Hello! I have been a doctor for 21 years. My name is Georgy Olegovich Sapego. By popular demand from readers, I'm talking about measuring body temperature. Someone may not like it.
The body temperature can rise from some kind of infection, with various inflammatory diseases, with oncology and so on. This is not counting the normal individual fluctuations and differences during the day in the same person.
Thermostat in my head
We have a very effective thermoregulator in our head that takes into account the jumps in temperature from working muscles or liver and cooling through the skin and respiration.
But since we constantly put on and take off our clothes, get into stuffy vehicles and run out into the cold, even the best thermostat will be slightly wrong.
For the same reason, external methods of measuring body temperature in the armpit, on the eardrum and in the mouth do not accurately reflect the temperature inside our body. It is much more accurate to measure it in the rectum, in the bladder, in the pulmonary artery or in the esophagus. This is sometimes done, but it is not for everyone.
Natural drops in body temperature
During the day, both men and women have the same body temperature. It is lower in the morning and about 0.5 degrees higher in the evening.
If a person recovers from a cold, then the temperature drop may be 1 degree. Have you presented? After a cold, the temperature can be 36.5 degrees in the morning, and 37.5 degrees in the evening. And that's okay.
If a person continues to get sick, then his temperature will be higher both in the morning and in the evening, but the famous daytime difference still persists.
If we are talking about a woman with a normal menstrual cycle, then in the second phase, her temperature will rise by about 0.6 degrees. If in the first phase the temperature was 36.6 degrees, then in the second phase the temperature will be 37.2 degrees. And that's okay.
Where to measure?
Now about where to measure. Americans more often measure the temperature in the mouth, sometimes under the armpit, children sometimes measure in the rectum. It can be measured very accurately on the eardrum with an infrared thermometer.
We measure under the arm more often. This place is considered not very reliable. Temperature swings are more common there, especially in obese people or women with a normal cycle.
Classic
Measurement of body temperature in the armpit is considered the gold standard. There is a fundamental book from 1870, which is still referenced in scientific reviews. They suggest measuring under the arm, and the temperature of 37 degrees is considered the norm.
The normal range for temperature measured under the arm is 36.2 - 37.5 degrees. How do you like this result?
You can read the book at the link below. It was digitized and made available for free.
In short, the temperature in the armpit can be measured, but there it is the most variable of all places in our body. But it has been measured there as a standard for 150 years, and all sorts of infrared thermometers are too smart and invent a lot. The greatest changes in temperature under the arm will be in women with a normal cycle and in people who are overweight.
So how do you measure temperature?
Measure in your usual way. Practice in advance. This will tell you your native standard temperature.
You have a chance to notice an increase in your standard temperature by about 0.5 degrees. Anything less than you will not be able to detect.
If you get sick with chills, then it will be at a temperature above 38 degrees. You will definitely notice her.
Temperatures below 37.5 degrees can hardly be called elevated. And even more so do not bother if your temperature has risen from 36.6 to 36.8 degrees.
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Here is a link to a classic 1870 book On the Temperature in Diseases: A Manual of Medical Thermometry
There, at the end of the book, there is a content with working links to individual chapters. If someone is friends with English, then it will be interesting to read.
