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Diagnosis of WTS

The steps of diagnosis are essentially,

  1. Does patient have symptoms typical of Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome?
  2. Does the patient’s story sound typical of Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome?
  3. Is there any other great explanation for the patient’s complaints?
  4. Does the patient have normal thyroid hormone supply (is the TSH test normal)?
  5. Is there any reason the patient shouldn’t try the treatment for Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome?
  6. Try the T3 therapy protocol for Wilsons Temperature Syndrome and see how well it works.


Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome is largely a diagnosis of exclusion and is best confirmed with a good response to a therapeutic trial. What does that mean? It means that there are several identifiable medical conditions that can cause symptoms similar to Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome that can be easily ruled out or excluded with simple 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 Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome is “standard of care” medicine.

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

The best overall description of Wilsons Temperature Syndrome, how it comes on, and its typical manifestations in patients’ lives, can be found in the patient book, Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome — A Reversible Thyroid Problem. For a list of Wilsons Temperature Syndrome symptoms please see the sidebar to the right.

To recap,

  • The symptoms of Wilsons Temperature Syndrome 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.
  • Wilsons Temperature Syndrome is 4 times more common in women than men.
  • Wilsons Temperature Syndrome 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 Thyroid 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 Complete Blood Count which can help indicate anemia, leukemia, infection, B12 deficiency. A Health Check Panel can help rule out diabetes, kidney, and liver disease and includes a Complete Blood Count and Basic Thyroid Panel (with TSH). For a little more, a Health Check Plus Panel includes all of that plus it looks for inflammation, iron stores (which can sometimes explain hair loss), and diabetic health. And for a little more, the Health Check Plus with Vitamin D Panel does all that plus Vitamin D, which can be important in fighting Hashimoto’s.

Of course, hypothyroidism should be ruled out. This can be done with a TSH test which you can get separately or as part of one of the test panels desribed above.

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 Wilsons Temperature Syndrome can be corrected, it can possibly recur. Wilsons Temperature Syndrome 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 T3 therapy for Wilsons Temperature Syndrome 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 T3 therapy protocol for Wilsons Temperature Syndrome and see how well it works.

If the symptoms go away with treatment and the symptoms remain improved even after the treatment’s been discontinued, then the patient had Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome.