L had a fever this
week. It started off the regular way,
nothing dramatic. Slowly, it ramped
higher. By the third day he was hitting
104, but I wasn’t too concerned. M had
hit 106 last month, and after lots of stress, xrays, and blood work, they sent
us home with a prescription for chicken soup.
So this month, when
L’s fever hit its stride, I knew not to sweat it (ha, get it…a pun). There was the brief moment of sheer panic on
Day 5, when the thermometer read 107, but after a careful assessment of the
situation , I decided the extreme temp was surely due to the thermal pjs and
king size blanket he was wrapped in. A
quick adjustment to his surroundings brought the temp down to a manageable
105.8.
By Day 6, when his
fever had climbed back up to 104 again, I decided to bite the bullet and take
him to be seen. I say “bite the bullet”,
because half the time, I end up wasting both the doctor’s and my time with an
unnecessary visit.
But this time my
mother’s intuition was right on.
Flu! When they came back with
the positive swab results, I threw my hands up into the air and gave a hearty “Yessss! He’s got the flu!!!” It felt good to finally know my $125 was not
being wasted on, “everything looks good, just take him home and give him plenty
of fluids.”
One prescription of
Tamiflu later (because the pneumococcal virus loves this kid’s lungs), and he
was back at home gloating about not having to go to school for a few more days.
It doesn’t take much
to get my mind going, and this fever triggered the NEED for me to know
everything there is to know about fevers.
It’s not like this is the first high fever we’ve ever experienced. My kids get high fevers annually. But I decided that now was the time to
get to the bottom of this mysterious phenomenon.
And here’s where
the story becomes totally fascinating.
Picture this: your brain has a thermostat in it, and it’s
set to 98.6. When the brain realizes
there is an infection going on, it raises the set point, causing the
temperature to climb higher. That’s the
time when you feel cold and want to cover up.
Once the battle is won and the set point gets dropped back down to 98.6, the body does its best
to cool off quickly…and that’s why we sweat when the fever breaks! I know, it rocked my world too.
“But what’s the
purpose of raising the body temperature?” you may ask (ok, so I’m the only one who
asked). Is the brain trying to burn those
little germs to a crisp? That’s
debatable. What’s not debatable is that
the increase in temperature allows the white blood cells to be fruitful and
multiply. It also allows those little
fighters to travel through your body faster!
Taking fever
reducers impedes this neat little system, so remember that the next time you take
your Tylenol. That’s why doctors advise you to take your fever reducer only if you’re feeling cruddy. It’s a trade-off.
While I was surfing
around, totally engrossed by this topic, I found a site that said childhood
fevers, particularly those that are high, help create a stronger constitution
in adulthood. They prime the body to
respond efficiently and effectively in adulthood. Which is why you don’t usually see adults
with high fevers. And when it does happen, it’s often symptomatic of
something far more serious than a virus.
I couldn’t find the
link to that last bit of trivia, so it’s basically unfounded at this
point. But I don’t care. I’m going to run with it. And then I’m going to proceed to misdiagnose
myself with a deadly disease next time I have a high fever. Because that’s how I roll.
Am I the only one
who TOTALLY wants to become a doctor now?
Posts
2 comments:
That last part is really interesting. And now I'm trying to remember every high fever I ever had during childhood!
You're right. I know I didn't know about the benefits of fever and how Tylenol and stuff like that should only be used sparingly until my doc told me with the kids.
Post a Comment