Fever - How bad it is for our Body. Do's and Don'ts of Fever.
Once at evening an anxious mother called me for her daughter, who has consulted me on previous evening for acute upper respiratory tract infections. She was worried that her daughter's fever (around 100 F) has not reduced although she has started eating well, playing games, studying and also she has now a very little coughing then previous day. This is what called as #Feverphobia.
Dr. Barton D. Schmitt,M.D. was the first to give this term. Then studies were conducted many times and each time it is observed that most of the parents have excessive, sometimes unrealistic fear for fevers, the FEVER PHOBIA. They were worried that fever can do damage to brain or other parts of child, and they considered fever as the sign of prognosis which must be treated first.
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Actually fever is normal fighting mechanism of body's defence system. Fever itself is not a disease but it's a sign of underlying disease like various viral / bacterial / parasitic infection , any injury of inflammation in body , some adverse effects of drug , cancer , etc. So importance should be given to the underlying cause , associated symptoms and general condition of the patient. It has been observed in many times that a child is feeling week, dizzy and dull at even 100 F but other is playing and eating well even at 104 F.
# Body temperature below 100 F is not actually fever. Hypothalamus is a centre in our brain which maintains body temperature, it increases temperature whenever required. Rise in body temperature may be due to physical exercise or work , heat , stress, infection or any other diseases, too. Sometimes feeling warm or heat of body after playing or exertion, in child, is considered as fever and given unrealistic and unwanted medicines.
# If you treat fever first and underlying cause like virus or bacteria remains inside the body, you may actually harm your child by two ways,
* first you are allowing those agents to grow by decreasing body temperature and
* second you are suppressing natural reflex of your defence system.
Many times fever medicines are given or taken by self without consulting any doctor and this is the worst thing to do. Sometimes while again consulting the doctor fever is given the first importance to be treated is again worse.
First consult the doctor, diagnose the cause and take medicine accordingly to the cause. But the first thing you should expect is relief in general condition of patient and underlying infection's symptoms , not the fever. Patient should first recover in weakness, appetite, cold-cough or any other symptoms of infection or the cause of fever. Febrile convulsions which are also been the concern is very rare and are not so much harmful as they are assumed.
Conclusion is we should come out of our myths regarding fever which in most of the case is a helping hand to fight the diseases.
Role of Homeopathy: Homeopathy's main idea is about increasing immunity and defence mechanism of the patient. So when Homeopathic medicine is taken for some fever it will help the body to fight against infection by boosting immunity power and will not suppress it.
The myth Homeopathy acts slowly is also because of the misconception about fever. When you take Homeopathic medicines , it will work against the underlying cause but it does not act directly to remove the body temperature, actually in some cases in which patients are suffering from long standing chronic allergies or deep pathological diseases, rise in body temperature is considered as good sign, as it indicates body's immune system has started working well.
As we have heard many times from the sufferer of cancer like grave diseased persons that , they never even get fevers, which may sometimes indicate lower resistance power of body. So when your body is working good don't suppress the symptoms by vague medicines and understand your body's language like pain or fever.
So in such condition don't panic and consult the doctor for betterment of the sufferer.
Understand that Fever is actually a kind of Soldiers response to the enemies and let our soldiers fight , don't take guns away from them.
Be Healthy and Happy.