Martha,
According to my doctor, the fact that your body temperature
is routinely below 98.0 practically guarantees that you are
low thyroid. Throw in the fact that your brother has thyroid
issues, and VOILA! You are likely one of the many sufferers.
What you need to do is print out a list of the symptoms of
hypothyroidism, and check off which ones apply to you. You
can find a very good list posted at Mary Shomon's website:
http://thyroid.about.com/library/weekly/aa061598.htm
Then, you are going to need to find a doctor that is well
versed in this area, one that can diagnose you with this
problem. You do not want to look in the AMA or yellow pages
for a specialist or for an endocrinologist, though. You need
to find a doctor that is referred from other patients, one
that is in your area. You can also find a listing of doctors
in your area at Mary Shomon's website:
http://thyroid.about.com/library/weekly/bldoc1.htm
When you get to see a good doctor, they will let you know
the options available to you in terms of medication. Some
doctors will prescribe you to a combination of T3 & T4
replacement [like Synthroid & Cytomel] while others will
provide you with medication they have specially formulated
with a pharmacy they contract with. There are no herbs that
can unilaterally fix this problem, although there certainly
are herbs & dietary issues that can assist [like coconut
oil].
This is something that I would definitely follow up on if I
were you. Your weight history sounds so much like my own,
and like so many of my friends & colleagues that have
suffered similarly. Just a note - one of my coworkers was
diagnosed with hypothyroidism & on Synthroid. By convincing
her to see my doctor who took her off of Synthroid and put
her onto a T3/T4 replacement medication, she lost more
weight in Weight Watchers in 3 weeks than she had lost the
entire year previously. Granted, it was like 10 pounds - but
it just shows you how much your metabolism can be affected
by the thyroid gland.
Don't give up! Drop me an e-mail [thyroid AT justice.com] if
you have any further questions or just need emotional
support!!
Good luck,
Margie