Thermometer Shake Down

Does anyone remember their thermometer being shaken down by either their nurse, babysitter, parent or other relative?

One memory that still stands vivid in my mind was the sight and sound of the thermometer being shaken down by the various nurses that attended me at our local clinic as a child.

If I wasn’t already facedown and prepped on the exam table paper, I would sometimes get to witness the thermometer get withdrawn from it’s clear plastic antiseptic filled holder, get wiped dry and shaken down.

Some nurses would snap it in three shakes with a loud popping wrist; some would shake it long and slowly, as if trying to nonchalantly flick a booger from their fingertip as they visited with my mother.

There wasn’t that many sounds that accompanied receiving a rectal thermometer, besides crinkling paper, but the wrist popping by the ladies who kept the violent shakedown short and sweet is a sound that has remained solidly affixed in my fifty some years of accumulated memories.

I remember my mom shaking the thermometer down. I remember watching her or even the nurses shake them down. I also remember the thermometer being taken from the glass jar things they were kept in. I only have vague memories of rt’s, mine were taken in my mouth. I don’t know what age that started, but I had to be young still. I was sick a lot and I remember my mom coming at me with the thermometer. I knew that I would get dragged off to the doctor either that day or the next. There was the worry of shots, of course! I hated going!!!!

I remember it well. The nurse would usually shake it as least 10 times. I could be wrong on this, but I always had the impression that they took delight in this.

The shaking down, if a caregiver, be it a family member or medical person should have entailed a rapid or slow shaking down to bring the Mercury to below a certain number, usually 94F.

Depending on how the person shaking it down you may have heard that distinct snapping” sound.

I did, many times.

I clearly remember seeing the nurse retrieve the thermometer and shake it down while approaching me as I laid there bare bottom awaiting my fate. Once she approached, I inevitably buried my face in my arms as she opened my cheeks and without much notice told me, “RELAX,” and pushed it into me despite a gasp or groan.

Absolutely, I know that sound — the snap of the nurse‘s wrist shaking down a glass thermometer. I think nurses kind of like doing that. She would shake a thermometer a few times, then look at it closely, then shake it some more, to 96 degrees. I guess those sounds have faded into the past.

Did my wrist make that snapping sound, too? In years past, standing over one of my daughters who’s sick in bed. I’m shaking down the thermometer and making sure that the mercury line is a degree or so below normal. ”Mom, you’d make a good nurse,” they’d tell me.

Yes, I remember it well…and also the smell of alcohol that was used to disinfect the thermometer. Amazing how such “clinical” procedures can make such an imprint that lasts a lifetime!

Yes I absolutely remember the sound and sight of it. The nurse telling me to lower my undies like a big boy as she shook it down and walked over with the tube of lubricant in her hand and a little gauze pad and the thermometer

Our mom was a pediatric nurse who always took our temperatures rectally. As I recall, she always shook her mercury rectal thermometers below 96 degrees., before by lubricating them. While she was preparing them, we were expected to “prepare” by having our our pajama bottoms down or nighties up, undies down, and to be on our tummies.

Oh yes got my temperature taken rectally until in my teens. Was over mom or dads lap briefs pulled down. He held my cheeks open and yes that jerking feeling as he shook the thermometer down and quick oooh it was in me that cold feeling. Hed say lay still till I take it out son..

I definitely recall mom.

I remember the shakedown of the thermometer as if it was yesterday, but I was 9 back then and i remember tge nurse face, she was asian and she had lovely cheeks 😂,

I was scared and she noticed that and promised me a candy after the temperature taking, i agreed and then she putted the gloves, pulled out the thermometer shaked it and told me to get on my forth with my bottom up, she gently pulled my clothes down, lubed me up and completed the process😂

It was very nice experience

That was part of the excitement of getting a rectal temp. You knew that it would only be seconds, before you felt that slippery glass, sliding up your ass.

I do remember the snap of her wrist as she shook it down. She would line up all three of us on the bed and do us one after the other.

She told us the story once of a fellow nurse wrapping a bunch of thermometers in a towel and shaking them all down at once. The problem was when she lost one of the ends and they flew everywhere. She spent her paycheck buying replacements!

I remember Matron, in the college sick bay shaking down the thermometer. She was a holy terror for whom the thermometer ruled supreme.

I always liked seeing the thermometer shaken down, and the end lubricated. It is still exciting for me.

Oh yes…I was 9 ('59) and recovering from a quite ill bout of gastroenteritis (fever/vomiting) from contaminated creek water. At 9 I was in transition from the rectal to the oral thermometer.. After the family Pediatrician looked me over he sat on the chair in my room-- took the thermometer out of his bag and told me to take my p.j.'s down and lay across his lap to take my temperature. No “underpants” on under my p.j.'s. I downed my jammies and went ( in that dreadful bare bottom full blown spanking position ) Small bodyframed at age 9 I had a small rotund fairskinned butt. It was briefly embarrassing--but I complied. I felt the Dr.'s thumb and forefinger separate my small butt cheeks and felt the cool rectal thermometer go in me a inch or so. A full 3 minutes in. The Dr.got a real good view of my small ---mildly upflexed butt. No fever.I was ok. A “one last time” rectal thermometer expierience as a 9 year old boy…

Of course I do remember.

This is still a very exciting moment for me, because at this moment it is obvious what happens next.

Those memories are also part of the reason why I still prefer a glass thermometer for having me temp taken.

@Biene,

I do remember this moment of the shaking down of thé thermometer when my mother used to take my temperature till I was 12 or 13, and also, later, in my 20's, when my medfet girlfriend insisted on checking my rectal temperature every time we had sex.

This part of the rectal temperature taking ''ceremony'' is one of the reasons why I prefer the old fashioned glass mercury thermometers.

Like @biene , I well remember the ritual of the thermometer being shaken down. This was done similarly by Mom and the nurses at the pediatrician's office. I would have been already in position - laying on my tummy with pants and undies already down as I waited in anticipation of their hands on me, the spreading, the cold air feeling back there, the initial touch of the bulb to my tight opening and the tingle-inducing insertion. I would be thinking about all that was to soon happen as I watched the fast wrist snap of the shake down. Great memories

I used to imagine I heard something rattling inside the thermometer as it was shaken down.

Today if you were to hand someone a glass mercury thermometer whether it is oral or rectal, 9 times out of ten they’d have that “ deer in the headlights” look, not having a clue as to how to shake it down, where it needed to go or reading it. And sadly this is true for many healthcare workers.

We had 2 thermometers growing up in our house, with the rectal if we were really sick / coughing / puking. Still remember Mom shaking these down prior to where they went. When really sick and stuck in bed, I knew the rectal thermometer was coming and loved it. Still have one, and willing to share this sensual experience. Glass thermometers. Hummm.

I suppose the snapping sound is noticeable. Regardless of the sound, though, the ritual of shaking down the thermometer is a big part of the experience for me. As a patient, you watch with anticipation as the thermometer is prepared. In some ways, shaking the thermometer down is almost an act of domination - forcing the mercury level down just as underwear will be forced down. As the taker, I like to make sure the patient is watching – seeing the object being prepared that will soon be slipped into them to measure their temperature.

It happend every time. Every one shook it in my presence. They would tell the same story every time it will be over soon.

I definitely recall

Oh yeah everytime

Yes a vivid memory for me. I can remember standing there naked or with my pj bottoms off watching mother shake down the thermometer. At that point i knew what was going to happen no going back

A good shakedown should produce the same shivers as daddy taking off his belt.

I don't know for sure why, or what it does for me or to me, but hearing the preparation, or more so seeing it just starts my feelings and headspace going in a zillion directions. It's like just the sound triggers something, the visual says, “this is happening, deal with it.” Not too sure, just rambling!