Doctors never believe me when I tell them I have a low temperature, and that when I get a low-grade infection, my temperature can actually go even lower. I mean, this has been happening all my life – it’s not my job to figure out why, right?
Right now, it’s 96.0. (I took my temperature because I felt like I had chills.) When I was really sick last month, it went down to 95. (The family nurse told me I must not have pushed the digital thermometer all the way under my tongue.) So when I have an infection, they tend not to take my crappy little 99.6 seriously. Occasionally, I’ll get a whopper of a fever (a few years back, I had one that spiked to 103 – I was actually hallucinating), but sometimes my temperature even goes down when I’m sick.
And yes, I know I’m pathetic for even writing about this. I just hate how doctors half-listen and it annoys me when I have to deal with them.
You are not alone – Me too.
Kaiser-Permanente generally measures me at about 95.7.
I always joke that if I ever had a serious fever, they would say it is 98.0 .. you are fine.
Before I had my throidectomy and got on thyroid hormone replacement, I always topped at about 96 or a bit lower.
When I got more thyroid due to the pills, suddenly my normal temp was higher, closer to the norm of 98.6.
And, yes, when if I got close to 98.6 I felt like I had a fever, which I problably did!
Has your thyroid level been checked? There is a new range, with TSH between .3 and 3.5 considered actual good reading. The old scale went up to 5.0 or close to that. I was always told my thyroid levels were just fine, so it had to be…something else, code for “in y head.” No, docs, it was in my thyroid gland!
And, when you get on insurance have you Vit D levels checked.
I guess “Listening to patients” classes are not the best attended in Med School.