A fever is your body heating to fight a disease, why do we lower it down with paracetamol?
A fever is your body heating to fight a disease, why do we lower it down with paracetamol?
35 comments
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As long as the heat isn't life-threatening, you shouldn't reduce the fever. It will increase recovery time
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This too. And if you must use an antipyretic, supplement with external insulation or heat.
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As soon as I start to feel like I might be getting sick, I immediately take as hot a bath as I can stand for about an hour then immediately cool off with cold water. Seems to do the trick quite well the majority of the time. My partner will go through the full illness while I can mostly nip it in the bud.
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That's what a sauna is about !
A 20min session (10min/1min pause/10min) and jumping in cold water will give you a dizziness state, lay down and enjoy !
You will feel refreshed, new-born, all negativity drown away, no-invasive thoughts of your subconscious... Just a climax-feeling of peacefulness ! (Until you're back to you 10-17 routine...)
Sauna sessions are awsome !
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You don't usually need to lower the fever. We do it for comfort, mostly. Being feverish feels bad. One of my kids can tolerate a fever so I don't usually give her fever reducing medication. The other one gets so miserable that she won't stop screaming, so I give her the medication.
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We don't like to be hot
It's not necessarily a good idea to do that though, particularly if you are able to endure the fever
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Because GET BACK TO WORK
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Own your shit. /s is for cowards.
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Ok!
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Paraphrasing my doctor: infections have evolved to the point the fever isn’t effectively contributing to fighting the infection, but we never evolved to stop making the fever. Since it doesn’t do us any good, we might as well be as comfortable as possible while our immune system does it’s part.
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Is there anything out there supporting this claim? I watched the video of the (probably) biologist above, explaining exactly the contrary
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Indeed you should if you are not too hot. For diseases that can be cured otherwise do that first (antibiotics for batterial infections), there are still not good medicines for virus infection, so better let your body fight the infection and decrease your temperature only if too high
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Because it doesn't feel nice.
But if you're lowering every fever, you're doing it wrong. -
You got a lot of answers but mostly because lowering the fever makes you feel better and people over pop pills
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Paracetamol also isn't particularly good at reducing fever, even though it is often used with that intent. Ibuprofen is generally more effective
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I always thought while both serve both functions, paracetamol was more on the antipiretic side (i.e. lowers body temperature) while ibuprofen was more of an analgetic (pain reliever).
Also, you can take both at once although then you shouldn't take them as long. And always take the minimum effective dose (or preferably none if you can manage), but that applies to OTC non-prescribed medicine, not just to these two.
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Too hot, u die
35 comments
Because your body can (and sometimes does) overshoot the mark and kill things it isn't intending to kill with heat. It also uses up your stored energy meaning you must eat more and more often.
Better to make your body stop overheating itself, and trap heat with coverings. If you get too hot, it can be modulated by reducing or adding cover. And external heat like a water bottle can bring temps up quickly, and keep you at raised temps safely.
There is also the discomfort from a fever as well. Too much discomfort will lead people to make possibly bad decisions. Pain management is always something to keep in mind.
Also, at a high enough level (104 F), the proteins in your brain start to denature, which leads to death.
Yup. Your body is hardcore. Too hardcore for itself, even.
This is not true. While a 104 fever likely indicates a severe illness or infection the body can safely have a fever in the 104 to 106 range. It's around 108 that brain damage becomes a concern and that is usually also due to environmental factors like a kid being left in a hot car.