3. Feeling Cold vs. Feeling Hot
When your body burns calories, heat is the byproduct. When you have hypothyroidism, your basal metabolic rate goes down and you produce less heat.
Approximately 40% of people with low thyroid hormone report that they feel colder than others in the same room. This is an important symptom to note if it has come on suddenly – if you are always colder than everyone else, it could simply be your norm.
It stands to reason, then, that people with too much thyroid hormone feel hotter than usual. A ramped-up metabolism and high rate of calorie burn produces a lot of heat. Additionally, thyroid hormone bumps up the thermostat on a type of specialized fat called brown fat, which generates heat and is meant to assist survival in cold climates.