Postpartum Depression and Low Body Temperature

If there is one event Dr. Wilson names more than any other as the start of a low body temperature, it is childbirth. His wife’s case is the story he tells; the first case study in his doctor’s manual is a mother of four; and his book gives postpartum depression its own paragraph. This guide collects those passages — and the one simple thing he asks a new mother with a normal TSH to do.

Childbirth as the trigger

From the doctor’s manual:

Stress, such as childbirth or the death of a loved one, can especially bring on the symptoms. Around 80% of Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome patients are women.

— A Quick Sketch of Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome, the doctor’s manual

From the book, on why the weeks after a birth are different:

It is easy to understand a period of depression that occurs post-partum (frequently called baby blues), because the stress of childbirth is the number one cause of Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome. It is normal for the body to leave the conservation mode and enter into the productivity mode once again. Commonly, this process may take approximately three months which is usually the amount of time it takes for post-partum depression to resolve. Unfortunately, it sometimes doesn’t resolve. After the birth of a baby, the patient’s body temperature can drop, causing severe depression immediately after the birth of the child.

— Depression, the book

That three-month window is the hinge of his argument: a temporary slowdown after a birth is normal; one that never lifts is the pattern he treats.

The case closest to home

Early in the development of his treatment protocol, Dr. Wilson’s wife underwent an emergency C-section for their third child. When she was still in the hospital, she remembered the nurses saying, “Your temperature is 97 but that’s fine.” Only she didn’t feel fine, she went into severe postpartum depression. She had no energy, she felt overly overwhelmed, and the baby weight that came off so easily with the first two pregnancies wasn’t budging with this one. She was treated with T3, and her temperature normalized to 98.6 F in 2 days with complete resolution of her depression.

— Dr. Denis Wilson, MD, the biography as published on the original site

“Your temperature is 97 but that’s fine” is the sentence this whole site argues with.

The first case in the doctor’s manual

The manual opens with case studies, and the first is a postpartum one:

A 43 y.o. mother of four presents to the office complaining of fatigue, listlessness, fluid retention, irritability, PMS, and easy weight gain. These symptoms came on 8 months ago after the birth of her fourth child. All of her blood tests are normal, and her body temperature averages 97.8 degrees during the day.

— Case Studies, the doctor’s manual

Eight months after the birth; every blood test normal; temperature averaging 97.8. That is the profile, and the rest of the case walks a physician through what he did with it.

Why the usual test can miss it

Research shows that about 5 to 10 percent of women develop thyroid dysfunction after giving birth. These thyroid problems tend to be closely correlated with another condition, postpartum depression. That’s not surprising, since thyroid problems and depression are linked in the general population. (Thyroid hormones are important for neurotransmitter production in the brain.) But not many women are treated properly for this combination of symptoms, and I believe even more women have treatable, mood-altering thyroid hormone dysfunction than most doctors realize, especially after giving birth. Their situation is not recognized because the usual test for thyroid function, Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) may come back at normal levels.

— Speed Recovery From Postpartum Depression with T3

The one step he asks you to add

So, in addition to TSH, I suggest a simple screening test. Take your body temperature. If it is consistently low, (below 97.8 F. (36.56 C.) chances are good you have slow metabolism, which may be caused by low thyroid hormone activity in your body. (See “How are body temperatures measured” for complete instructions.) You may have trouble converting T4, the inactive form of thyroid hormone, to T3, the active form. This is a problem that is not detected by TSH levels. Low body temperature even with normal TSH levels is a condition called Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome.

— Speed Recovery From Postpartum Depression with T3

Taking it properly matters — three readings a day, averaged, over several days (the method). A thermometer on a nightstand is a small ask alongside everything else a new mother is carrying, and it is the one datum he says the standard workup does not collect.

He adds a nutritional note in the same article:

Several nutrients also play important roles in proper thyroid hormone use: iodine, iron and selenium. These nutrients can be depleted by pregnancy. Make sure you are getting enough of all three by taking supplements if necessary, especially if you are breast-feeding.

— Speed Recovery From Postpartum Depression with T3

What this page is not

Postpartum depression is a medical emergency when it is severe, and nothing here replaces the care a new mother’s own doctor and midwife provide. Dr. Wilson’s position is one physician’s; it is not accepted by every medical body. What this page offers is the observation he has repeated for thirty years — that a temperature which never came back up after a birth is worth measuring — and the words in which he offers it.

More on the site: Depression and Fatigue from the book, Women’s health — the hub, and Find a practitioner.

This is a reader’s guide compiled from Dr. Wilson’s published writing; every quotation is his and links to its source. It is not medical advice.