View Full Version : unexplained fever?
I have been feeling really great the past year with lots of energy to spare. Earlier this week, though, I started feeling just wiped out for no reason I could explain. This morning I woke up and it hurt to move my eyes so I took my temp - 101. I don't have any other symptoms other than the tiredness and some lack of appetite and am not inclined to run to a doc for this. Any thoughts on what fever without other symptoms might mean? Starting to freak because I don't know what is going on...
Do you have ticks in your area? I've had two friends with Lyme's Disease and both started with similar symptoms. But those two symptoms could be an indication of many things. I guess I'd keep a chart of what is going on for a while and then maybe get some bloodwork done to see if any levels are low or elevated.
Could be just a plain old virus.
Sounds like Lyme disease. You'll need a blood test to know for sure, but then it's simply a matter of a course of antibiotics and you should be right as rain!
Wow........that's quite a jump........from a simple low fever and eye pain to Lyme disease! (And I say that as a person who thought she might have Lyme disease for quite awhile, but didn't).
As a usually healthy person I can sympathize with your nervousness at a sudden unexplained problem like this. However, in this internet age people tend to become hypochondriacs over everything, even though many illnesses are not serious and resolve themselves with time.
In most cases fever is just your body's way of fighting off an invader. The mayo clinic website, which seems to be a lot more rational and even-keeled than webmd and some of the others, recommends calling your doc if it doesn't go away in 3 days or goes over 103. Tiredness and lack of appetite tend to go hand in hand with fever, so those alone don't sound too concerning. However, mayo does list some other symptoms that, when accompanying fever, could indicate something potentially serious, such as mental confusion, severe headache, extreme sensitivity to light, skin rashes, etc.
I always use the three day rule so guess I will just hope it passes. Don't think it could be Lyme's as I haven't even been able to be outside too much due to the extreme heat down here. I have purposely not even looked at the web as I know the scary conclusions one can get from doing so.
loosechickens
6-23-11, 11:54pm
For at least that three days or so, probably best to just rest, drink lots of water and recognize that fever is your body's natural defense system, which is to raise your body temperature temporarily so that whatever invader has managed to get in finds conditions inhospitable. Most fevers disappear within a few days, body has vanquished whatever "enemy" it discovered, and you feel better, but none the wiser as to the identity of the bacteria or virus.
Yeah, it COULD be something like Lyme, but absent other symptoms, and if it goes away in a few days, I'd just do the rest and naps regime. If you're still running it after that, or if it spikes up to 103 or more, I'd certainly see a doctor.
One thing I DON'T do with a fever is take something like aspirin to bring the fever down unless it would spike to some dangerous level. All that does is treat the symptom of fever, but in actuality handicaps your body in its ability to fight the invader by raising the temperature, by lowering it artificially by the aspirin.....JMHO
I have found with my kids and myself that viruses can take about 3-5 days to break. And I totally agree with LC about not treating the fever (unless it gets into seizure territory ....105 F.) What a wonderful way the body has of disposing of the bad guys!
May I rant briefly about the incompetence of our hospital? I know, it's all about me ... :|(
Around the last week of May I developed severe abdominal pain and fever. The pain became manageable to unnoticeable but the fever stayed between 101-103.5 unless I damped it down. Believing the same as y'all, I let it do its thing, but when it didn't go down after 4 days, I went to the hospital. They did all sorts of inconclusive tests and immediately bombarded me with stuff to damp down the fever. After three days of this nonsense, they said I could go home as long as my fever wasn't over 100 - while they were still pouring tylenol, advil and ice into me. Well duh, yeah, I managed to "perform" and produce a temp of 99.7 for about 3 hours. Obvious to everyone but the hospital staff, whatever was wrong with me wasn't cured at all, but I was released with instructions to keep alternating tylenol and advil every four hours or so to be sure the fever didn't spike. Upshot, I went for a follow-up exam two weeks later and wound up having surgery for an endometrial abscess last week ... an abscess that could have ruptured into peritonitis.
Not to scare anyone, but I'm more convinced than ever that in addition to being a powerful weapon, fever is an exceptional diagnostic symptom which should be allowed to run its true course and not be ignored or "managed" as a way of "curing" the patient unless it gets into brain damage territory, which as far as I've been reading is more like 106. 103 is uncomfortable and makes you feel really sick, and it's a serious warning sign, but it's not dangerous.
Kib....what it a small hospital? They can be very dangerous.
Wow--glad you survived the abscess and the treatment! I couldn't agree more about reading body signals and about not trying to outsmart a fever with drugs.
"I was released with instructions to keep alternating tylenol and advil every four hours or so to be sure the fever didn't spike. '
...inviting liver or kidney failure, or both.
I think treating fever with pain-killers is common practice in conventional medicine. I know that if I took some right now, I could probably get out of the house and function a bit better but my sense is to leave it alone. Luckily dh is here to help with cooking and chores. It is scary to think though that it might be something unknown festering as in kib's scenario.
Grrr. Thanks. I knew enough to be uncomfortable with their advice so I alternated damping down the fever with much less med than they suggested when I really needed to function, and leaving well enough alone to see if it was actually going away the rest of the time. I made the follow-up appointment with a real doctor - which is why it took so long - who wound up whisking me into surgery at a real hospital. All better now except for this grinning row of staples that reminds me of Tim Burton. My two favorite hospital moments: when the admitting doctor frowned at me and said "well if you're going to say it hurts everywhere, we'll have to start over again!" - ok fine, I'll make something up. And the night nurse who took five tries to replace an IV and then came back an hour later, saying "I can't find the IV bag I'm supposed to be giving another patient, I just have to check that I didn't give it to you by mistake." mmm, yes, I know what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but is it necessary to test that out on every patient?
Pinkytoe, how are you doing? I think that the conventional wisdom to give it three days is good advice. It could be something festering, but hopefully it's just an errant bug that your body needs a few days to get rid of. I just wanted to pass on my adventure as a way of saying if the fever doesn't go away don't let them just treat it as if it was the problem. Hope you're feeling better soon!
End of day two and still feel like poo - 101 fever still. To me, a hospital is like a torture chamber so I sure hope this doesn't turn into something. Naturally, it is the weekend. Back to bed....
pinkytoe, hang in there. I never disturb a fever unless it's threatening me -- it's my body doing what my body does best. And I frequently defy doctor's orders when it comes to heavy doses of drugs. Doctors, frequently, are playing to the least common denominator of society, the ones who EXPECT to be able to take a drug and make it all better within the hour.
It's good that you have someone there who "has your back" in case it starts to spike or doesn't come down on its own. Stay cool, rest, drink lots of fluids, and thank your body for doing such a good job taking care of you :)
Take care
pug
Day four and still have 102 fever. I really don't know what to dp since I feel awful. Will have to miss work tomorrow and my work pile is already very high. I know if I go to the doc, he will prescribe antibiotics.
Do you have any other symptoms/pains/congestion at all?
loosechickens
6-26-11, 11:03pm
Four days of 102 sounds like time for a visit to the doctor......I'm very much for "benign neglect" for a few days, but four days seems like about one day too long to me. At this point, I'd bite the bullet and go to the doctor if it were me.
Cathy-
No other symtpoms though I am noticing some heaviness in my lungs if I take a deep breath. I don't even have any swollen glands in my neck. I am going to call the PA this morning.
I think that's a good idea, just to be on the safe side. Let us know how it goes!
loosechickens
6-27-11, 2:33pm
definitely it's time for the doctor, especially with the "feeling a heaviness in my lungs" when you take a deep breath...you could be harboring a bit of pneumonia, or something serious.......three days of fever and no other symptoms equals benign neglect, but more than three days AND with other symptoms like your lung comment equals definitely time for seeing a professional. IMHO. Glad you're going to go in and see about it.......
What a week it has been. My trip to the doctor was inconclusive but as I said they would - all they did was prescribe an antibiotic. Something called Z-Pak. My fever has gone down to 100 today but the medicine is really making me feel awful as if I have been poisoned. I am wondering if I should stop taking them. I took aspirin twice over the weekend and that was a big mistake. I came down with chills and sweats, the fever plunged and then in a few hours it shot way back up - one time to 105. This whole experience make me realize how much for granted we take our everyday health. I can't wait to feel good again.
To get back to one of the original questions someone brought up re: lyme disease..........Do you think you had a tick bite? Were you in the woods or fields lately? Do you have a bull'seye rash anywhere? (although I guess that's only present in 50% of the cases).
Did you get lab work drawn and a chest xray?
Don't stop the Zpack. It will continue to work even after you've taken the 4(?) days of it.
Do you have any swollen lymph nodes (groin, underarms, neck)?
Had a CBC and chest x-ray; no swollen nodes. She said I might need a CT scan next. The last time I was in the woods was a year ago. Funny thing about the doctor's visit ...they gave me a patient summary printout that said things like "patient denies recent travel, hiking or camping or excessive exposure to animals" Funny because no one ever asked me any of those questions.
That's good, that your doc at least did those 2 things. That's unfortunate that she didn't ask you those questions, yet said in the printout that you said you hadn't.
If your temp stays above 104, call the doc or go to the ER. Call them tomorrow to see if your CBC is back. You might be working on an abscess or something.
Keep us posted!
(p.s. I ALWAYS feel horrible on antibiotics. I don't know why).
What a week it has been. My trip to the doctor was inconclusive but as I said they would - all they did was prescribe an antibiotic. Something called Z-Pak. My fever has gone down to 100 today but the medicine is really making me feel awful as if I have been poisoned. I am wondering if I should stop taking them. I took aspirin twice over the weekend and that was a big mistake. I came down with chills and sweats, the fever plunged and then in a few hours it shot way back up - one time to 105. This whole experience make me realize how much for granted we take our everyday health. I can't wait to feel good again.
Those Z-paks are awful! :(
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