Temperature

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1

Hi,

My mum is on chemo no.4 and its 8 days since last session. She is having GCSF now for 10 days to avoid low white blood cells etc. She is worrying about her temp as its at the stage where they can drop. My question is does your temp alter during the day?

Many thanks again

2

Hi London

Yes - I found this

“Normal body temperature may change during any given day. It is usually highest in the evening”

Your Mum should take her temperature at the same time each day, if it is over 37.5 then take it again in an hour if it is over 38 at any time then call the chemo unit.

Cheers

Fiona

3

hi fionam,
I’ve just finished epi - cmf and found my body temp was a lot lower when i started the cmf to when i was on epi (around 35.8), so when i had a temp of 37.5 i phoned the hospital. It was lucky i did as i had neutropenic sepsis and was told it could have been fatal within a couple of hours. I had antibiotics and GCSF and was allowed home after 5 days. Since then i tend to check my temp morning noon and night and personally would ring the hotline if it went anywhere above 37 to be on the safe side.

4

Yes, your temperature definitely changes through the day. My is always lower in the morning and this was quite marked when I was on chemo. When I got a high temp it always started at around 5pm. I could tell as I’d start to get a headache, lose my appetite and feel grotty. Sometimes I’d start getting shivery an hour or more before I got a high temperature.

I had neutropenic sepsis after the one time I wasn’t given GCSF even though I’d requested it and it was horrible. Like Pixielox I was in hospital for 5 days and pumped full of antibiotics.

While on chemo I checked my temperature at around 4 hourly intervals through the day. My temp started going up on day 3 and so I agreed with my Onc that I would take my GCSF on day 3 or 4 rather than starting day 5.

Hopefully with 10 days of GCSF your Mum will be alright but definitely keep an eye on the temp and call the unit if it gets high.

Elinda x

5

Thanks everyone (again!). This forum has helped me/my mum so much.

Hope everyone is doing ok.