Hi! I Had A Weird Thing Happen Last Night And

Posted on Sat, 21 Nov 2020

Question: Hi! I had a weird thing happen last night and I want to see if what I think it was is possible, also ask if you have any advice on being more careful from here on out. I have chronic PTSD that got really exacerbated this summer, and I haven’t had an appetite for months—I didn’t realize how bad it was, but I’ve been only eating one meal and some smaller snacks in each day for weeks/months. I didn’t notice because I haven’t lost much weight and I’ve kept my energy up somehow. But I got a dog a couple days ago and within hours I suddenly wanted to eat again for the first time in ages—so I had a big dinner. And then I had three large meals the next day, plus snacks, and then within half an hour of the last one I got a sudden fever that lasted for about five or six hours and then went away completely. No other symptoms. I looked it up and realized I may have a really messed up metabolism right now that went haywire when I gave it more food in a day and a half than it normally gets in five, and that I might be malnourished and need to be really careful about eating for a while so I don’t mess up electrolytes. I was terrified it was a virus, but the fever just came and went and I’ve been fine (but hungry!) ever since. Does that sound like it’s probably what happened? Or should I assume I’m actually sick and something is weird?

Answered by Dr. Ramesh Kumar (36 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Nothing to worry about.

Detailed Answer:
Hello and Thank you for choosing "Ask a Doctor" service for your query,
Have seen your details and I appreciate your concerns.
As per the reversal of diet after bringing a new companion is concerned it has been probed in various researches that owning a dog can lift your mood and help a person feel less stressed. Dogs can help people feel better by providing companionship. Dog owners including those who have posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can experience these benefits.

PTSD is a pyscho somatic disorder and various emotional aspects are involved in it and as said above researches have proved that pets like Dogs and Rabbit elevates mood of the owner and raises level of feel good hormones called Endorphins.

Now as far as fever is concerned I don't know the status of Covid19 at your place but as you have mentioned that fever is not there any more my suggestion would be that just leave it unless an episode of fever returns back...Because even slightly increased anxiety levels could revert back the level of Endorphins in your brain...
Spend more and more time with your Dog/Any thing which makes your symptoms better...
It's good that you are feeling hungry(A sign of recovery).
Breathing exercises(PRANYAMA) and YOGA NIDRA would also be very helpful in your case(very easy to do just YouTube them).
For fever as it's no more there just forget about it and feel happy that your appetite is back....Calm down and relax.
Follow ups are welcome,
Thank you!

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad