eli5: If fever is our body’s response to kill an infection, then why do we take medicines like paracetamol that control the fever?

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Also, I get that the fever can get really high at some point, which causes other effects, but why is our body not able to control its response to the infection so as to not do more harm with the fever?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Because we can. A high fever tends to make you feel shitty, so if you have the chance to feel better, (or make your kid feel better) most people will take it.

I do believe that a lot of people do it too quickly, though.

I go by the rule of thumb our pediatrician gave me: Ease pain, not fever. So if my kid or me has a high fever and is suffering, I will give a dose of tylenol. But especially for my kid, I tend to underdose so the fever doesn’t go away completely but is just lowered a bit to make him feel a bit better.

Because one good thing a fever does is to make you want to stay rest in bed. Experience shows that once my kid has had a full dose of tylenol, he’ll be bouncing off the walls because he feels just fine but I know it’s just a superficial thing and his body is still fighting the infection and could really use some rest.

So what I aim for is some relief instead of the feeling of being completely fine right away. I do the same for myself. I tend to wait quite long before taking a dose of ibuprofen and when I do, I only take a small one.

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