You get a fever when your body is trying to fight an infection or an illness. A thermometer can quickly tell you whether your temperature is above the standard 98.6 degrees, but you might not have access to a thermometer. Fortunately, there are other ways to tell if you have a fever.

Notice Your Body Temperature

When you have a fever, there are often symptoms that are signs of a change in body temperature. First of all, you might alternate between having chills and sweating. When you have the chills, your body is trying to raise your temperature to treat whatever is causing the fever. Your body will still be hot, but you will feel cold, and your teeth might even chatter.

When you are sweating, your fever is breaking because your body is cooling down. The fever raises your temperature, but then it tries to cool down because if the fever goes too high, you can go into shock. You can also put your hand up to your face, but make sure that you use the back of your hand as opposed to the palm. If your skin feels hot to the touch, this is a sign that you have a fever.

If your body temperature feels off, and you are feeling too hot or too cold with symptoms of chills and sweating, there is a good chance that you have a fever.

Your Body Aches

Another sign that you have a fever is that you have unexplained body aches. When you have a fever, your entire body can be very achy. When your body aches it makes everything more difficult. When your body aches are caused by a fever, your body is releasing chemicals that help you fight the infection. One of these chemicals is called prostaglandin, and it can make your whole body hurt.

These body aches are a sign of a fever, but they are also a good sign that your body is doing what it needs to do to fight the infection or illness. You may be dehydrated as well, which can also contribute to your body aches. If your whole body feels achy, this is definitely a sign that you have a fever.

Ordinary Activities Make You Tired

Another way to tell if you have a fever is to notice whether physical activity is harder for you. Having a fever is exhausting because your body is doing all kinds of things to protect you from a virus, an infection, or some other illness. You may feel hot or cold, and you may feel achy. Another way to tell is to notice whether ordinary activities make you tired.

You need to base it on your normal activity levels, and if something you can normally do seems impossible, you might have a fever. One way to test this is to try walking up a flight of stairs. You might notice that you feel as though you are climbing a tall mountain. If you don’t have any stairs, there are other ways to test this theory.

When you have a fever, the simplest activity may feel very difficult. You might not be able to walk to the bathroom, and the idea of taking a shower may seem impossible. If you are feeling as though you are unable to do these normal everyday activities, there is a strong chance that you have a fever.

Sometimes you might feel as though you have a fever, but you may not have a thermometer to find out definitively. You may be frustrated because it is important to understand why you are feeling the way you feel. If you feel too hot or too cold for the temperature in the room, there is a good chance your body temperature is off. A fever raises your body temperature to fight infection or illness, so look for these signs.