I have what seems to be a mild cold or allergies, mostly head cold symptoms so I don’t think it’s coronavirus. But I’m being safe and taking my temperature several times a day.
Which leads to my question. Something I’ve always wondered but I never thought it would be a “need answer fast” situation. But it kind of is.
My body temperature usually clocks in at well below 98.6. Over the past several days, the range has been between 96.2 and 97.8. I just took my temperature and it was at 97.2. The 96.2 was an early AM reading yesterday.
So, how do I define a fever? Suppose I take my temp in a few hours and it’s 98.6?
Would this constitute a low grade fever -for me? Or is 98.6 normal, period? My late partner was kind of the same way and he frequently claimed he had a low grade fever at 98.6, but I always rolled my eyes at this.
But now it might be kind of important to know. Any opinions?
We kept a few days of temperature recordings this week (AM and PM) to get a good baseline. We’re checking against that to see if our temps are elevated, but wouldn’t be concerned unless we get over 100.
IMHO, anything below 100 degrees on two different readings at least eight hour apart is borderline meaningless.
On the other hand, you say you run low. You could well be the outlier. Stranger thing have happened.
I would be less concerned about the actual reading and concentrate more on how you feel. Do you feel lightheaded, feverish, like your brain is running on half wattage? If not, don’t fret.
It may be worth keeping a log of your readings. Should your condition take a turn for the worse, your physician will be glad to have the data.
Note that 97.5 F is the new normal. I routinely clock in at 97.2. I don’t think the guidelines as to what constitutes a fever have changed. IMHO, I think ~2.5 degrees above your average might be a good place to consider yourself as warm enough to start isolation steps.
I was pleased to see that, because my normal is about 97.4, and I always wondered if I ran low. Now I know I have a pretty normal temperature.
Anecdotally, if I peak 99F I know I am sick. I mean, it’s not a fever that doctors care about or anything, but it correlates highly with my being ill. I have a job where it’s pretty easy to work from home, and I do that if I clock in at 99F or above.
I’m being careful and staying home in any case. But within the last two weeks I’ve traveled by air to NYC and back, moving through crowded airports, staying in hotels and interacting with lots of people. Then when I returned I made several long visits to the nursing home where my mom lives.
That’s why I’m monitoring my temperature and if I had a fever I’d want to contact the nursing home. And I don’t know what would happen from there.
Now I have a better idea what to do. Interesting article, BTW. I’ve always suspected I wasn’t an outlier in terms of low body temperature but it’s nice to have it confirmed.
As many are, I am tracking my temperature.
My median temp in the morning is 96.7 with a standard deviation of .56.
That is first thing in the morning, so it comes up a bit during daily activities.
98.6 is the number you get by converting 37-C into F. Normal is 37-C when rounded, or 36.5-37.5, which converts to 97.7-99.5 degrees F. Any clinician will consider that range to be normal.
IANAD, but for home use, a bit above 99.5, I’d re-check in an hour. If still high, take an aspirin or two, wait a couple hours. If still high, worry about it.
I’ve heard some discussion that the average body temp may be going down, I have not heard any discussion that we should change our definition of a fever.
The best explanation I’ve heard is that our body temperature isn’t going down so much as there are fewer people in the sample pool with higher than average temps due to modern sanitation and health care. This was “normal” all along.