Forums > Social Chat > Fever

Posted: 14th Feb 2003
Magnus,
Babe, I am so sorry you are not feeling well.
Might I make a suggestion? It sounds strange and it is an old naturopathic/holistic treatment.

Take a fairly large chunk of ginger root. Peel it, cut it into chunks and then bruise it (beat it up) put that into a tub of hot water, and climb in. Make sure the water stays hot (opening your pores). The tincture of the hot water and ginger root actually will cause a spike in the fever. When you climb out wrap yourself in towels and blankets and lay down for a nap. You will sweat, alot, and feel kind of icky but after about 3 hours you will feel like new. At least, it works for everyone I have ever had try it.

Or chicken soup, orange juice and plenty of TLC


Except if you have an illness in need of medication, in which case, you need to talk to a Dr.

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK

Posted: 14th Feb 2003
Fever is a good thing (assuming it's not ultra-high that it's killing brain cells). We're taught in medical school not to do anything to reduce fevers unless they are dangerously high.

Now, if it doesn't go away by Monday, probably time to go to the doctor and make sure it's not a bacterial infection somewhere.

Do you feel sick in any particular place? Like sinuses or something?

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura

Posted: 15th Feb 2003
Pele you are so sweet! Don't worry, it's all experience... I just want to be well enough to drive my cousin's band on Thursday, hopefully I will be.

Do you know, I'm going to give the ginger root a go, I will report back.

Mike - that's exactly what I thought! Every fool round here told me to take paracetamol to reduce the fever, which I did for two days and who knows how long that has prolonged it for!

The Doctor I spoke to yesterday wouldn't advise it letting the fever run its course, no matter how much I probed he wouldn't commit to saying that was a better plan than taking paracetamol. But he said it probably wouldn't hurt, so I decided to trust my body.

Google says 105 is dangerous, even if I wrap myself up it doesn't go above 100.5.

Magnus... pay it forward

Posted: 15th Feb 2003
When I went above 105 I was put on cooling mats and doused in ice water and such. If you get above 102 please go to the doctor, please?

I think alot of Dr. now (not all Mike, my sweet) are really into treating the symptoms without fully realising that the symptom is there to serve a purpose. Like, subsiding a cough too much does not help the removal of gunk from the lungs. Fevers are there to help expel the body of invaders, not only as a signal of illness. As long as the symptoms do not interfere with my life too much (ie: I am not in the running for human combustion or coughing out a lung) I will generally let them go in the hopes of shortening the length of my illness. *shrug*
Good luck on a speedy recovery Magnus.

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK

Posted: 15th Feb 2003
Pele, what we are being taught now is that with an infectious disease, treatment should be first directed at killing the infectious agent, if possible.

If the disease is curable or self-limited, then we are taught not to treat symptoms unless the symptoms are life-threatening or unless there is a pressing reason why the symptom is unacceptable (i.e. a professional singer presenting with laryngitis the day before her debut will get some symptom suppression and we can worry about treating the underlying cause later).

However, I don't know if all medical students are being taught this and even if all of us are, it will be a decade or two until we're out there and running the show. And then we'll all be old, conservative, and behind-the-times on the latest thought in medicine.

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura

Posted: 15th Feb 2003
What do you all think of holistic or complimentive care? I don't like the term alternative care, because it is not to be an alternative to modern medicine, but to work in conjunction with it. Modern medicine treats the illness, holistic treats the whole patient at once....very complimentive approaches I think.

I am really interested in what people think about the upsurgence of these practices. Mainly because I practice them!

All this med-babble aside, how are you feeling sweetie?

[ 16. February 2003, 15:28: Message edited by: Pele ]

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK

Posted: 15th Feb 2003
I think that holistic care is generrally important, but that you have to decide when to treat the person and when to treat the disease. Even healthy people get sick now and then without them necessarily being unhealthy. Just unlucky. After all, a "pathogen" is an agent that makes healthy people sick. There's this view that a truly healthy person should never get sick and that's just not realistic.

So if an otherwise healthy person comes in with strep throat, you give them penicillin.

On the other hand, if you are starting to see a bunch of problems pop up that seem to be the result of an unhealthy person (heart disease, edema, lung complaints, etc.) then it's time to start treating the person rather than just resigning to a list of meds for the rest of their life. They need to lose weight, change their diet, get exercise, etc.

The problem is that so many patients expect to just be given a pill that they're not willing to really put effort into their own health. It's frustrating, but it makes many doctors so cynical that they never stop to think that some patients might be willing to try self-healing.

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura

Posted: 15th Feb 2003
But I don't see how "self healing" generates revenue for major drug companies or any other aspect of the economy. It's unamerican.

Well, shall we go?
Yes, let's go.
[They do not move.]

Posted: 15th Feb 2003
You aren't joking NYC...really you aren't.

I think the pill popping is the instant gratification society that we are living in, and the fact that everything is able to be done not only instantly but for us with the flick of a button.
Do you think that more people are coming around to self-healing? It seems that I see people searching for a natural route more often, but then they also take that to an extreme. For example, if this amount helps in this many days then doubling it will help faster...what they don't realize is that it can hinder just as fast.

I think there is an appeal to holistic that it allows a patient to be more pro-active without all the technical dr.-speak, but in that scope they think they can read a little bit and go full tilt into it without a complete comprehension.
In my studio I am opening my practice and using those hours as part of my PhD. program, so I am finding this useful.
Do you think then that modern has no real need of holistic? What do you think about the MD's who are bringing holistic practitioners into their offices. I am of the mindset that they are really needed together, especially since I came out of the hospital. The MD's there were @ssholes. I told one of the residents who was absolutely wonderful to never become a jerk dr like the others. I felt no caring from them at all. What I felt like (and in many ways was treated like) was a dollar sign laying in a bed, and they couldn't even come to an agreement how to treat me. The nurses did the bulk of the work, and in many ways knew so much more about my case than the MD's. It was incredible. I could've used so much more help beyond that though, and I know this now....but it is hard to explain at this point....

Did I hijack this thread, or just turn the rail it was on in a parallel direction?

[ 16. February 2003, 19:10: Message edited by: Pele ]

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK

Posted: 16th Feb 2003
Also doctors often own shares in pharmasutical companies so they love flinging medication around like nobodies business. In edition I think the pharmasutical industry has a lot of influence with the whole medical community pushing it towards dispensing more and more drugs.

Posted: 16th Feb 2003
I would like to see a higher level of nurse which have higher training which places them somewheres between a nurse and a doctor. In many cases the duties of a doctor can be handed over to nurses who can better administer them. I realize some places have already done this (I forget the name of the nurses)

Posted: 16th Feb 2003
Nurse practioners.

I have a bit more to add, don't I always?..but will do so tomorrow.

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK

Posted: 16th Feb 2003
Fever almost gone, my temperature is now 99.4. I think I'll start eating again, but still take it easy.

My mate brought me some ginger root, but maybe I don't need to try that now.

I think holistic stuff is most appropriate for keeping healthy. When you get ill, unleash all the pills and chemicals modern science can supply!

Magnus... pay it forward

Posted: 16th Feb 2003
Hello people!

Good discussion!

I like the chinese theory to medicine, that your body is a vehicle (for wont of a better word - pod, maybe? ) that is kept healthy by a balance of energies. We know that this is fundamentally true - that we are full of bacteria that keeps everything in order.

With their theory, when you get sick, it is because there is an imbalance in your body that has allowed the illness to manifest.

In treatment, they don't go "you have a runny nose, here's some antihistamine (sp?) to dry it up", they say you have an imbalance/blockage in your energy in a certain place, and treat you for that. They believe that when the balance is maintained, the body will heal itself.

I am also an advocate of the modern/natural hand-in-hand theory and am not an expert in these matters by any means, the above theory just sits better with me.

...a little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men...

Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.