We have all called in sick at work or school, at least a few times in our life. Whether we like it or not, we have all sufferedfrom fever. But, do you know what really causes fever and what happens when we have a fever? Before we reveal the causes, do not forget to click follow with more good quality content.
Starting from being God’s way to deal with sinners to being a genetic defect, we have heard all the myths related to the causes of fever. In our childhood, many of us even believed it to be true. However, as we grew older and became more reasonable we learned that could not have been the truth. So, why do we get fever? It all starts with our brain, the organ that makes our entire body work. There is a part of our brain known as the hypothalamus, which controls our body temperature. In normal conditions, it maintains the bodytemperature at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 37 degrees Celsius. Find it hard to understand? Well, let us simplify it for you.
Imagine your body is a machine, which operates properly at a particular temperature. This means, it can neither too hot nor to ocold. There is a person sitting in the control room of that machine and she/he is maintaining the temperature of that machine. That is exactly what the hypothalamus does to your body. Your body is constantly working, even when you are resting. Your heart is pumping blood, your blood is circulating throughout your body and your lungs are inhaling and exhaling air constantly— your body is very busy maintaining a particular temperature during all this work. But, at times the hypothalamus increases the temperature of the body. This is what we know in general terms as fever. Yes, this is why you get a fever. But, why would the good ol’ hypothalamus do this to us? Hypothalamus usually does this to protectus from bacteria. Thus, saving us from a major disease. Here are some examples when it increases bodytemperature.
Cold: Nothing invites more germs to the body than a cold. When we have a cold, our immune system lowers and makes our body vulnerable to diseases. A prolonged state of such a scenario may cause major infections. Speaking of infections, it brings us to the second point.
Gastroenteritis: This is one of the major infections of very important organs in our body, the stomach and the intestines. Usually, this issue is caused by bacterialtoxins, but at times, the infection might be viral. If the infection is left alone then it maylead to diarrhea. Other Infections Ever had an infection on your ear and that led to fever. Yes, the hypothalamus does that to us and not even infections of the ear, lung, skin, throat, bladder, and kidneys are left unchecked. In case of all these scenarios, a spike inbody temperature is normal as the hypothalamus is actually trying to neutralize the infection.
Side Effects Of Medication: Remember the time you overdosed yourself with pain killer because you thought that the pain was too unbearable. After that, you got diagnosed with fever. This is because your body did not require the overdose of that prescribed drug and because of the overdose, your body may grow weak andvulnerable to infection caused by bacteria or any form of virus. So yes, hypothalamus to the rescue one more time.
Blood Clots: This one explains itself, blood clots usually happen when you get injured to prevent spills. However, they can also form when they are not needed and cause strokes or even heart strokes. Yes, you guessed it hypothalamus, our goodol’ saviour helps us out one more time with its ingenious temperature control technique.
Moving onto the next point... Autoimmune diseases and Hormone disorders Unlike the previous example, here is more of a last-ditch, this is the best I could do effort from the hypothalamus. Our in-house or in this case, our in-body protector cannot do much if we have an auto immune disease such as lupus or inflammatory bowel disease. Similarly, it cannot do much when you have hormone disorders such as hyperthyroidism. So, it does the best it can do, but hey it buys you enough time for the medicines to do their work. Just make sure you do not overdose yourself.
Cancer: This brings us to our last point. Sometimes the infection stays and leads to cancer. You see, this is what the hypothalamus was trying to avoid all this time. Even when you have cancer, it raises the temperature to kill the infection. However, this is yet another unsuccessful attempt from the hypothalamus as it cannot cure cancer on its own. Finding all this a bit too complicated to understand?
Here, let us simplify things for you... Imagine you are on your way to work in public transport, you unknowingly contract a viral or bacterial infection. This infection has the ability to cause major diseases. This is when your white blood cells form a two-way defense, one group fights the infection with the body’s own good bacteria and the other goes to the brain to inform it of the recent development. The information is received and our protagonisthy pothalamus goes to work.
Bacteria and viruses need a suitable temperature to survive, they cannot handle too much cold and too much heat. Guess who else knows it, you guessed it, the hypothalamus. It increases the body temperature while the immune system fights of the remnants of the infection. A victory against the invaders and the day is saved thanks to our hero. The hero we need, but not the one we deserve,the silent guardian, the watchful protector, our very own Dark Knight. See, it is not so tough after all.
Fever often weakens the immune system and make us vulnerable to different sorts of diseases. This is why we should not be completely dependanton our hero. We need to do our part too. For home remedies, one of the best options is always to sweat a lot and wipe the sweat with a towel. This regulates the body temperature, does not allow the infection to settle down and helps the anti bodies to do their work — fightthe infection. So yes, perspiration is good as long as you do not let the sweat settle down. Drink lots of water to keep boosting yourbody’s metabolism. However, in case you have a very high fever, we would recommend you to go to a doctor, who knows a thing or two about how a human body actually works.
Depending upon the degree of fever, you will be prescribed to mild or strong medicated drugs. Usually, antibiotics will be prescribed for any form of bacterial infection or even strep throat. In case of very high fever, stronger medicines are often prescribed. However, these medicines may have their own side-effects. Hence, often a regulated dosage is prescribed.However, in the case of children and teenagers,aspirin is avoided as it is linked to a condition called Reye’s syndrome.
Similarly, in the case of other forms of fever-related medication, it is often recommended that children and teenagers are given milder dosages. A lot of children might even have an allergic reaction to antibiotics, in such a scenario, antibiotics should be avoided. So, remember to tell your doctor before she/he prescribes medicine for your child. People with issues such as migraine, sinus,or any form of breathing problems should be given milder doses of antibiotics to avoidany form of side-effects. Well, there we go, that is all we had to talk about the causes of fever. What did you think about the article? Did you find it helpful? Let us know in the comments section below, we would love to hear from you.
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