My normal body temperature is 97.9, what should my temperature be to be considered a fever?

Question

My mother and my daughter are the same way, sometimes our temperatures are even lower. There have been different occassions where myself or my daughter has felt sick only to have nurses tell us we're fine after taking our temperatures. Recently my daughter went to the school nurse who told her she didn't have a fever and when my daughter came home she had a temperature of 99.1 and was weak. It turned out she had a stomach virus.
When my son was born the nurse told us he wouldn't be released from the hospital until his temp reached 98.6. When my mother and I explained that the both of us and my daughter are normally below 98.0 the nurse just ignored us.

I realize that 98.6 is the standard but is it unreasonable to consider that anything below that is also normal?

Answer 1

The cutoff that physicians use for 'true' fever is 100.4 degrees, and it's the same for everybody.

Now, granted many people will have temperatures lower than 98.6 when well, but it's a misconception that this means your fever threshold is lower than what it is for others. When we are well, our temperature normally fluctuates between around 96 and 99 degrees. Taken orally, temperature can really fluctuate depending on how long it's been since you've eaten or drunk something hot or cold.

Now, to address your scenario regarding your sick daughter whose temp was 99.1. When someone gets sick (with a cold, or what have you), he/she can feel really bad and still not have a fever. I guess what I'm trying to say is that just because the medical community didn't label the 99.1 as a fever, doesn't mean that the illness wasn't valid. Temperature is just a tool that health professionals use as a piece of the puzzle when trying to figure out what's wrong with someone who's sick. It should never be used to decide that "This person is not sick because she doesn't have a fever."
As for your son, I'm sorry the nurse ignored you--there would have been better ways to handle the situation. Chances are that they were taking rectal temperatures on your son, and they are more reliable than oral ones (they're also usually about a degree higher). Newborns that can't maintain normal body temperature can be giving an early sign that they're very very sick. They were just being cautious.

Anyways, I hope I was able to clear up a bit of the seeming discrepancy about what fever is and isn't. It really boils down to the need for the medical world to agree on where to draw the line and then stick to it.

Answer 2

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RE:
My normal body temperature is 97.9, what should my temperature be to be considered a fever?
My mother and my daughter are the same way, sometimes our temperatures are even lower. There have been different occassions where myself or my daughter has felt sick only to have nurses tell us we're fine after taking our temperatures. Recently my daughter went to the school nurse who told her...

Answer 3

There are a lot of people who have body temps that are out of what would be considered normal ranges. Everyone is different and therefore body temp will vary. Regarding having a fever....most health care providers are not concerned until a temp reaches 100.4 (keeping in mind that the person in question is has a normal body temp of 98.6). If your body temp is lower then you should be equally concerned when your temp changes by 2 degrees. Regarding newborns.....its very challenging for a newborn to regulate his body temp, that's prob why the hospital would not discharge him. His body temp will prob be lower than normal as well but we cant make that assumption. Babies can not warm themselves under a blanket like we can...and that can lead to a dangerous situation.
FYI, you might want to get your thyroid checked...low body temp can be caused by an under active thyroid.

Answer 4

What Should Body Temperature Be

Answer 5

My Mom and I both have "low" temperatures normally - around 97.3-97.7F. When I get a 99+F fever, I start feeling pretty crappy. I guess everyone is used to hearing a "normal" temperature is 98.6 makes them think that 99 shouldn't make someone feel horrible. Since we run low temperatures normally, our bodies start to feel "out of sorts" when we get a fever of 99. I totally understand what you're going through!

Answer 6

My body temperature is 97.9 is it fever??

Answer 7

Frankly I wouldn't trust anyones opinion on this forum for a question such as this, we really aren't qualified to answer this question due to the fact that your bodies function in a different way than ours, for us it would be a slight fever to be over 99... for you that may be a more extreme fever than the rest of us. I would recommend looking at www.webmd.com for information on anyone else who may share your anomaly

Answer 8

I think you should stick to watchin out for urself when ur fever is like 100 and up. But at 99 u needa start bundling up and drinking alot of water and taking acetamenophin er wutever its called, (painkillers) so you dont get worse.

Answer 9

my body temperature is varying between 97.9 to 98.3 ...i m suffering from all the symptoms happen in fever.what does it mean?
and yes...my thyroid test is ok..cbc report ok....even doctors said i m fit after seen my reports...

Answer 10

99.5 is considered a fever, when taken orally.

98.6 is not a fever, no matter which way you cut it, even if you average something lower.