Is low grade fever a typical symptom of CFS?

[herpesbaby]

Please share your thoughts.
I have been having low grade fever since April 19th. 37 C or 98.6 F.

 

[Sushi]

Please share your thoughts.
I have been having low grade fever since April 19th. 37 C or 98.6 F.

That is normal temperature, not a fever.

 

[Woolie]

That is normal temperature, not a fever.

Like in the song:

"Hey 98.6 it's good to have you back again, oh
Hey 98.6 her lovin' is the medicine that saved me
Oh I love my baby.."

(now I'm really showing my age!!)

 

[taniaaust1]

thirty seven C is a normal temperature, 38C is a low grade fever

 

[herpesbaby]

How come I feel it then? Mine always has been 36.6 C.
With 37C I feel headache, heavy head and feeling of being slightly drunk. @taniaaust1 @Woolie @Sushi

 

[herpesbaby]

Blood test showed elevated lymphocytes. 42%

 

[jpcv]

During my crashes feel like having fever, but my temperature rises slightly to 37,3-37,5.
It´s not fever but it´s enough to make me feel sick.

 

[svetoslav80]

It's not a fever but I don't think it's "normal" either, despite everyone says so. If your normal temperature under the armpit is 36.6 C then 37 is an indication something is going on. It was 37 for me during my onset , and I also "felt" it just like you, but for me it was only for a day or two.

 

[Woolie]

How come I feel it then? Mine always has been 36.6 C.
With 37C I feel headache, heavy head and feeling of being slightly drunk.

Sorry, it was not right to post the frivolous youtube, and not address your serious question.

I don't know a lot about individual variability in temperature, but I'm told there is some. Also, I'm told temperature varies depending on where you take it. So these temperatures could be meaning something in your case.

I've also had the experience of feeling like I'm burning up, but that hasn't always translated into a raised temperature. I don't know why. At the very worst I have ever felt - feeling like I'm on fire - my temperature went up 0.5 degrees C (37.5). Which felt totally out of proportion with the experience itself.

It seems that we might sometimes mount a paltry defence to some real or perceived infectious threat with an increase in our temperature, but it doesn't look the same as classic fever.

Its really good, though, to document it, because doctors sometimes ask. It would be particularly useful if you found that your temperature variations followed the same pattern as your perceived hotness.

I was told once that part of the experience of fever includes not just feeling hot but also feeling cold or shivvery. Sometimes one followed by the other. If you experience hot and cold sensations in close alternation, that could be worth noting. Also, see what your temperature does then.

 

[Forbin]

I've certainly felt as though my temperature was up, even though the thermometer said otherwise. Sometimes, this has preceded a genuine fever, sometimes not. This is speculation, but it could be that one is sensing something like elevated cytokines, which in the past one has associated with feeling feverish.

Another possibility is that something like niacin is dilating your blood vessels and bringing more blood to the outer layers of the skin where temperature is perceived. I suppose a reaction to some kind of food might do that. For a time following onset, I was hyper-reactive to foods containing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) for some reason. I'd get a whole range of symptoms including, flushing, pounding heart, sweating, and generally feeling awful. I'm sure I felt like I had an elevated temperature during all that, but it would have been the least of my concerns.

 

[Countrygirl]

Please share your thoughts.
I have been having low grade fever since April 19th. 37 C or 98.6 F.

Hello @herpesbaby

I don't know if this will help.

After being ill for several years, I was admitted to a nursing home where for the first time I had a caring doctor who had a special interest in ME and so started my education about the disease and its, seemingly to me at the time, bizarre symptoms.

One of the things he showed me was that the illness had 'reset' my usual temperature to 95 F. When it struggled up to 97F, I felt as though I was running a fever: my glands would swell, my throat became sore and I had that 'I think-I-am-developing-flu' sensation. Rightly or wrongly at the time (1986/7), the doctor was convinced the temperature re-set was a result of the probable presence of a dysfunctional thyroid which is, he told me, to the best of his knowledge at the time, common in ME.

Since then, I have found it impossible to run a proper fever. For the majority of the time, I do not seem able to develop the symptoms of a cold and it seems as though my now trigger-happy immune system can shoot a virus dead at 50 paces. However, on the very few occasions that I do develop flu-proper, my temperature is pathetic and lily livered, and instead of reaching a decent and respectable 104F as in healthier times, shows it has no welly at all and can only top a miserable 98F.

I don't think you can compare your temperature now to what was normal for you pre-ME.

 

[JaimeS]

How come I feel it then? Mine always has been 36.6 C.
With 37C I feel headache, heavy head and feeling of being slightly drunk. @taniaaust1 @Woolie @Sushi

The feeling of subjective temperature rising is not uncommon here. I've heard it's a temp difference in the CNS vs the periphery but I have to be honest, I have no idea where I heard that. It sounds a little pseudosciency.

I've certainly felt as though my temperature was up, even though the thermometer said otherwise. Sometimes, this has preceded a genuine fever, sometimes not.

Yes, that's what I hear a lot.

One of the things he showed me was that the illness had 'reset' my usual temperature to 95 F

This seems to be the norm in long-term ME/CFS. Mine used to be 98.6 on the nose, so long as I was well. Now if I'm okay, it's 1.1 or 1.2 degrees lower -- again, pretty reliably unless I start feeling bad.

But as @Countrygirl says, that means that at a temp of 99.1, I feel as I used to when I had a temperature of 100.3: definitely sick and feverish, need to go lie down!

I've noted a tiny dip in temperature if things are about to take a turn for the worse. I wonder if anyone else has noticed that? Like, it'll go down to 96.9 and then my immune system will rev like mad and my fever will climb, fast.

That first happened awhile back, so I have probably posed that question before... sorry guys, bad brain fog day for me!

 

[herpesbaby]

Sorry guys but, after reading all sorts of CFSME criteria, and posts on this forum, I still come to the conclusion that a low grade temp is not a typical symptom of CFSME.

They found staph aureus in my throat culture yesterday, so hopefully that's what's been giving me a low grade fever. Started taking antibiotics today, will see how it goes.

 

[Valentijn]

I have one of those temperature guns. Sometimes when I feel feverish, my forehead temperature is normal, but my cheeks will be as hot as they feel. So I think that sometimes when I feel like I have a fever, I'm actually having some weird peripheral flushing.

When I get real fevers, I usually get chills and shivering for a while first.

 

[JaimeS]

Sorry guys but, after reading all sorts of CFSME criteria, and posts on this forum, I still come to the conclusion that a low grade temp is not a typical symptom of CFSME.

They found staph aureus in my throat culture yesterday, so hopefully that's what's been giving me a low grade fever. Started taking antibiotics today, will see how it goes.

Whelp. As 'luck' would have it, I ran a low-grade fever last night.

It's PEM though. I ran a 10+-hour lab two days ago.

[Edit: ...and this happened a lot more often early in my illness, before I discovered where my limits were. Perhaps this is solely a PEM-marker.]

 

[Forbin]

Holmes Criteria: 1988

Symptom Criteria
1. Mild fever - oral temperature between 37.5 degrees C and 38.6 degreesC, if measured by the patient - or chills. (Note: oral temperatures of greater than 38.6 degrees C are less compatible with chronic fatigue syndrome and should prompt studies for other causes of illness.)

Physical Criteria
1. Low-grade fever - oral temperature between 37.6° C and 38.6° C, or rectal temperature between 37.8° C and 38.8° C. (See note under Symptom Criterion 1.)


CCC Criteria: 2003

b. Neuroendocrine Manifestations: loss of thermostatic stability– subnormal body temperature and marked diurnal fluctuation, sweating episodes, recurrent feelings of feverishness and cold extremities; intolerance of extremes of heat and cold; marked weight change–anorexia or abnormal appetite; loss of adaptability and worsening of symptoms with stress.


ICC Criteria: 2011

3. Loss of thermostatic stability: e.g. subnormal body temperature, marked diurnal fluctuations; sweating episodes, recurrent feelings of feverishness with or without low grade fever, cold extremities.

 

[herpesbaby]

Mine is 37, axillary, which makes it 37.6 oral. Ugh

 

[JaimeS]

Still running a fever. My autonomic NS and hypothalamus heard us talking...

 

[herpesbaby]

Sorry @JaimeS

 

[Tally]

I have no way of differentiating if I have 36.5°C or 36.8°C. It feels the same. But when i have 37.2°C I feel feverish, I get sore throat, and I am out of breath even lying still.

So even though doctors claim it's not a fever, as soon as I am over 37°C I can tell without thermometer that I am feverish.

I think it's just like everything else with ME/CFS. Medicine doesn't know enough yet to detect this is not normal.