From: sbharris@ix.netcom.com(Steven B. Harris)
Subject: Re: High wakeing temperature - help
Date: 13 Apr 1997
Newsgroups: alt.med.allergy,alt.health.cfs,misc.health.alternative

In <Frrsbeuler-ya02408000R1304971041510001@news.earthlink.net>
Frrsbeuler@earthlink.net (Robert Mantz, Jr) writes:

>While testing for an underactive thyroid with the wakeing temperature
>test, we discovered that my girlfriend's temp in the morning ranges from
>98.9 - 91.1. What would that indicate? Later in the day she goes to 98.5
>- 98.6
>
>Thanks
>
>_BOB


     Your girlfriend is probably in the last (post ovulatory) phase of
her menstrual cycle.  The corpus luteum is a small amount of inflammed
tissue, almost like a wound, and it raises body temps a bit until it
"heals".  Try taking her temps in a week or two, and you may find that
they are considerably lower.

    There's a pretty broad range of human normal temperatures even in
resting people, by the way.  Average for oral temps for mature adults
is about 98.4 F if you add up all the big studies (not 98.6), but
normal range is a bit more problematic.  It's probably anything up to
100 F in younger people, but in the geriatric population, I begin to
wonder about hidden infections (a urinary infection, for instance) at
any temp above 99.

   Excercise and activity, of course, change body temp a great deal.
Play a good game of basketball and your body temp is very likely to be
over 100 F.

From: sbharris@ix.netcom.com(Steven B. Harris)
Newsgroups: alt.sci.physics,sci.physics
Subject: Re: The Standard Kilogram @ Sevres
Date: 15 Sep 1999 11:55:27 GMT

In <7rkeql$pg9$1@isn.dac.neu.edu> mkagalen@lynx02.dac.neu.edu (Michael
Kagalenko) writes:
>
>Steven B. Harris (sbharris@ix.netcom.com) wrote
>]In <jhardis-1309990144210001@dialup18.wap.org> jhardis@tcs.wap.org
>](Jonathan E. Hardis) writes:
>]>Is 98.6 degrees still considered normal body temperature?
>]>
>]>  - Jonathan
>]
>]
>]    Nope.  37.0
>
> Nope. Try 36.6 Deg.C
>
> 37.0 Celsium is elevated.


    Sorry, you don't know what you're talking about.

    Normal body temperature depends on age, time of menstrual cycle in
women, phase of diurnal cycle (which in turn is heavily influenced by
activity), whether it is taken orally, rectally, or some other way,
etc, etc.

    The mean value for the oral temperature of healthy young adults
averaged from several studies, in the largest meta-analysis known to me
(JAMA 144:1562, 1950), is:

 98.34 F +/- 0.47 S.D.

  Which is 36.86 +/- 0.26 C


  Which means that in normal healthy adults, normal oral temperature
(+/- 4 S.D.) can be anything from 97 to 100.2 F (36.1 to 37.9 C).
Between 38 and 38.5 C (low grade fever to fever) is usually the point
at which doctors begin to wonder about infection, though it may be no
more than a cold in a child.  Doctors do compensate for this in
clinical practice.  38 C is not even cause for comment in an otherwise
healthy 5 year old.  It warrents some worry and workup (particularly a
urinalysis) in an elderly woman.

                                    Steve Harris