Fever – Homeopathy when to use it, when to wait …
Aside from their recently well publicized dangers, children’s over the counter medicines may be undermining your children’s health in other ways, too. Many such products are marketed by convincing anxious parents that fevers are a dangerous problem to be rectified, but in fact the fever is not the problem, it is part of the solution.
The Father of Modern Medicine was a fan of fevers.
Hippocrates the father of modern medicine is reported to have said: “Give me a fever and I can cure any ailment.” A fever simply means that the process of healing is speeding up and because a fever is regulated by the body as part of its self protection mechanisms, it rarely reaches a hazardous level. A basic fever, caused by acute bacterial or viral illness, means the immune system is working at its best. Most animals (certainly vertebrates) respond to illness with a fever and animal studies show when their fevers are blocked they are much more likely to die.
What is going on during a fever?
Fever promotes sweating, fasting and sleep, three good things in any illness. When a fever is artificially suppressed, by any method, the body’s defense system can’t be fully activated and the true situation is likely to be masked. Repeated sabotage of the immune system in this way leaves it weakened and less able to respond effectively. When it’s allowed to happen, the fever process is as fascinating as it is effective. When a person develops an infection, white blood cells release pyrogens, raising the body’s temperature. This rise in temperature stimulates the production of additional white blood cells and increases their activity. The white blood cells then move rapidly to the infection site, in a process known as “leucotaxis”. These cells then fight the infection by destroying the bacteria and viruses and removing the dead tissue. The metabolic rate and oxygen consumption also increases. Iron, which bacteria need to survive, is removed from the blood and stored in the liver, which reduces the rate at which the bacteria can multiply. Later a substance called interferon (a natural antiviral and anticancer substance) joins in the fray and finishes the job.
Trust your instincts
One child can be very sick with a low or even subnormal temperature, whilst another child can be quite well whilst running a high fever. Trusting your instincts and observing your child’s other symptoms closely is more important than the reading on your thermometer, because the severity of a fever is not a reliable indicator of how serious the illness is. If your child is drinking, urinating once every 3- 8 hours, can be cheered up or consoled and still shows interest in things, it is unlikely that there is anything seriously wrong.
Fever – Dos and Don’ts
Use your Homeopathy Guide in your kit to find a remedy that fits the whole symptom picture, including the fever
Get them to take sips of water, watered down fruit juice, light vegetable broths if all else fails tempt them with ice lollies (additive free, of course!)
Encourage your child to rest and sleep, this is Nature’s best cure
Be guided by them about how covered up they want to be
Console them and reassure them that this is the body’s way of making them well
Act to bring down fevers over 104 ºF (40c) using tepid baths, fans and homeopathic remedies
For a very high fever Belladonna 30c is useful
Observe their other symptoms closely and get professional medical help if you are concerned
Get professional, trusted medical advice if your child has a febrile convulsion
Give any product that contains aspirin, as it reduces the effectiveness of white blood cells during fever
Give sugary or processed foods
Force a child to eat if they have no appetite
Normal body temperature (adult) 98.6ºF (37ºC)
Normal body temperature (child) 97º – 99.4ºF (36º and 37.4ºC)
This normal range can also be raised one or two degrees F by hot food, recent exercise, over-dressing, hot weather, overheated rooms
Fevers usually hit their highest point in the late afternoon or evening
Children often have their lowest temperature of the day early in the morning
Febrile convulsions are frightening to observe, but are thankfully usually short (five minutes or less), benign and don’t generally reoccur
Many say fever is unlikely to cause brain damage in a previously healthy child
During most infections, the brain keeps body temperature at or below 104°F (40°C)
Very high fevers – above 106°F (41°C) can harm the heart and brain