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Association of core body temp & peripheral blood flow [..] w/pain [..], central sensitization & fibromyalgia.., 2021, Casas-Barragan et al

Discussion in ''Conditions related to ME/CFS' news and research' started by Andy, Mar 23, 2021.

  1. Andy

    Andy Committee Member

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    Location:
    Hampshire, UK
    Full title: Association of core body temperature and peripheral blood flow of the hands with pain intensity, pressure pain hypersensitivity, central sensitization, and fibromyalgia symptoms

    Our aim was to analyse body core temperature and peripheral vascular microcirculation at skin hypothenar eminence of the hands and its relationship to symptoms in fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). A total of 80 FMS women and 80 healthy women, matched on weight, were enrolled in this case–control study. Thermography and infrared thermometer were used for evaluating the hypothenar regions and core body temperature, respectively. The main outcome measures were pain pressure thresholds (PPTs) and clinical questionnaires. Significant associations were observed between overall impact [β = 0.033; 95% confidence interval (95%CI) = 0.003, 0.062; p = 0.030], daytime dysfunction (β = 0.203; 95%CI = 0.011, 0.395; p = 0.039) and reduced activity (β = 0.045; 95%CI = 0.005, 0.085; p = 0.029) and core body temperature in FMS women. PPTs including greater trochanter dominant (β = 0.254; 95%CI = 0.003, 0.504; p = 0.047), greater trochanter non-dominant (β = 0.650; 95%CI = 0.141, 1.159; p = 0.013), as well as sleeping medication (β = −0.242; 95%CI = −0.471, −0.013; p = 0.039) were also associated with hypothenar eminence temperature. Data highlighted that FMS women showed correlations among body core temperature and hand temperature with the clinical symptoms.

    Open access, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2040622321997253
     
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  2. Joan Crawford

    Joan Crawford Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    This is interesting. Thanks for posting. I'll take a closer read later on.

    Body temp is something I've tracked in pwME. Often their body temps are low, especially in the morning. And one side of the body can be colder consistently with the other side. Patients find it hard to take readings - it's an incredibly onerous task for pwME.

    When I was severely affected my own body temp used to be as low as 35-35.5C. As I slowly warmed up during the day I'd start to feel somewhat better. I'm routinely now around 37C - quite a dramatic change.

    I recall reading in the CCC and discussing about a drop in pwME's body temps post exercise/activity with a sports scientist. She explained the need for a modest rise in body temp post exercise for efficient recovery. Perhaps body temp and/or control of body temp is in part causing or not allowing recovery post exercise and hence leading to PEM?

    Need to check if the researchers controlled for time of day taking the readings? Body temp naturally increases during the day and then dips towards the evening/bedtime.
     
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  3. Tia

    Tia Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    A few years ago I went through a phase of taking my temp every morning as I was trying to track my cycle. It was always significantly below average.
     
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  4. Sid

    Sid Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Low body temp is correlated with PEM for me and when I was severe my temp was low most of the time.
     
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  5. Arnie Pye

    Arnie Pye Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Low body temperature is extremely common in people with hypothyroidism. In fact I'm sure I read that it used to be a red flag for the condition decades ago, just like high cholesterol was. But nowadays doctors dismiss the idea that low body temperature is of any relevance because it occurs in so many conditions so is now considered to be "normal" rather than a red flag. And high cholesterol is just an excuse to put a patient on statins. Some patients are even told by their doctors that there is no known connection between high cholesterol and hypothyroidism, which is absolute *****.

    Some people whose untreated hypothyroidism is of short duration before they get treated adequately do find their body temperature will revert to healthy "normal". But such people are as rare as hen's teeth. Modern medical practice likes to make hypothyroid patients suffer for a few years before treating them. This is particularly true in the UK where the requirement is that TSH should rise to 10 before treatment is considered. (Median TSH in healthy people is about 1.25.) It is not uncommon in cases of hypothyroidism for it to take decades to get a diagnosis and receive adequate treatment.

    In my 20s I tracked my temperature for about a year and it would drop as low as 35 - 35.5C quite often, and at best it would get up to about 36C. But nowadays, it tends to stick around 35.7C fairly consistently.
     
  6. Ravn

    Ravn Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Did she say what exactly the modest rise in body temp does that is beneficial?

    Pre-diagnosis when I was still foolish enough to go for short walks in an attempt to improve my ever diminishing fitness I came home after one such walk on a warm day but feeling cold to the bone so took my temperature: 34.0C. Thought the thermometer was broken so called a neighbour to come with theirs. They arrived after I'd been freezing away between electric blankets for about 10 minutes and their thermometer came out with 34.2.
    I don't regularly take my temperature but normal seems to be around 36.4 and lower than 36 does seem associated with overdoing it.
     
  7. Joan Crawford

    Joan Crawford Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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  8. Invisible Woman

    Invisible Woman Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    My body temperature is always slightly low at around 36.2 usually.

    i am do have hypothyroidism but even when adequately medicated my temperature doesn't go higher.

    if I feel feverish with sore glands it rarely goes up much - the most I've seen it is 36.5 and that's when I feel like I'm burning up.

    Feeling very cold, cold the bone, so cold it aches is a real sign I'm in deep PEM waters. These days I manage things a lot better but the times I've been wearing a thick woolly jumper and heavy jacket and was still freezing cold when everyone else was too hot in shorts and tees.

    Sometimes I feel.like I'm cold but when someone else touches me I don't feel cold to them. In PEM I feel really cold to other people who touch me.

    I can't reliably tell whether it's hot or cold in terms of ambient temperature. If I'm cold and everyone else agrees it's cold then it's the weather. Otherwise it's just ME.
     
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  9. Arnie Pye

    Arnie Pye Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I have to admit, being a Brit of a certain age I cannot intellectually "feel" what body temperatures are in celsius, and what they might mean. I have to convert to fahrenheit for it to be meaningful.

    The highest temperature I've ever knowingly had in my life was 105.5 F, which is 40.8 C. If someone told me that they had a temperature of 40.8 it wouldn't immediately occur to me that they were seriously ill. But if someone said they had a temperature of 105.5 I'd probably call an ambulance, or at the very least I would call a GP or 111.

    The problem is even worse if we're talking about more normal body temperatures. If someone told me their temperature was 100 F I'd know they had a mild fever. But a temperature of 37.8 C is unlikely to trigger any concern from me at all, at least until I've searched the internet for temperature conversion.
     
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  10. NelliePledge

    NelliePledge Moderator Staff Member

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    Location:
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    I’ve never got a high temperature when I feel fluish.
     
  11. Amw66

    Amw66 Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    My aunt's low temperature has been tweaked a bit by addressing adrenals and thyroid . Her function is also slowly improving.
    At one point I did an excel spreadsheet to automatically graph the 3 x daily readings to a weekly overview to let her sister monitor things a bit more easily.


    If you consider ME as akin to hibernating / low metabolic state then low temperature may be a means to limit processes to keep you alive but not much else.

    Over on the other place there were many threads re thyroid, adrenals etc.
    Many seemed to fall into category of euthyroid sick.
     

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