"Give me a fever, and I can cure any illness" -- Hippocrates
Fever is an unusually high body temperature, a thermometer is used to measure the body temperature, temperatures varies when taken in different part of the body, if it is taken in the rectum/anus the temperature is generally one degree higher than if the temperature is taken under the arm, on a degree lower. Pyrogen is a substance that induces fever or rise in the body temperature. Fever is not a disease but symptoms of another sickness. During a fever, the body requires extra energy, which it generates by muscular activity in the form of shivering and by metabolizing (chemically breaking down) proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals at a faster rate than normal.
Body Temperature if there is fever:
100°Fahrenheit (37.8° C), taken orally, indicates a mild fever.
100° to 103°F (37.8° to 39.4°C) taken orally, indicates a moderate fever.
104°F (40°C) taken orally, indicates a high fever.
110°F. (43.3°C), this is the uppermost limit of the human body, this kind of fever is extremely rare.
Types of Fever
Continued Fever - the temperature remains above normal for long period of time.
Intermittent Fever - type of fever wherein body temperature periodically rises and falls.
Relapsing Fever - type that recurs sometimes a number of times, several days after the temperature has returned to normal.
Stages of Fever:
In the first stage of fever also known as the invasion period the patient will experience chill, loss of appetite, and headache. Chill occurs, occurs because of the tightening of blood vessels near the skin.
In the next stage, the body is hot and flushed, the skin dry, and the pulse and respiration are rapid. The patient will experience thirst and he/she will feel restless. In high fever, delirium and convulsions may occur.
In the final stage before returning to normal, the temperature falls, breathing and pulse slow down, and the skin becomes moist. The patient often sweats.
Other than fever, other factors that can affect the body temperature are:
Time of the day - body temperature normally fluctuates over the day, with the lowest levels at 4a.m and the highest at 6 p.m. That's why a normal body temperature of 37.5°C (99.5°F) is considered a fever in the morning, but just normal body temperature in the afternoon.
Menstrual cycle is another factor that can affect body temperature. When the woman is ovulating her body temperature is higher that when she is not ovulating.
Psychological factors - when a person is experiencing tension, his/her body temperature rises.
Body temperature also rises even after few hours after a heavy workout (muscle are working to burn fats) and after eating.
Fever is not a disease in itself -- it's an important part of the healing process.
A study published in the February 2004 Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found that children who ran a fever during their first year were less likely to develop allergies later in childhood than children who did not have fever.
More importantly, according to the AAP, a fever can help your child's body fight off infection. Many illness-causing microbes do best at the body's normal temperature. A fever raises the temperature beyond which certain microbes need to reproduce. A fever also kicks your immune system into high gear, spurring the rapid production of bug-clobbering white blood cells. A small but growing body of research shows that letting a fever run its course may reduce the length and severity of such illnesses as colds and flu.
As for the concern among parents that fevers can have harmful effects, these instances are very rare. The brain has an internal regulatory mechanism that prevents fevers caused by infections from getting higher than 105 or 106 degrees. Body temperature must get above 108 degrees to cause damage. Temperatures this high are caused only by exceptional circumstances, such as central nervous system disorders or heatstroke.
Additional Facts About Fevers
Fevers need to be treated only if they are causing discomfort (and usually a fever has to be above 102 or 103 degrees before making a child uncomfortable).
Treating a fever usually doesn't bring the body temperature back to normal -- just down 2 or 3 degrees.
Only 4 percent of children have fever seizures -- marked by a momentary loss of consciousness, eyes rolling back, shaking, twitching, or stiffening -- and when seizures do occur they cause no permanent harm.
How your child looks is more important than the exact reading on the thermometer.
The body has several ways to maintain normal body temperature. The organs involved in helping with temperature regulation include the brain, skin, muscle, and blood vessels. The body responds to changes in temperature by:
increasing or decreasing sweat production.
moving blood away from, or closer to, the surface of the skin.
getting rid of, or holding on to, water in the body.
naturally wanting to seek a cooler or warmer environment.
When you have a fever, the body works the same way to control the temperature, but it resets its thermostat at a higher temperature. The temperature increases for a number of reasons:
Chemicals, called cytokines and mediators, are produced in the body in response to an invasion from a microorganism, malignancy, or other intruder.
The body is making more macrophages, which are cells that go to combat when intruders are present in the body. These cells actually "eat-up" the invading organism.
The body is busily trying to produce natural antibodies, which fight infection. These antibodies will recognize the infection next time it tries to invade.
Many bacteria are enclosed in an overcoat-like membrane. When this membrane is disrupted or broken, the contents that escape can be toxic to the body and stimulate the brain to raise the temperature.
How did fever come to be seen as so dangerous a condition that we put our child's well being at risk in order to suppress the temperature?
Let's first consider the functions of fever and how it works. The two functions of fever are:
To stimulate the immune system.
To create an inhospitable environment for invading organisms. That is, to turn up the heat high enough that the invading microbes cannot live.
The Benefits of Fever
More antibodies -- cells trained to specifically attack the exact type of invader that your body is presently suffering from -- produced more specific to that bug than any pharmaceutical.
More white blood cells (the good guys) produced, circulating, mobilizing and armed to fight off the invading bugs specific to the general category of invader.
More interferon produced (another immune system good guy, which blocks spread of viruses to healthy cells).
Walling off of iron, which bacteria feed on.
Increased temperature, which directly kills microbes. (Most bacteria and viruses actually grow better at temperatures lower than the human body, which is why they like our cool noses in the winter.) Parents, it's not your kids begging for fever-reducing drugs; it's the germs.
Treating Fever the Naturopathic Way
Naturopathic treatment is to support a fever, unless it rises too high or too quickly. A fever of 102 degrees F to 103 degrees F is considered the optimal defense against microbes. Temperatures like these also heal the body most effectively. Supporting a fever means to work with it. For example, one effect of fever is to slow down peristalsis, which is movement of food through the gut.
To support a fever, naturopathic physicians recommend either fasting or eating foods such as broths and water till the fever breaks. Fever is also best supported with rest. Even when the child appears sleepy on the outside, the body is working quite hard to carry out all the functions described above.
Exercise and activity both distract body energy from these vitally important immune system processes. Naturopaths look at acute disease as the body's attempt to cure. Therefore, it is best to support the body's defenses; not suppress them by exercising or working at these times.
Naturopathic physicians compare the fear of fever symptoms to the fear of your car's engine light. To suppress a fever is like asking your mechanic to disconnect the engine light, rather than asking him or her to identify and fix the problem that caused the light to come on in the first place. Parents should ask themselves how they can approach their children's symptoms as logically as they approach their cars: do we really want to suppress our warning signals?
In the case of fever, the warning signal is much more of an aid to conquering illness, rather than as a source of damage in itself.
Also, there's a concern that breaking the fever is the wrong move in some circumstances. That's how the body fights off viruses, the telomeres don't function above 101 degrees, and the immune system clears the infection. By improperly reducing his fever too much, you can potentially allow the virus to propagate to deadly levels. Even high levels can be a problem, as the body will deposit the viral remains into the lungs, causing pneumonia.
That's why aspirin is typically counterindicated, because it's so effective in fighting fever that it can be deadly to an ill person. A fair number of people link the 1918 Flu to the newly prolific use of aspirin teas and similar medications. That's why it was so deadly, because folks were drinking aspiring teas as a preventative measure, so when they did get an infection, by the time they noticed the symptoms, they were packed to the gills with the virus.
How the immune system works:
HPA advice on anti-pyretics contradicts NICE guidelines
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/339/jul28_3/b3050Julius Wagner-Jauregg won the Nobel prize in 1927 for developing an effective treatment for syphilis which entailed deliberately infecting patients with malaria. This research suggests that fever may be a beneficial response to infection. The 2007 guideline from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on feverish illness in children under 5 reviewed the sparse evidence on using antipyretic medicines, which seems to indicate that artificially lowering a fever may reduce the immune response and prolong illness. NICE therefore recommended, "Do not routinely give antipyretic drugs to a child with fever with the sole aim of reducing body temperature."1
A small trial on the use of antipyretics in an intensive care unit was stopped because mortality was 16% in the treated group and 1% in the untreated group.2
The existing evidence suggests that antipyretics should be avoided in patients with pandemic flu,3 yet the Health Protection Agency (HPA)
Same goes for NSAIDS
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/338/jun15_1/b2345The potentially harmful effects of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are rarely discussed in the treatment of A/H1N1 flu, which has caused high death rates in Mexico.1 2
Severe and fatal cases, including sudden death, are characterised by severe sepsis with multi-organ failure with findings such as fever, leucocytosis, leucopenia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), liver impairment, renal failure, rhabdomyolysis, and hypotension.2 NSAIDs may aggravate these syndromes, leading to multi-organ failure.3
Since the flu pandemics of the 20th century salicylates have been linked to Reye’s syndrome and their use restricted in children. But NSAIDs such as diclofenac, mefenamic acid, and ibuprofen are still used as antipyretics in many countries, albeit less often than aspirin. Since the use of diclofenac and mefenamic acid was restricted in children in Japan in 2000, the case fatality of so called flu associated encephalopathy has fallen dramatically.4
Reanalysing the World Health Organization’s data on A/H1N1 flu,2 I
Also this from the British Medical Journal
ttp://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/338/jun15_1/b2345#216974
In 2000, Plaisance et al proved that the use of paracetamol increased viral shedding and significantly prolonged the duration of influenza. (1)
In 1992, (2)Shalabi et al, showed that acetaminophen seriously inhibits polymorphonuclear leukocytes, and scavenges available HOCl... paralysing the MPT-H2)2-Cl- antimicrobial system of PMNs and inhibited superoxide anion generation as well as degranulation of PMNs. Given, as Shalabi says, that PMN's play a crucial role in fighting bacterial, viral and parasitic infections, why is paracetamol used during infectious fevers?
Four years later, Shalabi et al again pointed out that the higher the temperature, the more severely acetaminophen inhibited bacterial activity of PMNs. (3)
The medical literature since 1975 is replete with articles showing that reducing fever during many different infections increases both complications and mortality.
Even WHO admits this. (4)
So why does every single country recommend paracetamol (acetaminophen) for routine treatment of any influenza, or indeed, any infection at all?
Meanwhile back in the UK in 2004 (5), Eccles et al state that: "Despite the lack of clinical data on the safety and efficacy of analgesics for the treatment of colds and flu symptoms a case can be made that these medicines are safe and effective for treatment of these common illnesses."
Perhaps the question should also be asked as to why any deaths, potentially augmented, or even caused by the use of antipyretics inhibitting parts of the immune system... are then used to justify the roll-out of a vaccine?
Another one from same page
Dear Sir,
The silence following previous queries, is resounding.
Yet, we continue to read stories like this, daily, from all around the world:
"The Ministry of Health says expectant mums who get symptoms should stay home and limit contact with others especially if they are ill, drink plenty of fluids, call their GP or healthline for advice and treat fever straight away with paracetamol." (1)
so it's natural to then read:
"... the mother-of-two Alma Palmer had been sent home from hospital with paracetamol, a day before collapsing and being airlifted to the mainland.
"I am angry with the hospital," her grandfather Roderick Geesu was quoted as saying. "She went to the hospital and instead of giving her a thorough check-up they gave her a packet of Panadol (paracetamol)." (2)
No doubt the experts will say that OF COURSE all deaths had been taking paracetamol. Standard protocol. "So of course paracetamol has NOTHING to do with the deaths."
Right????
Like Dr Johnson says, when will large scale randomised trials begin?
Why is it, that standard advice flies in the face of both medical literature, principles of immunology, and common sense?
Where is the evidence based science to justify such routine pronouncements? And "coincidental" dismissals?
When Medical Attention is Warranted
Infants less than 1-month-old, with a temperature greater than 100.4 degrees F. Seek care right away for fever in this age group. While waiting for care, breastfeed as often as the baby desires. The mother's milk has antibodies made right at the breast as it encounters pathogens in the baby's mouth.
Infants from 1-month to 3-months-old, with a temperature greater than 100.4 degrees F, if they appear ill. Again, breastfeed on demand while waiting for care.
Children between 3 months and 36 months, with a temperature above 102.2 degrees F, if they appear ill.
Anyone with a temperature over 104.5 degrees F.
For children not in the above three categories, bed rest and fluids will support the fever and allow it to do the job that your child needs it to do.
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