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Natural Health News — We tend to think of fever as a physiological response to infection, but say psychologists,, extreme stress can also produce fevers.
‘Psychogenic fever’ is a stress-related, psychosomatic condition that manifests itself in a high body temperature. It is caused by exposure to emotional events or to chronic stress.
In a recent review article published in the journal Temperature, Dr. Takakazu Oka, of the Kyushu University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, in Japan has written about his research and experience in treating psychogenic, or stress-induced fever.
» Stress produces many physiological changes. One ofthe least well studied is fever.
» A Japanese doctors who has studies stress-induced fever suggests it is more common than many believe.
» Doctors faced with patients who have unexplained fevers may be missing the link between extreme mental and emotional stress and raised body temperature.
When we feel mentally stressed, we often also experience physiological changes, including a faster heart rate and an increase in body temperature. This increase in body temperature is known as psychological stress-induced hyperthermia, which is a basic stress response broadly observed in mammals.
The response is helpful for warming up the muscles during “fight or flight” situations, such as when wild animals face their enemies; however, stress for people in today’s society can last a long time and cause a chronic increase in body temperature which brings on intense fatigue.
Cause unknown?
According to Dr. Oka, there has been no epidemiological study of psychogenic fevers yet. Therefore, the number of affected patients is unknown.
However, based on the available case reports and his own clinical practice, Dr. Oka beleives this condition is relatively widespread. He reports that he has seen a high number of patients, especially amongst Japanese students due to academic stress. Dr. Oka explains that due to many doctors not fully understanding how stress can affect body temperature, patients with psychogenic fever are being diagnosed with ’cause unknown’ for their disabling symptoms.
Instead of using the traditional term “psychogenic fever,” Dr. Oka proposes to call this condition “functional hyperthermia.” Using the word “functional” would prevent stigmatizing these patients, and in a clinical setting connotes both stress-related pathology and impaired functioning of the autonomic nervous system which is important to convey in treatment of the condition.
Treat the whole person
The review suggests that when patients are seeking answers about fever they are also seeking relief from the symptoms from the stress, plus any symptoms from the psychiatric diseases that the patient may suffer from.
In general, treatment option are similar to the treatments of other stress-related diseases and not specific to psychogenic fever. However, Dr. Oka is convinced that a breakthrough in treatment will occur in the near future, as more research is conducted.
Last year, for example, a study published in the journal Cell Metabolism uncovered the neural pathways associated with stress related fever. Understanding what’s happening in the body can help point the way towards more effective treatments and can make doctors are less inclined to disbelieve their patients and have more understanding of and empathy with the condition.
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