Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome
The hallmark symptoms of Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome(WTS) – fatigue, anxiety, depression, headaches, insomnia, and muscle aches — are indistinguishable from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), except that WTS requires low body temperature as diagnostic of WTS. WTS patients suffer from a wide range of debilitating symptoms, including persistent or relapsing fatigue, muscle aches, insomnia, cognitive dysfunction, and an overall lack of well-being. These symptoms resemble those of conventionally recognized hypothyroidism and of CFS.31-33
CFS is characterized by persistent or relapsing debilitating fatigue that has continued 3for at least 6 months in the absence of any other definitive diagnosis. The source of the fatigue is unknown and the illness is not alleviated with bed rest. Symptoms vary from person to person and fluctuate in severity. CFS patients function significantly below their pre-illness capabilities. Their quality of life is considerably affected. Although patients experience the illness, the symptoms do not have outward identifying physical manifestations.34
Although WTS does not require the strict definition of fatigue lasting for more than 6 months, it still appears that in most cases the definition is indistinguishable from CFS, except that WTS includes patients who have mild fatigue and it does not require other symptoms to be present at the same time. CFS includes fever as one potential symptom, while WTS requires low body temperature.
Low Body Temperature [B]
Many patients who have low body temperature do not suffer from WTS. Low body temperature in itself is not diagnostic of WTS, without a minimum of one accompanying symptom. However, low body temperature appears as a biological marker that consistently and predictably changes during the progression from illness to health.
Although not always noted clinically, CFS patients often self-report low average body temperatures. This low body temperature has been attributed by some researchers to circadian rhythm disruption.35 However, other researchers have found normal mean core body temperatures in CFS patients. It is possible that the subset of CFS patients who suffer from low body temperature weren’t represented in this study. Alternatively, because CFS patients experience circadian dysrhythmia as demonstrated by their disrupted sleep patterns and salivary cortisol levels, it is possible that the results in this study were affected by the time of day that the study was performed, rather than the mean average of temperatures taken throughout the day.36-37
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Clinical Study
T3 Treatments for Euthyroid Hypometabolism
The use of T3 for patients suffering from euthyroid hypometabolic states was first described in the early 1950s. Euthyroid hypometabolism was described as a group of symptoms very similar to CFS, including fatigue, lethargy, irritability, headaches, and musculoskeletal pain with the absence of any known underlying cause, including normal TSH levels. Studies performed by Kurland, Sonkin, Title, and Morton reported the efficacy of synthetic T3 (liothyronine sodium) in eliminating the symptoms of hypometabolism.
One such study performed by Sonkin prescribed thyroid therapy for 88 patients suffering from euthyroid hypometabolism. He scored the symptoms of each patient for the following symptoms before and after thyroid therapy. The following results indicated that T3 was effective in alleviating euthyroid hypometabolism.38-40
| Complaint | Total | Positive Responses |
| Fatigue | 88 | 51 |
| Myofascial Pain | 63 | 46 |
| Depression | 39 | 20 |
| Headache | 4 | 3 |
| Nervousness | 2 | 0 |
| Insomnia | 3 | 1 |
Psychiatric research in the use of T3 on euthyroid patients has indicated that people need a decreased dose of antidepressants when taking T3, and that it is also a rapid, safe and effective way of treating depression that fail to tricyclics.41-42 This might be the mechanism in which WTS patients notice decreased depression from the WT3 protocol.
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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia Syndrome [B]
CFS shares many features with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS).43 The predominance of pain or fatigue is the primary means of distinguishing between these two syndromes. Precedence for the use of T3 to treat CFS can be found in recent successful FMS studies. One study found that 75.32% of FMS patients experienced decreased tender point sensitivity as measured by algometry after treatment with 75-150 mcg T3 in conjunction with other lifestyle changes, including unspecified increases in aerobic activity, diet changes, and nutrient supplementation.44
Other studies found that supraphysiologic doses of T3 produced significant improvement in all measured parameters. These included algometer measurement of tender point sensitivity, American College of Rheumatology measurement of pain distribution, Visual Analog Scale measurement of symptom intensity, Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire scores, and Zung’s Depression Inventory scores. Mean heart rate elevations were noted during treatment as opposed to placebo phases, but there was no report of tachycardia or symptoms of thyrotoxicosis.45-46
The Center of Disease Control (CDC) hypothesizes that CFS might be caused by an initial trigger, such as a stress in the form of an infectious agent, toxin or illness, that can cause a hit and run situation in which once the trigger has happened, the body shifts into a hypo-metabolic state.47 The hypothesis that a subtle thyroid defect might be a secondary response from the initial trigger of stress has not been fully explored, but it has been well documented that the conversion of T4 to T3 decreases under periods of physical injury, as well as, chronic or acute illness.48-49 However, even after the initial injury to the body has passed, the body sometimes has not yet fully recovered.
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Case Study
WTS Protocol for CFS
We performed an in-house study in which 11 patients diagnosed with CFS were given the WTS protocol. Each patient was given a physical exam and multi-chemistry panel to rule out any other medically identifiable causes of fatigue. We asked patients to evaluate symptoms of CFS numerically before and after treatment. Treatment was considered complete when the patient was able to maintain a body temperature of 98.6° F. The table below presents the results. A value of ‘10’ represents greatest severity of symptoms, while ‘1’ represents the least severity. A value of ‘0’ represents absence of symptoms. Each patient required a different amount of time to achieve normalization of body temperature. Recovery time varied between 3 weeks and 12 months.
| Patient | Before or After Rx |
Fatigue | Headaches | Anxietyv | Insomnia | Myalgia | Patient Mean | Patient Temp |
| 1 | Before | 10 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 7.6 | 97.9° F |
| After | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2.6 | 98.6 | |
| 2 | Before | 10 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 5.4 | 96.9 |
| After | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.4 | 98.6 | |
| 3 | Before | 9 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 5.6 | 97.7 |
| After | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1.8 | 98.6 | |
| 4 | Before | 10 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 97.6 |
| After | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1.8 | 98.6 | |
| 5 | Before | 8 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 6.2 | 97.8 |
| After | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.2 | 98.6 | |
| 6 | Before | 10 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 7.8 | 96.9 |
| After | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 98.6 | |
| 7 | Before | 10 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 97.7 |
| After | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 98.7 | |
| 8 | Before | 8 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 5.6 | 98.4 |
| After | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 2.6 | 98.6 | |
| 9 | Before | 8 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 4.6 | 97.5 |
| After | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2.6 | 98.6 | |
| 10 | Before | 10 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 8.6 | 96.5 |
| After | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 106 | 98.6 | |
| 11 | Before | 8 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 7.6 | 96.9 |
| After | 4 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 4.2 | 98.6 | |
| Mean | Before | 9.18 | 4.91 | 6.36 | 7.09 | 6.55 | 6.82 | |
| After | 1.45 | 1.18 | 2.82 | 2.00 | 1.18 | 1.73 |
A statistical analysis of these results, conducted by Michael Aikin (PhD) at Kaiser Permanente, revealed the following.
| Factor | Mean Change | SE P-value (Adjusted for Baseline) |
| Fatigue | -7.7 | .49 0.00 |
| Headache | -3.7 | .51 0.00 |
| Anxiety | -3.5 | 69 0.001 |
| Insomnia | -5.1 | .61 0.000 |
| Myalgia | -5.3 | .35 0.000 |
After the treatment is discontinued, normally 3 to 6 months after initiation of treatment, the majority of CFS patients report significant and continued improvement in their symptoms. Most patients experience complete resolution of their CFS symptoms persisting years after treatment has been discontinued. Based on clinical observations, many patients are completely freed of fatigue, depression, muscle aches, and other complaints related to CFS.
In addition, if it is demonstrated that return of oral temperature to 98.6°F correlates closely with restoration of good health in a high percentage of CFS patients, this may indicate that body temperature in itself is a useful biological marker that can be reset to normal. Since many patients who have low body temperature do not have CFS, we do not propose that it in itself is diagnostic of CFS, but rather that it is a biological marker that consistently and predictably changes during the progression from.
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Clinical Studies
T3 Treatments
A 2001 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine shows that mood, neuropsychological function, and cognitive abilities were much improved in patients who had taken T3 as opposed to T4 (levothyroxine). Although the participants in the study were hypothyroid, the important aspect in the study was that the patients were already taking exogenous T4 and thus had euthyroid TSH and T4 blood values, but still had hypothyroid cognitive symptoms that were resolved with T3 therapy. It was concluded that T3 had much more of an impact in human physiology than once traditionally thought.
