Abxnomore
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 18936
posted
I'm a bit rusty but I'm pretty sure that you want a basal thermometer. Here's one link but I'm sure there are varying opinions on the best way to do this:
Carol in PA
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 5338
posted
I've always read that you should use a mercury thermometer for an underarm temperature, for this situation. I don't know why...the digital thermometers now are so quick and are accurate.
Several years ago I checked my temperature on awakening, to see if it was low enough to qualify for subclinical low thyroid.
I used a digital thermometer, right by the bed, so that I could check my temp as soon as I woke.
One morning I tried an experiment. After checking my oral temp in bed, I walked down the hall to the bathroom and checked it again.
It was one degree higher! Just moving around that much had elevated my temp one degree.
When I was in nursing, we checked babies and children by taking an underarm temp. I'd hold the baby in my lap, with the thermometer under his arm, for ten minutes.
An underarm temperature takes longer to register on the mercury thermometer, but will be one degree lower than if you had taken an oral temp.
If you are checking your temp on awakening, be aware that your temp will rise the longer you are awake, and if you move around.
So you must have the thermometer right by the bed, so that you don't have to get up. Taking ten minutes to record a temp means that it's going to rise while it's being recorded, as your body temp will be rising after you wake. And an underarm temp means that it will be one degree lower than an oral temp.
This doesn't make sense to me. You're setting yourself up for a difficult time.
Just try the whole deal using a digital thermometer.
Carol
p.s. When you measure a temperature orally, be sure not to eat or brush your teeth beforehand, as this will lower the temperature in your mouth.
Posts: 6947 | From Lancaster, PA | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I was told that the digital thermometers shut off too soon and that 10 minutes is necessary for a really accurate reading.
I went in to a surgical supply center several months ago and they happened to have a mercury thermometer stashed away and forgotten about until I came in. Of course I bought it.
Hard to not get up in the AM to use the bathroom.
Posts: 258 | From Spokane, WA | Registered: Oct 2008
| IP: Logged |
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic