# Body Temp (Medical related) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 6, 2002, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-temp-medical-related/140910 "2002-12-06T14:30:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scotth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-temp-medical-related/140910/1 "2002-12-06T14:30:44Z")
Ok, everybody is supposed to have some temperature variation during a full day/night cycle. By what I can find, a maximum normal swing is supposed to be about 1.2 degrees F and typically in the .5 to .8 degree area. I have had issues with being nausiated in the morning. I am never nausiated if I sleep in, or if I get up early but take my time getting moving. On most mornings, I don’t actually vomit, but spend some time gagging and stuff, but occasionally I do more than just go through the motions. Brain dead would also be a pretty fair description of me early in the morning. This pattern has gone on for a long time, 10 years at least. During my time in the Marines, I had plenty of occasions to have my temperature taken fairly early in the day, and it was usually pretty low. This was true even though I had been up a while, long enough to shower, dress, and go to a medical facility of some kind. In the military, it doesn’t matter why you go to medical, you **will** have your blood pressure, pulse rate, and temperature measured and recorded in your records. Anyway, I have been trying to figure for quite a while why I might get nausiated in the morning and be fine a while later and for the rest of the day. I’ve mentioned it to several doctors, nobody has proposed much of cause of solution. Most of it has been looking at what I eat or drink first thing in the morning, but changes in that have had no effect. It seems pretty much completely related to getting up somewhat early and getting ready faster than any pace that would be considered plain old lazy. I thought that maybe I was just cold in the morning and warming up to normal temperature too fast was causing it. (When you have eliminated every other thing you can think of… ) My wife gets up quite early most days and occasionally gets up painfully early. We have been logging my morning temperature when she gets up and it is pretty interesting. Before I get to that, my afternoon/evening temp is always 98.4 to 98.6 F, tending toward the 98.4 end of the range. I’ve got about 20 reading in the 5 to 5:30 am period so far. They all read in 96.0 to 96.6 range. Typical is 96.4 F. That is 2 to 2.2 degree below normal on average. It is 2.4 to 2.6 degrees low some of the time. On some of the morning when it has been taken in the 3:30 to 4:00 range, it has been below 96.0… 96.0 F is the lowest mark on my thermometer. If the thermometer is still linear below 96.0 mark, my temp has been down as low as the 95.5 F. Two things are interesting: At the time my temp is taken, if “feel” completely and normally warm to myself, toasty even. The other is that hypothermia seems to be commonly defined as starting at 95.0F. Once I get up and start moving around, I usually feel pretty chilly and it takes a while to get warm. And it seems to be that if I warm up too quickly, I get nausiated. Until I get warmed up, I am pretty much a brain-dead zombie. I have been searching for any info an diurnal tempurature swings as large as what I have been recording in myself. I imagine it happens, but so far I can’t find any other examples. I don’t find any correlation between low morning body temp and nausia either. Anyone have any data that would coaborate or refute my theory of my morning nausia being caused or related to returning to a normal body too quickly in the morning, or something along those lines? ---
**Author:** ![scotth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-temp-medical-related/140910/2 "2002-12-07T14:00:54Z")
nausia = nausea in all it various forms in their. And try to ignore the multitude of other spelling disasters. That is what I get when I post in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![scotth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-temp-medical-related/140910/3 "2002-12-07T14:02:18Z")
Ack… their = there. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-temp-medical-related/140910/4 "2002-12-07T14:29:00Z")
The most common causes of morning nausea: 1. Pregnancy. 2. Low blood sugar in the morning. If it’s #1, then I can’t help you. 😃 For #2, I know you said this– > [@](#): > > Most of it has been looking at what I eat or drink first thing in the morning, but changes in that have had no effect. –but it’s not clear exactly what you tried. What you should try is keeping a few crackers, like saltines or whatever kind of inoffensive cracker you can think of, right next to the bed, and/or a glass of some kind of fruit juice, and eat a couple of crackers and drink some juice as soon as you open your eyes, before getting up and moving around. Getting up and moving around causes your muscles to burn glycogen, and so they go to your blood supply to get more sugar, but if blood sugar supplies are low, there isn’t any more to send to the muscles. So you start feeling sick. So what you do is, you stay in bed, don’t move around yet, and replenish your blood sugar supplies. Then when you get up and your muscles start burning glycogen, there’s more available if they need it. Also– > [@](#): > > It seems pretty much completely related to getting up somewhat early and getting ready faster than any pace that would be considered plain old lazy. –this also sounds to me like you’ve just got low blood sugar in the morning, so when you get up and try to get ready “fast”, you run out of steam and start feeling sick and have to go sit down. Am I right? Me, too. I feel queasy every morning until I’ve had something to eat, ever since I was a kid, and if you rush me in the morning, before I’ve had something like juice, or tea or coffee with sugar in it, then I start dropping things and I start feeling sick and I get a headache and I forget important things on my way out the door, like my pocketbook, or the baby. Lots of people are like that. It doesn’t have anything to do with body temperature AFAIK, so you can put the thermometer away. Also, it’s perfectly normal to have below-98.6 body temperature in the morning. That’s why when you’re trying to get pregnant and you’re taking your temperature every morning to tell when you’re ovulating, they tell you to do it in the morning before you get up. [http://www.asklynnrn.com/html/healthmon\_bbt\_thermometer.htm](http://www.asklynnrn.com/html/healthmon_bbt_thermometer.htm) > [@](#): > > Basal metabolic temperature (BMT) is the baseline temperature your body reaches early in the morning when at complete rest. Your BMT can be measured upon waking every morning before you eat, drink, get out of bed or even smoke. Fluctuations in your basal metabolic temperature are connected to the fluctuations of the body’s cyclical changes. See? It’s normal for it to be at its lowest point in the morning. And, yes, hypothermia technically begins at 95, but, um, Scott? That’s for, like, when you fall overboard and they drag you out and take your temperature. If it reads “95” they holler, “Hypothermia!” and start calling for helicopters. But, um, just lying in your own bed and walking around your own house, I don’t think a body temp of 95 counts as “hypothermia”, okay? 😃 You aren’t just a teensy bit hypochondriac, are you? 😃 Okay, then, here’s something nifty for you to worry about. Maybe you have– Menke’s Syndrome!! :eek: > **[Menkes disease: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia](https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001160.htm)** > > Menkes disease is an inherited disorder in which the body has a problem absorbing copper. The disease affects development, both mental and physical. > [@](#): > > Steely hair disease; Menkes kinky hair syndrome; Kinky hair disease > > An inherited disorder that results in problems in multiple parts of the body due to cells not having enough copper. > > Menkes syndrome is inherited as an X-linked recessive disorder. The disorder is related to deficient levels of copper availability to cells. Symptoms include progressive mental deterioration, kinked, twisted and brittle hair, as well as skeletal changes. Death usually occurs in the first few years of life. About 1 in 300,000 individuals are affected. > > Symptoms > > pudgy, rosy cheeks > floppy baby (hypotonia) > irritability > seizures > brittle, kinky hair > feeding difficulties > **low body temperature** :eek: > bone spurs Happy now? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Another\_Primate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Another\_Primate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Another_Primate)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-temp-medical-related/140910/5 "2002-12-07T14:37:49Z")
My awakening temp was always below 98, unless I was sick. (Charted it for a while back in 1973, to see if I was predictable enough to chance using it for birth control.) But it never fell much below 97. So, I’m interested in seeing answers to this! ---
**Author:** ![Another\_Primate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Another\_Primate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Another_Primate)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-temp-medical-related/140910/6 "2002-12-07T14:39:41Z")
Meant to also say: I’m not a “morning person”, either… So, I’m interested in this! ---
**Author:** ![scotth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-temp-medical-related/140910/7 "2002-12-07T14:53:11Z")
DDG… nope… not even a teensy bit hypochondriac. I’ve found Menke’s syndrome and a number of other things that include low body temp and problems with diurnal cycles. None of them fit at all. I am perfectly aware that body temp is supposed to be low in the morning. It is supposed to be at its lowest around 2 am in most people and be at **maximum** of 1.2 F low, typcially .6 to .8 F low by what I have found. Everyday that we have checked, I am double the maximum 1.2 F low… except when I am closer to triple that much low. I am generally in good health, and rarely trouble my doctor with anything except injuries. I am pretty active, so that happens occasionally. I am not particularly worried about this, I am just annoyed with nausea in the morning. It has been going on a while, if it has killed me yet, I figure it probably won’t any time soon. On the blood sugar thing, as luck would have it, I lived with a diabetic for a good while. She was a bit lazy about monitoring her sugar levels. I got after her quite a bit for it. She complained that it hurt and was a hassle. I ended testing with her to get her to do it regularly. So, by chance, I have a good (but this was 7 years ago) idea of how my blood sugar changes through the day. My blood sugar sits right at 90 mg/dl pretty much all the time, including first thing in the morning. A good hypothosis might be that this has changed since then, but that would not explain why I went though the morning nausea back then as well. > [@](#): > > Happy now?😃 Sorry, not yet. ---
**Author:** ![scotth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-temp-medical-related/140910/8 "2002-12-07T14:54:27Z")
uh… that should be… hasn’t killed me yet. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-temp-medical-related/140910/9 "2002-12-07T14:56:08Z")
So it looks like we’re back to #1… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![scotth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-temp-medical-related/140910/10 "2002-12-07T14:59:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > \*\*So it looks like we’re back to #1… > 😃 \*\* Hey, then we can both be rich and famous:D I’ll be the first pregnant man, and you can be the guy that figured it out. ---
**Author:** ![scotth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-temp-medical-related/140910/11 "2002-12-07T15:00:32Z")
And appearently this pregnancy has lasted for well over a decade… ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-temp-medical-related/140910/12 "2002-12-07T15:20:22Z")
Well, okay, the next logical suspect would be some kind of thyroid disorder, but since you said you were in the Marines and such, I would have thought that they would have caught it. But people change over time, so maybe it’s just that you’re not as young as you used to be. 😃 Checklist for diagnosing low thyroid (includes “hypothermia/low body temperature”). Any of the other symptoms sound familiar? > **[How to Understand Thyroid Function Tests and Normal Ranges](https://www.verywellhealth.com/interpret-your-thyroid-test-results-3231840)** > > Learn about different thyroid tests, what they measure, and what they mean, including TSH, T3, T4, Free T3, Free T4, Reverse T3, and thyroglobulin. Using BBT for diagnosing thyroid problems. [http://www.thyroid](http://www.thyroid)%[2Dinfo.com/articles/shames-basaltemp.htm](http://2Dinfo.com/articles/shames%2Dbasaltemp.htm) > [@](#): > > Dr. Barnes felt that this test was a check on the most basic function of the thyroid gland: its ability to regulate the metabolic furnace of the body, and to control temperature. An average of ten days is a very useful indication, therefore, of one’s overall thyroid status, and in many people it may well be more accurate than the blood tests. Temperature testing, however, is not infallable, and - like any other test - should never be used alone to rule in or rule out a thyroid condition, or to dictate therapy. This was linked from this [About.com](http://About.com) thyroid site, [Thyroid Testing and Diagnosis](http://thyroid.about.com/library/news/blbasaltemp.htm) so it’s not some crackpot. So, check it out. \<\< shrug \>\> ---
**Author:** ![scotth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-temp-medical-related/140910/13 "2002-12-07T15:50:45Z")
I’ve looked at all the thyroid stuff. It was one of the first things that popped up as a possible hit. Still, doesn’t look right at all. 1. Generally, during the day, I am very “warm blooded”. I am quite comfortable when many people are bitching that it is cold. 2. I have a very robust appetite. 3. My waist has stay a constant 31 inches since I was 21 and my weight hasn’t fluctuated more than +/- 5 pound in that time either. I am now 34. I have been out of the Marines for 6 years, and my Dress Blues (I bought them when I was 20, and they haven’t been altered since then) still fit me perfectly. I’ve never been on a diet to lose or gain weight. My appetite is pretty much dictated by my activity level. Right now I am not running at all, and I am eating pretty light for me. But, when I am running or training for a race (marathon, half marathon or triathalon) my appetite soars. Actually it gets plain rediculous, but my weight stays pretty constant. To be honest, I have only trained for one triathalon and never actually ran one. I was still in the marines for that one and could not afford the amount of food I was eating and quit training before the race. Mostly I have done 5k’s and 10k’s lately. 5k’s vary from 17:45 to about 19 minutes depending on how much I have been running. 10k’s are in the 39 minutes range plus or minus a couple. When I say lately, I mean in the last 2 years. I haven’t done a thing for 6 months or so. I plan on doing several races this next year. I would like to go under 1 hour 35 minutes for the Dallas Half this year. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-temp-medical-related/140910/14 "2002-12-07T16:09:25Z")
Well, geez, Scott, if you’re eating okay and doing 10K runs and generally feelin’ good, although you tend to be a slow starter in the morning (and many people are), why worry about the body temp thing? So you’re a walking statistical anomaly, so what? Be thankful it doesn’t involve a twitch or something. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![scotth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-temp-medical-related/140910/15 "2002-12-07T16:20:38Z")
I didn’t say I was worried. I am just very tired of retching if not actually throwing up 4 or 5 days a week. That is one sucky way to start your morning. Everything else seems to be in order. Getting sick appears to be tied to returning a higher body temp too quickly. That is, I haven’t been able to rule out that link, yet. Even if there is a link there, I am not sure what I can do about that would relieve the morning nausea. Getting rid of the morning nausea is the goal. I am pretty damn tired of it. ---
**Author:** ![odd-socks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c67d28/32.png) [@odd-socks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/odd-socks)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-temp-medical-related/140910/16 "2002-12-07T20:43:54Z")
A friend who has a killer commute into work on the very best that Railtrack has to offer, often states that when people are packed into the train like sardines, some people will feel overheated and throw up- seasoned travellers these are, so it couldn’t be attributed to motion sickness etc. Purely anecdotal, and of course you don’t sleep in a train carriage but still 😉 You say this has been going on for years now? Well, early morning zombie-like status aside, can you think back to when it first _ever_ happened and what triggered it? The reason I ask is that could this now be more of a habit (albeit an unwanted one) rather than have a specific physical cause? For example, some people will throw up or have a gag /retch reflux before a stressful event such as a job interview. Could it be that something happened way back to trigger this, and it caused you anxiety _then_ in some way, shape or form and the behaviour just “stuck?” Maybe something to think about? If you think that’s not it, then perhaps it’s worth going to another doctor, or trying an alternative therapist - one that deals in eastern medicine for example? Are you intolerant to any foods? What do you have to eat the night before? If you can’t find the cause, then as you stated, you need to be able to manage the nausea. Ginger is pretty good for nausea. Have a chat with a herbalist and see what they can recommend for you. Have you tried acupressure / acupuncture too? Best of luck with it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![scotth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@scotth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-temp-medical-related/140910/17 "2002-12-07T23:15:00Z")
I’ve pretty well eliminated any possible food causes. I can prevent it just by getting going slow in the morning. If I work out (run) first thing in the morning… I will get sick during the warm up period. It passes after a few minutes. A good warm shower will often trigger it, if I take one too quickly after getting up. If I am up long enough for my temperature to be close to normal before I do anything that would quickly raise my body temp, I do not have any problems. I pretty much don’t get stressed out about anything. I am pretty intolerant to many of the artifical fats used in some products. A couple examples, the “butter” that is used on most theater popcorn about kills me, and some 2% milk has some type of thickening agent added to make it more like whole milk that bothers me. I avoid both products. Real butter, whole milk, etc are fine and taste better anyway… so it isn’t really much of a sacrifice to avoid the fakes.