What Causes Thinning Hair, Chills And Cold Sweats With Fluctuations In Body Temperature?

Posted on Fri, 3 Jan 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 3 Jan 2014 Answered on

Fri, 24 Jan 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : I have been ill with the flu (?) for about 12 days now. My concern is with my body temperature which I have taken daily before getting out of bed and then every few hours thereafter. My highest temp was 99.9 which is not high but I did have the chills, then cold sweats etc. My concern is that I have always had a normal temp of 96.8. My averge upon waking each morning for the past 7 days is 96.77, with 95.8 as the lowest. Is this normal? Other symptoms are dry, thinning hair & skin, fatigue, and my eyebrows have thinned to almost nothing.

Answered by Dr. Shehzad Topiwala (5 hours later)

Brief Answer: Thyroid Detailed Answer: Given the nature of your symptoms it would be well worth testing your thyroid function. The best way to do so is to get a blood test for the following. These do not have to be fasting and can be done anytime of the day. CBC CMP TSH Free T4 All the symptoms you have reported above along with the medical history you have provided of low-ish body temperature,high BP, cholesterol, pre diabetes and weight gain are associated with an underactive thyroid. Further, even the elevated the elevated enzymes that you are referring to in the context of muscle weakness, can occur with an under-active thyroid. If the thyroid comes back normal, then it is extremely unlikely that these complaints are attributable to the thyroid. You must then pursue other potential causes which your primary care provider can evaluate

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar