It’s Friday afternoon, the end of a particularly stressful week. You’re looking forward to a weekend full of barbecues and leisure activity. But by dinnertime, you just aren’t hungry, you’re feeling uncomfortably warm and there’s a general achiness throughout your body. In short, you just want to crawl into bed. As inconvenient as these symptoms may be, there is a method to the madness of fever.
Fever is a symptom that is most common with infections like colds and flus, but can occur in many other illnesses. When the immune system detects bacteria and viruses, signals are sent through the body to coordinate attacks on the invading bugs. The goal is to eradicate the invaders and quickly restore the normal balance of the body’s ecosystem. When the threat is sufficiently strong, fever results.
Fever is not dangerous. It does not cause brain damage, and there are no negative effects on intelligence or other bodily function except in rare, extreme cases. Most fevers don’t need any treatment. More serious illnesses, such as pneumonia, need the cause of the fever treated, not the fever itself. Ibuprofen, acetaminophen (Tylenol) and aspirin are medicines available over-the-counter to reduce fever (also called antipyretics). Remember that fever is a symptom, not a disease. While treating the fever may temporarily make your symptoms better, it may not actually make you healthier.
Actions of Fever in the Body
Fever plays an integral role in fighting infection. Most bacteria and viruses have a narrow temperature range in which they can thrive. Changing the temperature from 98.6° F to 101° F creates enough stress in the environment to directly kill some organisms, and slow the growth of others. Fever also stimulates immune system cell activity. The result is significantly greater activity of both T cells, which kill organisms, and B cells, which create antibodies. Finally, fever causes some iron in the body to be put into storage. This helps starve bacteria and viruses that need iron to live. Even the fatigue and lack of hunger that accompany fever serve beneficial functions. Fever makes you tired and keeps you in bed, instead of wasting energy mountain biking at Schultz Pass while there’s a war going on inside your body. Low appetite occurs for the same reason. A significant amount of energy is spent on breaking down and absorbing food.
Practical Benefits of Healthy Fever
Fever reducing drugs may prolong the duration of illness. A study on children with chicken pox showed that those treated with antipyretics had significantly longer illness than children given a placebo. Dampening the fever response hinders your immune system’s ability to efficiently find and kill infection, which can lead to several more days of annoying symptoms. Another study showed that adults with a common cold were contagious for a longer period of time if they took fever-reducing drugs.
With each illness, our body learns and develops a memory. The next time we encounter the specific bug, the immune system knows how to fight it and we don’t get sick. This process is also important to prevent many types of allergies. When a person has fewer infections and fevers as a child, the immune system becomes unbalanced, leading to the group of allergic conditions referred to as atopy. Eczema, seasonal allergies/hay fever and asthma are all atopic disorders. During childhood, the use of fever lowing drugs and frequent antibiotic use both increase the risk of these conditions.
Simple Fever Management
Drink fluids during a fever to prevent dehydration. Homemade broths are a delicious way to stay hydrated and get nutrition, while avoiding the stress of digesting whole food. Drinks like Gatorade and Pedialyte have a lot of added sugar. Consider using pure fruit juice diluted with water.
The optimal range for a fever is between 101-102° F. If a fever is higher than this, a short bath in tepid water can gently lower the fever. Another option is to use a cool cloth to sponge the head, chest and underarms. The fever response is less robust in adults, so warming treatments are beneficial to promote fever. For example, taking a warm bath for about 20 minutes and drinking a hot cup of ginger tea is helpful to increase warmth and circulation. Understanding fever gives you the tools to manage it and speed your recovery, all while remaining within your comfort zone. FBN
For more information, or to book an appointment at Root Natural Health, contact 928-637-6795 or visit us online at www.rootnaturalhealth.com
By Michael Knapp, NMD