Cheap and Effective Treatments for Fevers

 Fever is a natural response to infection or illness. Many illnesses thrive at normal body temperature, and a fever (even a high one) is a good indication that the immune system is functioning to ward off the infection. In fact, a fever is a good sign as it means that the body is responding to fight the infection, and in most cases it is part of a natural bodily response that should be allowed to continue.

Additionally, most conventional methods of lowering a fever can do more harm than good. Tylenol and Advil (the two medications most often given to children to reduce fever) both have side effects and cause liver failure in adults and children each year, especially when given regularly. Medications are also foreign substances in the body, which must be metabolized and filtered by the body and this takes energy the body could be using to fight the illness.

While a fever can be uncomfortable, it is possible to comfort the person who is ill without reducing the fever. Often, the medications that reduce fever also get rid of body aches or uncomfortable symptoms, so the two are thought to go hand in hand. While certainly, medical intervention and medicine are absolutely warranted at times, they aren’t my first line of defense for most fevers.

Cool your fever
• Take a bath in lukewarm water. This temperature will feel plenty cool when you have a fever, and the bath should help bring your body temperature down. Don’t try to bring a fever down rapidly by plunging yourself into cold water; that tactic sends blood rushing to internal organs, which is how your body defends itself from cold. Your interior actually warms up instead of cooling down.
• Give yourself a sponge bath. Sponging high-heat areas like your armpits and groin with cool water can help reduce your temperature as the water evaporates.
• When you’re not bathing, place cold, damp washcloths on your forehead and the back of your neck.

“Fevers are safe. A fever is the body’s way of controlling its immune response. Your child’s body is controlling the temperature and it’s going to fluctuate no matter what you do. Don’t awaken a child from a deep sleep to give medications for the fever.

Sleep is more important.
Take oral temperatures when possible and rectal ones when not. Ear, sticker, pacifier and temporal artery thermometers are not reliable. Stick to a good, old-fashioned digital thermometer for the best accuracy. As far as how frequently a fever needs to be checked, once a day is sufficient.

Brew a cup of yarrow tea. This herb opens your pores and triggers the sweating that is said to move a fever toward its end. Steep a tablespoon of herb in a cup of freshly boiled water for 10 minutes. Let cool. Drink a cup or two until you start to sweat.
• Another herb, elderflower, also helps you sweat. And it happens to be good for other problems associated with flu and colds, like overproduction of mucus. To make elderflower tea, mix two teaspoons of the herb in a cup of boiled water and let it steep for 15 minutes. Strain out the elderflower. Drink three times a day as long as the fever continues.
• Drink a cup of hot ginger tea, which also induces sweating. To make the tea, steep a half-teaspoon minced gingerroot in 1 cup just-boiled water. Strain, then drink.
Spice can help a fever
• Sprinkle cayenne pepper on your foods when you have a fever. One of its main components is capsaicin, the alarmingly hot ingredient that’s found in hot peppers. Cayenne makes you sweat and also promotes rapid blood circulation.