S.B. Feldman said, "The temp on awakening in the morning, before leaving bed,
should be around 98.6F...If it is one or more degrees less than this [average
over at least a week] [meaning 97.6 or less]you are certainly hypothyroid,
regardless of the other lab tests normal values. I have heard this repeatedly
from Dr. Atkins, and others."

I have to disagree.  I've started to chart my temperatures as a method of birth
control.  One thing I've discovered is that 98.6 is not "normal" nor is it
constant, especially as a waking temp; 98.6 is a very arbitrary number
established by the medical community to give a reference--I don't have
resources, other than writings by Dr. Robert S. Mendelsohn (Confessions of a
Medical Heretic)--anyhow, I digress....

The first half of my cycle is typically low, 97.x, and the second half is 97.8
and higher, all waking temps, dependent upon the levels of estrogen/progesterone
in my body.

Mind you, I'm not sensitive to my thyroid's functioning, but I don't think that
I exhibit the typical symptoms of a person with a hypothyroid--in fact, it'd be
more likely that I have a hyperthyroid condition, if at all.

just my 2 cents, back to lurk mode.

Nita