Body temperature affected by emotional state?

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A side effect of becoming extremely upset for me is also becoming freezing cold, to the point where I'm physically shivering and my teeth are chattering. It usually takes me an hour or so, wrapped up in a blanket, to recover from this and feel a normal temperature again. This is still what happens even on a day when I've not been at all cold, or even quite warm, beforehand.

This has been happening to me lately. I had a big row with my in-laws last year (the only one after many years of just taking the insults). I found myself shaking and shivering and my teeth were chattering as well. I thought I was having nervous breakdown or something. It was really worrying and kept returning for a few weeks after the incident.

I have yet to figure all of this out, but I am definitely like you in feeling chilled when I am stressed. Over this past winter, I was "stressed to the max" most of the time and almost always feeling cold. On the other hand, though, feeling overwhelmed tends to leave me feeling uncomfortably warm.

Yesterday I was out in my backyard pool where the water was 90* and I was just fine until the wind picked up quite a bit and some clouds blocked the direct rays of the sun ... and within just a few seconds I was shivering so badly that I could hardly pick up my towel and dry off so I could put my shirt back on.

Last edited by leejosepho on 06 Jun 2011, 5:20 am, edited 2 times in total.

Great post. This happens to me, too. Teeth chattering and all.

No I usually overheat when I'm stressed out. I always thought it was a natural result of the adrenaline rush.

I've felt very cold, shivering uncontrollably, when the ambient conditions can't explain it.......usually when I've been quite badly hurt emotionally. Other times I've had that response when it's actually been cold, but the reaction has been a lot stronger than might normally be expected, and completely out of my control. Last time it happened I was concerned for my health, it really wasn't a pleasant feeling.

My body temperature used to climb to unreasonable values just talking to more than 2 or 3 people at the same time for more than about 5 minutes.

This was as little as 6 years ago, today its not a problem.
Even being around more than a few other people easily doubles my caloric consumption.

if i get angry of course my body temp is going to rise, but it takes a *lot* of energy to do that. its not something that can happen in less than 5 minutes.

Thankyou for answers so far! It's also been suggested to me it could be a fall in blood pressure - but wouldn't you expect becoming angry and upset to cause blood pressure to rise?

When I get anxious or have to concentrate for too long my body temperature goes up, to the point of feeling feverish. When I relax again it turns back to normal quite fast. I have been told that it can be part of anxiety reaction, but I don't know why concentration can also cause it. Maybe it is related to the amount of effort I have to put into something.

Whenever I get angry I always start sweating, even if it's really not that hot.

It seems strange to become cold. I get hot, feeling like my blood is boiling and my skin is on fire.

It started happening to me a few years back. First it was my feet, then my arms, then my face and chest. It happened in the Summer time, and I was suprised in getting chilled in a breeze when clouds came over. I felt a huge difference in the winter time. Up until this point I was always hot natured and would sweat as a result of stress, even in cold weather.

Then it started happening when I exercised, and found myself cool in 100 degree temperatures after mowing two yards.

My understanding is this can happen when the body is having trouble getting blood to the brain; a result of shunting blood away from extremities. Stress can bring it on and exercise can too.

It continued to get worse for me until my body could no longer shunt the blood and blood started pooling in my legs and I felt faint. After this I was diagnosed with vaso vagal presyncope from a tilt table test. Apparently it is a genetic condition that can show up later in life. Essentially it is a neurocardiogenic condition where the brain is out of sync with regulating blood pressure and heart rate to effectively circulate blood to the brain. I was always very physical fit, and think that is part of the reason, I didn't have problems with it until my mid 40's.

It is common for people to get chilled when nervous as part of the stress response, I just never experienced it until later in life.

It's not as bad as it was, but I no longer travel at the speed of light like I used to.

It's funny, when it first started happening I thought, okay, this means I have cold feet and I finally understood what the phrase getting cold feet over a wedding meant. Before that, I didn't think it was possible for me to get cold feet.

Life is hard enough to understand, but at least most problems outside of yourself can be solved. Maybe it's the naivety from Autism, but I never realized how little control I had in life, until this kind of stuff started happening inside of me. I never even was aware of my heart beating fast after I exercised to extreme intensity. It lets me know it is there now.

I don't think aging and autism mix well with each other.

I have a gravity-inversion "tilt table" I use for relieving back pain (decompression of spine), and I am curious as to relationships between the symptoms of your diagnosis and the tilt table. I use mine sparingly for fear of too much blood rushing into my head, but could you describe a bit more about that test you had?

A tilt table test is done in a cardiology lab. It tilts you between supine and the standing position and keeps you there in that position for a period of time to see how it affects your blood pressure and heart rate. My blood pressure went down to 60/40. My problem is I don't faint the way that most do when their blood pressure drops this low, I retain a horrible feeling of semi-consciousness.

At age 60, if you have never felt faint, chances are you may not have it, and may be feeling the cold as a natural part of the aging process.

I seem to be the opposite at the moment. I've gone out my way to avoid emotional stress and have trouble cooling down so much so that I've resorted to taking cold showers.

The cold I feel definitely goes beyond natural, but I think it is largely stress-related like already mentioned ... and yet I do have P.A.D. (peripheral arterial disease) and sometimes experience faintness, and the TV commercials say P.A.D. includes poor blood supply to the brain. My only real fainting spell was a few months ago when I passed out while a nurse was setting up my IV for a nuclear stress test, and that was definitely not because of any fear of needles. I was sitting at the time, and I told the nurse I thought I was going to faint ... and I did. At that particular time, however, I had already been far beyond "stress overload" for several months.

I will probably not mess with my BP cuff while I am actually on my tilt-table, but I will take readings immediately before and after to see whether there might be any difference.

Just a suggestion. I'm not sure if your tilt-table will tilt you forward, but if it does and you are planning on tilting yourself forward instead of backward, I suggest you have someone there present to tilt you back down in the supine position, if you faint in the tilted forward position. I'm thinking your tilt table probably won't do that, but just thought I would throw it in just in case.

Peripheral Arterial Disease could definitely cause cold extremities, from reduced blood flow, to those extremities.

The body's response to stress among individuals is about as varied as the body is. Some people get hot, tingly, numb, heart racing, sweaty, hyper, nervous, cold, faint, angry, sad, stomach problems, violent, passive, hungry, lack of appetite, bowel problems, gag reflex, throwing up, headaches, pain, excitement, exhaustion, tension, closing down, melting down, emotional distress, extreme emotions, emotional numbness, anxiety, anxiety attacks, panic attacks, manic, depressed, crying, shaking, trembling, screaming, the list goes on and on. And some people get it all. Arghhhh.