Strong emotions, high anxiety or great stress can cause an increase in body temperature.
- Fever can be a stress-related symptom.
- The phenomenon, for which there is no specific treatment, would be linked to the sympathetic nervous system.
In this winter period during which diseases circulate a lot, a rise in temperature can be suspicious… But the causes of your sudden rise in fever may not be what you think. Indeed, if it is indeed a symptom of illness, it can also be caused by stress. A Japanese researcher explained it in 2020 on the site Taylor & Francis.
“Functional hyperthermia”: up to 41°C due to stress
According to Professor Takakazu Oka, “psychogenic fever” is a psychosomatic illness, especially in young women. He suggested calling it “functional hyperthermia” to avoid stigmatizing patients who have it. It can lead to an increase in body temperature of up to 41°C in people exposed to intense emotional events.
We do not know the number of people affected because no epidemiological study has been carried out, specifies the researcher. His experience as a clinician as well as medical reports lead him to believe this would be common. He claimed that this pathology was often encountered among Japanese students. This phenomenon could be linked to the sympathetic nervous system, whose role is linked to automatic functions such as breathing.
There are no specific drugs for psychogenic fever
“High body temperature is only one of the symptoms created or reinforced by stress“, he explained. Psychogenic fever is underdiagnosed. To treat it, the specialist recommends the same type of drugs as those used for stress-related disorders. He hopes, however, that specific treatments will exist in the years to come. come, thanks to a change of state of mind: “Even doctors did not believe that fever could be caused or linked to psychological stress… Today, animal studies have made it possible for caregivers to be aware of the existence of this pathology.”
