Our body is a complex machine. What we do, what we eat, what we see and what we sense, each and every thing is getting noted and recorded.
It trains it self to handle the situation you face. It is smart enough to predict. It is smart enough to react and it is smart enough to adjust.
Today I am going to bring your attention towards vary common ailment FEVER.
Fever is condition when you have continuous hyperthermia. Which means continuous high in temperature of body. Now these terms high and low are comparative. That means there is some value which is going to decide that what is normal. Only then we can say, temperature is high or not.
In general normal body temperature can range between 97° F (36.1° C) and 99° F (37.2° C). So if the body has temperature above that range then it is considered as the high body temperature.
But have you ever thought why we get fever. Fever is nothing other than reaction of body to the changes. So we can say that if you are getting fever that means your body is reacting to the changes and it is not bad. It is good sign that our body is informing us that some changes are going on in our body.
If you get fever up to 100 prefer not to move to the medical treatment. Wait and watch let body handle the situation in its own way. A common fever does not need any type of treatment. It will get managed itself. Body will rectify or adapt the changes.
It is advisable not to have Paracetamol or any antipyretic medicine more than 5 to 7 days as OTC.
Medicines for fever / antipyretic drugs are meant for symptomatic treatment. That means they will just suppress the pyrogens, which may be problematic in some of the cases.
Pyrogens are also participants of the inflammation (swelling) process, which is an important curative as well as preventive mechanism of body to any injury. So antipyretics on long run may be lead to false impression of getting cured.
These all give a clear idea that neither antipyretics should be taken in early stage nor for long duration.
If you get any symptom of fever have a break of 1 or 2 days. Prefer to avoid any medicine. (Exception: If fever is above 101° F or you have some urgency where you need full alertness (make a note after having antipyretic you may feel dizziness )) If it still persists have a look to medicine like Paracetamol or any antipyretic drugs. In this duration make a track of fever. If you observe that fever is getting back as soon you leave paracetamol or medicine, plan to consult the healthcare team.
We should also keep in mind that Paracetamol has deteriorating effect on LIVER. Long term use of Paracetamol ( Acetaminophen ) may lead to hepatotoxicity i.e. toxicity in liver.
Remember antibiotics are ineffective in viral fever