Fever due to stress
Fever can also be triggered by psychological causes. If stress is the cause, the fever persists for a long period of time, but usually does not rise much above 38 °C. Even if it is suspected that the fever is caused by stress, serious illnesses must be excluded.
Psychological stress can also cause other symptoms besides fever, such as abdominal pain, palpitations, diarrhea, headaches and many more. If symptoms occur without an organic cause, this is called somatoform disorder. It is important that those affected are taken seriously and that they are given emotional support, if necessary also by a psychotherapist or psychiatrist, because even if there is no organic disorder, the physical ailments can be very stressful.
There are numerous hereditary diseases that are very rare, but should be considered in any case if no other reason for the fever is apparent or if the fever period is unusually long or returns unusually frequently. The most common rare hereditary disease is familial Mediterranean fever (FMF). It usually first appears after the age of 10, the fever attacks last 1-3 days, the interval between the fever attacks is weeks to months.
The disease is inherited autosomal recessively. Furthermore, the disease manifests itself as monoarthritis, inflammation of the peritoneum (peritonitis) and erysipelas-like skin changes (red, usually strongly marked reddening of the skin on the body). A complication of this disease can be the dangerous systematic disease amyloidosis.
The administration of colchicine could be considered as therapy. Another hereditary, but much rarer disease that can cause fever is Hyper IgD syndrome (HIDS). In most cases, it affects small children before the age of one.
The fever attacks usually last 3-7 days, the symptom-free interval is given as 4-8 weeks. HIDS is also inherited autosomal recessively. The little patients show as findings an enlargement of the lymph nodes, inflammation of the conjunctiva of the eyes (conjunctivitis), inflammation of the joints (polyarthritis), abdominal pain and skin changes.
A therapy is not known. Familial cold urticaria (FCU) usually occurs before the first year of life. The fever lasts from days to weeks and is triggered exclusively by contact with cold.
In addition to quadriplegic skin symptoms, inflammation of the conjunctiva of the eyes can also occur (conjunctivitis). Painful inflammation of the joints and amyloidosis as a complication have also been observed. The disease is spread autosomal dominant.
An attempt at therapy with Kineret can also be undertaken in this disease. Cyclic neutropenia (CNS) may also be a possible cause of fever. It usually occurs before the age of 5 years, the duration of the fever attacks is usually 4-5 days, the interval was given as 20 days.In addition to the fever attacks, patients often complain of inflammatory changes in the mouth area (stomatitis) and skin infections.
This disease is also passed on in an autosomal dominant way. A complication that must be considered is sepsis. As a therapy, the administration of G-CSF can be attempted, which should stimulate granulocyte production.
