperature Syndrome. The Hashimoto’s patients are no more, or less likely to respond favorably to the treatment, have side effects, or to relapse once their symptoms have been corrected. In addition, doctors report that they’ve seen … antibody levels drop in Hashimoto’s patients treated with T3.
In other words patients with Hashimoto’s disease may have normal blood tests, low body temperatures, and classic symptoms of low thyroid function. … Yet, their symptoms may respond dramatically well to proper T3 therapy for Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome, and remain improved even after the treatment’s been discontinued, thus providing a persistent cure for their complaints.
Two years later, writing about a well-known actress with the condition, he put the same point in plainer language:
Hashimoto’s mirrors the classic struggle of WTS patients: Despite being treated with thyroid medicine such that their blood tests are normal, many patients with Hashimoto’s STILL don’t feel well. Their low temperature symptoms may include fatigue, weight gain, mood problems, and yes, intolerance to cold. So, it’s no surprise to us that Hashimoto’s patients often respond very favorably to T3 therapy for WTS. By restoring healthy body temperature, we have had great success in correcting Hashimoto’s symptoms.
— How We Might Help Kim Cattrall
Notice the words he chooses: “in Dr. Wilson’s experience”, “doctors report”, “we have had great success”. These are clinical-experience claims. There is no trial of T3 therapy in Hashimoto’s patients on this site or, as far as the site records, anywhere else. The phrase “persistent cure” is the strongest claim in the passage and the least supported; the section at the end of this guide comes back to it.
The site’s autoimmune article offers a mechanism for why he thinks resting the gland might matter:
Taking a course of T3 can give your thyroid gland a chance to rest and heal itself. It can reduce levels of TSH that can stimulate the thyroid gland and is speculated to contribute to further cellular breakdown and reduced tolerance as the immune system is exposed to cellular debris.
— If you have a thyroid autoimmune disorder, check your body temperature
“Is speculated to” is the honest verb, and it is the author’s own.
Should I keep taking Synthroid or Armour?
A reader asked Dr. Wilson exactly this, and the exchange is short enough to quote in full:
Is it possible to use Armour thyroid along with T3 therapy? I feel so much better on Armour than synthroid, but still think I have a low body temperature. Would T3 help that along with my Armour for Hashimotos thyroiditis?
Sure, T3 therapy can be added to Armour. However, it sounds as though you might be thinking that you need to take Armour or Synthroid to treat Hashimotos thyroiditis which is not necessarily the case. Taking thyroid medicine like Armour or Synthroid or T3 can put the thyroid gland to rest (just like putting a cast on a broken arm).
The beauty of using T3 alone is that people often feel better while on the T3 alone, and there is a chance that they’ll remain better than they would have if they were treated with T4 containing medicine like Armour or Synthroid. In other words, T3 can often help “clean out and reset” people’s systems better than T4 containing medicines.
Changing or stopping thyroid medication is a decision for the prescribing doctor, and the site’s own manual says so at length. The related guides are Armour vs Synthroid vs T3 and still tired on Synthroid.
Selenium, vitamin D, iodine and gluten: what the site’s writers add
Most of the site’s Hashimoto’s content is not about T3 at all. It is about nutrients and diet, and it summarizes published studies rather than clinical experience. Dr. Wilson on selenium:
A recent study was performed on 70 women with autoimmune thyroiditis (Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis) which causes elevated TPO antibodies. 36 patients were each given 200 mcg / day of selenium for 3 months and T4 to keep their TSH levels normal. Then, tests showed that the TPO antibodies had dropped 40% in the patients that had taken the selenium, while the TPO antibodies increased by 10% in the 34 patients who had not.
It’s easy to see why selenium is so important to thyroid health. It is the center of a few important enzymes that have everything to do with thyroid health. For one, selenium is at the heart of the family of enzymes (iodothyronine deiodinases) that convert T4 to T3 throughout the body. When patients are selenium deficient it may affect their ability to convert T4 to T3 adequately to maintain a normal body temperature even when thyroid blood tests are normal.
— Could low selenium be contributing to your low body temperature?
On iodine, the lab-testing page is careful to give both sides:
Some experts feel that iodine can make autoimmunity better while others feel that it can make it worse. Studies show that selenium can prevent iodine from worsening autoimmunity. We normally encourage people with Hashimoto’s to take extra iodine and selenium, among other things, at least for a few months, even without testing iodine levels.
Jen Palmer’s summary of a Greek vitamin D study ends with the practical line:
The take home message is that if you have Hashimoto’s disease, be sure to get your vitamin D levels checked, even if you live in a sunny place and think deficiency is unlikely.
— Vitamin D linked to thyroid health
And on gluten, the site’s article on the celiac connection:
Gluten intolerance or allergy (celiac disease) and autoimmune thyroid diseases such as Hashimoto’s share a common genetic predisposition. That means the same faulty genes cause both problems. So if you have celiac disease, your risk of also having an autoimmune thyroid condition such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is tripled.
— The Gluten Thyroid Connection
The gut article makes the same link from the intestinal side. None of these is a reason to change medication; they are the things the site’s writers suggest a Hashimoto’s patient ask their doctor to check.
Where each claim comes from
| Claim | Source on this site | Who wrote it | What kind of evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hashimoto’s patients with normal labs and a low temperature respond to T3 like other WTS patients | Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis (2010) | Dr. Wilson | Clinical experience; no trial |
| Antibody levels seen to drop on T3 | Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis (2010) | Dr. Wilson, relaying doctors’ reports | Anecdotal reports |
| Nearly half of people with low temperatures may have elevated TPO antibodies | Order Your Own Lab Tests | Site page, no byline | Stated without a citation |
| Selenium lowered TPO antibodies in a 70-woman study | Could low selenium… | Dr. Wilson, summarizing a 2002 study | Small published study |
| Vitamin D deficiency common in Hashimoto’s; supplementing lowered antibodies | Vitamin D linked to thyroid health | Jen Palmer, summarizing a 2015 study | Small published study, four months |
| Celiac disease triples the risk of autoimmune thyroid disease | The Gluten Thyroid Connection | Site writer | Cites published reviews |
What this does and does not establish
It establishes what Dr. Wilson believes and does: that a Hashimoto’s patient with a consistently low temperature is treated on this protocol like any other patient, and that in his practice they have done as well as anyone else. It establishes that the nutrient advice on the site rests on real, if small, published studies. It does not establish that T3 therapy changes the course of Hashimoto’s, that antibodies fall because of it, or that anything here is a “cure”; those are the claims a trial would have to test, and none has. The published record behind the protocol as a whole is small and is described on the author page. The objection hub sets out why the American Thyroid Association and others do not recognize the diagnosis at all, which applies to Hashimoto’s patients as much as to anyone.
If you want to act on it, the sequence the site describes is the same for everyone: take your temperature properly for several days, bring the log and your antibody results to a doctor who will look at both, and let them decide. The guide to finding such a doctor and the practitioner directory are the starting points; the Q&A for doctors is the document to send them. The other conditions the site treats the same way are collected under related conditions.
Questions people ask
Should I check my temperature if I have TPO antibodies but normal TSH?
The site’s answer is yes, and it gives the threshold it uses:
I suggest that if you have antithyroid antibodies, that you check your body temperature.
— If you have a thyroid autoimmune disorder, check your body temperature
Does T3 replace Synthroid or Armour if I have Hashimoto’s?
Not necessarily, and not on your own. In Dr. Wilson’s reply to a reader on Armour:
Sure, T3 therapy can be added to Armour. However, it sounds as though you might be thinking that you need to take Armour or Synthroid to treat Hashimotos thyroiditis which is not necessarily the case.
Which antibody test should I ask for?
Therefore, if you’re only going to test one (because of finances) then it’s usually better to test TPO rather than TGA.
Is there a study of T3 therapy in Hashimoto’s patients?
No. Everything on this site about T3 and Hashimoto’s is clinical experience, stated as such by its author. The studies the site cites on Hashimoto’s are about selenium, vitamin D, iodine and gluten, not T3.
This is a reader’s guide compiled from the writing published on this site. Every quotation is verbatim, links to its source, and is attributed to the person who wrote it. It is not medical advice, and nothing here should change a prescription without the prescribing doctor.