Why do I get unexplained chills with no fever or infection?

[Danielle714]

I get these unexplained chills all the time, where im freezing cold with goose bumps all over my body. They hurt and I can barely walk they are so bad sometimes. I check my temp when I get these episodes and its perfectly normal. I do not have a infection or am not sick. Im not even in a cold environment. Everyone around me is not cold. Its the weirdest thing, and I cant find a answer for it. Its like my body is messed up and sending these chills for no reason. Please help.

[Sai387]

Hi, I'm also in the same boat. Till now I thoght only I have this problem, but looks like some people are there who has same problem what I have. Even I'm waiting for an answer for this question.

[THX1167]

Seems there are a few people that have a chill/cold feeling and don't know what is causing it. I feel like the cold is coming from my bones. Every now and then I get a hot flash, but not very often. Blood and thyroid checked ok, still have cold feeling.
No fever, but something is wrong. Nerves maybe?? Sending wrong signals to my body.
Sooner or later someone will figure it out, hopefuly my doc will.

[giotaras92]

hi guys i think i have the same problem i get the chills without being cold or anything and i can control it i can cause the chills to my self any ideas? Email me ***@****

[NELS54]

Very timely.
This has been going on for over a week now. I've been looking all over the net for some relief, anything....
I did find one reference to nerve pinching that may make sense. I can't sleep it's so bad right now- for days. It's particularly the back of my neck and along my spine....
Right now I have on a heavy shirt, turtlrkneck sweater, over sweater, scarf, headband and jacket. I'm laying with a heating pad for my back.
I won't see my doctor until Tues., and I don't currently have insurance. I'm drinking tons of water and urinating like I've been out skiing. Almost painful chilled immediacy. Antihistamines and aspirin don't help!
I REALLY NEED SOME SLEEP TOO.

[amtya]

Hi this is AMIT. I have also the same problem.
one year back i went for a trek. I walked for 21 - 22 km in a heavy rain i don have dry clothes too... as soon as I reached on fort i slept for 3 hrs as i was very tired with wet clothes ... when i woke i felt the same we all are goin through ... from dat day i facing this prob

[cybervang]

After visiting nearly half a dozen doctors and none of them knew what I had. Conclusion is that this is more nutrition and this is probably why doctors can't figure it out because they aren't nutritionists.

And so I started experimenting with vitamins and health activities.
Here's how I solved my chill problems.

1. 8-9 Hours of sleep at night. Sleep somewhat relates to my chills because I was often tired when it hits.
2. Well fed. I was often hungry when it hit and it made me feel like I was shaking and cold to the bone.
3. Excersize. If I ran 5 blocks or 1 mile a day I no longer had bad a chill as I would without any.
4. Vitamin B. It somewhat improves my energy and less chills occured.

5. Drink enough warm water. It helps sooth the body and disables the chill effect because it keeps the body well hydrated and warm.
Sometimes being dehydrated and cold causes the body to rehydrate faster than it should and you quickly sweat it all out because you try hard to warm yourself up because of the chill itself.

6. Super Warm Bath every night with a bit of sea salt in water. This helped calm the body and rehydrate it from skin down. Worked for me. Less chills.

These 5 things helped me out a lot. It might not work for you guys because we are all different but it takes some experimenting to see what you lack. For my body it took experimenting but I finally got it right. In my opinion and experience I've concluded that stress, chills, anxiety, lack of excersize, too much excersize, & other hard to pin point problems are all signs of an imbalance somewhere.

I hope that this helped you guys a bit.

***@****

[cybervang]

For nutrition I ate enough protein, drink mineral water and ate a lot of fruits such as pears and peaches.

[hr_jenn]

I am surprised that there are other individuals out there that are expierencing these painful chills. I have gone to several doctors, including a pain management doctor, and no one can figure out what is wrong. My primary doctor had every blood/urine test, known to man, completed on me and everything came back normal. This is what I am expierencing:
1. severe painful chills all over my body (throughout various times in the day/night)
2. "goose bumps" feel like a thousand needles all over my body
3. I get very hot and will start to sweat, within minutes of cooler air touching my body, I develop these horrible chills.

What helps: getting into a warm/hot shower and letting the water run over my body.

[royce_isayiah]

I am getting this same effect chills at night take a temperature no fever the only thing that helps me is to get into a hot bath as hot as i can stand it and sweat these feelings out . I recently had mono, pluerisy , bronchitis, pnemonia, and had an infected molar and several other problems however i notice that every time this happens to me . my righ tkidney hurts before it starts happening this has been going on for years with me and usually i drink some water and bam i'm good after always so the dehydrration theory and possiable unnoticed kidney infection could be the problem but howver i dont have an md. or phd just sharing my story with the community love Cass Hope u all feel better soon xoxox God Bless You !

[Roxy75]

It happened to me last night and it was the most horrible experience ever I tough I was having a stroke, now my body aches really bad. I also was diagnosed with fatty tissue all over my liver couple months ago, and of course my first tough was maybe my liver is not functioning how it supposed. Don't know but I'm really concern. I have kids and I don't want them to see me sick.

[Tizzz]

I too have this happen to me, Mine usually starts at night and my Face begins to get very red and flushed and Im really warm to touch but I never take my temp. I am usually freezing when this happens and start to shake all over because I am feeling so cold. I have no idea why this happens or what causes it, but It scares me really bad. WHen I get this way, I can tell my anxiety level rises really high and I get scared even more. I am a 42yr old Female so I thought it might be my body going through the change of life but My mom says it doesn't do this.
Any help would be great.
Thanks

[rorbon]

My husband gets these chills and he almost screams he is in so much pain.  He shakes all over and moans & nothing seems to stop the "chill".  He often sits in a movie theatre, and upon leaving the theatre, he gets a "chill".  It sounds horrible and it can be long-lasting.  No Dr. has ever even heard of this happening so we have never had any help.  Enjoyed reading your stories and at least knowing there are others who unfortunately, are suffering in the same way.  Sure wish somebody could come up with an answer for everyone.

[cpey87]

I get these chills too and it often happens when I don't get 8-9 hours of sleep.I really have no idea why I get them, and I have barely found anything on the net about them except this thread and one other. My chills will usually last all day until I am able to "sleep the chills off" the next night with a full 8-9 hours of sleep. A way of getting a nice, relaxing sleep is that I take a 3 mg Melatonin pill, which helps promote a good nice.

I usually get these chills down my spine, and it often spreads to my arms, legs, and chest. It ***** so much and it often kills my day. I have a feeling the symptoms have to do with a problem with our immune systems, in which our bodies produce extra antibodies and white blood cells to act like our body needs to fight off some sickness when we really don't have have one.

Has anyone tried getting a blood test while experiencing the chills?

[angellex]

I'm starting to get the same effect. as I was reading the comments I saw a comment that said something about being nerve related and I also have lower back problems as well as neck soreness. Last year I went to see a chiropractor and my spine was shaped like and "s" in stead of being straight. I had a six month treatment which help tremendously.
Before I had visited the chiropractor, I was having lots of heart burn and I went to see a doctor for this. The doctor prescribe to limit the acidy foods. Nonetheless that did not help. However, after seeing the chiropractor the heartburn went away.
I'm going to schedule an oppointment with my chiropractor again because it makes sense to me that my spine is probably getting desaligned agian.
Just FYI if follow my advcie make sure you see a chiropractor that treats sublexation. look up the term to get famaliar with it...

Hope this helps and I keep you guys posted.

[JohnMWales]

I too have started experiencing chills without fever. Full blood tests - all negative.
I'm curious to know how many sufferers share some common aspects.

How many people started with the chills following a cold or flu?
How many sufferers are taking statins (Simvastatin)?
How many sufferers are taking Atenolol (Tenormin)?
How many sufferers also get regular kidney infections?

[camillepet]

I get this freezing feeling and it is at bedtime and I have an insanely hard time making it stop.  I agree that for some of us it is the body fighting off an infection and almost the opposite of a fever.  I often wake up feeling sick the next day. Sometimes pain relievers like tylenol has helped it and I am doing everything to boost my immune system...elderberry, astragalus,echinachea,probiotics, omega3s...I think these have been helping too.  oddly I have some issues with my kidneys too!

[disgustedpatient1959]

Agree with cybervang.  I narrowed it down to stomach and food related problems.  Constipation, junk food, food and other allergies.  They even say in recent years that an allergy can give you a slight fever.  Anything is possible with all the pollution and weird food nowadays.  Don't let doctors tell you that you are crazy!!  It can be exacerbated by nervousness and stress, but it's not just nerves or all in your head.  Good luck and good health to everyone!!

disgustedpatient1959

[Milliepat]

For 30 years, I've reported to every doctor, that I get severe cold chills.  The doctors will do routine screens, a complete blood count, TSH and chem profile.  Because the blood test come back normal, they don't look any further.  I am seeing an endocrinologist, with over 30 years experience, and she is also doing the same thing.  She believes it is because I am in menopause.  When I said, that I had the cold chills and cold sweats in my early twenties, she replied "Well maybe you are someone who feels cold all the time."

The medical profession does not know what to do about people who suffer from extreme cold and chills.  And due to health insurance regulations, doctors will not spend anytime seeking answers to our problems.

The nights are worst than the days.  I need an extreme amount of heat to feel comfortably warm.  I can't sleep at night unless the room temperature is above 70.  I sleep with an electric mattress pad set on the higher settings, wearing flannel pj's and a cashmere robe.  

My maternal uncles, aunts and mother suffered from cold chills also.  None of their doctors helped them either.

I spend a lot of time doing web research, that's how I came across this forum.  I believe  the cold chills and cold sweats arise from thyroid or pituitary problems, because these glands regulate the body temperature.  However, the standard laboratory tests are not showing any abnormalities, even though a problem exists.

I worked as a medical technologist in microbiology for 20 years and other idea I thought about is that cold chills and cold sweats can be caused by infections and parasites.  Bacteria, viruses, yeasts, parasites usually cause fevers, but they could also cause chills without fevers.

The cold chills and cold sweats just don't seem important enough for my doctors to seek a resolution for, so I have to find other ways of helping myself outside of the medical profession.  

[us4jama]

I have allot of what I am reading.
I have had neck problem starting back 15 years ago (age 16) no one knew what was going on. Tried a chiropractor, physical Doc. Nothing helps  To this day my neck gets so bad I get sick. With very bad headaches. I have tried everything know to man.
Last year I started with my face burning up. Hot to touch and then I feel so cold I couldn't get warm. But when I sleep I get very very hot from head to toe.
I don't get bothered by it. So its not  nerves. But I do deal with thyroid problems....I take meds for that so it normal right now.
Thanks for all your post. After being asked last week if I was ok because my face looked very red...yet I was cold. I thought I would see what I could find.
:)God Bless you all

[jbd15]

Chills is one of the symptoms of hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid), which is one of the most under-diagnosed conditions in the U.S. Some blood tests might show that you are "normal" when in fact you may be not.

Does anyone have any trouble with their teeth? More specifically had root canals that are failing? I've had 2 root canals, one approximately 15 years ago, which has recently failed (it turns out they missed one canal and the tooth was infected and had to be re-treated) and the 2nd was done a year ago, which never felt right, I'm always in pain and I believe it is infected and failing, even though the x-rays show it is "normal."

[trimumof2]

I do hope that those of you with these chills will go see a naturopathic doctor. The naturopath will run some blood tests and possibly a saliva test. Some medical doctors are jumping on board with the understanding that what we put into our mouths has a huge impact on our overall health so you may be able to find a MD that will run the same tests....One post was correct in that this can be a major symptom of hypothyroidism.  Hypothyroidism can be connected/caused by diet that is low in nutrients..and/or if you do eat healthy/whole foods your body may not be absorbing nutrients which can be due to food allergies.

You can get simple bloods tests to test for thyroid disorder, test for vitamin/mineral deficiency such as B & D, hormone levels and also get an IgE blood panel for food allergies.  It all seems to come back to our gut.  All of these are fairly simple to regulate!

Good luck to all of you! Hope you can get this figured out!

Best,
Sharon

[Milliepat]

My endocrinologist and gynecologist supposedly did a routine thyroid panel and both independently claimed the tests were normal.  The chills continue so much that they are seriously interfering with my life.  I sleep at different times than my husband because I use a heated mattress pad, otherwise the chills prevent me getting to sleep.  In addition I use a personal foot heaters to bring warmth to my feet and legs.  However the continued use of these heaters causes first and second degree burns on my feet and ankles.  One thing I have not tried is drinking more water each day.  Maybe dehydration is the cause of the chills.  I will report back if increasing my fluid intake resolves the problem

[Destinygsd]

This happened to me late yesterday afternoon. My neck has been hurting, then of course by back started and I got a horrible head ache. I was away from home for 13 hours yesterday, all over, driving and in a meeting, ferry rides. It got so bad by 6:30 pm I thought I could not make it home off the ferry. I sat by the fire and warmed up, then took a hot shower. I don't feel that great today, but I don't have a fever and I am not sick. I am glad to know I am not the only one with this. I recently had to put my golden retriever down and we just made a major move. Plus, our house now has carpeting which I can not tolerate with dogs. I thought perhaps this was allergy and stress related, but after reading the posts, it could be food related. I keep forgetting to eat, I am so busy. I will keep watching this post.
Thank you,
Michele

[ChillsGoAway]

I am 38 female; Previous medical history diagnosed with Epstein barr virus(it's more common than you think...look it up) in 2001-- Otherwise, I am perfectly healthy.  Today I seem to get the chills down my arms (I'm wearing a fleece sweater and still feel cold) I also feel weak, tired but unable to sleep.  It is allergy season so my sinuses are bothering me a bit--they slightly ache. Aside from my symptoms today I do NOT always feel this way....I am in shape, eat well.  I have unexplained chills, muscles ache a bit but I've been exercising... (?) Really strange symptoms...any doctors willing to give on line advice, share ideas????