Fever: A fever or a high temperature is quite simply the body’s own extraordinary mechanism to stimulate healing. Why? Because a fever is a natural reaction to an invasive organism that would hurt the body so it sets out to defend itself. A fever is stimulated by white cells called basophils. These cells make up approximately .01% of the blood but they are found predominantly in the tissues of the orifices, the digestive tract , the tissues of the lungs and the epidermis. These extraordinary white blood cells act like scouts and when the body is under threat from invasive organisms these blood cells trigger a brain hormone called histamine. Histamine is a vital hormone for activating our autonomic immune system. Histamine triggers the Hypothalamus through a brain hormone called stimulant interferon to induce heat which activates the release of the thymus hormone called Thymopoetin. Thymopoetin triggers T8 Suppressor cells. T8 Suppressor cells are designed to recognise friend from foe and to activate the thymus to produce thymosin alpha which controls release of the white blood cells to fight infection, thymulin to control the spleen and thymosin Beta which is responsible for producing antibodies. Hence a fever is nothing more than an activating and hard working system to protect the body from being over powered by pathogens. By raising your body's temperature a few degrees, a fever makes it harder for invading bacteria and viruses to survive and flourish. The higher your core body temperature is, the harder it is for harmful microorganism to survive in your body.
All living creatures use fevers to strengthen their immune systems when they are ill.
The most common cause of a fever is a bacterial or viral infection, the vast majority of which our body's self-healing mechanisms conquer with proper care, rest and good nutrition.
Heat stroke and poisoning can also cause fevers, more often in children than in adults since their immune systems are very active. The healthier the child the more likely they are to have a temperature when there is an invasive epidemic doing the rounds.
It is a medical fact that a fever cannot cause brain damage unless it reaches 107.6 degrees Farenheit (42 degrees Celsius) and stays there for an extended length of time. The brain has a built-in thermostat that does not allow your core temperature to rise above 106 degrees Farenheit (41.1 C) during an infectious process, it's virtually impossible to experience brain damage from a fever caused by a bacterial or viral infection. The majority of fevers don't reach 105 (40.5 C) degrees.
It is very dangerous to try to quickly reduce a fever either by cooling with ice or cold water or by removing clothes. Contrary to this we always advise keeping a baby or child in fever warm and cosy and to give them a hot/warm bath and immediately wrap them in warm clothes. This enables the fever to run its course. I you try to reduce the fever quickly the person may induce an even higher temperature which may lead to a febrile convulsion. Drugs such as Calpol will suppress the healing process.
The Phytobiophysics formula FF7 ‘cool calm ‘ is especially valuable to support the healing process of fever together with the blue Tree Formula SF 4 Imun.T. It is very helpful to take plenty of fluids and hot/warm sips of liquid together with light, easily digestible and nutritious food. Such as omelette, scrambled egg, yoghurt, banana and chicken bone marrow soup.
Although it is usually best to allow a fever to run its course and to rely on your own healing mechanisms it can be very frightening to experience a baby or child suffering with a high fever. They need love and security and rest, however it may be advised to seek medical support for fevers that are accompanied by: irritability, confusion, listlessness, and any other behaviour that is out of character for you or your child such as an inability to breathe, vomiting, stiff necks or a meningococcal rash. However with sensible management this should rarely be necessary.