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What does pain with high fever indicate?
Last reviewed: 07.06.2024
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Each disease has its own unique appearance. Those pathological manifestations, by which it is possible to judge the development of the disease process, are called symptoms, i.e. Special features of the disease. And even though the same symptoms can be repeated in the form of completely different diseases, in many cases, the doctor can almost unmistakably make a preliminary diagnosis by studying the history of the disease. A special role in this is given to the existing clinical picture, and not individual symptoms, but their combination. For example, pain with fever can narrow down the range of possible diseases compared to complaints of pain without an increase in body temperature. And if there are other alarming symptoms, the task of making an even more accurate diagnosis becomes easier.
Causes of the fever pain
As it happens, what is good for the doctor is not always good for the patient. After all, the very rise in temperature is an alarming signal of the presence of certain failures in the work of the body, caused by internal or external factors. It is not always about the disease, because even within a day the body temperature can fluctuate within 1-1.5 degrees, not to mention a slight hyperthermia provoked by heat, increased physical activity, physiological hormonal changes, stressful situations, and so on. But most often, changes in thermometer readings still indicate a pathological process, especially if we are talking about a persistent rise in temperature or long-lasting hyperthermia, even in the absence of other symptoms of the disease.
If a high fever and pain, it is already a serious reason to think about your health, unless, of course, this symptom-complex is not caused by overstrain when doing hard physical work, which caused reversible changes in the work of the body.
The causes of pain syndrome are very diverse, so it is not enough for a doctor to receive information about the presence of such a symptom, it is also necessary to clarify its localization, the intensity of pain sensations, their nature. If the pain is accompanied by an increase in body temperature, then in most cases it is associated with an inflammatory process in the body, and the unpleasant sensation quite accurately indicates where the diseased organ is located.
Any inflammation may be accompanied by an increase in temperature both at the site of the lesion and in the body as a whole. Non-infectious inflammation is usually accompanied by a change in local temperature. If we are talking about infection and intoxication provoked by it, hyperthermia is a kind of defense method and a signal that the immune system has joined the fight against pathogens. This we can not only feel tactilely, but also see by thermometer readings.
Inflammation can occur in any organ (in the throat - tonsillitis, on the oral mucosa - stomatitis, in the kidneys - pyelonephritis, heart - carditis, brain and its membranes - encephalitis, meningitis, meningoencephalitis, etc.). Therefore, the doctor is guided by the localization of pain. Sometimes even trivial tooth decay, which affects both adults and children, can be accompanied by pain, and in the neglected state and generalized fever, if the infection penetrates into the blood.
Risk factors
In addition to inflammation, the appearance of pain with fever can provoke other situations that doctors call risk factors:
- Any intoxication, including food poisoning. The entry of toxic substances into the blood disrupts the nervous regulation of processes occurring in the body, including the central mechanism of thermoregulation in the hypothalamus.
- Endocrine diseases. The normal level of hormones is the key to the constancy of the internal environment of the body and the processes occurring in it. The hormones of the pituitary gland, thyroid gland and adrenal glands take part in the processes of heat production. Malfunctions in the work of these organs (most often the thyroid gland) just and lead to temperature fluctuations.
- Diseases of the glands of internal secretion can be manifested by disorders of the blood vessels. Not surprisingly, patients with endocrine diseases often complain of headaches, discomfort and heaviness in the lower extremities, heart, pain in the mammary glands and digestive system, etc. Metabolic disorders associated with the endocrine system can provoke changes and pain in the joints and muscles, which is already a symptom of rheumatic complications.
- Physiologic changes in hormone levels. In women, they may be associated with the menstrual cycle (at the beginning of ovulation, the temperature rises slightly and the woman may experience mild pain and discomfort in the lower abdomen, which passes within 1-2 days, sometimes accompanied by light or oily discharge).
- Vascular disorders (with vegetovascular dystonia can be noted such a phenomenon as thermoneurosis, which is combined with frequent headaches, fatigue and other manifestations of VSD).
Inflammatory diseases of various organs are most often infectious in nature. In viral infections, a sharp rise in temperature can be observed even before the appearance of pain in the affected organ. With a bacterial nature of the disease, pain occurs either earlier or together with hyperthermia, and the temperature may not even rise above subfebrile values.
If you have a fever of about 38 degrees Celsius for a long time and there are no symptoms of a cold, you may have pulmonary tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (Koch's bacillus). Other warning symptoms are a cough lasting more than 2 weeks and chest pain that gets worse with deep breathing.
Be that as it may, the most common cause of pain with high temperature in children and adults remains infectious organ damage, in which pain and hyperthermia are symptoms of the inflammatory process.
Symptoms of the fever pain
We talked about the fact that pain with high temperature is not always a sign of pathology, but in most cases it is. The proportion of situations in which physical exertion, stress, overheating in the sun cause pain in the head, limbs or back combined with hyperthermia is small. But many diseases have in their clinical picture is such a characteristic symptom complex, which helps in the diagnosis.
So it is not worth ignoring this combination of symptoms in any case. Without understanding the cause of its appearance, we risk missing time and allowing the disease to actively develop, which will subsequently complicate its treatment. In addition, some diseases accompanied by pain and fever can be life-threatening. Take, for example, peritonitis, fraught with septic infection of the body and the death of the patient, if he is not given emergency care in time.
So, what diseases can indicate pain with fever? Considering this question, we will rely on the localization of pain and accompanying symptoms. It is clear that in such a situation, you can only assume this or that disease. But only a specialist can clarify the diagnosis and prescribe treatment, having conducted a more thorough examination.
Head and neck
Many have encountered a situation when a sudden deterioration of well-being is associated with a sore throat and fever. If the pain in the throat can be caused by overwork of the vocal cords (for example, loud screaming) or damage to the mucous membrane of the throat (mechanical, chemical, thermal), then the same symptom in combination with fever is very likely to indicate a cold. And it will not necessarily be angina, for which the above symptoms are traditional. Sore throat on the background of hyperthermia can be noted in any disease of the respiratory system of viral, less often bacterial nature: ARVI, influenza, tonsillitis, viral laryngitis, etc.
It is very important to pay attention to the presence of other symptoms. For example, high fever, sore throat, cough and runny nose - this is a classic example of a symptom complex in acute respiratory viral infections. With influenza, weakness, muscle and eye pain, decreased appetite, headaches are also added. But in angina will be noted mainly severe sore throat (especially when swallowing) and hyperthermia, cough and runny nose, as a rule, are absent, but there are enlarged red tonsils, plaque on the tongue and tonsils.
Throat can hurt from coughing in bronchitis, pleurisy, pneumonia, pulmonary tuberculosis. In these cases, patients are tormented by a tearing muffled cough. If it does not pass for a long time and the temperature remains high for more than 2 weeks, you can suspect pulmonary tuberculosis, and this is a reason to urgently make an X-ray of the organ.
In children, fever and sore throat are also noted in scarlet fever. They are joined by severe weakness, redness and enlargement of tonsils, drowsiness, enlargement of lymph nodes. In addition, red stripes and a specific rash appear on the body, localized in the area of folds (inguinal, hamstring, in the area of the elbow joints). In adults, the disease usually does not cause significant symptoms.
A high fever with a sore throat and rash can also be a sign of other childhood illnesses. Such symptoms are not uncommon in measles and rubella. Both diseases are infectious (viral in nature), so they are characterized by: general weakness, photophobia, runny nose, cough, redness of the eyes and throat mucosa, sore throat, lymph nodes may increase. In general, the clinical picture resembles acute respiratory viral infections, but it is supplemented by a small red rash (in measles, it is more extensive and prolonged than in rubella).
Sore throat with high temperature may be symptoms of diphtheria - a severe infectious disease of bacterial nature. Specific to this disease is the appearance of thickened grayish-white plaque in the throat.
If a person complains of a high fever and sore eyes, this is a sure sign of a viral infection. This can often be observed in acute respiratory viral infections and influenza. The cause is swelling caused by nasal congestion, the toxic effect of pathogens on the body. Eyes can also hurt when the temperature rises above 39 degrees, provoked by a common acute respiratory infection, for example, bacterial sore throat. Even with normal nasal breathing, the processes occurring in the body do not contribute to the normal functioning of the visual organ, abundantly supplied with nerve endings and blood vessels.
Ear pain and fever are evidence of an acute inflammatory process in the structures of the middle ear. Acute shooting pain and ear stuffiness combined with hearing impairment are characteristic of otitis media. If the fever is difficult to bring down, lymph nodes are enlarged, there is blurred consciousness and sometimes convulsions, a serious and very dangerous complication can be suspected - mastoiditis (inflammation of the mastoid process).
Ear pain and fever are often diagnosed as a complication of acute respiratory viral infections. Nasal congestion and impaired drainage of exudate and transudate from internal structures are one of the frequent causes of otitis media, labyrinthitis, ethmoiditis.
Complaints that the patient has a high fever and headache in the forehead area can have different causes. Colds and flu are not the only diseases that can cause this symptom complex.
In acute maxillary sinusitis, the patient is tormented by runny nose, nasal congestion, chills, frequent headaches, a feeling of pressure on the eyes and ears, fever, nausea, not associated with food intake.
Headaches combined with hyperthermia are also characteristic of intoxication. But nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain are added. Identical symptoms can be observed in hepatitis A (intestinal infection). But subsequently, patients experience yellowing of the sclerae, skin, dark urine color.
Yellowing of the skin with the appearance of a rash combined with lethargy, nausea, fever, headache, and flushes of blood to the face and neck is also seen in leptospirosis (an infectious disease).
Localization of pain in the frontal area can also indicate such a dangerous pathology as inflammation of the brain matter (encephalitis). Quite severe pain in the head, as well as pain in the occipital part can torment the patient with inflammation of the brain membranes (meningitis) and various brain structures (meningoencephalitis).
In addition to headaches and hyperthermia for the onset of inflammatory diseases of the brain and its membranes are characterized by: brokenness in the body, stiffness of the muscles of the neck and back, chills, vomiting.
Patients with sore throat, flu, nasopharyngitis, or meningitis may complain not only of headaches and fever, but also of neck pain. If it is a subfebrile fever, neck pain and stiffness without other alarming symptoms, the possible diagnosis may be myositis (inflammation of the muscles) in the neck and shoulder girdle.
By the way, headaches and fever can also be diagnosed with infections of the genitourinary system (cystitis, pyelonephritis, prostatitis). Moreover, with exacerbation of diseases, the temperature can rise even to febrile values.
But head pain and elevated thermometer readings are not always associated with infection. Pulsating pain in the back of the head, heaviness in the frontal area, weakness, dizziness and subfebrile temperature may indicate hypertension (high blood pressure), especially if you feel your heart beating faster.
Headaches with fever also occur in acute surgical pathologies, such as appendicitis, pancreatitis, intestinal blockage, cholecystitis, thrombosis, abscess, peritonitis and others. At the very beginning of the disease, they may be the only symptoms, harbingers of danger.
Frequently recurring pain in the head and a long-lasting subfebrile temperature - this is a reason to listen more closely to your body. Such symptoms can signal both a sluggish chronic pathology, vascular disorders, and a more dangerous, oncological disease. In the second case, there is also a constant weakness, deterioration of appetite, rapid weight loss.
If the day before you had to endure a stressful situation, there was severe fatigue or physical trauma, headaches and hyperthermia are likely to be associated with a disorder such as thermoneurosis, which is not actually a disease. It is a physiological reaction of the body characterized by spasm of small vessels and impaired thermoregulation.
As you can see, head and neck pain with fever can have different causes. This information is for information purposes only and is not a guide to action, i.e. A reason to diagnose yourself.
Limbs
If everything is more or less clear with pains in the throat and head, the increase in body temperature and pain in the extremities, many people simply do not associate with a particular disease. But after all, pain in the arm with severe hyperthermia can also be a consequence of infection or inflammation. Thus, body temperature may rise with bursitis (inflammation of the synovial bag of joints), osteomyelitis (infectious lesions of bones), septic and rheumatoid arthritis, tendonitis (inflammation of tendons), tumor processes in the bones. In bacterial infection of the skin, a local increase in temperature is noted. And in all cases there will be pain in the arm.
The same can be said for the lower extremities. If the patient has a high fever and leg pain, it will not necessarily be a combination of acute respiratory viral infection and trauma to the limb. In inflammatory processes, symptoms can indicate one disease. For example, in children, one of the complications of ARVI can be considered transistor arthritis, reminding of itself 2-3 weeks after recovery. The infection may lurk in the joints, and then debut with fever and joint pain.
If the child has a high fever and aching joints should not exclude another disease of inflammatory nature - osteomyelitis, which in treatment is much more difficult than transistor arthritis, which is considered a passing disorder.
A short-term increase in temperature may be noted in the case of trauma to a limb. Most often this is a local elevation, but in some cases there may be generalized hyperthermia, largely due to the mental state of the patient. Although in open and shrapnel injuries, pain with high body temperature may be symptomatic of septic infection requiring immediate medical attention.
A local increase in body temperature combined with severe pain in the leg and lower back may be noted in inflammation of the sciatic nerve (sciatica). In this case, the pain will be severe, and the overall body temperature is unlikely to rise above 37-37.2 degrees Celsius, characteristic of a non-infectious inflammatory process.
Torso and its organs
We have found out that pain with fever can be a symptom not only of a trivial cold, but also of more serious diseases. In addition, pain in the head is not always associated with this part of the body, just as pain in the muscles of the legs is not always an indicator of their overstrain.
Such a symptom as an increase in body temperature can be combined with pain of different localization, forcing us to pay more attention to our body, because in most cases it is an inflammatory process, ignoring which is more expensive. So, for example, breastfeeding women often complain that they have pain in the breast and fever. The reason for this is inflammation of the gland, which during lactation becomes more sensitive to cold and improper care.
The diagnosis may sound like mastitis or worse. Breasts become dense, hard and hot, feeding and decanting in such conditions is very painful and difficult. Excruciating pain appears, and after a little time the general body temperature rises.
It should be said that inflammation of the mammary gland can occur in non-breastfeeding women and men. The cause is most often trauma, less often it is hypothermia of the breast (occurs mainly in women, in summertime as a result of wearing a wet bathing suit).
Some people consider breast pain and hyperthermia to be symptoms of breast cancer. In fact, this disease is mostly asymptomatic, if even pain appears, it is not related to oncology, but is the object of attention of a neurologist. Temperature in cancer also rarely exceeds 37-37.1 degrees.
It is also important to pay attention to the part of the chest where the pain is felt. If it is hidden deep close to the ribs, it is most likely intercostal neuralgia. But there is a danger hidden here as well. Pain below the breast on the left can have a different cause. The heart can hurt, and there are many reasons for this, but not all of them cause an increase in temperature.
If a person has chest pain in the heart area and fever, an inflammatory process in the muscular and outer layer of the heart can be suspected. With endocarditis, when the inner layer is inflamed, the patient suffers from high fever, weakness and rapid fatigue, and irregularities in the heart can be detected only during auscultation. In myocarditis and pericarditis of an infectious nature, pain is pronounced and appears against a background of fever.
True, the problem is not always the heart. Very close to it is the cardiac section of the stomach. In the presence of erosions or ulcers in it, pain in the heart area is not excluded. However, an increase in temperature combined with severe pain occurs mainly in the exacerbation of peptic ulcer disease, and especially when the ulcer is perforated.
In inflammation of the lungs and pleurisy, pain can also irradiate to the front of the chest and localize in the heart area, and these are no less dangerous diseases that require immediate and serious treatment. Therefore, hyperthermia and chest pain should not be ignored.
If the chest pain is due to pinched nerve roots or trauma (rupture) of the spleen, the temperature remains normal.
Let's go lower. Complaints that the patient has a high fever, right side pain in the liver region, nausea or vomiting are most often associated with the liver. In fact, in this organ can hurt only a small part of the edge and then insignificantly. Even inflammation of the liver (hepatitis) and that is diagnosed by other signs. So what can hurt in the right side, and even cause an increase in temperature?
In the absence of external injuries, internal organs may hurt either as a result of a rupture (myocardial infarction, rupture of the spleen or intestine, etc.) or as a result of an inflammatory process. On the right side, in addition to the liver, there is a small part of the stomach and intestines. These are the ones that usually hurt. Fever may be observed in the case of perforation of an ulcer located in the "right side" of the stomach. Or in the case of rupture of the intestines (most often it is appendicitis - inflammation of the cecum, the rupture of which is fraught with peritonitis, i.e. Inflammation of the peritoneum).
Pain with a high temperature in the abdominal area is one of the characteristic manifestations of the condition called "acute abdomen". Usually it means appendicitis, but such pathologies as acute cholecystitis (the temperature can rise to subfebrile values), perforated ulcer of the stomach and duodenum, peritonitis, ectopic pregnancy (a slight hyperthermia is also noted) cannot be excluded.
If the patient has a fever and abdominal pain above the navel on the right side, it may be either appendicitis or renal or intestinal colic. True, the temperature rises noticeably mainly only in the first two cases. In problems with digestion, it most often remains within normal limits.
Abdominal pain on the right side just above the navel may also be related to the intestines, but may also be a symptom of pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas). In the acute course of the disease, fever is not excluded, and the pain may be such that a person cannot even bend over or take a deep breath.
If there is a high fever and low back pain, it is logical to suspect an inflammatory process in nearby organs. This includes the kidneys and pelvic organs. If the back pain in the kidney area and high fever, the most likely diagnosis is "acute pyelonephritis" or "glomerulonephritis", ie, inflammation of kidney structures. In both cases, nausea and vomiting, changes in the color of urine and frequency of urination, weakness, swelling are noted. Pain may be felt on one or both sides, in the lumbar region or slightly higher.
In the back in the area of the kidneys can give pain in acute and chronic pancreatitis, but a marked increase in body temperature will be noted only in the second case.
In general, pain and pain in the lower back is a nonspecific symptom. It can appear with spinal problems and inflammation of the pelvic organs, with prolonged standing and colds. It is especially pronounced with the flu, when the thermometer has high body temperature readings. So you should not exclude the beginning of a viral infection.
Low back pain accompanied by an increase in body temperature is also characteristic of women suffering from ovarian inflammation. Some women feel a slight increase in temperature and pain in the lower back during menstruation and ovulation (this condition passes on its own, unlike inflammation of the genitourinary and reproductive organs, which requires serious treatment). Complaints that the lower abdomen hurts, fever, discomfort when going to the toilet, suspicious discharge just may indicate an inflammatory process of such localization.
But again in women this is possible during menstruation or ectopic pregnancy, and people of both sexes - with poisoning, intestinal infections. High fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting - a typical clinical picture of food intoxication. But similar symptoms are observed in intestinal flu. By the way, in small children, even a common cold can proceed with the same symptoms, supplemented by runny nose, coughs, sore throat, weakness, etc.
Sometimes you can hear complaints that a high fever hurts the whole body. Most often this is due to the toxic effects of viral infection, and in particular the influenza virus, but it can also have many other causes: those we have already mentioned and others (autoimmune diseases, endocrine pathologies, tumors, etc., in which the temperature can have subfebrile values). Usually, patients feel not so much pain, but rather brokenness in the joints and unpleasant sensations in the muscles (as if they were being squeezed and twisted).
High fever and the feeling of aching muscles and joints, in the absence of cold symptoms, require a more thorough examination. After all, the cause of such a tandem can be not only inflammation of muscles and joints, but also pathologies of internal organs.
Complications and consequences
Pain with high temperature can be a symptom of one or more different diseases or be evidence of small failures in the body caused by negative factors (injuries, overheating, stress). In any case, such a condition is not normal, so it is necessary to understand the cause of the ailment and eliminate it, otherwise you can not avoid complications.
Even ordinary muscle overstrain, if they are not allowed to relax and restore normal blood supply, can lead to the formation of pathological foci in them (trigger points), characterized by increased sensitivity to any impact. This results in severe pain, restriction of movement and, consequently, restriction of performance.
And what to talk about pathologies that are characterized not only by pain, but also by high fever. In most cases, these are inflammatory diseases of an infectious nature. If they are not treated, the infection becomes generalized, spreading to neighboring organs. And even if this does not happen (for example, the treatment was still carried out, but not quite adequate), there is a risk of transition of the disease to a chronic stage, when it is almost impossible to get rid of it, so it is necessary to regularly carry out prevention of exacerbations, take care of yourself from the impact of negative factors, medication to support immunity, etc.
When it comes to respiratory infections, in particular sore throat and influenza, these diseases are characterized by a high level of complications. The consequences of their improper treatment are revealed in the form of inflammatory diseases of the middle ear, kidney disease, heart disease, joint disease.
Kidney infections can be very severe, especially if the fever exceeds subfebrile values. In some cases, only a kidney transplant can save a person, whereas just a few months ago it would have been possible to do without medication and recovery procedures. It was only worth paying attention to the painful sensations and not ignoring the thermometer readings.
Peritonitis is considered even more dangerous, for the treatment of the consequences of which there is not much time left. And most often with such a diagnosis are people who do not pay attention to warning signals: pain near the navel on the right, nausea, fever. But it can be both intestinal infection and appendicitis, which, having ruptured, provokes inflammation of the peritoneum.
By the way, an intestinal infection is no less dangerous than a respiratory infection. Strong vomiting and diarrhea caused by it contribute to the rapid loss of water and the development of dehydration (dehydration). This condition is considered life-threatening to the patient, especially since replenish the body's fluid reserve in such conditions can only be intravenously in the hospital. Peroral agents for vomiting are irrelevant.
Inflammatory diseases of the heart and brain are particularly dangerous. Prolonged inflammation promotes the formation of fibrous tissue, which is less elastic than muscle tissue and cannot replace it. Such replacement in cardiac tissues increases the risk of myocardial infarction, formation of aneurysms, development of ischemia, angina pectoris, etc. Violation of the functioning of nerve fibers in the brain is fraught with complications from various organs. It can lead to paralysis and paresis, impaired vision and hearing, mental disorders, malfunctions in the work of organs whose innervation is disturbed due to inflammatory and degenerative processes.
Even if medication dulls the pain, you can not ignore high temperature. The very increase in body temperature is dangerous to increase blood clotting, blood clots, heart disorders. It is not always possible to bring it down at home. And in some cases it is not recommended to do this at all before the arrival of the doctor, so as not to distort the clinical picture of the disease.
It can be very difficult to make a presumptive diagnosis on your own, because the symptoms of neuralgia can hide a heart attack or inflammation of the lungs (pneumonia), and apparent fatigue and muscle pain can be the first sign of flu. Not to mention that patients can complain of headaches with fever in a wide range of diseases.
Diagnostics of the fever pain
So, we have come to the question of diagnosing the disorder that caused the appearance of alarming symptoms. The diagnosis should be made by a doctor, especially if there is no connection between the ailment and mental trauma, exposure to high temperatures, physical or nervous fatigue. In the above situations, a person's condition is quickly stabilized, it is only worth it to have a good rest. Medical attention may be required only in case of heat stroke or trauma.
In all other situations, it is not unreasonable to consult a specialist. But who to turn to for help, if the same symptom may indicate diseases of different organs, which are treated by different doctors? First it is worthwhile to arrange an appointment with a family doctor or therapist. But if the patient has a high fever, then it is better to call a doctor at home, describing the existing symptoms over the phone. With severe pain in the area of the navel, you need to immediately call an emergency, because an acute abdomen is treated in an inpatient setting and in most cases promptly.
The doctor will listen to complaints of pain with fever and other symptoms, will conduct a preliminary examination: examination of the throat, listening, palpation and other manipulations depending on the complaints and localization of pain syndrome. If necessary, will prescribe blood tests, urine, and sometimes stool analysis, sputum examination for the causative agent of the disease, scraping or swabbing of the genitals.
If there are reasons to suspect an infectious process, often prescribed tests to help identify the causative agent of the disease. In some cases, it is known with great accuracy, in others - without analysis can not do without. Such tests are also prescribed in the case when the current treatment does not give the expected results.
If a tumor process is suspected, the patient is referred to an oncologist for consultation, a biopsy is performed with subsequent histological examination of the biomaterial.
In respiratory diseases (sore throat, acute respiratory viral infections, influenza, laryngitis, tonsillitis, etc.), doctors only need to examine the throat and study the medical history. In other cases, when the diseased organ is not visually seen, additional instrumental diagnostics is required. Depending on the complaints, patients may be prescribed:
- Otoscopy (if inflammation of the inner ear structures is suspected),
- Ultrasound, CR and MRI of presumably diseased organs,
- electroencephalogram, tomogram and angiogram of the brain (in case of suspicion of inflammatory or tumor process in the brain, as well as in the presence of neurological symptoms),
- electrocardiogram and cardiac ultrasound (if myocarditis or pericarditis is suspected),
- X-ray examination (in case of suspected pneumonia, tuberculosis), etc.
The type and number of diagnostic tests depends on the preliminary diagnosis, which is made by the doctor on the basis of physical examination and information about symptoms obtained from the patient or his relatives. But for the attending physician such a diagnosis is not suitable, it is necessary to rely on the verdict that will be made after a thorough examination of the patient and differential diagnosis. It is necessary due to the fact that if the symptoms are similar, we may have completely different diseases that require different approaches to treatment.
First, it is necessary to understand whether the increase in temperature is associated with the source of pain or we are talking about two parallel pathological processes. After all, nothing prevents, for example, getting a leg injury during the incubation period of a respiratory disease. So muscle pain may be related to a virus or it may be the result of trauma.
Second, it is necessarily important to determine what the nature of the inflammation is (type of infection, if infectious inflammation).
Third, exclude other diseases that may have similar symptoms. Above we mentioned what pathologies can indicate pain in the head, limbs or different parts of the torso, and for each point there were several pathologies with recurring symptoms. The doctor's task is to make a diagnosis that corresponds to the real state of affairs.
Treatment of the fever pain
Since pain with fever is a common symptom, characteristic of many diseases, it becomes clear that in medicine there is not and can not exist a common scheme for the treatment of such a condition. After all, it is necessary to treat not a symptom or a combination of symptoms, but the disease, emphasizing the cause of its occurrence.
But there are also some general principles of treatment. For example, inflammatory diseases caused by bacterial infection are usually treated with antimicrobials (antibiotics). These drugs can relieve pain more effectively than some analgesics and NSAIDs. The latter are also actively used to fight pain and inflammation, but they should be prescribed with special caution, especially for patients with GI diseases.
Diseases caused by viruses are not treated with antibiotics. Here are not used strong drugs, because the body itself is able to cope with pathogens, it is only necessary to increase its defenses with the help of immunostimulants (and sometimes interferon in case of severe weakening of the body). In both cases, vitamins also play an important role in strengthening immunity.
As for antiviral drugs, doctors are divided on when to take them and whether they should be taken at all. It is definitely not worth buying them on your own, because they are specific means that work against certain types of virus. But during the disease, you will still have to rely on the knowledge and experience of a particular doctor.
In the case of inflammation, the pain goes away along with the irritation and swelling of the tissues. As for body temperature, it is not always necessary to bring it down. It is believed that temperatures up to 38-39 degrees are safe for a person, changes in the rheological properties of blood begin at higher temperatures, and in the meantime it is not worth preventing the body from fighting infection (many microbes die or become inactive at elevated temperatures).
If the column of the thermometer continues to rise or a person poorly tolerates even subfebrile temperatures, it is worth drinking antipyretics (antipyretics and NSAIDs) or resort to folk methods of combating fever. Doctors in this situation prescribe "Paracetamol", "Aspirin", "Ibuprofen", complex drugs "Teraflu", "Coldrex". "Coldact Flu Plus", "Nurofen", "Panadol", "Eferalgan" and other drugs. Most of them simultaneously fight both pain and fever.
Non-infectious inflammation does not usually cause a systemic rise in temperature. As soon as the inflammation subsides under the influence of anti-inflammatory drugs and heat, the pain will disappear and the temperature of the affected area of the body will be restored. In infectious inflammation, heat procedures are not always useful, they are not carried out in purulent infections.
It should be understood that such treatment is not suitable in case of acute abdomen. If appendicitis or peritonitis is suspected, it is in no case allowed to put heat on the abdomen, give painkillers, give enemas, give food or water, in general, carry out any manipulation that worsens the patient's condition and affects the clinical picture of the disease. To reduce pain and inflammation, it is allowed to use a bladder with ice on the abdomen.
Particular caution should be observed in case of suspected perforation of the ulcer. Painkillers are also prohibited in this case.
But in acute pancreatitis or cholecystitis, as well as in renal colic, it is recommended to relieve excruciating painful symptoms with cold. Analgesics or antispasmodics.
All the described pathologies, which is characterized by symptoms of acute abdomen, among which is pain with high temperature, require professional treatment, in many cases operative. And the result of treatment will largely depend on the correctness of pre-hospital care.
Medications
After a physical examination and all necessary diagnostic procedures, the doctor makes a final diagnosis and prescribes the actual treatment. And since the symptoms we are considering can be attributed to different diseases and different organs, it is clear that the approaches to therapy and the list of medications will differ.
In most cases, however, the list of medicines includes drugs for pain and inflammation, which also reduce high body temperature. These include antipyretics (e.g., paracetamol, which both normalizes temperature and relieves pain) and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which are a good substitute for hormonal drugs (glucocorticoids), having a smaller list of side effects on the body. In addition, NSAIDs, available in tablets, the patient can take both in the hospital and independently at home.
The most popular antipyretic and analgesic is considered to be "Paracetamol". Previously, the primacy belonged to acetylsalicylic acid ("Aspirin"), but its effect on the body (especially children) was so devastating that both doctors and patients preferred to abandon such treatment. "Paracetamol" turned out to be one of the safest drugs, so the pharmaceutical industry began to actively produce both adult and child forms of it under different names (sometimes in combination with acetylsalicylic acid).
The drug is prescribed for high fever and headache, toothache, muscle pain, rheumatic, menstrual and other types of pain. But it is especially popular as a remedy for relieving unpleasant symptoms of colds and flu, perfectly removing body aches and normalizing fever.
The single dose of the drug for adults is 400-1000 mg (not more than 4000 mg per day). For children over 3 years of age, whose body weight does not exceed 40 kg, the drug is prescribed at the rate of 10-15 mg for each kilogram of the child's weight.
The interval between taking the tablets is 4-6 hours. They should be taken after a meal, after a 1-2 hour interval.
Children's paracetamol is available as a suspension. It can be used from the second month of the baby's life and up to 14 years of age. Infants are prescribed from 2 to 5 ml of the drug, children 1-6 years - 5-10 ml, older children - up to 20 ml per administration.
Popular analogs of "Paracetamol" for children are considered "Panadol Baby", children's "Efferalgan" and "Tylenol".
Contraindications to taking the drug are: hypersensitivity to its composition, severe liver and kidney pathologies, blood diseases, severe anemia. The drug can be used in pregnancy (by doctor's prescription!) and during lactation.
Among the side effects, the most common are GI disorders: nausea and stomach pain. Allergic reactions, dizziness, liver disorders are also possible.
All of the above and other symptoms occur rarely. Most often against the background of intolerance to the components, with prolonged use or exceeding the recommended doses.
It is not recommended to take the drug without a doctor's prescription for more than 3 days.
The group of NSAIDs today is more extensive than antipyretics. The advantage of these drugs is considered to be high efficiency in the fight against inflammation (paracetamol has a weak effect). They do not just control pain, but also fight its cause, reducing redness, swelling, pain sensations, normalizing local and general temperature.
As an analgesic and antipyretic for headaches, nervous, joint and menstrual pains often used preparations "Citramon" or "Citropak" (both contain acetylsalicylic acid, paracetamol and caffeine).
Both drugs are prescribed 1-2 tablets up to 3 times a day. They should be taken after meals to reduce the negative impact on the mucosa of the GI tract.
As for the duration of use, it depends on the purpose: for pain relief, the drug can be used for up to 5 days, as an antipyretic - up to 3 days.
The drugs have a fairly long list of contraindications (largely due to acetylsalicylic acid and caffeine). In addition to intolerance to salicylates, the list includes severe liver and kidney disease, alcoholism, blood diseases, increased tendency to bleeding, ulcers, heart ischemia and severe heart failure, pancreatitis and many other pathologies.
Accordingly, the drugs have many side effects, especially those related to negative effects on the GI tract (abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, exacerbation of gastrointestinal diseases). Possible allergic and anaphylactic reactions, hypoglycemia, headaches, sleep disorders, hyperexcitability, irritability, ringing in the ears, tachycardia, increased heart rate, disorders of blood properties and composition, liver problems, etc. Complaints about side effects are less frequent.
In dental, joint, gynecological, traumatic and postoperative pain, nimesulide preparations ("Nimesulide", "Nimesil", "Nimesil", "Nimid", etc.) have gained great popularity. One of the most popular NSAIDs used for pain and inflammation is "Nimesulide" in a convenient powder form of release.
Powder "Nimesil" in sachets is used to prepare a suspension. The dose (1 sachet) is dissolved in ½ cup of water at room temperature. Take the drug in the recommended dosage, usually twice a day. The course of treatment should not exceed 2 weeks.
To reduce the negative impact of NSAIDs on the gastrointestinal tract, it is taken after meals, which does not affect the efficiency of drug absorption.
It is not recommended to take the drug in doses exceeding 4 g (2 sachets) per day. Overdose of the drug may cause spikes in blood pressure and negatively affect the kidneys and liver. It has hepatotoxic effect.
Side effects of the drug are rarely manifested, usually against the background of dosing violation. Most often there is an increase in the level of liver enzymes, nausea, vomiting, stool disorders. Rede patients complain of dizziness, increased BP, dyspnea, increased gas formation, skin itching and elevation of the body, hyperhidrosis.
The drug has a decent list of contraindications. Among them:
- hypersensitivity to the components of the drug,
- concomitant intake of hepatotoxic drugs,
- alcoholism and drug addiction,
- bleeding from the GI tract in anamnesis, gastric and duodenal ulcer,
- predisposition to bleeding of different genesis, bleeding in the brain in the anamnesis,
- severe clotting disorders,
- decompensated CHF,
- serious kidney and/or liver disorders,
- under the age of 12,
- pregnancy (especially 3rd trimester), breastfeeding.
But it is very important to pay attention to this point: the drug is not recommended for use with high body temperature and the presence of flu-like symptoms. It is an excellent remedy for pain and inflammation, but pain with high fever associated with colds and viral infection, it does not treat. In addition, medical scientists insist that nimesulide preparations should be used as second-line drugs, and preference should be given to means with a more loyal effect on the body.
The anti-inflammatory drug "Ibuprofen" can be called just such a remedy. It has a fairly wide range of application, rarely has negative side effects, and in addition has a very affordable cost. This NSAID can be used for colds and flu, as well as other diseases of infectious-inflammatory nature.
"Ibuprofen" is a drug for short-term use, so for pain relief it is recommended to use it for no more than 5 days, and to normalize body temperature - no more than 3 days. For children under 12 years of age, the medicine is prescribed in a dosage of 1 tablet (200 mg) up to 3 times a day with an interval of 6 hours.
Adults may be prescribed the drug in a single dosage of 1-2 tablets. The interval between doses of the drug is 4-6 hours. The maximum dose is 1200 mg per day.
Tablets are swallowed whole, without chewing, and washed down with water. They can be taken regardless of food intake.
Side effects of ibuprofen are most often noted in the GI tract: discomfort in the epigastrium, nausea, stool disorders, vomiting, exacerbation of colitis and Crohn's disease, possible development of erosive ulcerative diseases of the digestive system (usually in case of taking the drug on an empty stomach or with little fluid). Rarely there are complaints of kidney dysfunction, skin rashes, edema, increased BP, palpitations, ringing in the ears, impaired clarity of vision, anxiety, deterioration of appetite. Even more rarely doctors talk about liver malfunctions, cataract development, acidosis, hair loss, etc.
With prolonged use of the drug is not excluded and disorders on the part of hematopoiesis, externally manifested by sore throat, fever, weakness, the appearance of obscure bruises and hemorrhages.
Despite the large list of possible side effects, they occur very rarely. The drug in recommended doses is well tolerated by most patients, accidental overdose is almost impossible.
To avoid the appearance of dangerous side effects of "Ibuprofen" it is imperative to take into account contraindications to its use. This includes such pathologies and conditions:
- hypersensitivity to the drug components and other NSAIDs,
- history of hypersensitivity reactions to NSAIDs,
- bleeding from the GI tract, provoked by taking NSAIDs,
- bleeding of other genesis, particularly cerebrovascular bleeding,
- Active gastric and duodenal ulcer and recurrent bleeding due to it,
- serious liver and kidney pathologies affecting their functionality,
- severe forms of heart failure,
- disorders of hematopoiesis and blood coagulation,
- Children under 6 years of age (body weight less than 20 kg).
In pregnancy, the drug may be used only in the 1st-2nd trimester of pregnancy and during childbirth, if there is a risk to the health and life of the mother. The decision on the prescription and doses of ibuprofen is made by a doctor. The risk of miscarriage and fetal abnormalities increases in proportion to the doses taken and the duration of drug administration.
In the 3rd trimester, the drug is not used because it can affect the contractility of the uterus, prolonging the period of labor, and increases the risk of bleeding during labor. Ibuprofen is also prohibited during breastfeeding due to its ability to penetrate into breast milk.
In any case, drugs from the category of NSAIDs are not the best option for treating pain with fever for people with erosive and ulcerative diseases of the digestive system, liver and kidney disease. About other options, how to quickly and safely cope with pain and fever, they are better to consult a doctor or use the advice of folk healers.
Folk treatment
To meet a completely healthy person nowadays is a great luck. Almost all of us have a decent list of chronic diseases by the age of 30-40. In addition, recently more and more children are characterized by poor health and all sorts of disorders of various organs and systems. And in fact, virtually all drugs used to treat pain with fever, there is an impressive list of contraindications and restrictions (violations in which the drug should be taken with caution), among which are popular nowadays diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, liver, kidney, heart, etc. How can such patients fight pain and inflammation?
To help in such situations comes folk treatment, which can be used only after consultation with a doctor, when the exact diagnosis is known. It is clear that the treatment of appendicitis, peritonitis, perforation of a stomach ulcer and other surgical pathologies at home with folk remedies is not carried out. In acute pancreatitis, cholecystitis, diphtheria, inflammation of the brain and cardiac structures also require the help of medics. But with colds, respiratory pathologies, otitis media, inflammatory diseases of the genitourinary system, folk recipes can provide real help, if they are applied correctly.
In bacterial pathologies, home treatment should be combined with antibiotic therapy, otherwise there is a risk of only reducing the activity of the infection and transfer the disease into a chronic form. But in viral diseases, active folk treatment can replace the use of antiviral drugs.
Since the pain of fever is mainly associated with the inflammatory process, to relieve them, it is necessary to stop the inflammatory process and, if possible, remove the source of irritation (bacteria, viruses, etc.). For this purpose, such procedures as gargling the throat and rinsing the nose with natural compositions are used in colds:
- saline solution (1/2-1 tsp. Per glass of warm water),
- Soda-salt solution (½ tsp. Of baking soda and salt per glass of warm water),
- saline solution with iodine (add 2-3 drops of iodine to the ready-made saline solution, if there are no thyroid pathologies),
- A solution of honey and vinegar (1 tsp. Honey, 1 tbsp. Apple cider vinegar per glass of warm water), instead of honey you can add salt (1/2 tsp.),
- Decoction of onion husks (3 tsp. Husks for half a liter of water, boil and insist 4 hours).
Heat also helps to reduce pain. For this purpose, foot baths are made and compresses are put on the throat (on the ear in otitis media). But it should be understood that at temperatures above 37-37.2 degrees, heat procedures can only exacerbate the situation. The body temperature will rise and may reach critical values that pose a danger to the heart and blood vessels.
Particular caution should be exercised with them in otitis media. Hyperthermia in this disease is most often associated with a purulent form of the disease, in which heating is strictly prohibited.
And what can be useful folk treatment for various diseases with fever is the ability to reduce it without medication. Vegetable products with a high content of vitamin C (it is considered to be the fighter against hyperthermia) can help: rose hips, black currants, citrus fruits, sea buckthorn, red and green peppers, parsley and others.
Yes, such treatment does not always help, but the benefit is unambiguous, because vitamin C is also a factor in strengthening the immune system, which is weakened in any inflammation, especially infectious. The stronger the immune system, the easier the disease will be.
To reduce body temperature, people have long practiced cool wipes with clean water or vinegar. Rubbing (rubbing) with alcohol is relevant only at the very beginning of the disease and only in the absence of high temperature.
To combat pain and inflammation is used and treatment with herbs, because many plants can more or less effectively fight pathogens, reduce the activity of viruses and bacteria and even destroy them.
For example, chamomile is the most popular remedy for inflammation. Although the plant does not have a pronounced antimicrobial effect, it copes with inflammation and pain perfectly. Infusion and decoction of chamomile is used to gargle the throat, rinse the nasal passages, spritzing for female inflammation. Taking chamomile inside helps with inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, inflammation of the genitourinary system, has a calming effect in colds.
More pronounced antimicrobial action have: calendula, yarrow, fir, plantain, eleutherococcus, motherwort, celandine, sage, eucalyptus. The use of herbal compositions in combination with the strongest natural antibiotics (honey and propolis) helps to quickly get rid of the pain of fever even without medication.
Herbal medicine is actively used in the therapy of urological diseases of inflammatory nature. With the right selection of herbs, you can get a healing composition that is not inferior in effectiveness to antibacterial agents. Here is a recipe for one of them:
- Eucalyptus, St. John's wort, calendula (flowers), yarrow, echinacea, elecampane (root) - 10 g each,
- Elderberry (flowers), lingonberry, cyprus, tavolga - 20 g each,
- Rosehip (fruits) - 30 g.
Plant raw materials dried, crushed, mixed. For half a liter of boiling water, take 1 tbsp (with a slide) of dry mixture, insist in warmth for several hours, then take 100-110 g before each meal for 1.5 months. In the morning in the composition can be added 10 drops of tincture of elleuterococcus, which is active against staphylococci, proteus, E. Coli, enterobacteria.
In the case of viral infection, which usually "drives" the temperature from the first days of the disease, it is very important to stop the multiplication of the virus. Here we come to the aid of the labdanum (thavolga wiazolistnya). This plant can effectively fight flu and herpes viruses, if you start taking it immediately at the onset of the first symptoms of the disease. Black elderberry is also very useful for flu.
And to cure the disease as soon as possible, it is recommended to use herbs with immune-stimulating effect: elleuterococcus, echinacea, rhodiola rosea, ginseng, Chinese lemongrass, aralia.
As in the case of drug treatment, the use of folk medicine should be comprehensive. It should be understood that by relieving pain and lowering body temperature, we are not getting closer to recovery. It is necessary to fight not so much with the symptoms as with the cause of the disease.
Homeopathy
Today, many patients, and especially caring parents of children, in pain and fever do not hurry to turn to the help of pharmacy remedies, leaning towards folk treatment and the use of homeopathy, popular nowadays. They consider homeopathic remedies safer, despite the assurances of doctors that all this is a "placebo" with dubious therapeutic effect, in addition, the effect of taking homeopathic medicines does not come immediately, and therefore they are not suitable for emergency treatment of severe pain and febrile temperatures.
Homeopaths, on the contrary, claim that their remedies are quite effective, because they do not act at the level of the symptom, but at the level of the whole body, helping the latter to fight the disease on its own. Which opinion to stick to, everyone chooses for himself, and for fans of homeopathy we can offer a list of remedies prescribed by homeopaths for pain and fever:
- Aconite - used for colds and flu, accompanied by sore throat and high body temperature.
- Belladonna - used in acute febrile diseases accompanied by throbbing headache, photosensitivity, hyperhidrosis. Often prescribed in scarlatina (acute onset).
- Ignacia - useful in children with a tendency to febrile convulsions. The medicine is effective in pain and fever due to a stressful situation.
- Eupatorium - effective for muscle and bone pain associated with acute respiratory infection.
- Rus toxicodendron is a drug with anti-inflammatory effects, helps relieve body aches and pains.
- Ferrum phosphoricum is an anti-inflammatory and antipyretic agent. It can be prescribed even in the absence of clearly expressed symptoms of the disease, i.e. At the very beginning of a cold.
- Hamomilla is a drug based on chamomile, an excellent anti-inflammatory agent that relieves pain and irritation.
- Phosphorus - used as an immunostimulant for infectious diseases.
In the midst of viral infections for their prevention, doctors recommend taking complex homeopathic remedies:
- "Otsilokokoktsinum" (used at the beginning and at the height of the disease by 1 dose 2-3 times a day),
- "Influcid" (initially 1 tablet every hour, then 1-2 tablets 3 times a day),
- "Tonsillotren" (in the acute stage - 1-2 tablets every hour, then 1-2 tablets 3 times a day),
- "Cinnabsyn" for the prevention of bacterial complications (similar to the previous drug).
In case of pain and fever not related to respiratory infection, homeopaths may prescribe other drugs or combinations of drugs. In any case, the prescription of medicines is carried out during a face-to-face consultation, because the doctor has to take into account not only the existing symptoms, but also the peculiarities of the patient's body and psyche.
Prevention
Since the article was not about a specific disease, but about the symptom complex that occurs in the clinical picture of different pathologies, it is impossible to give general recommendations for the prevention of all possible diseases. But it is possible to highlight some points that will help to maintain health and avoid the appearance of unpleasant symptoms.
Preventive measures to avoid fever pain can include:
- A healthy and active lifestyle,
- Lack of bad habits that poison and weaken our body, making it susceptible to infections, provoking inflammatory processes in the organs,
- Preventive protection from infections during their rampant period (avoid crowded places, wear protective bandages, rinse the throat and nose after visiting public places, take vitamins and antiviral drugs, immunostimulants),
- Timely treatment of any disease to exclude their complications and transition to a chronic form with characteristic recurrences in the future,
- A complete diet rich in vitamins and minerals,
- A sensible attitude towards medications (some of them may themselves cause pain and inflammation),
- Contacting doctors in a timely manner and complying with their requirements.
Forecast
Regarding the prognosis, we can say that any disease with such a symptom as pain with fever should be treated immediately, without waiting for complications. Hyperthermia is a frequent indicator of severe inflammation, and pain is just a logical consequence of it. But it is more expensive to ignore these symptoms, especially if the pain is localized in the abdomen or the patient is tormented by constant headaches, discomfort in the chest. Such diseases as inflammation of the brain and cardiac membranes affect the functionality of the working organs and can have the most unpleasant consequences. Severe pneumonia, pleurisy, tuberculosis, appendicitis, peritonitis are often fatal, which could have been prevented if a person had sought medical help earlier, when the first symptoms of the disease appear.