Weird temperatures (?)

[Andrea]

I am sitting here shivering and chattering at 2 am and just curious as to what is happening to me and if anyone has any info.

Two nights ago I couldnt sleep because I was FREEZING. Now mind you, the highs here lately have been around 70 and my heat was set on 70. I got up at 2:30am and took my temp and was running a 101 fever but no signs of any illness except that I have been unusually tired the last few days.

Last night wasnt too bad but I was still cold. I did sleep ok though.

Tonight is really odd. I am freezing my butt off and everyone else was complaining it was too hot in the house. I got up and took my temp and it is LOW 96.2.

Anyone have any idea what is going on with this? I dont feel sick so I'm a little worried about a post op infection. I found somewhere online that said low temp could be due to a sepsis infection.

I dont know if I should get dressed and go to the hospital or what. Ugh. I know I cant go to work tomorrow after no sleep though

 

[NascarfanMary]

Andrea,
Like Bill said it could be nothing. I was in my 4th week post op after my 1st surgery and I did the same thing. I was life flighted to cleveland from our local hospital. My temp would be 103 then very low. Dr treated me for a few days. I thought it was over and then in Sept they went opened me up to do repalcement surgery and dr. foung a large sack on my sternum. It was bulging and I lost some of the sternum due to the dr having to scrape away the infecton.

When we asked the dr about the infection he said it could have been there since 1st open heart and since my fever stayed low and I only have severe pain they had no idea that there was infection untill they opened me up. It could have been there for 2 months. I was very lucky.

Please let your dr. know about the temp. It could be nothing but you never know for sure. I am on antibiotics right now due to an infection they found on Monday. So it pays to report this to your Dr. Not all symptoms are alike. Let us know how you are doing.

 

[Bryan B]

I was freezing at night when I had endocarditis. But my temperature usually stayed 1-2 degrees above normal and I had terrible night sweats. I would get it checked out. It's much better to find out it's nothing than to wait. Hope you feel better soon!

 

[Nancy]

Hi Andrea-

I'm with everyone else. Anytime you are noticing something that doesn't make sense, call your doctor and check it out. Strange things can happen. Take it from the wife of a guy who has had many strange things happen.

Let us know how it turns out. We'll be thinking of you.

 

[LUVMyBirman]

Hi Andrea,

I am instructed to call anytime I have a fever 101 or over. With a lower temp, they want to be notified within 24 hours.

Give them a call. It may be nothing more that one of those funky virus things as I recall you have little ones. BTW, the first year after surgery was my worst ever as far as picking things up from my daughter! If feel that my immune system was lowered from surgery.

Keep us posted.

 

[tommy]

Bacterial Endocarditis History coming out of the woodwork

Bacterial Endocarditis History coming out of the woodwork

Andrea,

I concur to get checked out. If I had life to live over, the first change that I would make would be to get my low grade fever and fatigue checked out right away.

Paul,

I wrote off my symptoms as the stress of relocating my family to a new place with a new job. I was very wrong. I would take Tylenol, and the fever would go away for several days to a week. So I kept treating each bout as a separate case, never made the connection. If your symptoms come back, please keep after the docs until you know the score.

Hope I'm not too alarmist, but getting rid of a blazing case of endocarditis was a long drawn out affair, and left me with a damaged valve, eventually to be replaced.

Here's hoping that it's nothing serious. Best to know for sure. Please keep us posted.

 

[Bryan B]

Tom,

Endocarditis has some very deceptive symptoms doesn't it?. I came down with bronchitis last June and it kept flaring up. They finally got it under control and then I developed chronic protatitis (which I still have). But until mid October I didn't start feeling really bad...like a bad case of the flu that wouldn't go away. They finally did a blood culture and it grew strep in less than 2 days. My case was diagnosed as a "small vegetation" and it still took 7 weeks of IV antibiotics before they were willing to say the word "cured". The weird thing is that I was on oral antibiotics several times for the bronchitis and the prostatitis but that didn't prevent me from getting it. And because of it I am now shopping for a valve. The surgeon said that with my combination of VSD, leaky valve, and (now) history of endocarditis, odds are I will keep getting it if I don't have my VSD repaired and replace the valve damaged by the AI and worsened by the endocarditis.

I guess my point is that anyone who has a higher risk of contracting endocarditis should be aware of the symptoms of endocarditis and not ignore what might seem like trivial symptoms if they last more than a few days.

 

[tommy]

Bryan,

Wow, 7 weeks. I was a week in the hospital. I ran them out of 1 gram penicillin pills and ended the week with (10) 100 mg pills to get the dose. Then 3 weeks at home with an IV bag hanging on my wall and streptomiacin shots in the rump (my wife enjoyed that). I caught the entire Mary Lou Retton olympics except for naps.

I went from not knowing I had a BAV to an audible murmur. I became a learning tool in every doctors office for 16 years....."Nurse, come here, you need to hear this murmur." Now its "What is that ticking noise? Is that your watch?"

Also, I had a bout of prostatis this summer. Its caused by bacteria about 20% of the time and treated with antibiotics 80% of the time. It finally cleared up for good several months after the antibiotics were gone. Must not have been bacterial.

Your valve situation sounds very simlar to mine. Fortunately I went 16 years between "someday that thing will have to be replaced" to "it's time now". As time went on, my heart beat got louder and my chest felt fuller as the heart enlarged.

Good luck with your shopping. I'm glad you found this site. Please post your questions as they come up.

 

[Abbanabba]

It really seems like such a fine line between being alert to subtle (yet potentially deadly) symptoms, and being a "screaming hypochondriac".

I was brought up to "..stop being such a bloody sooky-sooky-la-la and just get over it..", so I tend to be very dismissive of so many things..... which I now realise I should be treating with a little more respect and attention. The trouble is that many doctors treat you so contemptuously (..especially as a woman..) if you're not practically on death's door when you see them and make you feel like it's such an imposition to get anything tested (..they must hate the new internet age now that people are getting educated and questioning their "god-like" authority ..).

I, for one, am very grateful for having found such a wealth of information on sites like this, so now I know what I should be aware of. Certainly none of my doctors or cardios have ever enlightened me to things I should be aware of (..fluid retention around my ankles, low grade fevers, aches/pains in particular areas, etc..), so thanks to you all for sharing your stories. Not only has it prompted me to be far more contientious about my health, but also to not be bullied by the medical profession and to insist on having things checked out thoroughly.

Cheers
Anna : )

 

[Nancy]

Hi Abbanabba-

Everyone who has serious medical problems has to be aware of ANY changes in their health, however minor. Some of them are just normal and some are not. You can't possibly figure out which is which, that it why the profession of "doctor" developed, to help those with medical problems sort things out and hopefully get better.

Your body, your health, your doctor. If anyone says anything again to you like, "..stop being such a bloody sooky-sooky-la-la and just get over it..", just tell them OK, I understand your feelings, but YOU get over MY hypochondria, and figure out what's wrong. That's YOUR job, and I expect you to respect the fact that I would like some professional answers.

Don't be intimidated by some cranky professional who's having a bad hair day!

 

[Bryan B]

Very well put Nancy.

After I was through with the IV antibiotics I still didn't feel like my old self. I was having more of what I call "heart sensations" than I used to have before the endocarditis. Granted I was also struggling with my anxiety disorder, but I could tell this was different than my anxiety symptoms. I explained this to my employer because missing work was becoming an issue, and I also explained my symptoms to my family doctor during a follow up exam. My employer told me I needed to suck it up, get over myself, and deal with it. My family doctor told me that my heart was fine and blamed it all on my anxiety disorder. He increased my anxiety meds and sent me on my way. I requested a cardiololgy consult anyway (which my doc took as a slap in the face), and within 2 minutes of seeing the cardio he was discussing surgery. So now I have some lingering resentment towards my employers (which is slowly dissipating), and I also have lingering doubts about my family doctor for dismissing my symptoms (even though it was also me that insisted on the echo that finally revealed the endocarditis).

My lesson learned...listen to your gut instinct. My gut instinct told me "get an echo" and later it told me "get a cardio follow up". I'm glad (even though I didn't like what I found out) that I listened to my gut instinct despite my doctors and employers opinions.

 

[Georgia]

Good for you, Bryan - stepping up to the pcp is a tough step to take. My pcp had missed my worsening heart problem for years. I finally changed docs when I got into a disagreement with his little twitty nurse over my inr. He told me to find a new doc; I think he doesn't realize how close he is to a lawsuit (one of these days I'll send him a note to let him know).

I strongly encourage you to find a new pcp; I'm sure you don't trust him and you're probably not his fav, either. There are lots of good ones out there.

 

[Nancy]

Really can't stand stories like that, such unprofessionalism! And an employer telling you to "suck it up", where did they get their medical degree, and who gives them the right to make that assessment?

I thank God that Joe has wonderful doctors, caring, compassionate and highly intelligent. He's had his share of the other kind in the past. One who comes to mind if the fella who made a management decision to throw away all the phone messages that had not been returned during that business day. His feeling was that if it was important, they'd call back. His nurse told us that on the QT. And he was the manager of a large practice. Not sure what was going on in that "noggin", maybe a little oatmeal! That was scary because Joe wasted many days waiting for that fool to call back as his condition worsened. Fortunately at the time, Joe wasn't that ill, and it never became life-threatening.

If you have a wonderful doctor, let them know how much you appreciate them. People who do a good job hardly ever hear, "thanks for being there for me and helping me out".

 

[Karlynn]

Bryan,
So many of us have been through those types of doctors. I had a doctor that wanted to prescribe valium because he thought I was creating my symptoms. I had cardiologists who knew I had a mitral valve prolapse dismiss my complaints because "most people with MVR don't have problems." That was 16 years ago. 12 years ago when I had my valve replaced I HALF-jokingly asked my surgeon to send what was left of my valve to the doctor that tried to get me on Valium.

Good for you. You get an A for being a good personal advocate. One thing all my heart experience has taught me is that doctors are people too, not God with super-human powers.

Now some others you know, even knowing that you've had surgery and are approaching another, will not believe you feel as badly as you do. I think that has to do with age. They just can't relate to someone young not feeling 100%.

 

[Abbanabba]

Nancy -
Maybe this is an "Aussie thing", but even my own mother didn't seem to think I needed to see a doctor when I wasn't able to lie down for 3 days because of chest pains. I was only 13 or 14 at the time, so I just "got over it" - wasn't much else I could do. It seems as long as you LOOK healthy, then you should be climbing mountains!

Karlynn -
The doctor I initially saw when I started slowing right down told me I could expect that at my age (..oooh - all of 29..). If I was 100lb overweight and smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day I could probably pay that, but being fairly fit and active all my life, I couldn't believe he could be so dumb. He also tried to tell me I was chronically depressed which is why I wasn't feeling as "full of beans" as I should have. You would think when you tell them you have issues with your heart they might actually take you a bit more seriously!!

A : )

 

[Nancy]

Well, if this is an Aussie thing, I think it's high time you started a new trend. It's called taking care of yourself so you won't have much worse problems down the line somewhere. You just stay strong and take good care of yourself. Regarding the doctors with the "suck it up" views, go on to greener pastures and find yourself someone who gives a damn.

There's absolutely nothing silly or wrong about trying to be as healthy as you can be.

I'm sure there are tons of more enlightened doctors in Australia.

 

[Abbanabba]

I hear you loud & clear!!

....It's just taking some adjusting, considering I'm the girl who upon dislocating her knee in a nightclub just wrenched it back into place, had a few more drinks to numb the pain until everyone was ready to go home, then finally ambled off to the doctor's the following afternoon once I'd "slept off" the night before (..on 3 separate occassions, no less!!..).

This is why anything that hasn't left me in excruciating agony, such as a low-grade fever, or "uncomfortable" chest pains, has never worried me before - but rest assured, I am now much wiser and alert to what I should be looking out for.

Cheers
Anna : )

...now if you'll excuse me, I'm just off to wrestle a crocodile.... with one arm tied behind my back.... and a blindfold on!!

 

[Raverlaw]

Ok Anna,

I need a more detailed explanation of what a "sooky-sooky-la-la" is. That's definitely an idiom you don't hear in the States!

I think we can all learn a lesson from these kinds of things. I was always the one who wouldn't go to the doctor for minor complaints... until last year when my "gas" turned into "flu" and then finally into a perforated appendix. I should have gone to the doctor 2 days before I actually did, and it almost killed me. The doctor gave me a good chewing out, and I've got religion now.

 

[Abbanabba]

Oh, a "sooky-sooky-la-la" is basically a whinging hypochondriac, or someone who is easily upset over nothing. Being from "country stock" I was brought up to be tough as nails, so unless something is severed, or you're coughing up blood, you really shouldn't complain (..I've seen shearers gash themselves quite badly and use bailing twine and a needle to just sew themselves back together - eeeewgh!!!!!..).

I guess it's just an Aussie version of "suck it up"..... which, by the way, is an awful expression!!

Cheers
Anna : )