Monday, January 11, 2010

High Fever in Children and Knowing When it Needs Assistance

High fever in children may not be a cause for concern. It’s a question of knowing the purpose of fever, what is normal and natural and so can be left, and what needs treatment.

First lets look at the purpose of fever. A fever is the sign of the immune system doing its job - ie preventing something gaining entry and so doing harm to the body.

A healthy immune system, is constantly on the alert to prevent any harm coming to the body. If something, a pathogen, attempts to invade, it will throw a violent fever to prevent it gaining access. This can look alarming, but is usually over in a matter of hours.

An unhealthy immune system will never have the strength to throw a violent fever. A mild version is about all it can manage to do. Which will probably smoulder for days.

So a high fever in children generally means those children are healthy. A mild fever often means those children are unhealthy.

However, sometimes a high fever can get out of hand, and then it’s best to interfere.

It is generally accepted that a high fever starts around 40 degrees C (104 degrees F). So if your child’s temperature is fast approaching that, or has reached that, then it may be wise to interfere.

But there is interference and interference. Using drugs, even analgaesics, to bring down the temperature is suppressing the symptoms and going against what the body is trying to do. A tumble in the overall health is the result.

But if you use homeopathic medicine, which works by helping the body achieve what it is trying to do, then you are only boosting the immune system. Something that can only be helpful to children.

You need to know which homeopathic medicine is best for high fever, by knowing the symptom picture of the medicine and being able to fit the symptoms of your child’s fever into them.

The homeopathic medicine Belladonna has a fever with an intense heat and it is this symptom alone which characterises it above all others for successful resolution, particularly for high fever in children.