Never had A Rectal Temperature!

JJM... I'm curious... Why would the family doctor give you a stern unfriendly talking to for taking a rectal temperature? What was his reason for being so negative about it, especially if you point out the huge discrepancy?

Never had it ever, and I would never want to have it taken that way

My daughter's pediatrician at that time, was in Florida. To begin with, Florida is a weird state. Where else can a homeless person be arrested, and jailed, while the mother of an infant can get away with drowning her own daughter in a bathtub, and you can also shoot an unarmed teen, and be rewarded for it ? Why was she so stern with me ? Probably because she was looking for problems, was hard-headed, or just plain pompous and arrogant, like many doctors. There's an old saying: " All good deeds must be punished." Some folks live by that motto.

JJM - It's too bad doctors don't want to appreciate the accuracy of the gold standard of temperature taking. And that was back when I'm sure it was used more then it is today. Glad to hear that you did what you thought was best for your daughter, and I'd be willing to bet that she hasn't suffered any I'll effects from having her rectal temperature taken.

I have never had a rectal temperature taken either. I've had it in the mouth, ear, and even m armpit but never in my rectum.

Me too ...never had a rectal temp

I work in critical care ITU ( ICU US) and we routinely monitor our patients temperature rectally by use of a rectal temperature probe that is left in and affords us continuous temperature monitoring. Temperature rise or fall as well as an increase in WBC, elevated C reactive protein and ESR provide an excellent indication of infection in our immunocompromised patients.

With the advent of catheters with a temperature monitoring port , we have started to use these more and more to continuously measure our patients temperature. However after a period of time this port can malfunction or stop working and so we revert to our rectal temperature probes.

The only time I can recall one was on my 4th visit to a local ER, cause I was passed out drunk and stoned in my car. They got tired of seeing me, so they found a rectal thermometer and a Foley cath. to make that ER visit as uncomfortable as they could. I never showed up there again. Getting clean and sober really made that possible. I was over 60 at that time.

I take mine when I am not feeling well.. Like tonight

I'd love to my temp taken by a female doc. I have DIY sessions for rectal temp, but where's the fun in that? 😜

I can only remember one time i had a rectal temp, as I was a child.

Most people had their temperature taken rectally as babies... thus "I never had a rectal temperature" should probably be "I never had a rectal temperature that I recall".

Some of you have asked me about my experience dealing with a doctor's negative reaction to having taken my daughter's rectal temp. years ago. As is true today, as it was back in the 90's....(the political atmosphere has remain unchanged), the medical community has become ingrained with the b.s. of the current policies, which have destroyed the lives of decent, well-meaning people. Today, administering a rectal temp. can quickly turn into a witch hunt, and possible criminal conviction. The only way to combat this, is to prevent certain politicians from advancing their agenda, and imposing it upon the public. That's why it's so important to go out and vote.

Say what???? I'm a physician and rectal temps for infants and young children are the only way to go. For older children oral temps are de riguer but I would never criticize anyone for taking a rectal temp.

All of my temp's were taken rectally from when I was a baby and even today. It's the only way to get a true core temperature reading. It doesn't hurt that your nerve endings get some stimulation {Smiles and winks}

Where are you from?

in my coutry is not usual to have temperature taken rectally

I've only ever had my temperature taken rectally in play situations. My doctors, as far as I can remember because obviously I don't know what happened when I was a baby, never did one, always opting for the mouth. My parent's also only ever used an oral thermometer, or one under my armpit.

Probably because rectal temperatures were taken less often when mercury thermometers were phased out for enviormental reasons. More oral and ear temps were taken, as a result with digital thermometers.

Ruthiney is right. When I was a kid, thermometers (mercury and also the glass ones without mercury) took minutes to register. Taking an oral temperature on a younger child thus meant having him or her reliably hold the thermometer under the tongue, mouth closed, for minutes. This is not necessarily easy. I've never tried that but I've tried getting children to stay still for a photograph...

The same is true, by the way, of oral medications vs suppositories. I've had children spit out or barf acetaminophen/paracetamol solution, and this thing sticks and stains clothing! It is often much, much simpler to just pop a suppository in. (Besides, if you're going to pop a suppository in for fever, you can take a rectal temperature just before.)

But I guess the key factor is that we've become more sensitive to the privacy of children and less authoritarian.

It's too bad doctors don't want to appreciate the accuracy of the gold standard of temperature taking.

Rec temp taking may be a gold standard, but you really don't need to know someone's temp to within a fraction of a degree to determine if they are ill or not. Nor will the diagnosis change much either if a temp is different by a degree or a fraction.

Meaning that rec temp taking is almost invariably far too accurate for most situations. Like when sawing wood for a construction project, no one needs accuracy to within a tenth of a millimeter. If you brag about being that accurate in such a situation it's grandstanding or showing off or done for other reasons.

And how then does one take into account people who have a different baseline temp? My wife virtually never ran a traditional fever, but good grief she would be very ill all the same, and it was obvious too.

Agracier: When I learned that one could take temperatures orally as well (I guess by reading or viewing cartoons) I asked mom why we did it rectally and her answer is that "it's more accurate" or "it's more reliable". And at the hospital, the nurses insisted on rectal temperatures as well.

But as you said, if the goal is to see whether temperature goes up significantly, there is no need to know whether it's 38.3 or 38.5...

I've never had an RT to my knowledge. It is quite possible I had one or more as an infant, but I don't recall back that far.

Like @quincy I've no recollection of having my temperature taken rectally. It was always done orally and, even at that young age, I wondered what the point was (!) given that, as @Pecan_nutjob says, it was very difficult to take it reliably. Typical childhood sickness symptoms include a blocked nose, making it difficult to hold the thermometer in the mouth the required time. And I was always terrified of biting through the thermometer with ghastly consequences.

My God... never had a rectal temperature. I must say you have missed a lot. 😃

You are a rectal virgin. You need your virginity taken!

Be my guest 😉

I have never had my temperature taken rectally except in a play examination situation.

Come to think of it, I wonder whether it is the electronic thermometer that resulted in most young adults not remembering rectal thermometers. Let me explain.

1) For infants and young children, it was later possible to take temperatures in the ear or other method. Back then it was only rectal.

2) Even though rectal is still much used nowadays for infants and small children, an electronic thermometer takes seconds to register. This does not compare to being face down with a thermometer in the rear, perhaps held on mommy's lap, for minutes with the thermometer in. There are higher chances that the child would remember a longer (and more embarrassing) rectal temperature.

3) It is possible to take oral temperatures at a younger age with an electronic thermometer. With a glass thermometer, this entailed having the kid with the mouth closed, thermometer under the tongue etc. for minutes, which is hard for small children; compare with doing it for only ten seconds with electronic.

4) With mercury thermometers, dropping the thermometer to the floor and breaking it (or whatever other reason to break it) meant a complicated cleanup of a dangerous chemical. Caregivers were thus more likely to take precautions (holding the thermometer in...), whereas oral with an electronic thermometer may be done while standing, at no risk.

But perhaps there are also changing attitudes towards privacy (when I grew up, a child was entailed little privacy with respect to adult caregivers).

Most important thing then getting a rectal temperature as an adult is try to relax thou it. That's one reason why I hated it.