What Is Your Body Temperature? Rethinking 98.6

[Becky]

I was so shocked to read the results of this poll. I truly expected the average temperatures to be above normal (98.6). An alternative medical doctor had me take my temperature for 10 days, first thing in the morning when I woke up. I would register in the low 90's, 92-94. Thyroid medication did help somewhat, but getting the right medication was very tricky. Synthroid made my symptoms worse. I was put on armour thyroid which worked, but is not to be found in the US. My PCP has me on a compounded formulation and it is working. My temp is still low, around 96-97, but I feel better. I look forward to the day when I feel GREAT again.

 

[maryb]

Becky can I ask you what the compounded formulation is please?

 

[InChristAlone]

I'm pretty sure the results of this poll shocked me! Normally, when I'm put under no stress, then my body temperature is the normal for most people (around 98.5-97.5). However, when I'm understand any time of stress, my temperature will go up to about 99.9, which most often stumps my doctor every time I go to see her. There has only been one time, I think, that my fever was a low 96.2-.5 but that hasn't happen recently.

It interesting to see how different our temperatures range...

 

[Boule de feu]

I have been struggling with this for quite some time now, and I don't know what to make of it.
Could you help?

I have seen an infectious disease specialist who concluded that I have a systemic illness
but he could not do more for me and could not figure out what is wrong with me.
I did have all kinds of tests. Borreliose (Lyme) was part of it.

This morning (5 o'clock), my temperature was at 96.7.
I got up and went downstairs. 1/2 hour later, 98.
Usually by noon (it happens daily), my temperature will go up: 99,2 - 99,6.
I will have flushed cheeks and will be very hot to the touch.
During that time, I feel very sick (flu symptoms or food poisoning). I have to lie down until it passes.
I'm now dreading this part of the day - I know it will happen no matter what I do!
Then, my temperature goes back to 98.4.

What do you think of this?

After reading many of your posts, I realized that my case is not unusual at all. Many of you have the same pattern.

 

[cigana]

Hi IslandFinn,
This confirms what my pulmonary/sleep specialist told me when I complained to him about my low body temperature being caused by Lyme Disease. He told me most of his patients temps were well below 98.6 on average. When he was out of the room, I asked his nurse and she said the same thing. Of course, healthy people are not in the doctor's office to begin with, esp. not a specialist, since they don't do regular check-ups.

I also have Fibromyalgia, and this could fit in with research on FMS that shows the average FMS patient has a body that is 25 yrs. older than his/her chronological age. I have had my temp drop as low as 93, which is hypothermia. It gets esp. low in the freezing Emergency Rm. and they always freak out and insist on a core temperature reading, which is embarrassing. They never believe me when I explain how Lyme alters messages between the skin and the brain so that temperature is not regulated properly. I have what Lyme patients refer to as "the one degree comfort zone", though for me it is 3 degrees, 77-79 degrees Fahrenheit. My thyroid is doing well on meds. This makes me think maybe the explanation is more simple than the Lyme one. Maybe it's the Fibro explanation that is correct.

I guess it doesn't matter. What matters is that I am freezing in the 30-40 degree weather we are having. It is so unusual here. I have on a turtleneck, a thick sweater, a fleece jacket on top of that, thick knee socks and leggings, and the heat is set at 76, but I am still cold. Can't wait to see the electric bill! What I want to know is how do we FIX this? Moving around helps, but only while you are doing it, and most of us can't do that all day long like "normals."

BTW, ever since the new forum came up, I can't see your Avatar anymore.

klutzo

Hi Klutzo,

Have you checked out Dr John Lowe's work (The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia)? He succesfully treats many patients with both low body temperature and fibro with T3 therapy.

Cheers,

Mark

 

[cigana]

As I have said elsewhere, Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield states that he has never seen a person not improve on thyroid medication if they have both the symptoms of CFS and low body temperature (which about 84% of people in this poll seem to). I highly recommend his book Your Thyroid and How to Keep it Healthy. Note that blood tests cannot detect all forms of hypothyroidism. There is also Wilson's Temperature Syndrome and the type of Euthyroidism discussed by Dr John Lowe which are essentially indistinguishable from CFS. T3 is the treatment of choice along with Cortisol if this is low (as it usually is when one has been hypothyroid for years)...

Cheers,

Mark

 

[mellster]

I have to agree with cigana - while it does not solve pain and other symptoms, T3 seems to improve general fatigue quite a bit and cause a slight rise in body temp. It is also supposed to raise your HR (which is sometimes not tolerated well) but I have not noticed this for dosages up 37.5 per day so far.

 

[svetoslav80]

My body temperature is normal now 36.6, was about 37.2 C for 2 months during my onset. Although it's more interesting for me what was people body temperature during their onset, this poll is still very useful. While reading the forums I got the impression that everyone's illness started with fever, and this thread shows that some people even have temperature under the normal.

P.S. Temperature 36.6 C , measured under the armpit, is considered the standard normal temperature for most of the people, I don't know why the poll says it's slightly lower.

 

[Ocean]

I tend to have a low temperature of 96.7 when not in a bad flare. Currently I've had a fever of about 100 or more for months coinciding with a bad crash. I wonder how many others have long term fevers like this. I don't know when it will go away or what to do about it or what may be the cause. My doctor says it happens with CFS so he has not done any special testing or anything for this symptom. Have others found any relief or answers for longterm fevers? Mine also increases as the day goes on, being at its lowest in the morning. I apologize if someone already answered this, as I have not read the whole thread yet.

 

[Whit]

On the very first day of unexplained symptoms which would later lead to CFS a couple years down the road, I thought I had a fever and went to the nurse at my College and she read my temperature as 96 or 97 and told me that was fine, but my temp had always been in the 98's my whole life (confirmed by my mother) until that day and in the 7 years since then it has remained between 95 and 97.

I'm convinced it has something to do with CFS because of the strong correlation with the first day of my symptoms. But it's something that has usually been shrugged off by doctors.

 

[Ocean]

Mine goes up as the day progresses also. I used to be 96.7 all the time, but since a bad crash a few months ago, I'm feverish every single day, somewhere between 99.4 and100.2. But usually it's lower in the early day and highest at night. I was thinking of starting a thread on fevers. I've had one for several months without a break. Do many others have long term fevers like this? It coincided with my crash but I hoped/thought it would be better by now. Any thoughts/tips? I really want my temperature to go back to "normal" (which is low). Maybe I'll start a new thread, if this is too OT or hijacking the thread too much.

ETA: I'm so out of it, I think I answered the same question on here twice now!

I have been struggling with this for quite some time now, and I don't know what to make of it.
Could you help?

I have seen an infectious disease specialist who concluded that I have a systemic illness
but he could not do more for me and could not figure out what is wrong with me.
I did have all kinds of tests. Borreliose (Lyme) was part of it.

This morning (5 o'clock), my temperature was at 96.7.
I got up and went downstairs. 1/2 hour later, 98.
Usually by noon (it happens daily), my temperature will go up: 99,2 - 99,6.
I will have flushed cheeks and will be very hot to the touch.
During that time, I feel very sick (flu symptoms or food poisoning). I have to lie down until it passes.
I'm now dreading this part of the day - I know it will happen no matter what I do!
Then, my temperature goes back to 98.4.

What do you think of this?

After reading many of your posts, I realized that my case is not unusual at all. Many of you have the same pattern.

 

[taniaaust1]

37.3 isnt a fever

"Normal human body temperature varies slightly from person to person and by the time of day. Consequently, each type of measurement has a range of normal temperatures. The range for normal human body temperatures, taken orally, is 36.80.7 C (98.21.3 F).[1] This means that any oral temperature between 36.1 and 37.5 C (96.9 and 99.5 F) is likely to be normal.
"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_human_body_temperature
.....

In my early ME years I used to often (most of the time) have a temp of 39C upwards (102.2F+) and ran much of the time (that is a high fever so a little abnormal for ME.. Ive read low grade fevers around 100.4F are more common in ME). I didnt strike any doctors disbelieving I was sick in my early ME years due to the high fever I so often had.

Then I went to having low temp after those first years eg 36.2C (97.16F) was quite normal for me (while at times it was in the high 35C range (eg 96.44F). (I think that also was normal for me before I got ME.

The ME thou has shifted for me again in the past year (it shifted again after 13yrs of this illness, it actually shifted after I went on the extremely low carb diet Im on thou I dont know if that is the reason it did or not) and now rarely get a low temp reading, nowdaya tend to run high 36C (96.8F) to 37.6 (99.68F) range .. note this is still a normal body temp. (but I do get that with regular fevers of 38C+ (100.4F) .. when I do too much my temp often goes to 38 ranges). I was running a temp of 100.22F on Friday after my shopping attempt.

Interestingly some ME experts say that when we overdo things it can show via low body temp which can be like a warning sign (but I go the other way)

 

[taniaaust1]

Mine goes up as the day progresses also. I used to be 96.7 all the time, but since a bad crash a few months ago, I'm feverish every single day, somewhere between 99.4 and100.2. But usually it's lower in the early day and highest at night. I was thinking of starting a thread on fevers. I've had one for several months without a break. Do many others have long term fevers like this? It coincided with my crash but I hoped/thought it would be better by now. Any thoughts/tips? I really want my temperature to go back to "normal" (which is low). Maybe I'll start a new thread, if this is too OT or hijacking the thread too much.

ETA: I'm so out of it, I think I answered the same question on here twice now!

"Body temperature normally fluctuates over the day, with the lowest levels around 4 a.m. and the highest in the late afternoon, between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. (assuming the person sleeps at night and stays awake during the day). " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_human_body_temperature

Running a continuous or having low grade fevers are very common during early ME years. Often anything under 100F or 38C (100.4) isnt counted as a fever thou it may be a fever for the individual.

Female body temps are different to males as they naturally vary too from before ovulation to after ovulation so be aware of the temp differences from hormonal factors and factor that in too for the different times of the month as these can make quite a difference to what is normal for a person.

(I couldnt fill out the poll properly as it didnt allow for this shift between my normal hormonal cycle which then put me into two different answer areas on the poll).

 

[ArgyrosfeniX]

Thought I might mention that there seems to be a difference in temperature that is associated with geographical location.
Those farther north (in the northern hemisphere) tend to have lower peripheral body temps. CBTs are generally similar though.

One other thought: The most accurate temperature you can take (most closely replicating your CBT) is going to be rectal.

 

[Calathea]

Well, every human's body temperature varies over the course of the day and night, and all women who have ovulatory menstrual cycles will experience a substantial rise in temperature for the second half of their cycle, which makes this question tricky to answer in some ways. So if anyone is panicking because of their temperature fluctuating, don't! But I think anyone who has spent enough quality time with a thermometer will have sussed out whether they're running particularly hot or cold by now. I take my basal body temperature at 8 am every day in order to track my cycles, and my temperature falls within the classic ranges that are given for Fertility Awareness Method charting, so I've ticked "normal" even though it will only cover my temperature at some parts of the day and for some parts of my menstrual cycle.

I've started getting gallstone attacks recently, and the first one was in the middle of the night and involved agonising abdominal pain and being freezing cold despite having every quilt and blanket in the place piled on top of me. My temperature came out as 34.5 five minute before the emergency doctor arrived, which even for the middle of the night is low. He stuck a thermometer in my ear and airily told me it was normal. A trainee nurse friend of mine, who exclaimed, "But that's seriously hypothermic!" when I told her what my temp had been, reckoned that he didn't even glance at the thermometer. He didn't bother to examine my abdomen properly either, so I'm guessing that he heard that I have ME, saw that I was sitting under a yellow bulb (darkness therapy - I was too bewildered from pain to realise that being kept awake by blue light really wasn't a factor by now), and assumed that I was just a hypochondriac. He did at least give me useful meds for the pain, but I should have known that "it's probably just a virus" is a bad sign, and of course I didn't get the diagnosis of gallstones until my next attack, which thankfully was during the day and got me to a more competant doctor.

I've also found my temps have dropped due to dieting. I started dieting 8 months ago, at a slow and sensible pace of course, but did find that I was suddenly feeling cold all the time, and my temps dropped noticeably. It turns out that it's very common in dieters. Thankfully taking two 500mg ginger capsules got my temps back up to my usual range and stopped the shivering. I went down to one capsule after a while, I'm broke, but I should probably go back up to two now that the weather is getting cold again. I'm frustratingly close to finishing losing weight, and on the one hand I want it over and done with (I want to be able to buy some sweaters that actually fit, for starters), but on the other hand I've decided to go with slower weight loss for the last stretch in order not to stress my body out too much.

 

[heapsreal]

my morning body temp is always under 36c and sometimrs a touch over during theday. Dhea and or pregnenolone my temp throughout theday would be around 36.5c with abit more energy. T3/4 tsh test good, dhea and cortisol low. Im starting to think that this slowing down of metabolism is maybe a protective effect as i find it difficult to find the sweat spot dosing hormones.

 

[Freddd]

methylB12/adb12 deficiencies can cause low body temperature and the preception of being cold all the time.

 

[Cath1972]

Hi, my normal body temp is 36.4 C ( I am 39) (I remember in my 20's - before CFS, it was always 37C). Anyway, when I feel really really hot to the point where my clothes/pyjamas are sticking, its only 36.7C. When I feel fluey and ill, it always drops to around 35.4-35.6C.

 

[Freddd]

Low body temperature is a common result of mb12/adb12 deficiency. I used to have that too. Body temperature can go up quickly when mb12 & adb12 are taken with the needed cofactors.

 

[Cath1972]

Low body temperature is a common result of mb12/adb12 deficiency. I used to have that too. Body temperature can go up quickly when mb12 & adb12 are taken with the needed cofactors.

Hi sorry I am relatively new here, and just beginning to learn a few things. What do you mean by needed cofactors and how do you take mb12 adb12?!