Offer of rectal or oral?

I was in the hospital c. 1969 for a fairly minor issue (one that never would warrant in-patient treatment today). First thing a nurse or aid came into my room asking how I wanted my temperature taken. Alas, I requested oral, & that was how it was done. Ironically if she had just told me to flip over I would have, because I expected to have things put up my butt in the hospital. That was how things were done then. Later when I had difficultly sleeping, I was administered what I think were likely chloral hydrate (or possibly Seconal) suppositories.

Wow, I cannot remember being asked often, but as I have mentioned in other posts, when it was posed to me, my mother opted for me to have it taken rectally. This was in an era when rectal temperatures were not as foreign or rare as today. It was always available as both thermometers were on the same shelf in glass holders next to each other. If I heard drawers being opened after my height/weight, etc, I had a good sense that I would soon be asked to lay on my tummy.

Something funny occurred to me in hospital.

At home, I was used to rectal temperatures, except that after a certain age I was allowed to insert the thermometer myself (mom would read it when she collected it).

But I had seen comic books where patients in hospitals have the thermometer in the mouth.

So when the nurse passed me the thermometer, I hesitated and slowly gestured towards my mouth.

The nurse tut-tutted and told me something like: "Uh, no here at the hospital, we do not take it in the mouth" and looked at me intently.

I immediately understood and brought the thermometer under covers. I maybe should have played stupid and acted like I did not know what she was talking about, maybe interesting things would have happened! But at that age I tended to dislike those offenses against my dignity that I now appreciate...

When you were a kid,if you were given a choice, which would you choose?

I think I would choose rectal

When I was a kid, I did not like when my mother decided to take my temeprature, because, I knew that, if I had a temperature,, she would call the doctor and that was the biggest fear in my life.

Considering the method, I did not know there could be an alternative to rectal. Even today, sixty years later, Imy temperature has never been taken orally. in the recent yers, my temperature has on some occasions been taken in my ear.

As a kid, if given the choice, no question in my mind I would have chosen oral. I hated the rectal thermometer but I had to endure it throughout my high school years.

When you were a kid,if you were given a choice, which would you choose rectal.

I would have chosen orally,but really wanted rectal but much to embarrassed to choose it

I was never hospitalized as a child or teen, but if that had happened, and the temperature preference had been raised, I would have opted for oral. In a private setting with a girlfriend, it would have of course, been rectal. Why let a great fantasy go to waste ?

If I went to the doctor and if the nurse asked me, Rectal or Oral, I would be asking what is the purpose of asking me that question. I ask the nurse to explain why was that question Rectal or Oral.

Now after understanding the answers that the nurse gave me and if I was alone and if I was the only person in the exam room with the nurse, I would picked rectal but the nurse will not be allowed to say anything about her taking my temperature rectally. If a friend or a family member brought me to the doctor, I will pick oral.

I am private with rectal temperatures and might not even care if the female nurse saw my nude body. I know nurses see it all every day.

I was hospitalized as a teenager when my appendix was removed. I do not recall being asked. All I can say is that all of the other young people my age had their temperatures taken rectally, just like me.

Remember as a teen having my mouth wired shut and being in the hospital for like a week, everytime they took my temperature it was either under my arm or in my bottom and they never asked and if they wanted it rectal they would put me on my side and only this one nurse would take it in my arm pit. Being that the mouth was totally off limits had 2 choices.

I would have chosen rectal that what I was use to.

@SteveD...I am used to oral but, again; if I am alone at the doctor, I would pick rectal for an accurate reading if it was needed or depending on what is going on at that time.

I would have chosen orally,but really wanted rectal but much to embarrassed to choose it.

Under the arm is the least reliable. Remember as a teen having my mouth wired shut and being in the hospital for like a week, everytime they took my temperature it was either under my arm or in my bottom and they never asked and if they wanted it rectal they would put me on my side and only this one nurse would take it in my arm pit. Being that the mouth was totally off limits had 2 choices.

Under the arm is the least reliable. Temporal scans would be adequate over rectal. Did they suspect you had a fever??

I have only got it taken one time and it was wen I had pneumonia and I was feeling so bad. Then they would take it orally.

When I was 11, I was in the hospital to take out my tonsils out. When I first woke up, I remember how dry my mouth was and that there was a cotton ball down my throat. I also vividly remember the nurse (female) soon after came in, got me to lay on my side and took my rectal temperature. It didn't bother me at all since I've gotten my RT taken many times by my aunt and at that time of my life, I was quite stimulated by getting it taken this way.

That was never a question for me, my temp was taken rectally at the doctor's office until I was eight. Then orally from them own.

About 12 years ago while on vacation I was treated for a migraine at an urgent care clinic in a small town in Minnesota. I was in a cubby on an exam table, dizzy and heaving into a bucket. I was embarrassed at being so sick in front of strangers. A very nice nurse was feeling my sweaty forehead and asked if "I minded" having my temperature taken rectally. She thought I had a fever and placing a probe under my tongue may affect a gag reflex.

I looked at my husband and nodded OK, why not. I lay down on my left side, slipped my shorts and undies down, and the nurse had the probe in and out in 30 seconds. I hardly felt she was doing it. I had a slight fever, which I seem to get with a migraine. The fact that the nurse asked to take my temperature in this manner I thought was an unusual experience.

For me when I was in hospital or at the pediatricians', there was no choice, the thermometer belonged in my bum. At home the same, so therefore as a child and a teen, for long I believed that having fever has something to do with my bottom because temperature was measured there and in case of fever I got suppositories. I am not that old, but I guess I was one of the last whose temperature was taken that way and who got suppos. Children from today sometimes even don't know that all...

I think that it is a very thoughtful consideration but not my experience. My view is that if a professional is seeking to take my temperature rectally then it is not an option.

I was never given a choice. The thermometer went straight up my butt (until a certain age).

I so agree… That was how it was done in the 50s and 60s...at the doctors and at home. Seldom did I have an opportunity though, to tell either of the doctor or the nurse what I wanted. It was always what “they” wanted.

Times have truly changed and seldom do I hear stories from my friends or play patients of ever getting rectal temperatures these days other than in fetish play sessions.

Because of that, I never give my play patients a chance to tell me they would rather have their temperature taken orally… The doctor knows best.??

There was a time when I was probably 4-7 when it came time for a temperature check where mom asked me "Which one?" Meaning mouth or butt. Foolishly I always chose mouth, until one time when I was probably 8 when I asked for rectal... I remember mom looking at me funny and said that I was "too old". It was soon after that that I found the rectal thermometer and started using it on myself.

I would consider that to be an odd request, for sure. Kind of like the flight attendant of yesterday..."Coffee, tea....or rectal ? "

If I was going to the doctor to be tested for the corona virus and if the nurse offered rectal or oral, I would pick rectal on the spot.

Now just like I said before, that is if I am in the exam room alone.

Since I'm assuming that the discussion refers to a medical setting, I would always choose oral. The Corona virus, is likely confirmed by swabbing the throat or nose, or blood test, so the thermometer wouldn't be a primary indicator, since a fever is caused by any number of things. Any rectal temp. would have to be taken in private, by a female friend, during a playdoc session. I'm not planning to bare my ass for a nurse or doctor. If they're into that kind of stuff, they can do it with their own partner.

At home and if I was alone and if I feel sick and if I decided to take my temperature, I would do a rectal. If a rectal shows that I have fever, I will get my oral digital thermometer and do an oral temperature. If it shows that I have a fever, I would call the doctor and give him/her the oral reading and not the rectal reading.

I was never given a choice growing up it was always taken rectally.