This morning Melissa woke up around 5:45am with a 101 degree fever.
Fever is your body's attempt to kill off invading bacteria and other nasty organisms that can't survive the heat. The hypothalamus, which is the body's thermostat, senses the assault on the body and turns up the heat much the way you turn up the thermostat when you feel cold. It's a simple defense mechanism, and the sweat that comes with a fever is merely a way to cool the body down.
It used to be standard medical practice to knock that fever out as quickly as possible. Not so anymore. The value of fever is recognized, and since a fever will usually subside when the infection that's causing it runs its course, modern thinking is to ride out that fever, especially if it stays under 102 degrees F in adults.
There is quite a range in what is considered normal in body temperature. An individual's body temperature can vary by a degree or more during the course of a day, with the lowest reading usually occurring in the early morning and the highest in the evening.
Fever is not a disease in itself but simply a symptom of some other condition, usually an infection caused by a bacteria or virus. When such an enemy invades, white blood cells attack, releasing a substance called pyrogen. When pyrogen reaches the brain, it signals the hypothalamus to set itself at a higher point.
4 comments:
Thank you for this post!!! Fevers are miserable, but I find it funny when everyone is so adamant about beating the fever down to nothing, when really your body is trying to help you get or stay healthy by nuking germs! :) Fever reducers don't actually help you get over your illness because the fever isn't the problem!! :) With us and our kids we tend to let low grade fevers burn without medicine as long as the kids are fairly comfortable (not too fussy), can sleep, and the fever isn't too high. Otherwise, we do try to bring the fever down at least a little bit.
it's hard b/c i can't let my fever burn b/c i have a baby to care for and the fever just wipes me out! mom reminded me that as a mother i'm not allowed to get sick, right? :-)
Oh, I know!!! I didn't mean that about fevers burning to apply to you!!! Being sick while having to take care of a little one is the WORSTEST ever and any medication that you are allowed to take to help you feel okay enough to care for everyone (you and baby) must be taken!!!
Hope this doesn't last too long!
It was great to talk to you on Saturday, Mel, and hear you are on the mend. Interesting post about fevers. I also had Julie's philosophy about fevers when you all were little. Just keep the fever where no one is too miserable :)
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