It was bound to happen after all the time I spent breathing recirculated airplane air over the last 2 months. I've caught a bug that I can't seem to kick. My throat is sore, I'm coughing nonstop and I have a low-grade fever. Nothing super serious, but a real pain nonetheless. I hate being sick.
I started reading "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond while on my trip to the US. Although I admit to be struggling significantly with his heavy, textbook style of writing, the content is certainly interesting.
One of the things that struck me was his discussion of fever. Our bodies are so smart! When we are affected by a microbe or virus that makes us sick, something clicks in the brain to elevate body temperature a few degrees. The extra heat won't harm us, but in many cases the foreign element can't survive the slight increase in temperature and dies off, leaving us to recover naturally. What an amazing strategy.
It makes me think, however, that it is probably counter-productive for us to take Tylenol or Aspirin when we are suffering from a fever. In bringing the body temperature back down to normal levels, wouldn't that just allow the germs to stay alive and keep making us sick? Shouldn't the best option be to let a slight fever run its course without medication to bring it down, thus respecting our body's natural healing strategy?
Why are we encouraged by doctors to take fever-reducers when we run a temperature? (Obviously one must make a distinction between a high, potentially health-threatening fever and one that is less severe.) The more I think about it, the less it makes sense...
9 comments:
Yeah, it does make you wonder.
The last time I had a really bad chest cold I questioned the reason for a cough suppressor. After all, with a chest cold isn't your body trying to expel all that junk in your chest? Why suppress it and make it linder on?
Here in Holland the drs suggest that you leave kids to fight it out naturally with a fever without giving fever reducing meds unless their fever goes over 39. I tend to agree with them too because since I've started doing this the kids are sick for a much shorter duration when they get sick, and they get sick less often.
I always avoid painkillers, trusting my body to know what it's doing, until I get annoyed at the pain part and give in. These days it takes less and less to make me give in :-(
I only take tylenol for pain when it starts to affect my functioning levels. I have 2 young daughters and I cannot ever spend a day in bed. How about antibiotics? We stay way from those too, unless it's unavoidable.
bbohhh, you would love the teaching's of dr. christopher (http://www.drchristophers.com/) on this subject. he suggests actually raising a wet fever to get better faster. get in a hot bath, drink TONS of yarrow tea (at least 1 cup every 30 minutes) plus water. get out and go to bed with wet hair. the chills that you're body go through are effective. basically just allow your body to do what it was naturally doing from the beginning. you don't want your fever to go over 105 degrees, but with a WET fever even that temp is ok.
i hope you get feeling much better very soon. i think that the main reason painkillers are used are for the aches you get with it.
this is a different approach to the *burning questions* i sent to you. ;-D
i agree, low grade fevers should run themselves out. but if they get above a certain level fever might interfere with other all-important infection fighting enzymes that only work in very specific temp ranges. i tell you, biochem is so fascinating it blows the mind. ever read about how hemoglobin attaches and detaches from iron in cases of iron deficiency vs overload? really amazing. when i have a fever my husband brings out a vat of cold water and vinegar and forces me to put my feet in. then he force-massages beurre de karite into my feet, under my toes and behind my knees, elbows, etc. i could kill him (SO uncomfortable when you are sick, and brrrrrr for the cold vinegar) but holy heck, it works!
Hey! I love that book! Makes you think about a lot of things! Also read Collapse last year. It is depressing!
Great post, and I agree with you on the fever thing. Your body knows what it needs to do to feel better; we just have to let it work. Hope you feel better as soon as possible!!!
Tea with honey and lemon always seems to work well for me (whatever the problem is!) melhoras (:
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