Guest guest Posted March 23, 2004 Report Share Posted March 23, 2004 HI Shelli, The best way to take your basal is with a glass thermometer and keeping it under your arm for 10 minutes. This will give you an accurate reading. Remember that this must be done first thing in the morning before you even get out of bed...try not to move much lay still. I usually shake my thermometer down the night before and gently reach for it, staying under the covers and lying as still as possible. I have actually fallen back to sleep on a few occasions. LOL If you prefer to put the thermometer in your mouth that is ok too, yet I find which ever way you do it...stay with that procedure to ensure accuracy. Hugs.. Patti Sue thermometers What kind of thermometers are you all using? I bought a digital basal thermometer but it reads consistenly lower than the mercury thermometer. So I then bought the glass thermometer from Dr. 's site. I'm not sure about it either. It says to use it for 3 mins. If I only wait that long my temp is low but if I wait a few more mins it goes up more. I just don't know what to trust. Shelli Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2004 Report Share Posted March 23, 2004 Folks here have found that glass mercury themometers are more accurate. Janie > What kind of thermometers are you all using? I bought a digital basal thermometer but it reads consistenly lower than the mercury thermometer. So I then bought the glass thermometer from Dr. 's site. I'm not sure about it either. It says to use it for 3 mins. If I only wait that long my temp is low but if I wait a few more mins it goes up more. I just don't know what to trust. > Shelli > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2004 Report Share Posted March 23, 2004 Does anyone know for sure? I would think if you're getting a higher temp if you keep it in your mouth for longer than 3 minutes, that more than 3 minutes is needed for an accurate reading. Personally, I keep mine under my tongue for at least 6. It's sometimes longer if I doze off for a couple of minutes. Or does keeping it under the tongue for longer than 3 minutes actually give a falsely higher reading due to increasing metabolism upon wakening???? The burning question...... Janet > I didn't realize you could do it for only 3 mins in the mouth. Here I've been doing it for 10 mins in my mouth. Maybe that is why I was getting a higher reading? I have read that if you take your temperature once then take it again right after that each reading will be higher than the last. > Shelli > > mercury thermometer 10 mins in the armpit or 3 mins in the mouth > Lynda > thermometers > > > What kind of thermometers are you all using? I bought a digital basal thermometer but it reads consistenly lower than the mercury thermometer. So I then bought the glass thermometer from Dr. 's site. I'm not sure about it either. It says to use it for 3 mins. If I only wait that long my temp is low but if I wait a few more mins it goes up more. I just don't know what to trust. > Shelli > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2004 Report Share Posted March 23, 2004 According to Dr. if you go over 5 minutes he surmises you could get a false high from the heat in the mouth. Or something like that. I don't believe in his theory any more and I wonder what other TOP DOCS feel about temp taking. Hugs, Carol B > I didn't realize you could do it for only 3 mins in the mouth. Here I've been doing it for 10 mins in my mouth. Maybe that is why I was getting a higher reading? I have read that if you take your temperature once then take it again right after that each reading will be higher than the last. > Shelli > > mercury thermometer 10 mins in the armpit or 3 mins in the mouth > Lynda > thermometers > > > What kind of thermometers are you all using? I bought a digital basal thermometer but it reads consistenly lower than the mercury thermometer. So I then bought the glass thermometer from Dr. 's site. I'm not sure about it either. It says to use it for 3 mins. If I only wait that long my temp is low but if I wait a few more mins it goes up more. I just don't know what to trust. > Shelli > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2004 Report Share Posted March 23, 2004 As long as you are still the amount of time you leave it there will not show a reading higher than your basal... it's the movement of the body, the working of the muscles and their producing heat that increases your body temp. Just think of when you are running/walking/working you get warm and sweat.. that is the heat that the muscles produce while working. Basal temp is the temp that your body is able to maintain without the heat produced by the movement of muscle. That is why we take it when we first wake, before even sitting up. To be able to read the temp our body maintains without movement. That's why it's important to get everything ready before you go to bed. So that the ONLY thing you have to do in the morning is to grab the thermometer and place it with the LEAST amount of movement. Bodies that are hypo are not able to maintain a 'normal' body temp and so it drops when we are at rest. This lowered body temp affects how our organs all work too, btw, part of the reason why our digestive tracts are so temperamental, why some foods become harder to digest AND why we tend to crave carbs, they are easy to digest and heat producers, warming our bodies. For those that are curious. When hyper it is common for many of the muscles of the body twitch involuntarily, day or night, awake or asleep. The body does not actually overheat from that movement, you don't run a fever. But you do become a heat pump. One of the things that my endo (who was a teaching endo) would point out to her students (I was guinea pig for her students to learn about thyroid disorders from, first my thyroid storm, then as my body slowed after the RAI all the way through severe hypo while we waited to see if my thyroid was totally dead or not) was that they could stand next to me and feel the heat coming off of me, like a fever, but to touch me I was not HOT, I was not running a fever, but I was very warm to stand next to.... that was the heat coming off of my body from the muscle twitches. At one point in time the student docs got to touch me... they would feel my legs, arms and back to feel the twitching muscles. I had been a body builder and so had some decent muscles to check AND had lost a lot of weight during my storm so it was easy, for some of the muscles, to actually watch them twitch. I hold my thermometer under my tongue for three to five minutes. Depends on how close I watch the clock next to the bed. I have, on occasion, stuck it back in to see if it went higher, those mornings when I didn't feel like getting up anyway, so use the excuse of sticking it back in for a few more minutes... and I've never had the temp read higher. Topper () On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 21:44:29 -0000 " whitecap89 " writes: > Does anyone know for sure? I would think if you're getting a higher > temp if you keep > it in your mouth for longer than 3 minutes, that more than 3 minutes > is needed for an > accurate reading. Personally, I keep mine under my tongue for at > least 6. It's > sometimes longer if I doze off for a couple of minutes. Or does > keeping it under the > tongue for longer than 3 minutes actually give a falsely higher > reading due to > increasing metabolism upon wakening???? The burning question...... > > Janet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2004 Report Share Posted March 23, 2004 The hottest your mouth could be is the temp of your body, it won't be any higher... unless you've been sucking on coffee or hot chocolate..... We've been talking about temps... I just decided to take a resting temp, to see how I'm doing.... I have a fever! I've been feeling funky all day, but my period is due in the next day or so, so I didn't think much of it... but I'm just about 100! I think that virus that is going around just hit..... Bah humbug! Topper () On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 21:55:25 -0000 " Kalo777 " writes: > According to Dr. if you go over 5 minutes he surmises you > could get a false high from the heat in the mouth. Or something like > > that. I don't believe in his theory any more and I wonder what other > > TOP DOCS feel about temp taking. Hugs, Carol B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2004 Report Share Posted March 23, 2004 I use a digital basal. I like it because it's easier to read. I put it under my arm for five or ten minutes before I turn it on. Even glass thermometers will keep going up if you leave them under for more than three minutes. It's really not that difficult. I keep it by the bed and put it under my arm when I first wake up. I then dose back off and turn it on when I wake up again. It may be 10 minutes or it may be an hour. I think the main thing is consistancy. Blessings, Debbie K. thermometers What kind of thermometers are you all using? I bought a digital basal thermometer but it reads consistenly lower than the mercury thermometer. So I then bought the glass thermometer from Dr. 's site. I'm not sure about it either. It says to use it for 3 mins. If I only wait that long my temp is low but if I wait a few more mins it goes up more. I just don't know what to trust. Shelli Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2004 Report Share Posted March 23, 2004 Have you seen/tried the digital basal thermometers? They are more accurate than the regular digital. Debbie K. Re: thermometers The new Digitals, I've seen, as simply not as accurate as the old mercury... Do you have other folks living with you? Can you take their temps to see what the thermometer is registering and then compare that to the temp that you are getting? That will give you a ball park start point Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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