Many of us panic and feel powerless when it comes to fever. I have been there too, with my two children. The question I am asked all the time is “how to get rid of fever”.
For me, you need to use some common sense and arm yourselves with patience. Below I give you 10 ways to get rid of fever.
Before I tell you about the 10 ways to cure your fever, I think it is really important to understand the basics surrounding this as summarized below:
What are fever symptoms?
I can safely say that you have a fever when your body temperature rises above a given accepted threshold. The threshold has been determined over a century ago.
What scientists consider as normal is an average body temperature of around 98.6 Fahrenheit (or 37 Celcius). So if you have a body temperature around 98.6 F, you are fine. If not, you need to take action as per the below methods.
However, there are other signs that you need to be aware off when contracting fever. These additional fever signs and symptoms usually include the following:
- Sweating – that is normal and usually good for you as your body is fighting bacteria.
- Shivering – this is less normal and you should see a doctor
- Headache – it does happen often for a number of us. Patience is key here. But if your headache persist, seek professional advice
- Muscle aches – most likely you have cold.
- Loss of appetite – that’s normal and you should eat some probiotics to help your body
- Dehydration – you need to drink a lot to evacuate the bad stuff that your body is fighting. Drinking can also get rid of your headache
- General weakness – again this is normal
If you need to know a little more about fever, then listen to what a professional pediatrician has to say about fever:
What temperature is a fever considered high?
You have a high fever if your body temperature is between 103 Fahrenheit (39.4 Celcius) and 106 Fahrenheit (41.1 Celcius).
Note that depending on the country, a high temperature can start at 39.7 degree Celcius as per the above image. However, other countries would start at 39.4 degree Celcius and the above 39.7 degree Celcius is considered high in those countries.
Understanding high fever temperature is critical as if you are a victim of such fever temperatures, then you may have the following symptoms:
- Hallucinations – these occurs when you have a really bad fever. Go and get professional advice right away. This is really critical.
- Confusion – Same as above. Do not wait and get professional advice.
- Convulsions – as per confusion and hallucinations
- Dehydration – drink a lot to help your body evacuated the bacteria in your blood
- Irritability – That something more common and you need to make your own judgement if you need professional advice.
Here is another summary by age and only in Fahrenheit:
When do you need to see a doctor?
In most of the circumstances, fevers should not be a cause for alarm and therefore you should not be worrying. Most of the time, you do not need to call a doctor.
Having said so, I feel you need to be vigilant and monitor carefully the temperature of your child, yourselves, baby or family member that presents potential high temperature.
I have highlighted above that 103 Fahrenheit (39.4 Celcius) and 106 Fahrenheit (41.1 Celcius) are very high body temperatures. If you are faced with these, then do not think, just act and get professional advice right away.
How to get rid of fever?
I think you should know that many experts agree on this matter. In the case that your child is healthy, then having some fever should not be of real concern.
In most cases, fever is good for you as it a sign your body is fighting off an infection.
So, if you have some fever, you can use one of the below 10 simple common sense methods to cure it. These should in most cases help you or your child feel better.
I will repeat myself, but this is extremely important —- if someone surrounding you is having a high fever (103 Fahrenheit (39.4 Celcius) and 106 Fahrenheit (41.1 Celcius)) then you must take that person to see a doctor right away. DO NOT WAIT PLEASE.
1- Remove extra clothing
This is common sense really and there is nothing knew here. But you should see the number of people I meet who do not think about this one. If you have fever and feel uncomfortable, remove a couple of layers of clothing.
In doing so, you are allowing your body to get rid of heat faster. Do not remove all of the clothing, but dress lightly.
Now, you may go from too feeling too hot to shivering. You will need to cover yourselves with a light blanket when shivering, and then dress lightly when too hot. Who said that having fever was easy 😉
2- Vinegar
Interestingly enough, you can use vinegar to cure yourselves from fever. Here is how: first take a about half a cup of vinegar.
Add it to lukewarm bath water. Yes,you understood right, just get a bath ready with lukewarm water and poor the half cup of vinegar in it.
Soak you body for five to ten minutes – 10 mins is best. Get our and dry yourselves. Repeat every 4 hours if need be. You should see the results within 12 hours.
3- Olive oil and garlic
This is a little technical but a great fever remedy. You first need crush two garlic gloves. Add these to two table spoon of olive oil.
Now warm this mixture.
Take the mixture and apply it to the bottom part of your feet (the sole of each foot). You may feel a little bit of burning sensation. This is normal.
Wrap your feet with plastic and leave the lot for 12 hours. By the way, it is best to do this before you go to bed. This works really well for me.
4- Potatoes to fight fever
When I am being asked how to get rid of fever, I always start with this remedy. That’s just because my mum used to use this all the time and it worked brilliantly. It still does.
Take a potato and slice it. Put the slices in vinegar for about ten minutes.
Now, apply the slices to your forehead. Make sure you lie down while doing so.
Use a washcloth to secure the slices.
You should feel better within 30 minutes. Do this several times a day if need be.
5- Onions
I have to tell you that I hate this method, but it works wonders. So I have to described it.
First you need to know that I hate it because, though it is a really good method to get rid of fever, you’ll end up smelling onion for a little while. That is the only downside.
Okay, enough of me complaining, here is what you have to do.
Slice a raw onion. Apply these slices to the bottom of each foot.
Now wrap your feet in plastic and then in a warm blanket. Enjoy the after smell 😉
6- Raisins and lime juice
This fruit is great when it comes to fever. Get a handful of raisins.
Say about 25 of them.
Put these in a cup and crush them. Add water.
Now cut a lime into two and take half to make a juice.
Mix the lot and drink twice a day. That’s all.
7- Artichokes
Get a couple of artichokes.
Boil or steam them until they are soft (best is to steam them, but it does take a lot of time to do so).
When they are cooked, you need to eat the bottom part of the leaves.
Note that you can eat artichokes bottom part of the leaves raw too. It does work much better than the steamed version, but the downside is that not everyone like them raw. You chose your preferred option. I’ll eat them raw.
8- Mustard seed
I do not like the tasted of this one. So if you are a little sensitive to taste, may be this one may not be for you.
What you need to do is get a mustard seed.
Pour one teaspoon of the seeds in a cup of hot water.
Wait for about 5 mins.
When ready, just drink.
Do this three times a day. Enjoy the taste.
9- Back to lemon
Get a nice lemon. Slice it.
Now apply the slices on the bottom of your feet.
Get some wet cotton socks and cover your feet.
The wet part of the socks will allow a better transfer of the lemon properties in your body. It will also allow a better heat extract from your feet. You can do the same with your hands.
Do not forget to cover your wet socks with some heavy wool socks. Repeat this three times a day.
10 – Forehead and vinegar
This is one of the easiest method on how get rid of fever. First, mix warm water with half a cup of vinegar.
Now dip a washcloth in this mixture.
Apply the washcloth to your forehead.
Do this several times a day. You should see positive results in no time.
11- Tulsi leaves and fever
Take one teaspoon of tulsi leaves. Now add it to a cup of warm water.
Wait for about five minutes.
Drink the mixture.
Repeat this three to four times a day.
Other herbs that can help – Note use the same recipe as for the tulsi. These are peppermint, elderflowers and yarrow.
What else can you do to help with fever?
There are other methods you can use to help in managing fever. Here are two of these methods.
1- Keep your child indoor in cool place
Try to stay in a cool place where you body can get rid of excess heat easily.
For instance, you can take a shower. Not a cold shower as this is dangerous for your body, but a cool shower.
What I mean is that you should take a shower where the temperature of the water is lower than your body heat. This water should not cause your body to have a heat shock.
So the water temperature should be lower than your body temperature, but should not cause you discomfort.
2- Use a fan
You may be amazed how good you’ll feel if you use a fan.
What a fan will do is to increase the level of heat dissipation from your body. As more air is being pushed towards you, you’ll get higher heat being taken away from your body.
As such your body will get rid of more heat much faster. Hence, you’ll feel better.
Conclusion
Here I gave you 11 methods that can help you get rid of fever. These are extremely important for you to know.
But what I want you to take away from this post is that you have to be able to identify what is the difference between high temperature and a normal one.
This can make the difference between staying alive and dying.
So here I repeat myself – Temperatures above or equal to 103 Fahrenheit (39.4 Celcius) and 106 Fahrenheit (41.1 Celcius) are very high. Get professional advice right away.
Otherwise, try one of the 11 methods I described above to reduce and cure your fever. These have been very effective for me and my children, so there should be for you too.
You can mix these methods, for instance, you can drink the raisins and lime remedy, use the potato slices and the garlic olive oil cure in the same day.
You can use the fan and a shower too to reduce your body temperature. All in all, mixing the different remedies will help your body to get rid of fever much quicker.
Back to you
I hope you will use the above tips on how to get rid of fever. These are extremely important and will help you dramatically. Please do not forget to take action and like the post. Share it with your friends and families and please leave a comment below.
See you soon in another Omigy post.