Using rectal thermometer when sick

That's what I normally do, yes. I was raised in a society where it was very common for adults to take their own temperature rectally and kept the habit. I understand it's now considered old fashioned.

I always take it rectally. So both for fun and when sick. Similar to @Jacana that’s how it evolved from being taken rectally to self taking rectal temps. I think it’s still relatively common among my generation and older in the Netherlands. Younger generations might have become more familiar with other methods. For medical purposes only rectal and ear are considered reliable. And ear is more difficult and requires more skills.

I have a geratherm that I keep stuck In a jar of Vaseline beside my bed so it's always ready for use.

At 72, I do have a strong rectal temperature fetish, but I also use the rectal

thermometer to monitor my temperature when I am sick. In my familly, rectal temperature has allways been the norm for adults and children alike.

I never was presented a mouth thermometer and I dont I think I would be able to use one..

But I would have to be very sick not to get an erection when the thermometer is inserted in my rectum.

I have a geratherm that I keep stuck In a jar of Vaseline beside my bed so it's always ready for use.

I only take it rectally; when I'm sick and for fun. Don't like the feeling of the thermometer under the tounge, especially if the nose is blocked when having a cold.

I only take my temperature rectally. And I only use a thin glass American-type mercury thermometer which have been discontinued for many years. I'm curious whether older generation adults in countries like France, Germany, Scandinavia, and the Netherlands still mostly take their temperatures rectally or if they now use oral digital thermometers.

@MarkRT I suspect the older people often take it rectally with an electronic thermometer. Otherwise people use infrared I think (ear or otherwise)

@MarkRT I expect that the older generations that are/were used to rectal temps with a glass thermometer have switched to rectal temps with a digital one. I can’t imagine oral or armpit is an alternative for them. Ear or forehead might have become the second best option for a quick check because it’s modern and less invasive. The rectal (digital) thermometer will be there as a back-up and for situations where real accuracy is wanted. This is in line with @Jacana

See for instance this recent video: a French woman finds an electronic thermometer with a probe tip in an abandoned suitcase and laughs saying "un thermomètre de cul", meaning "a thermometer for the ass". To her it's obvious that a thermometer like this does not go into the mouth but into the anus!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhCulHM5tZI

@nurse Nikki I agree….rectal temperatures are all I do on myself. I have always had it taken that way since infancy and I just continue. #1 it’s more accurate. #2 I have severe asthma and cannot hold my mouth closed long enough to get an accurate and true reading and forehead and ear thermometers miss any temperature I might have….

Example…..I went to the doctor and the nurse took my temp on my forehead it read 98 I told heri had taken it rectal @ home just before I came and it was 102…..she trusted and believed me but took it one more time on my forehead and got 98.2 so she went and got the doctor and they both came in….the doctor took it with a rectal thermometer and sure enough it read 102.5…..I had a double ear infection and strep.

I do, too. It is the only way

We haven’t taken our temp at home as long as I remember other than orally (for fun) with a Weber digital meat thermometer. When sick, A hand to the forehead is all we need to know if we’re running a temp. If a couple aspirin don’t help, or if it seems to be getting worse we see the doc, where they take it digitally on the forehead, maybe orally. Over the past 15-20 years we’ve only really been concerned once - got temp taken at docs office orally and tested for the flu, which we didn’t have, just bad cold viruses. Not much they could do other than recommend some OTC products, fluids and rest.

Curious how temp is recorded for hospitalized patients in the ICU. Are there automatic monitoring devices or do nurses take it periodically? I seem to recal seeing it on the recording monitor in the ICU, but sure how or where it was measured. I’m sure in some situations accurate core temp is important, but monitoring relative changes is probably good enough in my non medical opinion.

If I'm sick, good luck getting anywhere near me, much less with a thermometer, rectal or otherwise. On a good day, I'm an asshole. On a day when I'm sick? Yeah, nah...it's not great. If I have a fever, I know about it because I feel like @#%^, and I'll go hide in a hole somewhere.

In ICU? Depends. MOSTLY, patients are monitored with standard monitoring protocols - in modern medicine, the question is basically "is there a fever or not" - it's ... binary. Which means an ear/forehead thermometer is as good as anything else - it can answer that question. Usually you are looking for fever in connection to something like infection. So you are rarely concerned with 'accuracy' of temperature, so much as you are with generalizations.

If you have one, a catheter with a temp probe is a god-send, since you don't need to do shit, you can simply chart from a walk-by of the patient's room. And in icu, you are much more likely to get this than in general. Absent that, however, temp is ... the same as anywhere else, it's a vital, and will be collected normally, but without any special consideration.

My wife and me we do RT any time when temperature have to be checked for any reason.

I use it as it is more accurate than the digital

At home I only take my temperature rectally. As an adult, I've never had my temperature measured at a doctor's office, for example. I've never tried it from the mouth, and the temperature measured from the armpit always seems 2-3 degrees too low

Only using rectal thermometer when sick and feeling fever. At the moment I have digital one. On one of tv shows was even a question which way is most accurate, and RT came as correct answer, so why not to have most accurate measurement....