Which is more accurate for basal temp? Oral or underarm?

December 7, 2006

I've been taking my basal temperature for several months. I

originally started because my periods had become irregular and I

wanted to see EXACTLY how irregular. So, I charted them every morning

and start a new graph on the first day of my menstrual cycle. For

about 8 months, I've been taking it orally.

However, yesterday, I wanted to see how much of a difference there was

between oral and underarm temps. Today is the first day of my

menstrual cycle (Only 24 day cycle last month, with my luteal phase

lasting only 12 days). (My blood tests indicate that I'm low in the

range for Estradiol(30%) (day 3), Progesterone (30%) (Day 21) and

Testosterone (9%) (Day 3).) Anyway... both yesterday and today, my

oral temp was 97.67. The underarm temp was 96.40 yesterday and 96.50

today. I usually have temps in the 97's (between 97.4 and 97.8) during

the follicular phase and in the 98's (98.0 - 98.3, with an OCCAISIONAL

rise above 98.3 when I haven't slept well).

So, first of all, since this is the first day of my cycle, should I

switch to axillary temps or stick with oral? Does it matter which way

you do it or is the consistency the most important part?

Second, is all this hormone fun due to perimenopause (I'm 37, will be

38 in April) or am I still somehow deficient in some hormone that I'm

taking (I take 4.5 grains of Armour, 50 mcg of T4 and 15 mg of

Cortisol per day. I also started again taking DHEA on 11/29 due to

the blood tests showing I'm at the bottom of the range in that hormone

(108 Range 40-325)) Would being deficient in thyroid hormones or

adrenal hormones, for example, cause me to be low in all my sex

hormones? I know that DHEA can affect testosterone, but is there

something else?

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