Fever has tradeoffs: it kills most pathogens but it also does small amounts of permanent damage to brain, nerve, lung and marrow tissue. Far better to eradicate the pathogens before they enter the body, wherever that strategy is feasible to carry out.
The article is making the point that in the time before the COVID vaccine, we should stop providing Tylenol or Advil to patients as the fever is the body’s response designed to kill infections.
My 5-year old has had a 102 feverfor 4 days this week and every time we give him something I wonder if we are extending the length of his sickness, but he is too cute to let him be in pain.
Next time I get sick, I will try to ride it out and see if my typical 3-5 sickness is shorter.
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 34.8 ms ] threadMy only thought is that this should be painfully obvious. Of course extreme fevers can cause damage to the body and brain.
I thought we were talking about the typical case of fever.
My 5-year old has had a 102 feverfor 4 days this week and every time we give him something I wonder if we are extending the length of his sickness, but he is too cute to let him be in pain.
Next time I get sick, I will try to ride it out and see if my typical 3-5 sickness is shorter.
Good book that talks about the bodies evolutionary responses is “Why we Get Sick”