Increased temperature due to stress: truth or myth?

Does fever come from nerves?

An increase in temperature due to nervousness is possible. Moreover, the root cause can be both negative and positive. Someone suffers because of the death of a loved one or troubles at work - and he develops a fever. Someone is in love, even reciprocally, and the hormones go through the roof, leading to various negative reactions: tremors, fever, bear sickness, dizziness. The author of the article had a temperature of 39 degrees before the entrance exams to the university. The exams took place at intervals of 1.5 months. Both times, the temperature mysteriously appeared and disappeared immediately after passing the exams.

So yes, the temperature can rise from nerves, and to any level. If there are no other signs of illness, then the person has become a victim of his own psyche. But even the presence of flu-like or other symptoms along with a fever does not mean that they were not caused by nervousness. More on this later.

Temperature during panic attacks

PA is an attack of fear, a neurotic reaction. Its peculiarity is that it occurs suddenly, at first glance, for no apparent reason. It can be caused by any mental, emotional or physical stress.

Increased body temperature can be caused by a malfunction of the hypothalamus.

An increase in body temperature can also occur during panic attacks.

The essence of a panic attack: it looks like a surge of adrenaline into the blood. Constant bombardment of the hypothalamus with increased doses of adrenaline leads to the fact that thermoregulation is impaired and the temperature can rise.

All pathological abnormalities in the functioning of the nervous system are curable if you are in close contact with a psychotherapist. There are medicinal and non-medicinal treatment methods, breathing and muscle relaxation techniques. All of them play an extremely important role in the relief and treatment of these conditions.

Why does your temperature rise when you're nervous?

There are several reasons why the temperature rises due to nervousness. Let's list the most common ones.

Decreased immunity

Nervous tension always has a negative effect on the immune system. If stress is prolonged, then a person begins to get sick often, especially colds and viral infections. The reason is the impaired functioning of the immune system, which can no longer effectively resist external influences. Despite the fact that the impetus for fever is given by the inflammatory reaction in the fight against pathogens, in this case it can be stated that indirectly the temperature rose from nervous tension.

Hormonal release

When a person experiences severe stress, fear or a feeling of threat, the instinct of self-preservation is triggered. In response to an external threat, the brain activates the “fight or flight” response. In both cases - to attack danger or escape from it - muscles need energy. The adrenal glands begin to produce cortisol (the stress hormone with which the body mobilizes energy) and adrenaline, which puts the muscles on high alert. Blood from the internal organs rushes to the muscles of the arms, legs and head, simultaneously raising the temperature. With the elimination of the threat, the blood returns to the internal organs, and the thermometer returns to normal. However, if a person is constantly under stress, then cortisol and adrenaline continue to circulate in his blood. Accordingly, the heat doesn’t go away either.

VSD

VSD (vegetative-vascular dystonia, disorder of the autonomic nervous system) is another misfortune that happens to a person due to nervousness and entails changes in values ​​on the thermometer scale.

The part of the brain that regulates the autonomic system is the part that is also responsible for emotions. If emotions are not in a balanced state (for example, a person has depression, increased anxiety, or even falling in love), then the regulation of the autonomic nervous system is disrupted. The result is thermoneurosis. In this condition, the thermoregulation center in the hypothalamus does not work correctly - hence the patient’s temperature rises or falls for no apparent reason, returning to normal after a while or staying for several months or even years.

Other symptoms of VSD are:

• weight disorder;
• appetite disorder;
• dysfunction of organs;
• change in libido;
• headache, dizziness;
• tremor, sweating;
• weakness, malaise;
• abnormal periods of agitation;
• drowsiness or insomnia.

Vegetative-vascular dystonia is also characterized by other manifestations that masquerade as various diseases. Sometimes a person spends years visiting cardiologists, infectious disease specialists, gastroenterologists and other specialized doctors, and autonomic disorder is to blame. So, it was necessary to contact a neurologist and psychotherapist.

In a separate article on the website temperaturka.com you can read more about the temperature characteristics of the VSD.

Psychosomatics and flight into illness

Increased or decreased temperature of a psychosomatic nature is closely related to the phenomenon of vegetative-vascular dystonia. In some cases, doctors call this anomaly a flight into illness. What it is?

A typical manifestation is that before some important event, a person suddenly falls ill with a fever with all the ensuing consequences. The condition is often attributed to the flu. As a result, this may result in the patient simply not attending the event. And then the “flu” goes away on its own - and everything subsides until the next time.

The meaning of escaping into illness is that the body, with the help of fever and other manifestations of malaise, protects itself from what a person does not want to do, or from possible failure. It eliminates the disturbing factor itself - participation in a responsible event. It is interesting that this does not always work: many, by force of will, still go where they do not want and do what they do not want. But our organism is naive: it thought that sabotage would succeed.

If you actively don’t want something, then your body “plays along” with you.

What temperature occurs due to nervousness?

Temperatures vary greatly due to nervous conditions. It may decrease, or it may rise to 37-37.5-38, even to 39-40 degrees.

High temperature due to nerves

Febrile (38-39 degrees) and pyretic (39-41 degrees) nervous temperature is typical for situations of severe stress. Most often, this stress has a connection with real events: exams, conflicts, love experiences, failures, dangers, death or illness of a loved one.

This temperature rises suddenly from the nerves. Sometimes it is not accompanied by other symptoms, and sometimes there are. These are fever and chills due to nervousness, headache, flu symptoms (runny nose, sore throat), organ dysfunction, surges in blood pressure, etc.

Doctors call such acute manifestations paroxysms. They are sympathoadrenal, vagoinsular, mixed.

1. A sympathoadrenal crisis hits a person suddenly: a headache begins, blood pressure rises, there is not enough air, the heartbeat quickens, sometimes the heart hurts, the hands and feet become cold, the person shudders - as a result, the fear of death appears. Body temperature reaches 38-39 degrees. In such a situation, many call an ambulance, whose workers, thinking that the patient has hypertension, lower the blood pressure or relieve other symptoms. But it doesn't get any better. Or it does, but not for long.
2. Vagoinsular crisis begins with a feeling of a sinking heart and a rush of heat to the face. The patient feels that he cannot breathe deeply and there is not enough oxygen - hence the panic. There may be a feeling of fullness in the head, nausea, diarrhea, urticaria, dizziness, chills, and perspiration. At the same time, the pressure drops, and so does the pulse. Such symptoms confuse not only the patient and his relatives, but even doctors. As a result, doctors make incorrect diagnoses and treat people for completely wrong diseases.
3. With a mixed type, symptoms of both crises may appear - both sympathoadrenal and vagoinsular.

Low-grade fever from nerves

Low-grade fever (37-38˚C) due to nervousness can also rise as a result of a single stress, but more often manifests itself in chronic stress. This is no longer an acute condition, but an erased one. Disturbed thermoregulation is to blame here.

In addition, low-grade fever from nerves develops against the background of a weakened body with chronic fatigue syndrome. In this case, the person is accompanied by constant weakness, even after rest. His immunity decreases, and thermoregulation may become upset. Moreover, it is difficult at first glance to determine what exactly caused the rise in temperature - an infection against the background of reduced immunity or a thermoregulation disorder. With chronic fatigue syndrome, the temperature usually stays around 38°C.

It is worth understanding that a constantly elevated body temperature may have other causes, so this condition requires differential diagnosis.

Temperature with depression

Each person has his own internal biological clock and how it works will determine such vital indicators as blood pressure, heart rate, vascular tone, and body temperature. During the day, our temperature changes: its lowest values ​​are in the morning (around 4-5 o’clock), the highest between 15 and 18 o’clock. In a healthy person, this difference is small and amounts to 1.2 – 1.5°C. In a person in a state of depression, this difference is almost absent and its indicators are inflated.

Worth seeing: Relaxation sessions for neuroses

Depression is a complex disorder, not a pathology of a specific organ. Therefore, there can also be many reasons why the temperature may persist for a long time.

To accurately determine them, you need to very carefully conduct an oral survey: find out whether there were surgical interventions and for what reason, whether any medications were taken, whether other countries were visited, living conditions and professional characteristics, hobbies are clarified, and it is also necessary to exclude false reasons low-grade fever. False reasons could be a banal broken thermometer. At the next stage, an epidemiological and clinical examination is carried out.

If the cause is determined and it does not relate to infectious diseases and inflammatory processes in the body, then all thermoregulation disorders are classified as vegetative-vascular dystonia - one of the symptoms of temperature depression.

Temperature from nerves in a child

Nervous chills and fever are typical not only for adults, but also for children. Often, vegetative-vascular dystonia, thermoneurosis, and flight into illness appear at an early age.

VSD in children usually begins with dyskinesia (dysfunction) of the gastrointestinal tract and/or increased body temperature without signs of an inflammatory process. A typical situation: the baby got agitated because someone offended him - immediately the reading on the thermometer jumped to 37-37.5°C. Some time passes - and the child is healthy again: running, cheerful, vigorous. I got sick myself and recovered. It seems so from the outside. In fact, this is a disorder of the autonomic nervous system.

In adolescence, the body's tendency to heat up due to nervousness may be accompanied by fainting.

An increase in temperature from nerves in a child and adolescent also occurs due to flight into illness. Often mentally sensitive children get sick before the start of the school week, before tests and similar unpleasant events.

School is stressful for a child

Children who are prone to fever for no reason or to vegetative-vascular disorders are contraindicated in serious sports, but they need exercise. A clear, uniform daily routine is important for them. Serious intellectual overload should not be allowed. And explain to your child that any situation, even the most difficult one, is not a tragedy.

And, of course, simulation cannot be ruled out. Trust your child, but check. Discreetly observe how he measures the temperature and whether the thermometer is artificially heating up.

Body thermoregulation mechanism

Before determining the effect of anxiety on thermoregulation, it is necessary to understand the mechanism of regulation of the body's temperature regime.

Body temperature is the main characteristic that allows you to quickly assess the condition of the entire body.

It is worth understanding that during the day a person’s temperature may experience slight fluctuations, the so-called. daily rhythm, within 0.5-1 °C. Such changes are considered normal. By evening, a person's body temperature usually rises.

Special centers located in the hypothalamus and thyroid gland are responsible for maintaining normal thermoregulation in the human body.

The hypothalamic receptors constantly receive signals from nerve endings with status information from different parts of the body. Regulation occurs due to the intensity of the release of TSH hormones by these receptors, which affect the activity of the thyroid gland during the release of hormones.

These biological active substances of the thyroid gland are responsible for metabolism - metabolic processes that support life.

This is how the temperature rises.

1. Nerve endings react to any changes both inside and outside the body. When the environment changes, hypothermia, or infectious agents and viruses enter the body, the nerve endings send a signal to the hypothalamus.
2. The receptors activate the release of TSH hormones, which are sent to the thyroid gland.
3. The hormone TSH serves as a signal for the thyroid gland to activate the release of its hormones. They accelerate metabolic processes in the body, which leads to an increase in body temperature due to increased heart rate and accelerated blood flow.

The considered mechanism during temperature changes allows you to protect vital organs from hypothermia. And in case of diseases, an increase in temperature can solve several problems - the thermal effect kills some microbes, allows you to quickly supply the necessary areas with nutrients, and activates the body’s defense mechanisms.

How to treat nervous temperature

To relieve acute conditions, the drugs “Relanium”, “Anaprilin” and others are used. The doctor may also prescribe antidepressants or tranquilizers. You cannot prescribe these tablets yourself, because... it is necessary to take into account all the subtleties of the course of the disease.

To make crises easier, it is enough for many to learn that the symptoms are caused by disorders of the central nervous system. And that such a state will not cause a stroke, that death will not occur, and the feeling of lack of breath is an illusion and you will not suffocate from it. That is, it is important to understand that the fear of death, which reasonably arises with such symptoms, is false. This knowledge alone is reassuring.

A course of treatment with a psychotherapist is required. Of course, you can work on yourself, read psychological literature, or wait until the situation resolves itself if stress was caused by a specific event. But, as practice shows, professional psychotherapy works faster and more effectively.

If you are overwhelmed by emotions, then it is useful to at least talk to someone

For long-term treatment, herbal medicine, taking B vitamins (they have a beneficial effect on the nervous system), calcium, ginseng, eleutherococcus, motherwort, valerian, depending on the set of symptoms, are suitable.

Of the drugs that normalize the function of the nervous system, Cortexin has proven itself well. And “Aminalon” improves the nutrition of brain cells, so it can even be taken as a prophylactic course before an upcoming intellectual or emotional stress.

A mandatory element of treatment is a healthy diet and moderate physical activity, primarily aimed at strengthening the back muscles and improving posture, because Often the cause of thermoneurosis is osteochondrosis or other disorders in the spine.

Massage and self-massage is another excellent method that helps strengthen and relax muscles, influence biologically active points on the body, calms, and has other beneficial effects.

Temperature with neurosis

What is neurosis and what is the nature of this disease? This disease is functional, i.e. reversible and does not represent a “breakdown” of some organ, but only a disruption in the functioning, in our case, not of an organ, but of the central nervous system.

Sometimes a loss of strength causes the temperature to drop to 35°C, but it can also jump up, and sometimes it can be at subfebrile levels.

The hypothalamus, the central organ of the autonomic system, is responsible for thermoregulation and balance. A persistent disorder of heat exchange processes indicates disturbances in its operation.

With neurosis, body temperature may rise or fall

A non-infectious increase in temperature may indicate the manifestation of symptoms of VSD, in particular vegetative neurosis. This condition with low-grade fever can be long-lasting and manifest itself in the following cases:

Worth seeing: Neurosis and alcohol