Can't get rid of this darn Fever!

[TAnn]

Hey everyone,

I've been on a "chemo break" officially for about 3 weeks now. I am still taking the clinical trial pill ZD-6474 daily. It's a double blind trial and we do not know if I'm getting it or not.

I was looking forward to feeling better, but I have been running a low grade fever (99.5 - 100.7) almost daily for the past 2 1/2 weeks. This monday I ended up back in the emergency room with 102.9. They ran all the tests and everything came back negative. They put me on Augmentin and sent me home. The high fever is gone, but continue to run the low grade fever.

I saw my onc. yesterday, and he doesn't know what's causing the fevers. I have a history of fevers with chemo, so he said take the antibiotic and see what happens. Maybe you have a "virus" Virus - as we all know is a doctor word for "duh, I dunno".

My question is this,

Has anyone else experienced unexplained low grade fevers while not on chemo, and...

could the cancer be causing it????

Any enlightenment would be appreciated...... Sorry for the long post

Thanks,

TAnn

[mhutch1366]

TAnn,

The whole time I was being evaluated and later treated for cancer I had a slightly elevated temperature, usually about 99.5 -- 100.2. I don't recall them being much higher, but I could be wrong. I also remember not running fevers much over 101.5 as a kid.

[paddy]

Can't help you with your questions TAnn, however, I would like to send you my prayers and positive thoughts. It must be so frustrating that the oncologist can't find a reason for the fever.

Love

Paddy

[MJ]

hi tann,

i'm not sure if this will help, but my mom had periods of times when she had a fever (99-101F), and the doctors (an oncologist, pulmonary specialist, and infection specialist) couldn't figure out what was wrong. they pumped her with antibiotics, and she was hospitalized for 10 days at one point, but they still couldn't identify any type of infection or problem. her white blood cell count was fine. anyway, another doctor finally came in and said that it was probably caused by atelectasis (here's a website with info http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic180.htm). basically, he believed that tumor in my mother's right lung was causing some sort of pressure (i'm not sure how everything is connected, but he said that fevers were common with this condition). although my mother was and still is currently going through chemo, these fevers would appear usually within the 3rd week of her cycle (she gets chemo every 3 weeks), so maybe this is something you should look into. her fevers didn't go over 102F. hope that this helps.

take care,

mj

[tess]

If the Dr says its a virus, why is he telling you to take antibiotics? They don't work for viruses. I can't believe how Dr's just give out antibiotics as a cure all. No wonder they don't work anymore. You must have something going on, but I wouldn't worry too much about it, unless you lose your appetite and start to lose weight and your strength. I would try some good multi vitamins and maybe a B-50? Couldn't Hurt! Sending up a prayer for you!

Tess

[tarnold40]

My father had been running temps for a cople of days when we first found out that he had cancer. I took him to the ER with 103.6. His wbc was 22,000 but there didn't appear to be any infection of any kind. The second trip that I made to the ER he again had a temp of 103.6 and the wbc was again elevated but they couldn't find any type of infection. On the third trip I called 911 because I was tired of the hospital sending him home when I knew something was wrong with him. This time we had a doctor and nurse that explained that the temps were probably coming from the tumor and it was called "tumor fever". That was an acceptable answer and we changed him from Tylenol to Advil and it seemed to help until the day that he had to go get more blood work done and my son took him. My son said that about 5 minutes after they got back in the car to head home he kind of slumped over. My son thought he had just gone to sleep, which was normal for him to do and proceeded home. Upon arrival home, my father was totally out of it and it took three of us to get him out of the car and into bed. He was very groggy but appeared to be ok. About 30 minutes later I went to check on him and touched him and he was burning up. I got the thermometer and his temp was 104.6. I didn't believe it so I took it again and it was 104.6 still not believing it I had my son check it while I called 911. The ambulance arrived and immediately loaded my dad up and took him to the ER. He was monitored on the trip and when they arrived at the ER his temp was 104.8. They immediately took him to a room and started hooking up to all the machines to monitor him...I remember looking at the blood pressure and it was 60/38. I was watching my father die right before my eyes. They were trying to draw blood and his veins kept collapsing so they had to do a cut down. He was so out of it. They ran all kinds of test and couldn't find any infection anywhere. He spent 4 days in ICU hooked up to an IV with Domprimane, Vacimicin and two other antibotics just in case he did have an infection. Finally he started coming around and was put in a room. The doctors have no explanation on the fevers other then to say it's "tumor fever" but they put him on Nasprn and he has not had a fever since and that has been about two weeks ago. He would also sweat profusely and have to change 4 to 6 times at night.

[Guest bbypookins]

Hi TAnn

When my mother was first diagnosed last September she was having low grade fevers every day also. The onc told us at the time that was one of the symptoms. Once she started chemo, they went away. She's been off chemo for about a month now but they haven't come back. Hope this helps.