When a fever is more than a fever... - Page 2

[Quinalla]

Thanks so much for the reminder, I do recall reading about this symptom somewhere, but its been awhile. I'm so glad you figured out what your DD had!

[LROM]

Originally Posted by angelachristin

FWIW, this is another reason I don't medicate fevers as a general rule. The fever is the body trying to do it's job of fighting off the virus, and when you bring down the fever with medication, it kind of opens the doorway for the virus to get a firm foothold and wreak more havoc in the body. Viral meningitis is actually just any virus, even the common cold, that sort of goes out of control in the body. It is my opinion that medicating fevers for viruses can cause them to develop into meningitis. Just MHO.

So this is very interesting to me... makes sense in many ways but I thought that prolonged fevers also carried their own serious risks? Do I have that wrong? (And when I say prolonged, even four days of fever I thought could cause other problems for a child?) Is this really a safe strategy (assuming you can rule out other causes and the child just has a fever)?

[Asiago]

Originally Posted by LROM

Ped, examines her, says she's seeing a lot of this "fever but no other symptoms" virus

Thanks for sharing this info and I am glad that your daughter is feeling better.
Did your doctor ever say anything further about the other cases of similar fever?
It sounds as if the virus was spreading quickly in your vicinity/town. I wonder if those also had the symptom of meningitis.

[Amila]

I did know this, but I am glad you posted! I always make my kids do the chin to chest thing when they have fevers, and also I have them start into lights to see if it hurts their eyes, because thats a symptom too. Glad your LO is ok!

[angelachristin]

QUOTE=LROM;15804175]So this is very interesting to me... makes sense in many ways but I thought that prolonged fevers also carried their own serious risks? Do I have that wrong? (And when I say prolonged, even four days of fever I thought could cause other problems for a child?) Is this really a safe strategy (assuming you can rule out other causes and the child just has a fever)?[/QUOTE]

I don't believe that say 4 days of fever could cause problems for a child in and of itself, but that being said, I have never seen an unmedicated fever last that long. It's interesting, people will say "The fever is a symptom that something is wrong, so you have to medicate or your child will get worse!" This makes no sense...I mean obviously, the fever is a symptom that there is an infection in the body, whether it be a virus or a bacteria. The fever is there doing what it does to get rid of this...a very complicated pathway of processes that, when interfered with via Tylenol or Motrin, break down and can cause your child to get even sicker. Letting the fever run its course gets the sickness out of the body, medicating it can keep it going. I have found that with most infections, if you just let the fever run its course, it goes within 24 to 48 hours.

Edited because my link I was trying to give doesn't work. But google "fear of fever" and the first article that comes up should be very helpful in explaining this better than I can!

And I'm editing again to add, a child never "just has a fever." There is always a cause...something the body's immune system is fighting off, whether or not there are other symptoms beside the fever. The safest thing you CAN do is to let the body do its work without hindering it by bringing the temperature down. A fever cannot go high enough to cause brain damage/kill your child unless it is caused by heatstroke, such as being trapped in a car on a hot day, or poisoning.

[nomadmom]

My sister had meningitis at 12 months old. She'd been sick/feverish, and then began to scream in pain when her legs were lifted during diaper changes. That's what clued our mom in that something was really wrong, and is something to look out for in babies too young to put chin to chest.

Edited to add why I generally don't agree w/ giving fever reducers -- because they often take away the aches and pains that make a child want to rest, which is exactly what they need in order to fight off whatever is causing the fever. Also, as in my sister's case, pain could be the signal that urgent action is needed. A fever reducer might have dulled her pain so that the severity of her illness wasn't obvious.

[Karamom]

Originally Posted by angelachristin

I don't believe that say 4 days of fever could cause problems for a child in and of itself, but that being said, I have never seen an unmedicated fever last that long. It's interesting, people will say "The fever is a symptom that something is wrong, so you have to medicate or your child will get worse!" This makes no sense...I mean obviously, the fever is a symptom that there is an infection in the body, whether it be a virus or a bacteria. The fever is there doing what it does to get rid of this...a very complicated pathway of processes that, when interfered with via Tylenol or Motrin, break down and can cause your child to get even sicker. Letting the fever run its course gets the sickness out of the body, medicating it can keep it going. I have found that with most infections, if you just let the fever run its course, it goes within 24 to 48 hours.

Edited because my link I was trying to give doesn't work. But google "fear of fever" and the first article that comes up should be very helpful in explaining this better than I can!

And I'm editing again to add, a child never "just has a fever." There is always a cause...something the body's immune system is fighting off, whether or not there are other symptoms beside the fever. The safest thing you CAN do is to let the body do its work without hindering it by bringing the temperature down. A fever cannot go high enough to cause brain damage/kill your child unless it is caused by heatstroke, such as being trapped in a car on a hot day, or poisoning.

angelachristin, thanks for saying this. I wanted to say something similar but I think you explained it better. The fever will not hurt your child, it is the infection it is fighting that will do the damage. Great book that explains this is "How to raise healthy kids inspite of your doctor." I cannot remember the author right now.

[LROM]

Originally Posted by Asiago

Thanks for sharing this info and I am glad that your daughter is feeling better.
Did your doctor ever say anything further about the other cases of similar fever?
It sounds as if the virus was spreading quickly in your vicinity/town. I wonder if those also had the symptom of meningitis.

I didn't specifically ask about the other cases but I think what she was saying is she's seeing a lot of kids with fevers and no other symptoms. As someone else said, the fever is definitely a sign of the body fighting something off, but this particular virus she's seeing I guess has no other symptoms. And no, those other fevers definitely did NOT have symptoms of meningitis, because the moment we called and told her about the neck thing she said "Go to the ER" whereas in her office earlier she'd just said "Go home and give generic tylenol".

Angelchristian and others who've addressed the "Don't medicate the fever" idea, I'll definitely look into that. I thought there was an in-law relative who is an adult now and slightly mentally delayed, I thought what I'd always heard about him was that as a baby he had a fever that was unmedicated for several days and it caused him brain damage. But I never probed more into the story or asked his mom what happened, so maybe there was more to it than that.

I'll definitely discuss it with my Ped, and even though I expect to get the recommendation that you do medicate (cuz that's what they always say), I want to hear her answer to "Assuming it's not meningitis, what is likely to happen if you don't medicate the fever? What are the risks, and what are the likely outcomes?"

Thanks again for all who send good wishes to DD. She seems to pretty much be back to herself. As crazy about her as DH and I already were, a big scare like that definitely helps you appreciate your LO even more than you thought possible.

[tessie]

Glad to hear she's ok.

Meningitis isn't uncommon here and the midwives give you a symptom card with all your baby bumpf. You can download one here. They even have an iphone app!

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by LROM

Angelchristian and others who've addressed the "Don't medicate the fever" idea, I'll definitely look into that. I thought there was an in-law relative who is an adult now and slightly mentally delayed, I thought what I'd always heard about him was that as a baby he had a fever that was unmedicated for several days and it caused him brain damage. But I never probed more into the story or asked his mom what happened, so maybe there was more to it than that.

I'll definitely discuss it with my Ped, and even though I expect to get the recommendation that you do medicate (cuz that's what they always say), I want to hear her answer to "Assuming it's not meningitis, what is likely to happen if you don't medicate the fever? What are the risks, and what are the likely outcomes?"

You may want to check out some of the threads on fever in the Sticky in Health & Healing, the issue of medicating fevers comes up quite a bit. There's also a whole lot you can do to help your kid(s) get better that's not pharmaceuticals. I don't think my pedi knows any of it, she's a great lady but this isn't the type of medicine she's chosen, so I go elsewhere to learn about it.