i know that most of us are not doctors, so i am not expecting miracles, but just ideas. my husband has had a fever for around two weeks. really no other symptoms. when his fever gets higher (usually around 101.5F) he gets a headache and achey, but otherwise he takes advil and tylenol and it stays down. he is tired but the fever stays down. as stated, this has lasted over two weeks. he has gone to an urgent care, and the ER. They did bloodwork (not sure what) , chest x-ray, and urine tests. he was told it is probably a virus but everything came back normal. i'm getting pretty anxious about this. does anyone know of anyone who has had this experience? or any ideas of what it could be? he's going to the dr again today.
after 3 weeks, the doctor recommended that he stop taking all the advil and tylenol and see what the fever did. it was a miserable weekend, but i really believe that helped, after another half of a week. he's still not quite back to normal, but getting there. thanks everyone!
Sometimes if you let the fever go, its just what the body needs to fight off. Otherwise definitely sit down with his primary doc. That can look into history a such. How's his overall health? What about heart issues? Smoker? How's his diet? Although not common the fever could be masking some problem such as theses.
Has he been checked for Lyme's disease? Sometimes doc will skip that one.
he needs to let his fever spike. my son did exactly the same thing, and after about 6 days it disappeared on its own. fever went to 103, then broke. his body will handle it.
That happened to my daughter before... It was a month worth of a fever and the doctor couldn't figure out why. I was scared to death knowing it had to be something - it ended up being an abscess! Of all things, we went to the dentist and she was perfectly fine. It was an infection that caused the mild fever. It could be something very simple, don't think the worst!
Let us know what happens. I had a friend who had surgery, had fever, no infection a the surgical site. Her doctor fortunately looked into it, and sure enough, cancer of her ovary. My husband had a similar fever, same response. Only his doc didn't do a chest x-ray. After a month of fooling with it, including a head CT that was negative, he had a chest x-ray. Found a lung tumor, he had lung cancer. So while I am not trying to scare you, I would say a fever means something. The fact that it keeps staying around should be looked at. Keep pestering his doctor. If you don't get an answer, see an infectious disease doctor. Insist on answers. Fever shouldn't last over 2 weeks. Good luck!
I don't like urgent cares for situations like this. COuld be many things. He needs to have primary care doctor to oversee everything. Mono or the Epstein-barr virus are diagnosed through blood work. Blood work also tests to see of the white blood cells counts are up. First thing firsts he needs a good doctor.
If he is still feeling bad, depending on when the bloodwork was run, I'd have him seen again. Sometimes things don't show up the first time because it was too soon. Did they test for Lyme's Disease, Lupus, Mono, Menengitis? If you go to WebMd and put in his symptoms, it can give you a variety of things to make sure he is being tested for.
I hope you keep us posted and it isn't anything serious. Hope he feels better soon.
It's very possible for tests to come back and NOT show anything serious. If you or he believe something is really wrong, keep pressing.
Yesterday was the 2 year anniversary of my cancer diagnosis. My ONLY symptom was a small swollen lymph node near my collarbone. I had no fever, no nausea. Yes, I was tired and was losing weight, but I was 7 weeks postpartum when I found the swollen node. I did not have night sweats, and I didn't have anything glaringly out of place on my CBC (complete blood count).
Urgent Care and ER doctors aren't bad. They're usually either Family Practitioners or those who specialized in Emergency Medicine. But, they're accustomed to seeing acute illnesses - sprains, food poisoning, heart attacks, Urinary Tract infections, etc.
I initially went to my OB/GYN because I was post-partum. He wasn't "concerned" but said to come back in a week. I went to my Family Practitioner the next day. His concern was because of the location of the node. He wasn't overly "concerned" either, but he ordered ultrasounds and a biopsy. The ultrasound came back "benign". It took 3 pathologists to finally confirm Nodular Sclerosing Hodgkins Lymphoma.
My message isn't to scare you. Chances are, he's dealing with a bad virus. But 2 weeks of fever is a LONG time. My best advice is to follow-up until you have a clearer picture of what may be causing it and a good plan for follow-up.
Good luck! I hope he gets to feeling better soon.
I didn't read the other responses but could it be Mono?? I don't know if blood work would reveal that. Just when I read you said he was tired and has a fever that was the first thing I thought of.
If that is the case then it probably just has to run its course. Just make sure he is getting enough rest and fluids and hope he feels better soon!
A few thoughts:
1. It is summer. Is your husband drinking enough to keep his normal body temperature cool? . Is he sleeping enough? Is he taking cool baths etc. to bring down the fever?
2. Is he under any STRESS (sometimes in the past I have gotten fevers for a while for no reason but I was under a great deal of stress at the time?)
3. What about Epstein Barr? The Yuppies Disease where one is tired all of the time? Have you been tested for that.
HTH and that your husband is back to himself soon.
