10 replies to this topic

[momtogrif]

My dad has been having the chills and shaking a lot lately. The home care nurse checked him the other day and said all his vitals are fine and his temp was normal. My dad said he shakes so bad that he sometimes can't hold his cup of coffee. Anyone else have this experience? He said he doesn't actually feel cold but his body acts like it's getting the chills.

[Jeanette]

Sounds like temperature regulation is messed up. I have the same thing I have to have heating pad on my thighs to keep them warm I wear sweats all the time and if it's really bad I have to drink hot chocolate but a friend recommended herb tea also. I just don't have any.. I think I wick but som English tea and crumpets and be British today.. Well I do have my 3 layer chocolate bday cake to sub for crumpets.
I have 4-5 blankets around me most of the day to keep the shakes away. When they happen it takes a long time to get rid of them for me.
Jeanette

[Apparelyzed]

Does he feel clammy/sweaty at all?

It could be part symptoms of autonomic dysreflexia due to a bladder infection or bladder spasms.

Simon

[momtogrif]

His wife told me that he didn't feel clammy and he wasn't sweating. He has had a bladder infection that got so bad he went septic, this happened twice. He also had 2 kidney stones and they found a ton of bacteria around his bladder. They cleaned him out, got rid of the stones, and sent him home after about 2 weeks in the hospital. We thought it was the end for him but he got better. Then, he got sick again. Delerium, high fever, and it hit him out of the blue. Another few weeks in the hospital, sepsis again, and IV antibiotics. This is when he developed the bedsore that is now on the verge of stage 4. Things have not been easy for him and the infections have taken their toll. He is also having pain issues in his hip and his legs despite the paralyzation, I'm assuming this is normal too?

[mellowgator]

dear mom,

as quads we are not able to regulate our body temperature. we are like lizards and can't keep cold or warm. we aren't able to sweat below our level of injury to regulate our temperature.

i agree with simon you need to make sure he doesn't have a uti or any other issue below his level of injury that could be causing his shaking. these are signs of automic disreflexia. i hope your home health aide are aware of this life threatening situation. does he have headaches and goose bumps. if his blood pressure sky rockets he needs help and fast. so please keep a close eye on this. make sure you know what is normal for him. i have a really low blood pressure normally like 70 over 90 so if someone takes my bp not knowing my normal they may be overlooking the spike.

has your husband been injured for long? if so and this is a new situation i'd carefully check his skin to make sure he doesn't have a break down or even an ingrown toenail. anything that can cause pain for an ab could cause ad in a quad.

if you are certain he isn't experiencing ad it may just be that he needs an extra blanket or sweats to keep warm. on days that i'm coldi wear sweats and ski socks and i layer my clothes. i always wear a hoodie. i find that if i keep my head warm i am much more comfortable.

welcome to the forum. i hope you find the answers you need.

mellowgator

[pinkcloud]

My dad has been having the chills and shaking a lot lately. The home care nurse checked him the other day and said all his vitals are fine and his temp was normal. My dad said he shakes so bad that he sometimes can't hold his cup of coffee. Anyone else have this experience? He said he doesn't actually feel cold but his body acts like it's getting the chills.

Hi there...........so its not just me then, phew.

This happens to me when I am in extreme pain.

Goose bumps, skin turns like a white grey-ish colour, I feel faint, the skin is cold to the touch but dosnt feel cold - but is it when i touch it with the other hand.

I think its a kind of body going into shock meself.

Eat or drink something warm - warm up from the inside as warming up on the outside dosnt work too well if he already has problems with body tempreture.

No-one i saw has a clue except to say 'oo its the nerves'.

All I can think of is when i used to be at the top of the mountains exhausted the same thing would happen. I would turn white - the nurse friend i was with (yeap i was lucky here) said the blood rushes to the heart ect when its cold and the body reacts this way. Well knowing our sci nerves - its probably getting all confused as usual.

Best thing - take it as a warning sign to see if hes in pain he cant feel - I do and 10 times out of ten its pain I cant feel. Then bang - I do feel the pain. Its a good friend of mine is the chilly-shivers as I call them :-)

[momtogrif]

dear mom,

as quads we are not able to regulate our body temperature. we are like lizards and can't keep cold or warm. we aren't able to sweat below our level of injury to regulate our temperature.

i agree with simon you need to make sure he doesn't have a uti or any other issue below his level of injury that could be causing his shaking. these are signs of automic disreflexia. i hope your home health aide are aware of this life threatening situation. does he have headaches and goose bumps. if his blood pressure sky rockets he needs help and fast. so please keep a close eye on this. make sure you know what is normal for him. i have a really low blood pressure normally like 70 over 90 so if someone takes my bp not knowing my normal they may be overlooking the spike.

has your husband been injured for long? if so and this is a new situation i'd carefully check his skin to make sure he doesn't have a break down or even an ingrown toenail. anything that can cause pain for an ab could cause ad in a quad.

if you are certain he isn't experiencing ad it may just be that he needs an extra blanket or sweats to keep warm. on days that i'm coldi wear sweats and ski socks and i layer my clothes. i always wear a hoodie. i find that if i keep my head warm i am much more comfortable.

welcome to the forum. i hope you find the answers you need.

mellowgator

Thank you for the reply, Mellowgator. I will pass this all on to his wife(it's my dad and they live about 2500 miles away from me). I don't know about the headaches or goosebumps. His bed sore smells putrid according to her and the second bed sore has a pump on it. As for his blood pressure, they had to put off doing a surgery on him a few months ago because his pressure drops when he has an active infection. He already had high blood pressure from being overweight before all this started, but now he's lost about 70 pounds since the spinal surgery. He is scheduled for surgery at 2:30 EST so I will call his wife later and see if the docs performing the surgery find anything or see a problem with his vitals. Thanks again.

[momtogrif]

Oh, and I wanted to throw this out to you guys too. The other day dad's wife saw him in his wheelchair on the porch and she said his whole body was leaning over to the right side. She thought he was dead, at first, because the lean was so pronounced. She also said he's having balance issues but I think that's because he's not doing his PT and, therefore, is losing strength and muscle which affects the balance.

[mellowgator]

he maY very well have ad due to his bedsore. like i said earlier ad can be fatal or cause death or a stroke. i'm wondering if these changes could be due to this. i hope he seeks the correct help by a dr. who understands sci.

he can feel pain. it's a misconception that paralyzed people don't feel pain.

the uti's the kidney stones and the skin issue could very well cause an ad attack. i pray someone is aware of this condition and monitors him. there is medication that can help him with this.


mellowgator

Edited by mellowgator, 04 May 2011 - 06:49 PM.

[goose]

please check all of the above advice.

does his teeth chatter when this is going on? i stumpled across this solution for me and i've seen it work on others.

soon after my accident my teeth would start chattering and the only way i found to stop it was to take a blanket or something warm and cover my head and ears.[mainly the ears.] have someone press it against his ears.oddly,the chatters would go away in a few mins. for some strange reason it works. i think it helps calm the nerves.

does not cost anything try.

good luck.

[Trinity]

Chills and shaking may well be neurological but could also be infection. His normal baseline temperature may well be lower than what is was pre SCI (because of the lack of thermo regulation) which means any increase could be signs of infection and given the way you describe the sore then I would think it was likely that some infection has set in. You need to find out what is normal temperature wise for him and then compare it when he is having the episodes.