I've had the same thing for a while. Do you suspect Lyme at all?

I had the same hot/cold, low potassium levels. Took potassium supplements and it disappeared.

Are you female and over 40? Might be hot flashes due to low estrogen. You might have thyroid issues, adrenal issues and low sex hormones. Have you checked out http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com?
She has a link for recommended labwork. Be sure your doc runs ALL those labs. Going by your low basal temp, hypothyroidism is suspect. If your ferritin levels are too low, you will get the hyper feeling from thryoxine because the meds can't get to the thyroid with low ferritin values -- should be in the 70-90 range. Most folks don't convert T4 to T3 (T3 is what the thyroid actually uses) very well and experience problems. If you've got untreated adrenal fatigue, the T4 is going straight to RT3 rather than T3 giving you the hyper feeling as well.

Ideally, get the labs that Janie recommends:
TSH
FT3
FT4
Anti-tpo
Ag-Tb
*24 hr cortisol saliva test
B12 (should be in the upper 800's)
Vitamin D ((25-hydroxyvitamin D) should be around 70ngml
Reverse T3 (RT3)

If the doc balks in ordering so many tests, tell him/her, that you're paying for them not him/her.

*A 24 hr cortisol saliva test is needed because your cortisol levels naturally changes in a 24 hr period. It supposed to be highest in the morning (helps wake you up) and gradually decline to the lowest point at around midnight (to allow sleep). In the early stages of adrenal fatigue, the body pumps out extra cortisol, insomnia is a symptom of high night time cortisol. As the adrenal fatigue continues to worsen, the adrenals become depleted and the high cortisol gradually turns in to low cortisol. The treatment for high cortisol is to lower the cortisol levels with things like phosphatidyl serine (seriphos is a good product for this), zinc (30 mg) or holy basil taken at the times of high cortisol. For low cortisol, depending on how severe, otc adrenal support supplements like licorice, isocort or prescription hydrocortisone (for severe AF) is needed during the low periods. A complete 24hr cortisol saliva test will test for dhea, pregnenolone, estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. A blood test for cortisol is usually not recommended because it only gives the cortisol reading at the time of blood draw and will not give you the big picture of cortisol levels for a 24 hr period which is really important in treating AF. If it turns out that you do have adrenal fatigue, there is a companion adrenal fatigue board on yahoo that you should join for guidance and support:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalThyroidHormonesADRENALS/


When I started this journey, being hypo for probably 20 yrs or more and only on Synthroid for about 2 yrs, I had adrenal fatigue so when I switched over to armour, I experienced heart palpations, and severe insomnia. It wasn't until I stumbled across Janie's website: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com
and her yahoo group: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalThyroidHormones/

that I even had a clue that I had adrenal issues. I got the labs she recommended and found that my ferritin was too low, ditto b12 (major cause of fatigue), my d level was practically non-existent (it was 12 and explained why I was getting sick so often) and I had beginnings of adrenal fatigue -- high cortisol in the entire 24 hr period (which explained the insomnia). I was lucky that my RT3 wasn't too high so I didn't have to stop the armour and go on T3 (cytomel) to clear it out, just concentrate on lowering my cortisol levels.

This has taken a good year and a half. Then when I finally get my self stable, cortisol levels lower, ferritin, b12, and d levels up and optimal with armour, there was a shortage in armour and naturethroid. Forest Labs reformulated armour and added more cellulose to it. When folks could get their hands on it they discovered that there was something terribly wrong. Hypo symptoms were coming back and in some cases new symptoms that had never been experienced before surfaced. I switched to naturethyroid because my pharmacy couldn't get armour any more. I was on that for about 6 months and while my blood levels were optimized, I still had fatigue. I should have felt better but didn't. Then naturethyroid became impossible to get. So I went on Erfa thyroid from Canada. Just when I started getting the new dosage figured out on erfa, my insomnia returned. I was handling stress better so my adrenals, while not healed, were better. It turns out that menopause snuck up on me. I finally went back to my doctor after trying to deal with by my self for about 4 months and found that my estrogen, progesterone and testosterone were extremely low -- welcome to menopause!! That explained the insomnia and general crappy feelings. Oh and to top it all off, thinking the Erfa was the problem, I weaned myself off and was just supplementing with about 125-175mg of Lugols iodine. Turns out I was hypo too. I should not have gone off my Erfa.

I found online some OTC topical progesterone/estriol and began using that about a month ago. I am finally beginnging to see my sleep improve and the hot flashes have gone. I'm back on Erfa (3 grains) and go back in a couple of weeks for blood tests. I'm pretty sure that I'm close to my optmial range because when I had my previous test (not the last one) when I was on 4 grains, it showed I was on too much. My big issue right now is sleep. I am sleeping better most nights, but because I am resorting to taking elavil (25mg) again I wake up quite groggy. I have begun tinkering with my sleep meds (melatonin, elavil and sometimes lobilia and tryptophan) to find my optimal mix that will allow me to sleep and wake up rested not groggy.

You'll also want to think about supplementing with iodine, selenium and tyrosine to help the thyroid and adrenals. There is a Iodine group on yahoo run by a woman who is also a member of Janie's thyroid group. There is a stellar Iodine supplementation forum here on curezone and other websites for Iodine info are:

http://www.iodine4health.com

http://www.naturalthyroidchoices.com

http://www.breastcancerchoices.org/iodine
(read all the iodine links)
http://www.optimox.com
(there's a link for iodine research and iodoral)


iolite

You might want to try this as it will be balancing all your complaints.

Every morning and/or evening with empty stomach sit for 5 or max. 10 minutes in a small basin bucket in cold water with with private parts and anus submerged, feet placed on a hot water bottle, dry and cozy warm.

The water should not be totally freezing but not be lukewarm either. It should be nicely but comfortably cold.

This is important. The feet have to be dry and really warm and stay warm always otherwise it does not work properly.

The stomach has to be empty or almost empty and not digesting a full meal.

The heat of the body is pulled down by cooling off the nether regions.
The nerves in that area that are connected with the whole body are invigorated by the cold which improves all body functions.

The feet staying warm keep the body stable and comfortable.

This will get the temperature of the body proper shape and help all glands to function right.

This regime has to be continued of course every day over a longer period time to build up a healthy body.


Good luck!