What Is Considered A Low Grade Fever?

[Dizzy Dame]

Hi Guys,

As part of my preparation for the lyme specialist in October, I've started doing QID temperature readings. I've been plugging my measurements into a chart that shows my temp fluctuations throughout the day so my docs can see what my temp is doing.

Sometimes my readings are low to normal, but other readings are much higher than what I'd consider "normal" temperature.

For example, my readings yesterday were: 98.4 in the morning, 99.1 at noon, 98.8 in the evening, and 99.5 right before bed.

I've read somewhere that the human core body temperature fluctuates throughout the day, but 99.5 seems a bit high to me. Would that be considered a low grade fever? Does anyone also have these kind of fluctuations?

Thanks,

Lauren

[Guest dionna]

i don't know much about body temperature at all... but when i was a little girl my regular temperature was always around 99- 102. without a fever. so if it went above that... like it did when i got up to 104... i was hospitalized but they never found anything wrong with me. and i personally felt just fine, i had no idea what the big deal was and why they made a fuss over it. now that i have POTS my regular temp is about 96-98 at the most! even when i got strep throat and anytime i get any kind of infection my temp only goes up to 99 at the most. i think it is odd. i wish you had some sort of answer and i wish i could tell you about it. the only thing i can do is tell you my own esxperience.

dionna

[bttrflyamby1981]

For most people it's 99 and up to be low grade fever. But like in Dionna's case some peoples temp is normal in higher temps.

Amber

[Lukkychrm42]

I agree that it depends on the person- many POTSies sometimes run temperatures *below* normal... my normal is more like 97.8-98, so you may have to judge if there's other stuff going on. Also, it is normal to fluctuate throughout the day, like your weight and shoe size, too. For me, I would consider anything from my normal to 99.5 or 100 to be low-grade, but if you've got a reason to fear infection like you have a PICC line or open wounds or I don't know what else, you might have a set temperature at which you need to worry. So I guess with Lyme, it might be helpful to continue with what you're doing, so you can maybe figure out what's normal for you, and at what point you'd need to start antibiotics. Maybe some of the Lyme websites will have this kind of info, too?

Good luck with the specialist!

[Jacquie802]

My "normal" temp is 97.7, I can feel really sick with the sweats,etc. and have my temp be 99.3 which is high for me...

[futurehope]

With me, a 99.3 could be normal or I could be sick. Very often I can tell the difference. If it's an illness, there are other signs like, worsening fatigue, headache, I feel sick, etc. So with me, it's a combo of the temperature and if I'm feeling poorly (more than usual that is).

[yogini]

Hi Lauren,

I seem to be the queen of low grade fevers. It does depend on the person, but I know that before POTS, my basline was exactly 98.6. I often find myself a little higher than that these days, and I've definitely become sensitive to even small changes in my temp. I've read up on this a few times, and my understanding is that anything less than 101 is low grade, and that it's also normal for body temp to vary up to 2 degrees during the day. Temp usually increases a little after meals and later in the day. The numbers you report could be normal fluctuations, but with our bodies, who knows!

Good luck with the Lyme doctor. Hope you get some answers!

-Rita