Ds's temperature is 104.3- take to doctor or wait?

tikva18

Wed, Mar 16 2011, 7:57 pm

The purpose of a fever is to fight infection. If one artificially fights the fever then the fever will go down while leaving the infection to run rampant in the body. Further, once one starts the cycle of artificially lowering the fever you have a greater chance of the fever boomeranging higher. It's when the fever suddenly yo-yos - going up quickly that you have that greater chance of seizure. Therefore, if you are one who chooses to use motrin/tylenol to lower a fever you must keep giving it (even though it's bad for the body) to prevent that from happening.

Alternatives:
You can sweat it out. I just did this. I was sick last week with a high fever (over 103 and my temp is normally 97.4) and I buried myself under tons of covers, wool, you name it, to sweat it out. This is the body's normal reaction to infection and I wanted it to kill whatever was dragging me down. Yes, I had a pounding headache with it (I took arnica montana for the headache), yes I was weak, yes, I stayed under all of that. If I had been any stronger I would have pushed the fever's envelope, so to speak, by taking a super hot bath, but I was afraid that I would have passed out.
I'm thrilled I had a fever - I'm all for burningn out toxins Very Happy

For a child who has a high fever you can gently bring the fever down by putting them in the bath - using water that is slightly cooler than the child. Gently ladle water up and over the child's shoulders - even encroaching on their hair. Try doing this for 10min or so, but do not let your child shiver - shivering means that the fever is going to climb right back up.

You can also give a dose of belladonna (homeopathic) it will reduce the fever.

For some reason my children have all had very high fevers that have lasted a long time. I don't mind if they are lethargic - because that is what you are supposed to do when you are sick -- REST. I make sure that they are well hydrated (the best I can do anyway) and let their bodies do their jobs.

I have given those baths to my kids a number of times. All the dr. is going to do is say you had better bring in the child; they would be remiss if they didn't. Often times the fever is caused by a virus and there's nothing the dr. could do anyway.

I will tell you about our one scary moment. My ds had a fever so high that the digital themometer registered only HI instead of a number. Because it was the middle of hte night and I had been exhausted from taking care of him - it didn't even register that his fever was higher than the thermometer would go. Dh and I gave him a bath to cool him down multiple times that night (he was under a year). In the morning we ended up taking him to the hospital - as soon s I realized how bad it was I had called our ped - who sent us to the hospital. I had to bring his twin with - since I was nursing both of them. It was quite frightening - he was too sick to even cry.
What was the end result? it was viral, the fever cleared up, he was okay - no seizures, thank G-d! - and most probably due to the fact that he is celiac and I didn't know yet - so his immune system was even more supressed than one would think. We did multiple hospital visits for that child - may he be healthy!

the world's best mom

Wed, Mar 16 2011, 8:43 pm

tizunabi wrote:

the world's best mom wrote:

I'm still confused. If we're not letting the body fight, why don't they stay sick forever? Why is ds better now?

ok, there are many different mechanisms that help the body fight infection. Most, if not all, also raise the temperature of the body to help the body work more efficiently. When a higher temperature the body works at a faster rate (your metabolism rises by 10% for every extra degree Celsius) which means that all the things your body needs to make in order to fight infection are made faster. This means that if you treat the fever and lower it, these things are still being made, just at a slower rate.
Also there are many bacteria and viruses that will die or not be able to function at a higher temperature. The body is making uncomfortable surroundings for the infectious agent, however when it does that it many times makes you feel uncomfortable as well (you dont feel well).
So, the body can fight disease without fever. Fever just aids the whole process.

Also there are studies that show that 1)people who have the common cold and do not lower fever with tylenol/motrin suffer 1 day less (on average) from the cold.
2)fever aids the action of antibiotics (they will do their job anyway, but they do it faster with fever.

anyway..

I guess that makes sense.

the world's best mom

Wed, Mar 16 2011, 8:47 pm

tikva18 wrote:

That's scary. My dd has had mini febrile seizures.

BTW, my fil always said to make a feverish person sweat, but when dd was having her seizures, the doctor said the less clothing the better. That allows the fever to leave.

tizunabi

Thu, Mar 17 2011, 1:26 am

tikva18 wrote:

The purpose of fever is to aid the bodies natural mechanisms to fight infection. There are pleanty of things going on to kill infectious agents besides the fever. If a child (or an adult) doesnt feel well when they have fever there is no reason not to lower the fever.
Also I dont know about treating the fever causing more febrile seizures, however it seems to be that febrile seizures are genetic and kids who have tendencies to get them are more likely to get them. Everyone else probably won't ever get one no matter how much their temperature swings. So not treating fever in 100% of the population for something that shows up only in 3% of the population and only from ages 6mo to 5years and isnt even dangerous seems a bit off to me...

tikva18 wrote:

Alternatives:
You can sweat it out. I just did this. I was sick last week with a high fever (over 103 and my temp is normally 97.4) and I buried myself under tons of covers, wool, you name it, to sweat it out.

*This* is dangerous. Especially in children who can't come out from all those layers by themselves. This can cause hyperthermia (basically over heating) that, unlike fever, is dangerous, can cause brain damage, and can be fatal. (because the brain isnt controlling the rise of temperature, rather the environment you are in your temperature can rise without control, over the fever induced 106F 41.1C maximum.