Chills – causes, diagnosis, management

Proven content

Chills are contractions of small muscle groups that occur during a period of rapid changes in body temperature due to external causes (e.g. freezing) or internal causes (e.g. fever in the course of various disease states). Chills due to freezing are a beneficial symptom and defense mechanism that aims to provide the body with additional heat.

What are chills?

Chills are a feeling of coldness, involuntary and uncoordinated contraction of small muscle groups that occurs when your body temperature suddenly changes due to external causes. The chills may be with or without fever. The former most often occur when we are sick or have a cold, then they are a consequence of stimulating the thermoregulation center in the midbrain. Chills without a fever are slightly more severe, as they may indicate other serious ailments (for example, when they are cold, providing the body with the extra amount of heat it needs to warm up the body).

Chills – causes

Chills most often appear in the course of a cold or other infection – viral, bacterial, fungal or parasitic. Then a low-grade fever or fever appears. Chills in the course of fever are a pathological phenomenon, caused by the penetration into the blood of “pyrogenic” substances (bacterial toxins, bacteria themselves, viruses).

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Chills with a fever is a pathological phenomenon caused by the penetration into the blood of “pyrogenic” substances (bacterial toxins, the bacteria themselves, viruses or, less frequently, tiny tissue fragments, eg due to the “disintegration” of a tumor or parasite). This is the most common type of chills.

Improving the body’s warming in the event of chills caused by freezing favors their subsidence. On the other hand, an increase in fever in the course of febrile chills, i.e. those preceding or initiating fever, is accompanied by a gradual relief of chills. At the same time, you can observe: progressive warming of the skin and its reddening. In children, seizures may occur instead of shivering in these situations.

Other possible causes of chills include:

1. neoplasm – the occurrence of chills is observed with the breakdown of the neoplastic tumor,
2. diabetes – chills may appear due to low blood sugar. Then the patient is also irritable, disoriented, nervous and sweating,
3. cardiovascular disease – chills may be a consequence of low blood pressure or poor circulation,
4. diseases of the urinary system – chills occur in inflammation of the bladder or in acute pyelonephritis,
5. mental disorders – neurosis, depression, anxiety disorders,
6. menopause – women may experience hot flushes and chills during the menopause.

In addition to the above-mentioned factors, a few more reasons should be mentioned:

1. alcohol abuse,
2. medication you are taking (chills may be a side effect)
3. too little sleep
4. fatigue.

Diagnosing chills

A person presenting to a doctor with a chills problem is diagnosed mainly on the basis of a medical history. During the consultation, the specialist may ask several questions about: the timing and frequency of the chills; the presence of other symptoms in addition to chills, e.g. nausea or a sore throat; medications or drugs taken; menopause; past or current illnesses; people from the environment and their diseases and the occurrence of fever. Consultation with a family doctor of contracts without leaving home via the halodoctor.pl portal.

Generally, obtaining the above information is sufficient to make an appropriate diagnosis. However, there are cases where execution is necessary Blood testswhich allows you to detect any possible infection or cancer. In addition to blood tests for people with suspected kidney infection urine is tested, in turn, in the case of possible pneumonia – it is performed Chest x-ray.

Remember! Infection with chills is impossible, unless they are caused by an infection of a close person. Then we can become infected with an infection.

Chills – the procedure

The course of action in case of chills depends on the cause of the chills. The most common methods are listed below.

1. Drinking plenty of fluids. You can give the patient (a few glasses a day) hot tea with raspberry juice, infusion of linden flower or elderberry. If profuse sweating occurs, fluid intake should be reduced.
2. If the temperature rises, remove any extra coats and administer pharmacological antipyretics.
3. If the patient, apart from shivering, also feels cold, he should be covered with a blanket.
4. Excess chills should be treated with plenty of rest.
5. Chills in menopausal women can be treated with hormone replacement therapy.
6. If the chills are caused by a bacterial infection, the patient should be given antibiotics.