What should you know about IBS sweating and chills?

Chills may involve shivering or a cold sensation, while sweating can occur as the body responds to heat, fever, pain, stress, or low blood sugar. Influenza, dengue fever, malaria, pneumonia, a urinary tract infection, or a kidney infection can cause chills with other illness symptoms. Sepsis is a serious response to infection and may involve feeling very unwell, confusion, fast breathing, or clammy skin. IBS symptoms do not explain every new symptom, especially when fever or marked weakness is present.

Check your temperature if you feel hot or shivery and note when the episode began. Rest, take regular fluids, and avoid overheating. If diarrhoea or vomiting is also present, dehydration can develop more quickly. Consider recent travel, insect exposure, urinary symptoms, cough, and sick contacts, and tell a clinician about them. Do not self-treat a possible serious infection with leftover antibiotics.

Seek urgent medical care for confusion, difficulty breathing, severe weakness, fainting, blue or clammy skin, severe pain, a stiff neck, or inability to keep fluids down. Get prompt assessment for chills with a persistent fever, rash, painful urination, flank pain, cough, or recent travel to a malaria-risk area. In the UAE, emergency services should be used when symptoms are sudden or severe.

Ask whether your symptoms fit an infection, how to monitor temperature and hydration, and whether travel or medicine exposure changes the assessment. Ask which changes should prompt emergency care.