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Hi There. I Woke Up Feeling Extremely Cold And Began
Question: hi there. I woke up feeling extremely cold and began to shiver. All limbs and body parts feel ice cold to the touch. Google Searches keep bringing up hypothermia but I was under 4 layers of blankets. I took a hot shower and I'm still freezing cold. What could be causing this?
Brief Answer:
Very likely you are having fever
Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome to "Ask a Doctor" service,
I carefully read your query and understand your concern.
Hypothermia does not happen in the circumstances you explain but only if one is in a very cold environment for a while.
In your case, this does not sound like hypothermia. Very likely you are actually having a fever. Due to certain infections (generally viral infections), the body thermostat in the brain gets disoriented and considers the normal body temperature as low. Thus, it starts to take measures to reduce temperature exchange with outside (blood vessels constrict- so the limbs feel cool to touch and we feel cold) and also activates the muscles to shiver and produce heat so the body temperature increases.
Very likely you are actually developing fever, this is why you have the cold feeling (your brain interprets your temperature as low) and the shivering (trying to produce some heat).
I would advise you to take ibuprofen 600 mg and paracetamol 500 mg every 6-8 hours to help with this.
If you check your temperature and it reaches over 40.5 C (or 104.9F) or the fever lasts more than 4 full days or you develop any other symptoms, you will need to see your doctor.
Meanwhile, make sure you drink plenty of fluids to keep yourself hydrated, rest as possible and eat frequent small amounts of food. If you check your temperature when you are sweated, the temperature may show normal or low and this is because when we sweat the temperature goes down (the process reverses) and also the sweat does not allow a good measure of the temperature (it is best to take oral temperature).
I hope this answers your query.
I remain at your disposal in case further medical assistance is needed.
Regards,
Antoneta Zotaj,
General and Family Physician
Very likely you are having fever
Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome to "Ask a Doctor" service,
I carefully read your query and understand your concern.
Hypothermia does not happen in the circumstances you explain but only if one is in a very cold environment for a while.
In your case, this does not sound like hypothermia. Very likely you are actually having a fever. Due to certain infections (generally viral infections), the body thermostat in the brain gets disoriented and considers the normal body temperature as low. Thus, it starts to take measures to reduce temperature exchange with outside (blood vessels constrict- so the limbs feel cool to touch and we feel cold) and also activates the muscles to shiver and produce heat so the body temperature increases.
Very likely you are actually developing fever, this is why you have the cold feeling (your brain interprets your temperature as low) and the shivering (trying to produce some heat).
I would advise you to take ibuprofen 600 mg and paracetamol 500 mg every 6-8 hours to help with this.
If you check your temperature and it reaches over 40.5 C (or 104.9F) or the fever lasts more than 4 full days or you develop any other symptoms, you will need to see your doctor.
Meanwhile, make sure you drink plenty of fluids to keep yourself hydrated, rest as possible and eat frequent small amounts of food. If you check your temperature when you are sweated, the temperature may show normal or low and this is because when we sweat the temperature goes down (the process reverses) and also the sweat does not allow a good measure of the temperature (it is best to take oral temperature).
I hope this answers your query.
I remain at your disposal in case further medical assistance is needed.
Regards,
Antoneta Zotaj,
General and Family Physician
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Raju A.T
Answered by
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