Convenience of rectal temperature

Does anyone find that it involves a little work to take a rectal temp., as compared to oral ? With oral, you just open your mouth. Rectal involves lube, removing clothes, and finding a comfortable spot, away from prying eyes. The upside is that it's well worth the effort. Oral is boring...clinical. But it's fast.

Well, speed isn't everything. Since there is no real justification for rectal temperatures anyway except for infants and the comatose, I think the erotic aspect is the only justification .

The extra "work" , as you put it, it well worth the effort. Not only will the reading be more accurate, but you can drink , take medicine or brush your teeth while the thermometer is registering. Many times while standing at the bathroom sink, I will have the rectal thermometer inserted and shave, brush my teeth and so forth and when I am finished I remove it and read my temperature.

When my tempy needs to be checked,it has ALWAYS been done rectally,still to this day by MY mommy!!!

Using my digital thermometer I can get reading in around 45 seconds to a minute. Fast and accurate. Sliding it in and out feel's so good.

For somebody already sick in bed, rectal just means pulling down the pajamas, rolling on the side and insertion with a little lube.

Oral is faster and does not need lube.

I've heard it said that a doctor on a house call back in the '60's, while preparing to take a rectal temperature of an unhappy man, said "you don't want to have something in your mouth that has been in the mouths of a hundred patients before you, do you?"

As tvcfl1421 just mentioned, I often take my temp rectally in the am while brushing my teeth and shaving. Just in my boxers anyway so dropping them, dipping the bulb in a little water and inserting it while I finish up is a piece of cake. And certainly makes my morning routine a bit more fun

Somebody mentioned to me that her mother took her temperature rectally before giving her a suppository, because she was in position anyways. The same could be true of enemas.

If someone would be taking my temperature, they'd have the work of holding me down and forcing me to lay still for the thermometer 😉

I don't think there is truly much convenient about taking a temperature rectally with the other quicker options today. Now if we are talking about the erotic aspect of them, that's a different answer!

DAW: Except for infants. During a diaper change, it's very easy to pop in a digital thermometer into the anus and get a measurement. Probably easier than to try to use other methods (ear, etc.) than require the baby not to move his or her head.

You have that right DAW!

Assuming that a glass thermometer is used for taking a temperature, the main purpose of taking a temperature rectally with a glass rectal thermometer is that doing so insure a successful outcome. That is when a person, usually a less functional youngster, is thought to be incapably of responsibly managing a glass oral thermometer in the mouth, the only acceptable alternative is to take the persons temperature rectally with a glass rectal thermometer. In the case of a youngster, the age of the youngster has not the significance it had when the glass thermometer was used exclusively to take a temperature but rather the lack of intellectual and/or emotional maturity would play a greater role in designating a youngster to have his temperature taken rectally with a glass rectal thermometer.

However, since electronic thermometers are dominant in terms of instruments for measuring a person's temperature, the use of the glass thermometer for taking a temperature, particularly in the clinical environment, is very limited.

Convenience is OK, I suppose if you are self temping, but when it comes to someone else, let's say who hasn't been associated with you before and you get into that venue, they might not be totally agreeable to it based on their experiences and cultural upbringing. Over the years I've taken my fair share of female rectal temperatures, and some of them were very leery for a myriad of reasons. I know from experience, the Asian girls I dated and I did have quite a few, were very reluctant, unless like a few of them who were Filipina nurses, who understood the temperature taking process; the others had cultural norms, where they said or indicated underarm. That being said, I did take a number of rectal temperatures on Asian females as well as other females of different cultures and ethnicities. Some came to like it, whereas others told me they'd not let it be done, ergo, convenience, if you're the temperature taker, depends on whose you're taking.

I have had occasion to do necessary real rectal readings when some of the females I dated or lived with came down with something like a virus or flu. One I remember, a very beautiful Indian girl, a student nurse. Well I didn't do it, her friend a registered nurse at the hospital came by later and did the honors.

More to a rectal temperature than eroticism. For various medical conditions it can be called for by a physician, or a home health care provider so directed by a Doctor. Some people believe in the accuracy and dependability of a rectal reading as opposed to the other sites. The not very available, yet can still be obtained, glass mercury rectal thermometers when in good condition are considered when used as the gold standard of temperature taking.

But I cede, that yes, there is a very arousing, titillating aspect to the rectal temperature play scene.

Having grown up in Hong Kong in 80s..... I had to stay in the hospital a few times and because I cried a lot my temperature got elevated so I ended up having a temperature so had my temperature taken more often than others... Normally the nurses would take temperature orally but at night or in the morning when they thought I was asleep they would take temperature rectally...

I had a broken arm once and I remember a ward full of other kids and even adults and in the morning I had a rectal thermometer sticking out of my butt...

but till this day there are still some private clinics run by these old doctors who would take kids temperature rectally..

It not extra work for me to get accurate reading.

I am often congested enough to mouth-breathe, so oral isn't as convenient as you'd think (takes a long time even with electronic and I have to push myself to not breathe through my mouth). I usually handle that by just not taking my temperature period 😃 . Never struck me as being that vital in most cases.

I know this isn't really what was asked, but it struck me as an example of how convenience can vary.

If sick enough to be down in bed -- elevated fever, congested, cough, migraine, nausea, oral surgery, patient is groggy or asleep, etc. -- still good reasons to take a rectal temperature. Sure, it takes a few moments longer, but it also showed caring for my family, and whenever I was on the receiving end, a little TLC from my husband was an oasis.

When I was a kid, rectal temperatures were for stomach aches, headaches, etc. where anyway it's a good idea to lay down and rest. So I just laid down and rested with the thermometer up the rear. It did not waste much time, except that my mother was very careful to swab it with alcohol after each use, before storing it.

Finding the lube, lowering the pants and pulling down the panties before spreading the cheeks is the best part of rectal temps. With all the new technology you'll probably be able to put your phone on your forehead and get a temp. Rectal temps with be relegated to nostalgia.

That is a good point. Rectal does take longer.

Kinda but so worth it like when the person you taking the temperature on is ready. You tell them what position to be in then just to hear the sound of belts coming undone or watching someone unbutton there pants and pull them down it just make it so much more fun... now what I do after the persons pants are down and in the position I normally have them on there side. I lift one of the butt cheeks just to locate the hole though I know it’s in the middle but that way I know I dip the thermometer in Vaseline then lube them up with the thermometer before inserting it

My mom never convenienced me to have my temperature taken rectally after the end of age 4. After my rectal temperature days ended, it was time to learn arm pit and oral temperatures.

Hi JJM. You are totally right.

But the advantage of rectal temps is abolutly worth the effort.