At home immune support: Helping the fever

When a fever pops it’s ugly head, the first response is usually pulling out the fever reducer and dosing up so that we (or our kids) are more comfortable and the fever is brought down. However, a fever is simply a symptom and immune response to something else. A fever is our bodies way of killing the virus in our bodies, and with suppressing a fever comes the inability for the body to do it’s job and effectively fight the virus/illness. This is why we don’t regularly give Tylenol for fevers in our house, or even hardly at all. We take an immune supporting approach, helping support the body in its fight.

First I’d like to comment some common myths or misconstrued facts that come alone with fevers and why using a fever reducer is so popular:

• Fevers can cause brain damage

This one is a myth, thankfully. Brain damage isn’t going to happen with a simple fever. In order for brain damage to occur you would need to have a fever of 108 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s quite high, and not likely to happen. So that fever of 102 isn’t going to be causing brain damage and doesn’t necessarily need to be reduced. Fevers from infection also don’t cause brain damage and brain damage is more likely to occur when the body is exposed to high temps, like being locked in a car on a hot day.

• Fevers can cause febrile seizures

This is true, however it’s important to look at some facts with this one. Not everyone gets seizures, only about 4% of children are going to get a febrile seizure from a fever. They also are not dangerous, albeit a little scary. They don’t cause harm and stop within 5 minutes or so. This is not necessarily a reason to reduce the fever, and you still run the risk of a seizure when reducing the fever anyways. Seizures stem from the fever spiking (or dropping) too fast. Not from the actual fever.

• Fevers need to be reduced because they are dangerous or they wont stop climbing if they aren’t reduced

Nope, fever reducing is saved for high fevers or fevers that last longer than 2 days or so. But a normal fever is 100-104 and anything in that range is perfectly normal and can be left alone. If you or your child is in any discomfort a fever reducer can help, but is not necessary. If a fever climbs too high than a fever reducer is a great tool, but if you don’t use any meds the fever isn’t going to keep on climbing. So times to reduce would be when about 104, the fever has lasted longer than a day or when your child is in obvious discomfort and nothing else is helping. But otherwise, its great to let the fever burn its course to help kill the illness/virus/infection.

Remember, fevers are our bodies great natural defense to infection and can be extremely useful. That’s not to say a fever can never go wrong or that an infection is certain to be killed by fever but unless there are other more concerning issues the best thing we can do for fever is let it be and support healing in other ways.

You can browse more fever myths and facts here and learn all about the best ways to deal with fevers and what to expect.

How to support a fever/illness at home

• Keep warm

Fever reducing is not always taking medicine: taking cool baths, AC, cool weather or any other form of bringing down internal temp through external sources can also work as fever reducers. As much as we would love to be able to help in that way, unless there is a need for reducing letting the fever burn is a good option. Keep warm, cover with blankets etc when you have a fever you tend to feel cold anyways which is your body’s way of saying “hey, I need to warm up for a bit” and we can help that by just naturally keeping warm. You body will alert you when you no longer need to be warm and being under blankets will make you too hot so you kick them off. When working with younger kids who can’t remove a blanket or let you know they are suddenly too hot, observe if they are sweating/visibly hot vs getting goosebumps or acting chilly without a blanket.

• Support the immune system

There are many ways to support the immune system that don’t involve mainstream medicines or fever reducers. These can be a lot gentler and safer for young children as well. Just make sure to look up what you are giving children and that it’s safe for them. Some options that we like are echinacea, Elderberry and various essential oils like Immune boom or Germ Destroyer from Plant Therapy. Vitamins can also help, but they are more of a preventative than anything. But upping the vitamin C and Vitamin D intake and probiotics (good gut health = good health) are ways to help support the immune system. Echinacea can help to cut healing time down as well, which you can buy as a liquid herbal supplement or tincture at most health food stores. Make sure to get alcohol free for the little ones.

• Ease the aches/pain

The most common reason Tylenol is so recommended is for aches and pain, and while you definitely should provide relief with obvious discomfort we can help ease the mild aches that come with a fever without having to reduce the fever. I like to use Roman Chamomile with children 3 months+. I take some carrier oil in my palm and drop 1 drop of the oil in and massage onto their neck and back. Roman Chamomile is a great natural pain relief. You can also make chamomile infused oil with some dried herbs (or fresh) a chamomile tea or use some lavender instead for a calming and pain relieving effect. I much prefer the Chamomile however, and its super gentle for little ones of all ages although do take caution when using under 3 months and please follow appropriate dilution for ages. You can find all your dilutions needs here at plant therapy’s blog. Arnica is another option if you are into homeopathy and that can really help ease the sore muscles. We used Arnica for our littlest when she had her tongue tie corrected. We did 10 pellets in 1oz water and gave that to her a teaspoon at a time. I’m not as well versed in homeopathy however and I do prefer to use essential oils when I can because that is what I am trained in.

There are so many ways we can support a fever and the immune system at home that don’t involve suppressing a natural immune response. On top of that, we can take preventative measures as well to make sure our immune system is in tip top shape. Eating right, supplementing when needed, getting lots of vitamin D (aka getting outside) and making sure we have good gut health. Probiotics are friends, wether you supplement or eat foods with probiotics they can be very useful in maintaining a good gut microbiome and keeping us healthy. Hopefully this gave some good tips on how to get through those icky days and support that immune system when it’s working super hard. While I love modern medicine, I think there are so many other options we can turn to unless it’s a really serious problem. Also please note, I am not a medical professional, these are just things that we do in our home. Always consult a doctor before trying anything new or do your own research to find out if this is right for your family. I am simply sharing what works in our home.