low grade fever x11 days, headache, & night sweats

[angie0734]

Hello,

  My father is a 56 year old who started having low-grade fever (Tmax 101F) and chills about 11 days ago. The chills are gone but the low-grade fever has persisted (they are usually at night). He also had a fall in the bathtub after taking a bath due to an episode of syncope. About 4 days ago, he started having intermittent headaches (sharp), worsens at night and night sweats. The headache did not start right after the fall but about 5 days after the fall. He went to his MD office and they did a CBC and CRP. His WBCs were normal but he had an elevated CRP (2.9). His fever and headaches are controlled by naproxen for now, and he needs to take it consistently every day in order sleep. Any ideas on what it could be?!


This discussion is related to Nightly, unexplained low-grade fever..

[Ekkiemom]

Did the Drs rule out concussion, there is some kind of reason why he had an episode of syncope.has he had that before? Something isn't right with his BP, low grade fever isn't bad but due to his fall I might take him to a heart specialist. By no means am I a dr, but the syncope might be a bigger problem
D

[mkh9]

It sounds like some type of infection. Where do you live? Does he have any cough? Fatigue? It could just be a virus that is hanging on. There are several out there this year that are lasting a few weeks. But these usually have the congestion/cough/ sneezing. The other possibility is TB. It depends on if he has a cough or not. He could get a TB skin test (quantiferon gold is the best) or chest Xray to rule out TB and anything in his chest. Does he have any cuts that may have been infected? Any other symptoms you can think of?

The syncope is just from him being hot from the bath and getting up into cold air makes the blood pressure drop too fast and he fainted. I wouldn't have him take a hot bath until his fever is gone. You should never take a hot bath with a fever it will make the fever go up and you can get brain damage if the fever gets too high. It is contrary to some of the old ways of thinking. Now they don't even want you to use ice. Just Tylenol or  ibuprofen /or naproxen. The CRP just shows inflammation. It could be due to infection or a lot of things. Let me know if you can think of anything symptom wise or if you have any questions.
mkh9