Never Ending Fever

[amyshol]

Hey everyone.

Needed to lament, so bear with me if I sound pathetic. I've had a fever now for almost 3 weeks and the doctors can't find out what's wrong with me. They took me off the enbrel until this is resolved since they are pretty sure my lowered immune system is the culprit.

The fever hasn't been hurrendously high, but it continues to increase. Yesterday, it broke the "102" barrier. :) When it started, it was just low grade - not usually higher than 100.5. I also have a spastic, nonproductive cough with it. Lungs sound clear and chest x-ray is normal. All blood cultures came back normal, too. Go figure.

The good news is, my psoriasis and arthritis are both fine. I had a rheumatology appointment on Monday, and I only had 2 swollen toes, not enough to account for the high sed rate (it was 77).

Anyway, I've been home sick all week and bored out of my mind. Hopefully, things will start improving soon. Thanks for listening to me gripe.

Amy

[ouchyk]

Amy,

I hope that they find out whats going on with you. Perhaps it's a nasty virus as they haven't found anything yet?

In any event, I hope that you feel better soon and that glad that your PA isn't kicking your hiney.


Karen

[luvwinnie]

Oh, I feel for you! Before I was diagnosed and treated I had a low-grade fever almost daily for months. I hope they figure out what it is soon!

[Lee140]

Amy,
Hope you start feeling better soon, hope the P and PA stays under control while you're off the Enbrel. Did your doctor put you on an antibiotic just in case you have some opportunistic bacteria that's taking advantage of your lowered immune system? I've run a low grade fever for months. On MTX (also an immunosuppresant) my doctor said if my temp hits 100 degrees to call her and she'll take me off the MTX and put me on an antibiotic just to be safe.
Lee

[spitball]

Hi Amy,

This happened to me, here is a copy of my previous mess.

***********spitball
Community Contributor Join Date: Nov 2006

hello to all,
Just wanted to update:
I was in the hospital for 5 days, they about drained me of blood, checking it every 2 hours.
MRI was done to the brain, they saw an inflamation, narrowed it down with a CAT scan. Found it to be a sinus infection, who would of thought this, I had no symtoms,or they were masked with the pain from other areas, all I know at this time I was running a constant 102 degree temp.
They started me on a intravenus antbiotic for the sinus infection, now that they knew what we were fighting. I have to hand it to them for not throwing wholesale antibotics at me and taking the time to find the target area.
My fever went down in 3 hours, now I am taking oral antibiodics.
While in there they ran all kinds of tests, one was a echo heart test, to find out if the fever/infection had done any damage to my heart valves. They found that my "lower heart is sluggish", now I have no idea what this means, will know more when I do the treadmill stress test which is in a few days hopfully, the hospital will call as soon as they can fit me in. I'm sure this will be fine, no problem checking the old heart thought.

Back to the rumey as soon as I got out of the hospital, He understands my want to give the raptive the full benefit of the doubt, and will work with me on the pain. He put me on Predesone, 15mg first week, 10mg second week, 5mg third week, done
Today is the first day I am in no pain, neck is fine, so is hip and knees. I started the Predesone on Friday.
I also missed some therapy on my hip and neck while in the hospital, have since resummed.
Also missed one dose of raptiva while in hospital, they asked me to forgo one, hence since gotten back on my normal injection.

Since starting the antibiodics my temp has came way down, and I find this odd. I have been keeping a log of my temps thur the day and am from 95.5 in the morning to about 97.5 at evening, so it is below norm, doc said as long as it doesn't dip to 92 to 93 i'd be fine, but I find this odd as I don't remember having a low temp before raptiva, always 98.6, we will see....

I have become a high maintenence person.....

That's all for now
thanks to all concerned
Dennis
***********

There are others who had the same experience, I'm not to good at this computer stuff, but others will chime in, go back through the old posts and do some searches here, they helped me out alot.

Dennis S

[amyshol]

Well, things got a lot worse before they got better... I ended up having a fever all the time and my cough got really nasty. I went to the ER when my temp reached 103.8 and my chest hurt everytime I inhaled. They gave me a chest x-ray and an abdominal ultrasound. Chest x-ray was clear, and ultrasound showed nothing. So the doctor diagnosed me with a "upper respiratory infection" (I didn't even have a runny nose) but gave me a bag of iv antibiotics just in case. They also diagnosed pleurisy because of the pain on inhalation. After I was on the heavy duty antibiotic, I improved dramatically within 3 days. But when I stopped taking them, my fever returned, but only low grade again. So I am working half days and back on antibiotics keeping my fingers crossed that I will be back to myself very soon. PA is still not a huge problem, but I can feel some stiffness in the morning.

Anyway, once again thanks for listening to me gripe. I am so thankful to be feeling better, but frustrated that I am not yet one hundred percent.

Hope all is well for all of you!

[boomer6454]

Hey everyone.

Needed to lament, so bear with me if I sound pathetic. I've had a fever now for almost 3 weeks and the doctors can't find out what's wrong with me. They took me off the enbrel until this is resolved since they are pretty sure my lowered immune system is the culprit.

The fever hasn't been hurrendously high, but it continues to increase. Yesterday, it broke the "102" barrier. :) When it started, it was just low grade - not usually higher than 100.5. I also have a spastic, nonproductive cough with it. Lungs sound clear and chest x-ray is normal. All blood cultures came back normal, too. Go figure.

The good news is, my psoriasis and arthritis are both fine. I had a rheumatology appointment on Monday, and I only had 2 swollen toes, not enough to account for the high sed rate (it was 77).

Anyway, I've been home sick all week and bored out of my mind. Hopefully, things will start improving soon. Thanks for listening to me gripe.

Amy

Amy, I've been running fevers since October of last year. It stayed with me throughout a bout with Stevens Johnson Syndrome that lasted more than two months, then after a week or two of a breather, it started up again. My normal temperature is 97.2 to 97.6. I've been running at 99.8 to 103.4 (highest during the SJS episode). Right now, I average 99.8 to 101.2. I've been put on antibiotics several times during all this, and none have been able to knock out the fevers.

I suspect I have a Super Infection, probably in my sinuses. I plan to call my doctor about it and see about getting in to see her tomorrow.

Carol

[timothy41]

Hey everyone.

Needed to lament, so bear with me if I sound pathetic. I've had a fever now for almost 3 weeks and the doctors can't find out what's wrong with me. They took me off the enbrel until this is resolved since they are pretty sure my lowered immune system is the culprit.

The fever hasn't been hurrendously high, but it continues to increase. Yesterday, it broke the "102" barrier. :) When it started, it was just low grade - not usually higher than 100.5. I also have a spastic, nonproductive cough with it. Lungs sound clear and chest x-ray is normal. All blood cultures came back normal, too. Go figure.

The good news is, my psoriasis and arthritis are both fine. I had a rheumatology appointment on Monday, and I only had 2 swollen toes, not enough to account for the high sed rate (it was 77).

Anyway, I've been home sick all week and bored out of my mind. Hopefully, things will start improving soon. Thanks for listening to me gripe.

Amy

Hi sorry to hear about the feaver, i have had a low-grade for the last 4 weeks (for a good reason) and know how you must feel. Does Advil or Ty help?