Fever, It’s no sweat.

   Do you remember the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off?” The scene when Ferris gave a lesson on how to fake an illness to get out of school.  I always thought it was funny how he made the point: NEVER FAKE A FEVER.  If you get a worried mom, you might be spending the day in a doctor’s office!  That’s worse than school.

   I grew up with Chiropractors as parents and they never made a big deal about fevers.  They would give me a chiropractic adjustment and let the fever take it’s course.  As an adult and after studying it, I understand it more now too.  But to some it can be scary, and they do treat it as a big deal.  You or someone you love feels miserable.  Usually no one is getting any sleep and you want to help, but how? Use drugs or other methods to control the fever, or should I let it go?  If their temperature gets too high it might be dangerous… Right?

   We all know that your body is heating up to fight off something, but why does it heat up? What does that do exactly? Your amazing brain has miles of nerves and sensors keeping track of things inside of you.  Controlling exactly when and how the best responses should happen. Here’s some related info:

    1/10,000,000g of bacterial waste (basically bacterial ‘poo’) is enough for the brain to detect, and tell the body to start fighting the bugs with a fever.[1]  Along with shivering, every 10 beats per minute increased heart rate causes 1 degree increased heat.  Although you’re getting hotter, your brain tricks you into feeling chills, and thus bundle up to keep the extra heat.[1] Like Popeye got stronger with spinach, each 1 degree increase of body temperature strengthens the immune system by 10%.[1]

   As the heat continues to bolster you, those little invaders are being cooked.  Bacteria and viruses are much more sensitive to heat than you are.  And while you’re getting stronger, they’re getting slower and weaker as the fever burns.  Your white blood cells signal to your brain what kind of progress they’re making in the fight.[2] And the intensity of the fever is monitored very closely.  Once it’s no longer necessary the fever breaks.  You immediately flush, feel hot, throw off the covers and sweat. You naturally dissipate heat this way 10 times quicker than it took to build up.[1] No need for cool baths and such.

   So,, now you have more info on how the intelligence inside is taking care of things. But the time is undoubtedly going to come when you’ll need to make a choice: drugs to control the fever or not?

   Well what do the scientists say? Current research teaches us that while a fever is an important tool to combat illness it goes beyond that.[3] The effect of allowing a fever to run its course will actually strengthen your immune system in the long run.[4] And the powerful effects of a fever will even elevate your bodies defense from cancer.[5]

   Additionally, in a naturally occurring fever the body’s intelligence Does NOT cause temperatures to reach damaging heights. Even a febrile seizure – while scary – is only caused by a rapid change in temperature, not the temperature itself, and still causes no brain damage. After the febrile seizure is over it doesn’t increase chances of getting other kinds of seizures later.[9]

   Finally, the last bit of good news is that allowing your body to generate a fever can actually save your life. Give your internal strength and perceptivity a chance to express itself. In other words, the more a fever is suppressed by anti-fever drugs the greater the chances of death from the illness.[6,7,8]

But in case you were curious, your body can get hot enough to cause brain damage, but that comes from environmental factors such as being confined in a hot car[9] or an adverse drug reaction.[10]

   In my family, we like to think that Mother Nature has a lot going for her. 🙂 Humans have been fighting off illness for a long time. Using our desire to help loved one is better channeled into bolstering the immune system rather than suppressing it. Sleep, good food, water, no sugar, and Chiropractic adjustments is how we strengthen ourselves in my family. Those things might not seem appealing to you, but at least doing no drugs – when it comes to a fever – is safer, healthier and a more effective thing to do.

“Fever represents a universal, ancient, and usually beneficial response to infection, and its suppression under most circumstances has few, if any, demonstrable benefits. On the other hand, some harmful effects have been shown to occur as a result of suppressing fever… widespread use of antipyretics should not be encouraged either in developing countries or in industrial societies.[11]”

Heinz F. Eichenwald. Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX

References

1. Guyton, Arthur C. MD. and John Hall MD. Textbook of Medical Physiology 10th Edition, Ch 73 Body Temperature, Temperature Regulation and Fever. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Company, 2000.

2. Bicego KC, Barros RC, Branco LG; “Physiology of temperature regulation: comparative aspects.” Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol. 2007 Jul;1`47(3):616-39. Epub 2006 Jun 29. Review.

3. Roth J.: “Fever in acute illness: beneficial or harmful?” Wien Klin Wochenschr. 2002 Feb 15; 114(3):82-8. German.

4. Vardam TD, Zhou L, Appenheimer MM, Chen Q, Wang WC, Baumann H, Evans SS.: “Regulation of a lymphocyte-endothelial-IL-6 trans-signaling axis by fever-range thermal stress: hot spot of immune surveillance.” Cytokine. 2007 Jul;39(1):84-96. Review.

5. Dayanc BE, Beachy SH, Ostberg JR, Repasky EA.: “Dissecting the role of hyperthermia in natural killer cell mediated anti-tumor responses.” Int J Hyperthermia. 2008 Feb;24(1):41-56. Review.

6. Kluger MJ.: “Is fever beneficial?” Yale J Biol Med. 1986 Mar-Apr; 59 (2): 89-95.

7. Schulman CI, et al.; “The effect of antipyretic therapy upon outcomes in critically ill patients: a randomized, prospective study.” Surg Infect (Larchmt). 2005 Winter;6(4):369-75.

8. Su F, Nguyen ND, Wang Z, Cai Y, Rogiers P, Vincent JL.; “Fever control in septic shock: beneficial or harmful?” Shock. 2005 Jun;23(6):516-20.

9. B.D. Schmitt, M.D., Clinical Editor; University of Michigan Health System, C.S. Mott Children Hospital. Author; “Your Child’s Health,” Bantam Books.

10. Tabor PA; “Drug-induced fever.” Drug Intell Clin Pharm. 1986 Jun; 20 (6):413-20.

11. Bulletin of the World Health Organization; Print ISSN 0042-9686 Bull World Health Org vol.81 no.5 Genebra 2003. “Fever and Antipyresis”