LymeNet Flash: What counts as a fever?

This is topic What counts as a fever? in forum Medical Questions at LymeNet Flash.

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Posted by Geneal (Member # 10375) on :

Good evening all.

I am curious as to what others count as a fever when taking their temperature.

I usually stay around 97.5, sometimes lower.

However, I just started babs treatment (again) and am running 98.1.

My hands and face feel like they are on fire.

I get chills like I do when I run fever.

Just curious. If your abnormal "normal" temp is below average consistently and then you spike up closer to normal is this considered running a fever?

Sure does feel like it.

Hugs,

Geneal

Posted by randibear (Member # 11290) on :

Excellent question, glad you asked. My lyme temperature is usually 97 to 96.

I would hazard a guess and say, yes, that a normal temperature or higher is, for us, considered a fever.

Posted by Ganjagal (Member # 11095) on :

Agreed, really excellent question!
I say that 1 degree above your normal is a fever.

my normal, pre-lyme was 97.6, now it has been as low as 95.6. If I am running 98.2 I get the chills and am under the blankets- it feels like it did when it ran 101!

Posted by trueblue (Member # 7348) on :

To my mind, if your normal temp is subnormal (mine is 96.8 - 97) then anything higher counts as fever.

if you started at the expectd 98.6 and a low grade temp would be something up to 100 or 100.5

then if you started at 97... 98.anything would be a low grade fever, no?

If I run 99+ I'm burning up. I also have recurring fevers, especially on babs treatment. I get chills before the fevers.

These are only my thoughts on the matter. In true trueblue logic, nothing medically trained going on here. [Razz]

Posted by yourtroubl (Member # 11087) on :

I usually run somewhere in low 97 so a 99 is a tempeture for me.

If you are having chills, you probably do

Posted by Geneal (Member # 10375) on :

Pre-Lyme I ran a normal temp.

When I showed my husband the thermometer the other day (I was at 96.9) he said it was broken.

I checked my temp again. Same thing.

Then I checked my children. Normal 98.6 for both.

Then we checked him (Elisa positive waiting on Igenex testing) and his was 96.3.

Thanks for the responses. I really appreciate it.

Hugs,

Geneal

Posted by Cobweb (Member # 10053) on :

I have to take my temperature every day while on this IV. I'm usually 96/97. A couple of times it's been 98.something. I told myself I'm not going to get too excited unless it reaches 99.

Nurse K said it was okay for me to fluxuate between 96 and 98. Don't know if that's a reassuring thing or not coming from her.

Actually , this afternoon, when I took my temperature, I was sitting on the couch with the digital thermometer in my mouth when I heard this beeping noise. I thought it was the kitchen timer going off which was weird because I didn't remember putting anything on the stove to cook.

Then I wondered if it was the alarm clock from my afternoon nap-which puzzled me because there wasn't any reason for me to set the alarm.

Being of scientific mind, as I went through the process of elimination, I next thought maybe it was the smoke alarm warning me to change the batteries.

or maybe because it was so quiet in the apartment I was hearing my neighbor's alarm clock or

the trash truck backing up?

No matter where I went with this thermometer in my mouth I could hear this beeping noise but I couldn't figure out what the source was. DUH
[bonk]

Of course, I did figure it out , eventually, and my temperature was below normal-just like my current level of sleuthing.

Carol

Posted by mag (Member # 8920) on :

hi geneal

my lyme temp 97.3

when the babesia was active 99

and most recently the bartonella acting up I was around 100

i have a hard time keeping warm with the Lyme temp

mags

Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :

i'm guilty of NOT taking my temp unless it's done at drs. office.

however, with the awful flu that attacked me 2 days before hip surgery, i got out one that was a DIGITAL and i really liked it well.

it ranged from 99.0 up to 103.2 !! i was burning up then and finally got thru to a live md in the mercy hospital ER room. he told me to keep treating this like flu, and call mon. morning about surgery when they canceled it. so glad they did with 4 nights of waking up to drenched sheets/blankets!

carol, great sleuthing! Jessica Fletcher aka Angela Lansbury is my favorite sleuth!

great question. i believe i learned last fall at our diabetes meeting, that WE DIABETICS run BELOW 98.6 temps! [Wink]

Posted by Geneal (Member # 10375) on :

Dear Beggyg,

I can't imagine having a fever of 103. I would surely have been comatose.

Initially, I ran some slightly higher than normal blood sugars (have a machine to test).

Now, I am running low blood sugars. Almost hypoglycemic area.

Carol,

You always crack me up. I wear contacts during the day and take them out at night and wear glasses.

The other day I searched and searched for my glasses for about an hour before I realized they were on my face.

I had to laugh.....but felt so stupid!!!!

At least the thermometer beeped. I wish my glasses did.

Hugs,

Geneal

Posted by shoney (Member # 9925) on :

I had the same question-with babs tx, my temp is up to 98.4-I thought it was a good sign. I don't feel feverish. No chills or burning up. How do you know when an increase in body temp is a good thing?

Posted by HaplyCarlessdave (Member # 413) on :

When I first got really hit by lyme, babesia, and ehrlichia. 2 months or so after the first treatment failure, I had 102+ temp at times, and was about the sickest I can ever remember being. t that time I started another round of ...'treatment'... which appeared to lower my fever- then after hovering around 99 for awhile, something happened and my temp went subnormal and I was nevertheless getting sicker and sicker, but in a more "chronic" way; I wasn't totally out of commission, but the lyme arthritis set in and made everything very hard. Things got worse and worse,but after I finally found the "Lyme-Literate" specialist. and
started the more serious treatment, I finally started to improve (though I had some rough "herxheimer reactions".). I never got much of a fever after that initial period.

The fever I experienced early on had daily fluctuations whose timing was different than I've had with other illnesses. I heard somewhere (possibly from a doc) that that could have been due to ehrlichia.

Your feeling that your "hands and face are on fire" is likely a neuro effect from the lyme. I had sensations a bit like that, only with my chest and shoulders.

So it sounnds like you're basically on the right track, though it may not feel like it now!
DaveS

Posted by liz28 (Member # 4946) on :

You may want to do a Google search on the symptoms for plasmodium vivax. The two diseases are very much alike.

Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :

Originally posted by Geneal:

Carol,
You always crack me up. I wear contacts during the day and take them out at night and wear glasses.

The other day I searched and searched for my glasses for about an hour before I realized they were on my face.

I had to laugh.....but felt so stupid!!!!

At least the thermometer beeped. I wish my glasses did. Hugs, Geneal

geneal, my late mom had her car keys on a whistle; she'd whistle and they would beep as to their location in her HUGE purse! we always got a kick out of her whistling to her purse. that would have been fun to have kept but it must got tossed out; shucks! [Frown]