What should you know about sudden chills and shivering?

Shivering can start when the body senses cold or when infection-related signals reset its internal temperature target. Influenza may cause abrupt shivering with fever, aches and cough. Pneumonia can produce chills with cough or difficulty breathing. Kidney Infection or Urinary Tract Infection may cause chills with urinary burning, urgency or pain near the ribs or back.

Malaria and Dengue Fever should be discussed after relevant travel, even if the episode comes and goes. Sepsis can develop from an infection and needs urgent attention when a person becomes confused, faint, unusually breathless or rapidly worse. The sound or intensity of shivering does not diagnose the cause.

Sit or lie somewhere safe, add a comfortable layer and drink small amounts of fluid. Take a temperature if you have a thermometer, then write down when the shaking began and what happened before it. Avoid driving if you feel faint or confused. Do not start antibiotics from an old prescription, and check with a pharmacist before taking fever medicine if you have other illnesses or take regular medicines.

Seek emergency help for severe breathlessness, chest pain, collapse, confusion, a seizure, blue or grey skin, or a rapidly spreading rash with serious illness. Arrange urgent review for shaking that is difficult to control, repeated chills with fever, severe headache or stiff neck, vomiting, flank pain, or symptoms after malaria-area travel. A clinician may need to look for an infection even when the fever has settled.

Ask what may be causing the episodes, whether you should check your temperature at set times, and which symptoms mean you should return urgently. Tell the clinician about cough, urinary changes, pain, rash, travel, insect bites, new medicines and conditions that affect immunity.