Fever

Dr. Katz's Corner: Medical Myths - Fever

Dr. Katz

Most people know that the average human temperature is supposed to be 98.6° F. However, a large percentage of people believe that their "regular" temperature is much lower than 98.6° F, like 96° or 97° F. I suspect it's because many people go to the doctor in the morning — the time of day when our body temperatures tend to run 1 - 2 degrees lower. So when they come to the doctor and it's a bit higher than their "normal", i.e., 98°, they'll mention that for them it's a fever.

But fever, by definition, is an oral temperature of 100.5° F or above. It doesn't matter what your body's regular temperature is. True, 98.6 is not actually the set level for everyone. But you and I are warm-blooded creatures (homeotherms). Included in this highly exclusive, elite group of animals, are puppies, pirates, and pigeons. We have the ability to maintain, or even alter our temperature-not to keep it the same all day long-but to adjust the temperature based on our bodies' needs. Of course when we have an infection, our body tries to fight it off with a fever. It does that by changing the set point of our body's core temperature. Animals that can't create their own fever like geckos, toads, and tuna, don't do as well with their infections. Tuna fish don't keep their vet appointments, and I wonder if this is why. For these guys to fight off infections, they have to move themselves to a hot place. Once we as homeotherms discovered that we could change our temperature, we started doing it all day long. So not very many people who are currently living have a "set" normal temperature of 96°. A lot of my patients insist, nay-wrangle with me about this point. "You dare to squabble with me, the medical giant that I am?" I say. "You question the verity of this colossus cerebrum?" Well, I wasn't actually 100% entirely sure, so I looked it up.

Turns out I was right! Whew! 98.6° is a calculation after averaging thousands of temperature checks of thousands of humans (you, me, and yes, the pirates) over many years, over many times of the day. It also turns out that if you check your own temperature twenty times a day, you'll find that it fluctuates by up to a couple degrees in either direction, depending on the time of day, what you're doing, and what you ate, (and what you're wearing, whether you're ovulating, and maybe even what you're thinking about-whoa, cool down folks). For example, right now my temp is about 100 as I type this, drinking a tall glass of soymilk in my hot tub. Actually, I'm at my kitchen counter. I don't own a hot tub. I am drinking a tall glass of soy milk, though. I added a paper umbrella to the milk because I think they're neat.

So when people say that 98.6° is actually a fever for them, it may in fact be higher than someone is used to, but it's never a fever. Not in humans. Not even in pirates.