Every time I have a major operation I have trouble regulating my body temp for months after. Temps that would normally seem fine to me are now much too cold. Last night I had to put on an extra blanket *and *turn up the heat.
My doc says that this is normal post-op behavior and not to worry about it, but he doesn’t explain why it happens.
OK, one bump to see if the weekday crowd knows.
Sorry Im not going to be able to answer your question, but I was curious, how much is your temperature fluctuating?
I’m not sure if it does fluctuate. All I know is I feel cold. Keep in mind that I almost never wear a coat. It has to be the low teens F for me to normally feel the need for a coat. I keep my place at around 64F and am usually quite comfortable. Now, after an operation, I feel cold at 72F and my hands and feet are cold all the time.
As I said, the doc says this is not uncommon. OK, but why does it happen?
I don’t think anyone really knows why it happens. “Anesthetics alter thermoregulatory responses in all patients”, and some end up experiencing chronic hypothermia, especially it the hypothalamus gets tweaked, but thermoregulation
still isn’t well understood.