Anyone else struggled with chills and shivering at night / when you wake up? Start chemo Monday so can't be chemo related. Did have some steroids a week or so back which I guess are an initial treatment whilst waiting for chemo. Thanks.
Hi Chris, yes Steroids are part of your treatment and will affect you in many ways and can raise the risk of infection.
Your body is going through a lot at the moment…. and as Lymphoma is Lymphatic based and the lymphatic system is an important part of the body's immune system…… so at the moment your immune system is working full time trying to control your HL as best as it can….. but this can open the back door for other ‘issues’ to find their way in….
But your bodies internal thermostat is going to be affected as well….. so you will most likely feel the cold more…. especially during the night…… and more so once you start regular treatment… I used to sleep with socks and a thermal hat
So you do need to be mindful of simple infections….. this will obviously become more a problem once you are on your chemo as there will be a higher Risk of infection.
Even although I am 9+ years out from my last treatment I often get chills and shivering.as my immune system is always looking at controlling my incurable NHL that is sleeping-ish…. so I catch infections rather quickly.
When it comes to infection control I was given these simple rules for keeping eye on infections……
If my temperature is 37.5°C, repeat in one hour. If my temperature has increased, whether I feel unwell or not, I must call it in… so for me it would be 111 as I am discharged but when on treatment I used the Treatment Hot Line number I was given…….
This is especially important with regress to Sepsis as sepsis doesn’t always cause a high temperature though, especially if someone is taking steroids……. below 35°C could be a sign of infection which your immune system may be unable to fight so this needs to be called in as well.
